Waverley Singers

Waverleys in impressive voice

The following review by John Vandenberghe appeared in The Herald on 10 April 1998.

The Waverley Singers and Tilford Bach Orchestra, directed by Malcolm Hicks, gave their spring concert at St Andrew's Garrison Church, Aldershot, on March 28. The choral programme consisted entirely of Baroque and classical music, with the somewhat curious addition of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture at the end of the first half.

Purcell's verse anthem "My Beloved Spake" is one of his earliest of this genre, written, according to Grove, prior to 1678 for the Chapel Royal. It is composed almost exclusively for solo voices, with minimal support from the chorus in the middle and at the end. The soloists were Diana Vivian (soprano), Deborah Miles-Johnson (mezzo-soprano), Philip Dennis (tenor), and Christopher Foster (bass). Choir member Robert Gussman stood in as second tenor soloist and acquitted himself well.

The anthem, with its text from the “Song of Solomon”, is a cheerful thanksgiving for the coming of spring and, in this performance, showed some signs of hasty preparation, with shaky ensemble in places. This notwithstanding, it set the tone for what was to be an upbeat evening of joyful music-making.

Handel's Chandos Anthem No. 9 ("O Praise the Lord with One Consent") is another early work written in his early 30s, when the composer was director of music to the Duke of Chandos. These anthems, lacking the personal religious imprint of, say, Bach, have been criticised for their courtly urbanity, but they are extrovert, expressively inventive, and are jolly good to sing. Choir and soloists seemed much at home in this music, and a noticeably more relaxed approach was evident in the choral sections.

The opening chorus was notable for crystal-clear articulation of the florid passages, and there was sensitive use of light and shade and precise, shotgun, staccato in the final one. Deborah Miles-Johnson displayed a mezzo evenly strong throughout the range in her aria "Praise Him, All Ye That in His House Attend", which was taken at a comfortable pace. The bass aria "That God Is Great" also showed off Christopher Foster's rounded bass to good effect, though clear diction would have enhanced an otherwise fervent account of Diana Vivian's soprano aria.

As suggested earlier, the Hebrides Overture was an incongruous inclusion in this particular programme. A Handel or Corelli Concerto Grosso, or perhaps the Overture to “Acis and Galatea”, might have been more appropriate, but with this proviso, one could not fault the high quality of the orchestral playing.

Towards the end of his life, Haydn's muse turned towards choral music for its inspiration, and the Harmonienmesse (Wind Band Mass), the last of his six settings of the Mass, employs orchestral forces (including a large wind section), which proclaims the symphonic scale of the composition. The division of forces between soloists and choir adds to the richness of the work, and the Waverley Singers again impressed with strong, unforced tone, and clarity and agility in the fugal passages. Changes of mood in the Credo were well managed with striking orchestral colour at “and he shall come again in glory".
There was good attention to dynamics, with, for instance, soft singing at "and I await the resurrection of the dead" set against the fortissimo fugal treatment of "and the life of the world to come".

The choir changed gear with pleasingly warm tone in the ensuing Sanctus and the Benedictus which, briskly moving, had tonal variety, with nice contributions from the soloists. 

A busy year ahead next sees the Waverleys at All Saints' Odiham on Sunday, June 7, for their summer concert of music for choir and organ