Review Details
MUSIC IN THE UNIVERSITY CAROLS FOR ALL! THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN CHORAL SOCIETY & CONCERT BAND
Alan Cooper
13 December 2009
St. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, this piece of homespun philosophy has stood the annual University Carol Concert in good stead over the last twenty years. Roger Williams has been fronting these concerts for that many years now and he has always stuck to the same formula which once again ensured full houses for both an afternoon and an evening performance. And what was the formula? Plenty of opportunities for the congregation to join in the singing - carols old and new, serious as well as light-hearted from the Choral Society, some solo items featuring gifted choir members and two joyful rousing performances from the Concert Band flourishing splendidly these days under the expert direction of Lt.Col. (Ret’d) Robert J. Owen. It is amazing to realise that one of the principal contributors to the success of these concerts, organist George Chittenden, was not long out of his cradle when these concerts first started. His playing contributed considerably to the success of A Babe Is Born, the refreshingly spiky carol setting by the Welsh composer William Mathias. This was followed by the contrasting softness of John Rutter’s The Nativity Carol and then by the rather quirky humour of John Gardner’s The Holly and the Ivy.
Philip Sparke is a name regularly associated with fine band arrangements and A Christmas Herald was no exception. Ode to Greensleeves with a fine trumpet solo was followed by Dashing through the Snow, a fun filled tribute to Pierpont’s Jingle Bells. How could there have been a Christmas before this piece was composed?
This year three superb soloists from the choir graced two of the Choral Society’s second contribution. Chris Barr’s lovely clear singing of The Three Kings by Peter Cornelius was backed almost Hollywood style by soft distant backing from the choir while Amybeth Smith and Raymond Jappy were the two ideal soloists in Harold Darke’s In the Bleak Mid Winter.
Celtic Carol opened the Concert Band’s second set and the instrumentalists were joined by the male voices of the chorus in a moving arrangement of Stille Nacht. James Curnow like Philip Sparke is another great name from the band world and his Festive Fanfare a happy arrangement of Joy to the World raised the roof nicely.
There seemed to be even more for us in the congregation to sing this year. I remember the early days when Roger Williams had to work really hard to get the audience going, but after twenty years we are all house trained and carol friendly so the choruses of Rutter’s Star Carol and of The Twelve Days of Christmas ran like clockwork let alone the male and female verses of Good King Wenceslas.
And as a special treat this year, Figgy Pudding was prominently back on the menu being loudly demanded by the choir as they wished us all a Merry Christmas. Yum, Yum!