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Prof David Saint

It was unfortunate for me that appalling weather and a traffic gridlock made me late for this concert, and so I missed the first three items. As I came in, Callum Alger was just beginning what proved to be his scintillating performance of Whitlock’s Fanfare, played with authority and sensitivity in the middle section.

The first singing I heard was therefore Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb. And what singing! This is not easy repertoire but a high standard was set from the outset with a truly atmospheric and expressive opening in which every word could be heard. The celebratory second section requires agility and exuberance which the choir provided in abundance; even the infamously tricky runs were well-executed, especially those on the word ‘dance’

I particularly enjoyed the dismissive venom which the choir brought to the words “Silly fellow” and the final section was sublime. Fine performances were given by the four soloists and Callum Alger’s accompaniment was impeccable.

Commissioning a work always has an element of risk – buying without seeing! Happily, David Bednall’s The Dear Bargain suited the choir to the core and obviously spoke deeply to the conductor. Bednall’s idiom is immediately attractive and the care with which he sets words was matched by the choir’s care in performance. Unaccompanied passages were sung with passion and faultless tuning, and the performance was overall beautifully shaped.

To end such a demanding concert with Dvorak’s Mass in D was the final challenge and there were a few moments where the choir sounded slightly tired, such as the opening of the Sanctus and the ‘qui tollis’ section of the Gloria. However, these are minor quibbles in the face of a performance of such verve and style. The grand sweep of the Kyrie (my favourite movement, as it happens)….the fanfare-like opening of the Gloria….the drama of ‘Crucifixus’….and the power of the lower voices in, for example, the antiphonal sections of the Credo….all brought the evening to a wonderful conclusion.

After a very difficult eighteen months, it was super to hear the Bach Choir – and at only 60% strength – in such great form, further increasing my regret at missing the beginning of the programme. Paul Spicer devised a really challenging programme for this ‘re-entry concert’ and he can only have been very proud of the choir’s response. Congratulations all round and a special mention of Callum Alger’s superb playing throughout.

David Saint is an organist and choral director. He is Organist and Director of Music at St Chad’s Cathedral and until 2015 he was Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

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Review by Peter Morris

O clap your hands indeed that Birmingham Bach Choir is back after such a long silence; they have been much missed. Pouring rain and ‘noises off’ from the Christmas revellers outside Birmingham Cathedral did not dampen the audience’s enjoyment.

It was a depleted choir (60% of its normal size) but as Paul Spicer commented, it was ‘a step back to normality’. And what a celebration! The work of most interest was the premiere performance of David Bednall’s The Dear Bargain, commissioned by the choir for its centenary. It played to the strengths of the choir, who sang confidently and captured all the moods of the piece, especially the radiant ending. The words were carefully illustrated by the music and also by the singers. David Bednall said ‘I was keen that the chorus should enjoy the work’. So did the audience.

The other particularly successful performance was that of Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb. It was rhythmically crisp and limpidly fluent by turns. The choir was idiomatically incisive and particularly expressive of the agonies suffered by the visionary poet Christopher Smart. Here and elsewhere the excellence of alto soloist Hope Pugh and the organist Callum Alger contributed hugely to the success.

Welcome back!

Peter Morris is a conductor and organist with a long career in teaching music, conducting orchestras and choirs, organ playing (and getting organs rebuilt) and examining.