Waverley Singers

Waverly Singers impressed with their call to remembrance

This review by ‘RGW’ was published after the concert in, we assume, the Farnham Herald

The Church of Saint Thomas on the Bourne was the venue for this concert from the Waverley Singers on Saturday November 7.

Under their conductor, Malcolm Hicks, and joined for the first time by organist Lindsay Bridgewater, the choir performed sacred music fitting for this year, when Britain remembers those who died in battle.

The first half of the concert was the Requiem, opus 9, by Maurice Duruflé, written in 1947.

The high-quality bass and tenor entry at the beginning gave some indication of how the choir would sound during the evening.

This music has much Gregorian chant which can sound laboured in the hands of the inexperienced, but from the outset the Waverley Singers allowed the audience to relax and become engrossed in a meditative work.

The baritone solo in the Domine Jesu Christe was sung by Robert Gussman and the Pie Jesu was sung by mezzo soprano Susannah Russell. The diminuendo at the end of the “In Paradisum” was truly beautiful.

The second half of the concert opened with Crown Imperial played on the organ by Lindsay Bridgewater.

John Ireland’s anthem Greater love hath no man was opened by the tenors with 7 bars of lovely sound and the opening words, sung unaccompanied by the whole choir, were most poignant. The soprano and bass solos were sung by Anne Pardoe and Norman Lingard.

After Villanella, a short organ piece by Ireland the choir sang Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, transcribed from his Adagio for Strings.

This is a deceptively difficult work which is characterised by long sustained chords with alternating parts carrying the melody, and a dynamic range from pianissimo to a fortissimo top B flat from the sopranos.

It was the only time during the evening when the choir looked uncomfortable, and where intonation was suspect, particularly after the climax.

Lindsay Bridgewater continued the concert with Vierne’s Berceuse, a lullaby, and the choir followed this with Balfour Gardner’s Evening Hymn in which the middle verse is set for unaccompanied voices.

This was only the second time during the evening that the choir sang without organ underlay, a great pity because their sound seems particularly suited to St Thomas-on-The Bourne.

In Messiaen’s O sacrum convivium, a late addition to the programme, the choir was totally at home with the luscious discords. It is a pity that the fireworks outside intruded slightly into the diminuendo over the final bars.

Walton’s setting of the Te Deum, composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, is set for double choir and requires much vocal resource, particularly hard to find towards the end of a concert, but the choir was equal to the occasion.

The final organ solo of the evening, John Ireland’s Alla Marcia, was followed by the choir’s finale, and the second edition to the programme, Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest.

Contrasting with the rest of the evening, and ending the programme on the less sombre note, this jewel of Handel’s art was handled skilfully as is expected from the Waverley Singers.

The choir's next concert will be on Saturday December 12 in St Andrews Garrison Church of Scotland, Aldershot, where they will sing Handel’s Messiah.