Waverley Singers

Contrasts of music and excellence at The Maltings

The following is an extract from a review article by 'C.H.' featuring two concerts performed as part of the Farnham Arts Festival. The first, on Wednesday, 21 June by the Farnham and Bourne Choral Society, featured Coleridge Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. The second half of the article went as follows:

A PREVIEW

"Friday's programme neatly mixed musical and dramatic items and featured the Waverley Singers in English music, which they do so well under their conductor John Cotterill. The soloist in Stanford's Songs of the Sea was David Dames and the first half also gave a preview of Sir George Dyson's Canterbury Pilgrims to be heard in November. 

It would not be unfair to say that the highlight of the evening was Margery Wakefield's playing in Constant Lambert's Rio Grande. Exceptionally difficult, the piano writing was made to sound stunningly easy without being facile. The choir bathed in the lush harmonies and vibrated with the exotic rhythms. The performance was emhanced by Malveen Shergold's mezzo-soprano interjections and by the percussion section led by Chris King."

The article concluded:

"Altogether a very succesful series, using The Maltings for the purpose intended. All will finally be well when the Great Hall is completed by a balcony which will make performances financially possible when a large choir and orchestra take part; and most important to the satisfaction of performers and audiences alike will be the installation of sound-absorbing material to remove the sensation of hearing performances through a thick blanket." !!!