Review Details
VOCAL-EASE, WEDNESDAYS at TEATIME
Alan Cooper
19 November 2008
KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL
Vocal-Ease, the University’s informal vocal ensemble provides performance opportunities not just for its singers but for aspiring young conductors drawn from within its ranks as well. This is an important and very worthwhile feature of musical education and one which may even be unique to Aberdeen University Music. The members enjoy getting together weekly to make music in a friendly and informal setting under the direction of one of Aberdeen’s most experienced choral directors, Alistair MacDonald. Judging by Wednesday’s splendid performance, Vocal-Ease has progressed by leaps and bounds since I heard them for the first time last year. Their choice of music, mostly sung a cappella, aspires to a far more sophisticated level of performance as demonstrated by the two pieces conducted by Alistair MacDonald at the opening of the recital. Cantate Domino by Guiseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657-1743) and Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd both benefited from bright exceptionally well balanced singing. The altos made every bit as much of an impact as the lovely clear sounding sopranos. Cantate Domino took off with all the brightness of totally confident singing. William Byrd’s gorgeous harmonic language was warmly burnished while its Latin text came across with startling clarity – no need for it to be written in the programme.
In order to give the choir a rest and the audience a spicing of variety, organ scholar Christopher Beaumont gave a fine steady performance on the Aubertin of A Voluntary by John Bull. Ed Jones conducted the chorus in Teach Me, O Lord by Thomas Attwood the finest performance of the entire recital and while the opening of Vivaldi’s Et in terra pax was a bit shaky, it did settle down after a few bars.
A little more time spent in judicious tuning of his cello would have turned a reasonable performance of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise by Ed Jones into an excellent one, then with Alistair MacDonald back in charge of the choir and Frauke Jürgensen at the Aubertin, John Rutter’s A Gaelic Blessing brought what was an enjoyable concert to a gentle, joyful and richly tuneful conclusion.