Aylesbury Choral Society performed their Christmas concert in St Mary's Church on Saturday, December 9, to a packed and attentive house. The church is acoustically infinitely superior to the Civic Centre, by far the most important factor in a concert, although large pillars do tend to obscure the view!
However, I could see the smart green jackets of the female choristers and that many of the choir were encouragingly young.

Conductor Stephen Dummer's enthusiastic rapport with both choir and orchestra drew from both a committed performance.

The works chosen were unfamiliar to many of the audience, but they clearly appreciated the opportunity to listen to something different. The concert began with Respighi's Lauda per la Nativita del Signore, a delightful work full of languid melodies for both choir and soloists. Mezzo soprano Alenka Ponjavic sang beautifully as the Virgin Mary, with excellent support from Alison Smart's Angel and Huw Rhys-Evans' Shepherd.

WIth a cast like this, one could make a reasonable guess at what was going on, but a translation in the programme of the Italian text might have been helpful.

Donizetti is best known as an opera composer, but next we had the opportunity to hear his Concertino for Cor Anglais and Orchestra. Soloist Martin Packman's playing was exemplary, but it was a rather odd work, sounding more German than Italian with the orchestra playing the part of a marching band.

The final work of the evening was by another operatic composer, Puccini, who wrote Messa di Gloria when he was only 17. It was clear that even then he had opera in his blood, and, I would guess, that he was a fan of Verdi for it is full of dramatic choruses, interspersed with melodic solos that sound very like arias. Huw Rhys-Evans was joined for this piece by baritone Simon Kirkbride.

Overall this was an unusual and interesting concert and one that the performers clearly enjoyed as much as the audience.

Joss O'Kelly

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