Reviews

ABERDEEN ORPHEUS CHOIR

CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2022

JANE MURRAY CONDUCTOR

MANNOFIELD PARISH CHURCH

Saturday 10th December 2022

Ishbel Burn Guest recorder soloist

Erika Fairhead Piano and organ (keyboard) accompanist for choir and audience

Jane Murray Piano accompanist for recorder players

Elli Phethean Second guest recorder player in duo

Jane Rodger Accompanying flautist

Despite atrocious weather, Mannofield Church was packed to the door on Saturday for this year’s Christmas Concert by Aberdeen Orpheus Choir. Every Orpheus Choir Concert under the direction of Jane Murray is sure to be something special, particularly at Christmas. Jane always invites a talented young musician to fill guest spots in her programme. This year it was an absolutely brilliant young recorder player, Ishbel Burn, a fifth year student from Robert Gordon’s College. For me though, what is always uniquely compelling about a Jane Murray concert is the number of fascinating composers whose music for the choir she introduces us to. This year there were nine choir composers whose music was a particular delight to hear. Of course, several of those were familiar to me and probably to many others in the audience. There was John Rutter whose music is virtually synonymous with Christmas. Not far behind him is Bob Chilcott, a fantastic Christmas composer. In 2016 he came to Aberdeen to work with the Orpheus Choir. I still have a record of Fauré’s Requiem on which he is the boy treble soloist. I was delighted to find a carol arrangement by James D. Reith whom I knew well as a composer of fiddle music and of first class art songs. For these alone, the concert was really worthwhile.

Jane Murray always gets the audience to join in the carol singing. All those sitting round me were really up for it, so full of enthusiasm. None of that, “Oh, come on now, Jane can’t hear you!” You might remember from some other concerts.

Saturday’s programme opened with a setting of carols by Gordon Langford, best known as a brass band composer. ‘A Christmas Fantasy’ opened for choir with ‘Gloria’ before we all joined in with ‘It came upon the midnight clear’. The choir performed ‘In Dulci Jubilo’, ‘Unto us a child is born’ then our splendid accompanist Erika Fairhead came to the fore with ‘Ding Dong Merrily’. We sang along with ‘Angels from the realms of glory’ and ‘The first Nowell’. After that, we felt we were all part of the concert, perfectly at home. We all sang even more lustily in the next item ‘Hark! The herald angels sing’ with the sopranos soaring brilliantly skyward in their descant in the final verse.

I suppose you could say that the concert proper for the Orpheus Choir really got going after that with John Rutter’s colourful setting of ‘I saw three ships’ in which the men got to whistle at one point. Bob Chilcott’s ‘The Advent Candle’ had delicious choral harmonies with a smart piano accompaniment.

Our special guest performer Ishbel Burn came forward accompanied on piano by Jane Murray for the first of two ‘Recipes for Recorder’ by Alan Bullard. This was, dare I say, a tasty performance of ‘Coffee and Croissants’.

James D Reith’s marvellously imaginative arrangement of ‘Good King Wenceslas’ had been composed specially for the Orpheus Choir when he was for a short time their conductor. We all joined lustily in the final verse.

Canadian composer Mark Sirett’s setting of a poem by e e cummings entitled ‘little tree’ (no capitals please) was for female voices only, with a flute part played by Jane Rodger, a real delight. The female voices opened ‘Night of Silence’ which was blended with ‘Silent Night’ with us all joining in. It worked magically well.

On treble recorder, Ishbel Burn played two movements from Handel’s ‘Sonata in d minor’. Somehow, it reminded me of the Christmas interlude from Messiah fitting the season very nicely indeed.

Smooth flowing male voices opened Philip Stopford’s ‘Ave Maria’ then John Rutter’s jovial setting of ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ led to Johann Nicolaus Hanff’s ‘Alleluia’ with choir and recorder duo, Ishbel Burn with Elli Phethean.

Another piece by Philip W. Stopford, ‘Jubilate’ opened the second half of the concert with rich and enthusiastic choral singing. We joined in ‘Unto us is born a Son’  with glorious harmonies from the choir in their own second verse.

John Rutter’s attractive ‘Christmas Lullaby’ was followed by the choir’s zestful performance of two  numbers from Britten’s ‘A Ceremony of Carols’.

Two more recorder movements from Handel’s ‘Sonata in d minor’ were followed by a fascinating carol that was new to me, the ‘Castleton Carol’. Then I was entranced by one of the highlights of the entire performance ‘Ecce Novum’ by the Norwegian composer, now resident in the USA, Ola Gjelo. The piano introduced a delicious key change.

The second of Alan Bullard’s  ‘Recipes for Recorder’ was the jolly dance-like ‘Fish and Chips’, followed by the ‘Sussex Carol – On Christmas night all Christians sing’ our last chance to join in. Bob Chilcott was back with his scrumptious setting of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ before the Orpheus Choir lifted our spirits with their all smiling performance of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’. It was every bit as good as Judy Garland’s in ‘Meet Me in St Louis’. Actually her version is meant to be rather sad in the film. The Orpheus Choir were definitely not that. They were radiant!

ALAN COOPER