Chepstow Choral Society opened its Silver Jubilee year on Sunday March 28th at St Mary's Priory Church, Chepstow, with a magnificent concert of choral music by two Italian composers, Verdi and Rossini, performed to a capacity audience of some three hundred people in the church.
Verdi's "Stabat Mater", the second of his Four Sacred Pieces, is a demanding item for any choral society, none more so than when it is the opening for the programme, and it is to the Society's credit that it was achieved so successfully. It formed the ideal contrast to the far larger – and major – item on the programme, Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle".
Written for full chorus, four vocal soloists, harmonium and piano, this work is, as has been popularly quoted, "neither petite nor solemn". Containing two huge choral fugues, Cum Sancto Spiritu and Et Vitam Venturi, as well as the other choral demands of the Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus and the final Agnus Dei, the work is also a showcase for several long and demanding solo contributions, and all of this was achieved in a quite outstanding performance by everyone.
The choir produced a wonderful sound, particularly in the exciting Cum Sancto Spiritu which was taken at a speed that portrayed the essential vibrance and joyfulness of this particular chorus, and which the choir (and accompanists) handled admirably. The Credo section involves full chorus, interspersed with soloists and again was superbly performed. It was obvious that this was a work that the choir had enjoyed preparing and singing, and the result was there for all to hear.
The work demands six soloists – four vocal and two keyboard players. Samantha Cole (soprano), Elizabeth Stevens (mezzo-soprano), Craig Downes (tenor) and Gavin Watts (bass) all gave outstanding individual contributions. Samantha Cole's glorious O Salutaris, and the wonderful Qui Tollis duet shared with Elizabeth Stevens, piano and harmonium, were quite breathtaking. All four vocal soloists are required to sing demanding individual solos, and the huge audience was not disappointed by a quality worthy of the occasion and setting. The tenor Domine Deus was ideally suited to the operatic style of Craig Downes, who is of course well known in Chepstow. The long bass solo, Quoniam tu solus, which is in effect a vocal and piano duet, was managed beautifully by Gavin Watts.
However, the standing ovation and cheers at the end were strongest for Marjorie Duerden (piano) and Tom Breeze (harmonium), who combined to produce quite wonderful support for both choir and soloists.
It was tremendous for the overall performance that Tom Breeze was able to play an authentic French harmonium (kindly loaned by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales) and this he did with great accomplishment and skill. Choral Society piano accompanists are rarely allowed the opportunity to fill a prominent role in major choral works and the "Petite Messe Solennelle" is almost unique in the demands it makes for the pianist.
Marjorie Duerden, Chepstow Choral Society's regular accompanist, accomplished this "tour de force"; playing throughout the whole piece (some eighty minutes long) she produced a display of both bravura and highly sensitive playing. The complex and contrasting accompaniments demanded a professional and highly musical approach, and the seven minute piano solo an hour into the work was heard in total and eerie silence by a spellbound audience.
Chepstow Choral Society's musical director Graham Bull is to be commended for his fine handling of this performance where he allowed the individual musicians the independence they needed in their solo items, but drew together the ensembles and full choir where required.
What the press said
"...A full house, a quartet of young soloists and a full choral sound that reached every corner of this wonderful priory church.
..main item Rossini's Petite Messe Solonnelle, a work by a composer who always had a twinkle in his eye, even when genuflecting to his God.
Musical director Graham Bull and the choir marked its essential lightness of approach, as in the Cum Sancto Spiritu, from which arises Rossini's touching piety exemplified by a floated Sanctus.
Marjorie Duerden's marathon piano accompaniment was nowhere more effective than in the Preludio Religioso, a pivotal solo moment demanding the sustained feeling she so capably reproduced.....
Soloists Samantha Cole, Elizabeth Stevens, Craig Downes and Gavin Watts naturally extended upwards and outwards from the choirs foundation, nothing indicating their suucess more than the way the second half came to a perfect close in the Agnus Dei."
Nigel Jarrett Chepstow Free Press March 31 2004
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