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Aylesbury Choral Society chose to celebrate Mozart’s 250th anniversary not only with a piece of his music, but also with works by two of his lesser known exact contemporaries, at its concert at St Mary’s Church on Saturday April 1. The concert opened with an instrumental piece, Sinfonia Buffa in F Major by Josef Martin Kraus, who worked mainly at the court of Gustav III of Sweden. Although I don’t think that anyone was convinced that Kraus is a forgotten genius, this was a pleasant enough appetiser, and well played by the Frideswide Ensemble of Oxford on instruments authentic to the period. The next composer to be unveiled was Thomas Linley Junior, born in Bath to a musical family, and, on the basis of The Song of Moses, much more of a force to be reckoned with. The Song of Moses takes place shortly after the Red Sea incident with praises to God interspersed with descriptions of the fate of the Egyptian host. John Hoadly’s libretto had some dire turns of phrase – and in an unfortunate coincidence mirrored the fate of the composer: “in vain for help they cried. They sank like lead at once, and died”. The music however rose above all this as did the singing of the choir, who packed a considerable punch as Israelites and Egyptians, and the four soloists, sopranos Lynsey Docherty and Michelle Walton, tenor Philip Salmon and bass Roland Davitt. There was little for the men to do, apart from an astonishing bass aria ‘Mong the Gods By Men Adored, but plenty of full-on flamboyance from the ladies. After the interval it was Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, a sublime piece of music wonderfully performed by all. The choir handled the complexity of the writing and its various moods extremely well, there was some gorgeous singing from both Lynsey and Michelle and everything was kept on track by conductor Peter Leech. Enthusiastic applause from a full house brought a most enjoyable evening of music to a close. Joss O’Kelly |
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