AN OLD BELIEF Stondon Singers

AN OLD BELIEF

Stondon Singers at St Laurence Blackmore

22.10.11

From the Fifteenth Century to A Child of Our Time, the Stondon Singers guided us through some of the finest sacred choral music.

The austere, rhythmically intricate Dufay, the richer sounds of Gabrieli, the eloquent harmonies of Lassus, the sublime cadences of Lotti's Crucifixus, traced the development of music to the Renaissance and beyond.

The Gabrieli was accompanied by Brentwood Brass – the final Alleluia of O Magnum Mysterium was especially effective – and they also gave us some purely instrumental interludes, including William Byrd's March for the Earl of Oxford, as well as Handel and Eleanor Rigby.

The Singers, directed by Chrisopher Tinker, jumped forward after the interval to Parry, the Songs of Farewell, including the meditation on death which gave the evening its title, two Elgar Part Songs, and finally the five Tippett Spirituals, featuring some superb step-out soloists from the choir.

I felt that the singers were perhaps more comfortable, more relaxed in the familiar harmonies of the twentieth century, but the structure of the programme gave us a valuable insight into the development of the sounds which have echoed through places of worship over six centuries.

There is an old belief
That on some solemn shore,
Beyond the sphere of grief,
Dear friends shall meet once more.


Beyond the sphere of Time and Sin,
and Fate’s control,
Serene in changeless prime
of body and of soul.


That creed I fain would keep,
That hope I’ll ne’er forgo:
Eternal be the sleep
If not to waken so.

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

Stondon Singers at Blackmore

23.12.08

In the atmospheric setting of the Priory Church in Blackmore, the Stondon Singers began their Celebration with a 16^th century German Resonet in Laudibus. By Leonhard Paminger, a composer unknown to me, and many others, I guess. Turns out he was Austrian, Protestant and a friend of Luther.

This rare gem is typical of the Stondons' style. Their carefully constructed programme – Anticipation, Nativity, Visitors to the Stable – was a satisfying mix of old and new, familiar and less familiar. So a robustly scored gallery carol from Dorset followed a brand new setting – by the Singers' founding-father Frank Webb – of The Ox He Openeth Wide The Door.

This excellent choir goes back 40 years, and they specialize in older repertoire, notably “local boy” William Byrd, who was represented here in a Vigilate and and the Magi's Vidimus Stellam.

King's Men Ord and Willcocks, Pearsall's In Dulci Jubilo, Mathias' Sir Christemas: these were the familiar pieces, and of course there were congregational carols for us all to sing.

Guest conductor, getting the very best from his singers, was Stephen Lloyd, who introduced the music with an engaging blend of erudition and mischief, and the organist was Stephen King, who gave us an impressive romantic Fantasia on Veni Emmanuel, the carol we had just sung ...