The Market Harborough Choral Society

(most recent first)

Last Night of the Proms

With the town positively awash with red and white English flags for the World Cup, its was a treat to go to the Choral Society’s Last Night of the Proms and see some blue as well!

The Methodist hall was decked with red, white and blue flags, bunting and balloons, and the audience waved Union Jacks as we enjoyed the best of Great Britain’s music. The only soloist was guest Patricia Douglas, a young soprano from Harborough just beginning her career.

With that beautiful soaring voice she should go far. She was a joy.

Under MD Anselm Kersten, and accompanied by Alan Barraclough and David Hubery, the choir presented a diverse programme.

I particularly loved the amusing compilation Name That Tune.

However, the highlight was the traditional ending, with the audience lustily joining in. Balloons tumbled on to us from above, flags waved, feet stamped. The audience were beaming.

Vivien Window

"Massive work a big treat and fun to listen to"

Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle

Robert Smyth School, March 20, 2010

Rossini's operatic setting of the Mass is, despite its name, a massive piece of work, and it filled the programme at the Harborough Choral Society's concert last Saturday at the Robert Smyth School.

They welcomed back the excellent Leicester Symphony Orchestra and Alan Barraclough, playing the organ solo, and Anselm Kersten was their musical director energetically wielding  the baton.

They  also invited four professional opera singers to perform solos.

The glorious voices of Janet Shell (mezzo soprano), Deborah Stoddart (soprano), Joseph Timmons (tenor) and John Lofthouse (baritone) were strong enough to be clearly heard above the orchestra yet blended into the choir's fantastic singing.

This evening was a treat. Rossini is best known for the William Tell overture (we can all hum that one) and this Mass was not thought to be “particularly petite, solemn or even liturgical” when written.

Rossini said he wrote it as the last “sin of old age” and filled it full of “simple melodies and varied rhythms”.

A choir member told me “it was not easy, but great fun to sing”.

It was fun to listen to as well! I tapped my feet along to the music a few times (in a Mass). But I also found the beautiful singing really moving.

Rossini is a composer I shall look for again.

Vivien Window

"Concert Had Great Mix"

Carols by Candlelight

As we trudged through the snow we knew it would be worth the effort.

This annual concert is always a great mix of songs and carols, old and new, and we have the bonus of joining in the better-known ones under Anselm Kersten’s expert baton ( he always informs us we have passed his audition and are now in the choir!)

This year the unaccompanied singing seemed particularly sweet, to music by composers such as Bach and Sibelius, Come Now with Awe, sung to Sibelius’ Finlandia was memorable.

Several soloists were featured – among them Tina Marshall, whose soaring soprano vice was followed by the mellow voice of Jane Callaghan singing the modern Two Thousand Miles with guitar backing. Two beautiful pieces, yet totally different.

The guest soloist was a flautist, 20-year-old music student Amy Thompson who has been supported in her career by many local people including MHCS. Her playing of Mouquet’s Pan et les Oiseaux from La Flute de Pan carried us to summer and meadows full of birdsong and drew prolonged applause.

Steve Pointer read the moving When the World was Dark, reminding us of the spirituality of Christmas, and the choir closed the concert with the jolly We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

Vivien Window

Thank you so much, both choirs

“simply wonderful”

Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana

Market Harborough Choral Society with Lutterworth Choral Society Robert Smyth School, Market Harborough, Saturday November 21, 2009

Put together two choral societies numbering about 100 singers, three professional soloists, two pianists and a complete percussion section, all under the direction of two musical directors, Anselm Kersten and Alan Barraclough, rehearse them long and hard – and you have a simply wonderful Carmina Burana.

In the first half, they paid homage to Handel with choruses from the Messiah and soloists Hilary Fisher and Helen Whittington sang an amusing duet and the melodious Barcarolle from Offenbach.

Baritone Andrew Mayor was the strutting toreador from Carmen.

Carmina Burana begins with the well-known melodies that have been hijacked by television commercials.

It moves into the beautiful singing of essentially 24 medieval poems.

These were found in manuscripts in a German monastery but are anything but religious – judging by the translations it’s perhaps just as well they were not sung in English!

The percussion section gave fantastic support and the soloists’ voices were amazing. I could scarcely believe the soprano could hit the top notes that she did.

I thought I knew this musical piece, but I had never actually heard it sung before and I fell totally in love with it!

Vivien Window

"Our Favourite Things"

Saturday 13th June 2009

Market Harborough Choral Society is truly democratic. Not only do they accept interested singers without audition, the singers were then allowed to choose their favourite songs for this concert. Admittedly the favourites were then voted upon, but the result was an interesting mix of music, which the large audience obviously loved.

Most of the songs were modern but there was music from Mozart and Purcell as well as Richard Rodgers, Bernstein, Jerome Kern and even Sting and George Formby! (The latter may not have recognised the song lyrics, by a choir member, Charlotta Hickie, but the banjo playing and singing by John Garratt were pure Formby).

As always the concert was a mix of music, beginning naturally enough with "My Favourite Things". MD Anselm Kersten made it clear (in one of his amusing chats to the audience) that “Sound of Music” wasn't his favourite thing, but we then moved on to such lovely songs as the unaccompanied "Autumn Leaves", the gorgeous "Gaelic Blessing" by Rutter, Sting's "Fields of Gold" and songs from "West Side Story" - and possibly my favourite, a simple and moving arrangement of "Over the Rainbow".

Among soloists were Tina Marshall who sang a traditional air, Pauline Rainey a Purcell piece, Pam Abbott the simple "Vespers" and Sarah Lupton sang Jerome Kern accompanied by Martyn Brown on the clarinet. Trevor Hazlewood tried to convince Christine that "I Remember It Well", from "Gigi". (With little success!)

We were fortunate to have Jemma Freestone, a Market Harborough music student, play the flute for us before she leaves to go to the Royal Welsh College of Music. What a talent! She deserves the MHCS sponsorship.

Thankyou MHCS, your slightly mad MD, Anselm(!) and accompanists Alan Barraclough and Christine Hodgson. You gave us a happy end to a beautiful carnival day.

Vivien Window

Magnificat!

March 28, 2009

Market Harborough Methodist Church

“the prolonged applause showed how much the audience had appreciated this wonderful concert”

The Choral Society, with musical director Anselm Kersten, invited members of Leicester Symphony Orchestra and the Sirocco Wind Quintet to perform in the latest concert.

So, with over 60 in the choir and a lot of musicians, the large audience had to squeeze into the Methodist Church!

Not that anyone minded with the wonderful programme of music ahead of us.

It began with Insanae et Vanae Curae by Haydn from the choir. Janice Doncaster (soprano) and Clare Davies (alto) then sang movements from Stabat Mater and I think the 18th century composer Pergolesi would have approved of their soaring soprano and chocolatey alto voices.

Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir was sung by a small group accompanied by Karen Silverwood and Ann Manley on violin and John Adams on cello.

The first Magnificat, a lesser-known work by Pergolesi, led us to the interval. It was powerful and serious with soloists Helen Scott, Clare Davies, Richard Blewitt and Trevor Hazlewood adding to its beauty.

The second half was given to the singing of John Rutter’s Magnificat.

He is well-known and loved for his short pieces and carols but he also composed large-scale works.

His Magnificat was first performed in 1990 at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

It evokes the spirit of the exuberant Mediterranean festivals to honour the Virgin Mary – and, at times, there was even a hint of musical theatre in his tuneful, energetic piece!

Janice Doncaster and Lise Moor were soloists and their soaring voices did justice to a quieter movement.

As the last ‘amen’ faded into silence, the prolonged applause showed how much the audience had appreciated this wonderful concert.

Vivien Window

Carols by Candelight

Christmas 2008

Magic of Christmas past revisited

Market Harborough Choral Society’s 40th Christmas Concert was performed before an audience of 200.

This choir of over 70 singers just love to sing and enjoy a challenge.

They presented over 30 items, including some we could join in with.

They sang serious Christmas songs, well-known carols and there was a spring of secular Christmas music and a few surprises too.

The concert began with a gentle carol, Once in Royal David’s City. Then modern 20th century composers were represented, proving that the art of carol writing is not dead. They included Rutter, Kendrick and Taverner, whose beautifully sung cathedral piece The Lamb was astonishing.

In the more serious first half musical director Anselm Kersten read accounts of the Christmas truce in the First World War. Later we all sang Adeste Fidelis, a carol in Latin just as the German soldiers had done.

After two lovely duets by Charlotta Hickie and Clare Wallington and Sarah Lupton and Pam Abbott and a solo by Lise Moore, we reached the interval with the upbeat Torches and Handel’s Joy to the World.

After refreshments we joined in Good King Wenceslas, setting the scene for the lighter Christmas music of the second half. Pauline Rainey and Jane Callaghan both sang solos. Jane’s Joni Mitchell number River was not traditional but was extremely beautiful.

The Kings of the Orient featured the fine voices of John Morley, Trevor Hazlewood and Neil Ryrie. The choir’s rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town was a long, long way from the awful jingly song you constantly hear in shops! I particularly loved Rutter’s Candlelight Carol.

Another Christmas surprise was an amusing modern poem about life today, penned and read by Charlotta Hickie.

This concert took me back to my childhood when Christmas was magic and all Christmas songs seemed as beautiful as they were sung at this concert.

So, many thanks to the choral society, and Happy Christmas.

Vivien Window

Summer concert 2008

"A night at the movies"

I expected the Market Harborough Choral Society's Summer concert "A Night at the Movies" to be all music from musicals so it was a surprise to be told, (tongue-in-cheek I think!), by their musical director, Anselm Kersten, that as he doesn’t like musicals we would not be hearing music from any! What then could we expect? We got a pick and mix of musical treats.

We heard amazing singing of Oscar winning film music. We heard music by composers as diverse as Handel and Bacharach. We heard gentle peaceful music from films about war, which surprised many of us. Barber's Adagio For Strings from the film "Platoon" could have been sung in a cathedral, and Clare Davies' lovely voice singing "The Deer Hunter" was memorable. During the choir's singing of Handel’s "And He shall Purify" from "Charlie Wilson's War", you could hear the helicopters, thanks to the guest percussionist Trevor Roach.

There was fun music too, opening with "Let's go to the Movies" from "Annie" - Anselm let one musical in! - and closing with "New York, New York". We had a medley of music from Bond movies, a comedy song "Usherettes Blues" from Charlotta Hickie, a wonderful unaccompanied rendition of "The Way We Were" from a small group within the society, "Waltzing in the Clouds" (with Pauline Rainey beating Deanna Durban at her own game!) and two beautiful arias from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" from Erika Hall, Janice Doncaster and Lise Moore. What an evening- and there was plenty more, singers and instrumentalists. The Society's President Phil Gibson (violinist) tore our heart strings with "Schindler's List" and talented young guest, Ben Freestone, on the clarinet and the saxophone, showed just why the Choral Society are sponsoring him as he moves on to Huddersfield University.

The Choral Society had a packed audience for a packed evening of delightful music, and the applause proved how much we appreciated them all.

Vivien Window

40th Anniversary Concert

10 November 2007

Market Harborough Choral Society's choice for this concert was perfect for Remembrance Day and certainly proved how far they have come in 40 years of existence. With over 90 choir members and supported by pupils from Kibworth High School, and members of Leicester Symphony Orchestra, their performance of " The Armed Man, a mass for peace", by Karl Jenkins was one of the most moving events I have attended.

All the concert was exceptional. Before the interval Alan Barraclough played Handel's Organ Concerto in G minor and the choir repeated parts of their inaugural performance, 40 years ago, of Handel's "Messiah". However even this great audience pleaser couldn't match the Karl Jenkins's piece for impact.

"The Armed Man" was commissioned for the millennium celebrations and was initially dedicated to the victims of Kosovo. It used sections of traditional mass interspersed with texts from such various sources as Dryden, Swift, Tennyson, Kipling, the Koran, verse written by a Hiroshima victim and, in a particularly harrowing section, the Hindu Mahabharata. This unusual mix gave us a Muslim muezzin's call to prayer followed by the beautiful Kyrie "Lord have mercy". Then Kipling's "Hymn before action" and Dryden's "Charge!" with its terrifying climax of blaring trumpets, crashing drums and agonised screams of dying, was followed by an eerie silence broken by the evocative sound of the lone trumpet playing "The Last Post". The mass began and ended with the use of the marching L'homme Arme tune, but the final words were "Better is peace".

This was not a concert you could nap through! It was thought provoking, unexpected and most of all, beautifully performed. The founder members of the Choral Society in the audience must have been very proud of the society that they began.

Vivien Window

Summer concert

June 2007

"An English Summer from Purcell to Pop"

The Market Harborough Choral Society is 40 years old this year, and on Saturday night they honoured three members with a presentation. Sheila Nunn, Bernard Colyer, and Roland Whatton have been in the choir since it began. The choir numbers around 70 now and at this concert they certainly showed their versatility. The music chosen, all by English composers from Elgar, Purcell and Handel, to Harrison, Lennon and McCartney and Lloyd Webber, was selected for a summer evening. So we had "Here comes the Sun", and perhaps more appropriately for this June, "As Torrents in Summer"! My personal favourite was a straight, and very sweet, rendition of "Christopher Robin is saying his prayers", it quite took me back to my childhood.

There was plenty of unaccompanied choral singing, readings from John Clare, Jane Austen and Pam Ayres and a chance for individual members of the choir to solo. Clare Davies sang "Where Corals Lie" in her warm contralto voice. Trevor Hazlewood showed again what a fine voice he has with "The Vagabond". Janice Doncaster sang a Shakespeare sonnet and hauntingly singing "Dido's Lament", in a strong alto voice, Jane Callaghan sounded just like Alison Moyet. Her "Remember me" sent prickles down the spine. We even had a Cornish folk song sung as a Barbershop Quartet, with Lady Tenor Sarah Lupton soloing.

However, choir members do more than just sing! Christine Hodgson and Celia Lever - Jones played "English Country Garden" in a piano duet and the surprise of the evening was John Garratt on the ukelele, quite out-doing George Formby with "Leaning on a Lamp-post".

The concert finished with songs from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat". It was an uplifting ending to a very entertaining evening and thanks must go to musical director Anselm Kersten and accompanist Alan Barraclough. Here's to the next 40 years!

Home