The Society gave its first concert of the season at St Mary's Church on Saturday December 10.

The first piece of the evening was Beethoven's Mass in C, a comparatively early piece that, while lacking the grandeur of his later work, is nevertheless a welcome addition to any programme.

The four soloists, Cheryl Enever, soprano, Anna Boucher, mezzo, Joseph Cornwell, tenor, and Mark Oldfield, baritone, didn't have any set pieces as such: instead melodies were passed between them and the choir with the sound interweaving in an almost fugue-like manner.

Before the interval, regular conductor Peter Leech directed both choir and orchestra in rousing renditions of three Christmas carols.

The main work of the evening was Hodie by Ralph Vaughan Williams, first performed at the Three Choirs Festival in 1954. This is an anthology work, telling the Christmas story from a variety of sources including the Bible, and poems by Milton, George Herbert and Thomas Hardy, selected to reflect both the theme and the different aspects of the composer's style.

The oratorio is linked together by a narration by choristers, here sopranos from Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School and Performing Arts College, who sang beautifully and whose pure voices enabled every word to be heard.

The soloists, minus the mezzo, had much more to do here and all three excelled: the soprano in Milton's Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, the tenor as the angel and in Drummond's Bright Portals of the Sky and the baritone in Hardy's The Oxen being particularly effective.

The choir too impressed throughout, both in the slower choral passages and the grander movements.

Mention too should go to the Chameleon Arts Orchestra, chamber sized but with brass, percussion and an electronic organ that took the parts of everything else that there wasn't room for. This was wonderful music, sung and played to perfection and the ideal start to the Christmas season.

Joss O'Kelly

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