TOUR 2000 Reviews

'Somerset  Chamber Choir

from inside and out’

Taunton Times 

August 2000

by Katharine Courts

Last year I was lucky enough to receive review tickets to hear Somerset Chamber Choir perform Mozart’s Requiem in Wells Cathedral.

Of course the choir’s reputation had preceded them, and being a long-time singer myself I was interested to hear how good they really were.

By the end of the concert I had sworn never to hear them again, because from now on I wanted to be up there singing with them, and this year that is precisely what I did.

And I truly had a wonderful, challenging and fun time.

Unlike many choirs there is no regular commitment to the SCC but when commitment is required it is expected.

Five weekends of intensive rehearsal during the year culminate in the two concerts per annum, one at the turn of the year and one in the summer.

The choir’s 60 or so members met the weekend before the concert at Hambridge village hall for a two day intensive session of fine tonsil- tuning, dynamic leveling, consonant –cutting and general polishing of the music which members were supposed to have worked on since it was issued back in April.

But it wasn’t all hard work.

Social chats and catch ups among group members, as well as lots of jokes and plenty of school boy humour were the order of the weekend which included pub lunches and sunny picnics.

We spent the day of the concert rehearsing with the orchestra in the cathedral, but were let out with lots of time to picnic together in nearby gardens, or wander around mystical Wells before we gathered together in the musty undercroft ready for our final performance.

I remarked to a new choir friend that the event itself felt a bit like a roast dinner - so much hard work gobbled up in such a short time.

But like a greedy and appreciative family, our audience seemed to savour every flavour of our exciting and often daring programme, and the evening went swiftly but very sweetly.

My first (but I sincerely hope not my last) experience with the choir came to and end in a hotel bar in Wells (how apt!) where we all shared together in our exhilaration and success with our near and dear ones and members of the choirs Friend’s scheme.

Having sung throughout my Tontine School and university days I had forgotten in the intervening time the tremendous joy singing with such a choir can bring, and how exciting and fun the social side can be when you pull off such an amazing fear through excellent leadership and disciplined team work.

The choir is launching a recruitment drive for other new members, aged between 18 and 35 years, and who have some connection, past or present, with Somerset or its near neighbours. 

‘Heavenly voices ring out in 

the Cathedral’

Taunton Times

August 2000 

By Val Courts

I first had the enormous pleasure of hearing Somerset Chamber Choir sing about three or four years ago at Wells Cathedral, and I have been an enthusiastic member ever since.

Officially an ‘amateur’ choir, the sheer consistent professionalism of this choir’s performances never fails to amaze me, not just through the quality of their own singing, and admirable discipline, but by the fabulous choice of music and the skill of the accompanying orchestra and soloists.

This year’s concert was no less representative of the incredibly high reputation the choir has developed during its 16 years of existence, with a programme including Handel’s Zadok the Priest, and My Heart is Inditing, Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus and in celebration of the 250^th anniversary of Bach’s death, his famous Magnificat and a modern tribute piece by the Norwegian composer, Knut Nystedt.

The awesome Wells Cathedral with its soaring vaults and exciting acoustics was once again the apt setting for their summer concert, and despite its size, was filled by an admiring audience.

The building perfectly enhanced the daring and extremely effective performance of Nystedt’s Immortal Bach performed by the choir split into five, and spread out across the cathedral, with one choir singing from the high rear gallery.

But the effect once again confirmed conductor Graham Caldbeck’s skill at choosing lesser known and more technical pieces, and proved again that this choir is capable of just about anything.

And the popular pieces were no less brilliant.

Zadok has been performed more times than the choir have eaten hot dinners, but they still managed to give it a fresh feel which made hearing it a new pleasure and not an old bore.

Bach’s Magnificat and Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus seemed to be faultless, with stunning performances by soloists Helen Groves, Joanne Lunn, Louise Mott, Ivan Sharpe and Jonathan Gunthorpe whose heavenly voices seemed to wash through the cathedral and over a delighted audience.

Solo organist Richard Pearce performed a really superb Bach’s Passaglia & Fugue in C Minor, and once again the professionalism of the choir’s sound was made possible by the brilliant Canzona orchestra, directed by Theresa Caudle.

Well done again SCC, and I look forward with great anticipation to the December concert in Taunton, Miracles and Mysteries and a performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers this time next year.

‘Yes, the BEST  choral concert 

of the year’

Somerset County Gazette

August 2000

By Phillip Knighton

It was probably the best choral concert of the year – and I nearly missed it.

A seven o’clock start at Wells Cathedral is tricky when I have to close my shop in Wellington and so the opening preamble was already in progress when I slipped gratefully into my seat.

I know quality when I hear it and over the years the Somerset Chamber Choir, conducted by Graham Caldbeck, has firmly established itself as among the best.

The programme chosen was guaranteed to please and to demonstrate the choir’s capabilities to the full: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Nystedt provided a heady mixture and even at £20 a seat it was a bargain.

Those most famous of anthems ‘Zadok the Priest’ and ‘My Heart is Inditing’ opened the evening with great vigour and style – indeed it was that sharpness of detail and zest that characterised the entire evening.

Vivaldi’s ‘Dixit Dominus’ gave us a vivid demonstration of this approach and with Joanne Lunn, Helen Groves, Ivan Sharpe and Johnathan Gunthorpe as soloists total satisfaction was guaranteed.  I can never resist contributions by Richard Pearce and Bach’s Passcaglia and Fugue in C minor fulfilled all expectations.  Likewise the choir’s thrilling Bach Magnificat, full of life and making the very best of this most inventive of scores.

Louise Mott joined the soloists and it seemed that everyone could do no wrong.  The orchestral support by Canzona was also of the highest order and this performance would be hard to better.

And so to that mystery item by Knut Nystedt – Immortal Bach.  With the choir divided into five sections and placed around the cathedral, Graham Caldbeck directed from the centre of the nave.  The compulsive repetition of three Bach phrases overlaid and sung at differing tempi reached crucial resonance points at crucial moments.  The result was simply stunning.

So I nearly missed the unmissable.  Perhaps should save up for a faster car or move my business to Wells.

  Plymouth Review