The Cappella Singers sang at Leonard Stanley in the last of this year's 'Music at the Priory' festival concerts. This is a venue where they have sung before; the first occasion being in 1979, and the most recent in 2004. An enthusiastic & knowledgeable audience enjoyed a programme with a floral theme, music for a midsummer evening. After some miserable weather, as we came out of the church, the sun provided us with a superb sunset to round off a very enjoyable evening.
The Singers and Philip clearly enjoyed singing in this venue and gave a sparkling performance. They were joined by Michael Haynes, who gave us three superb piano solos, all with a floral theme, my favourite being the Billy Mayerl “Sweet William”; however all three pieces were well applauded by the audience.
The first song, Morley’s “Sing we & chaunt it”, sung with clarity, and superb voice control showed that this was to be one of the best of the Cappella Singers’ recent concerts. It was followed by the more sombre song Ward’s “Out from the Vale”, and “Gather ye rosebuds”, perfectly balanced.
With the next selection, perhaps the only disappointment was Novello’s “We’ll gather lilacs”, the last song before the interval. This is a song where the words are very emotive, and the arrangement would have benefited from being less fussy.
"Sweet William" was followed by an arrangement for piano and 4-part chorus of Faure’s unusual, but well-known, "Pavane". It was pleasant to welcome back Jonquil Dodd as a soloist, when she was joined by Celia McCabe in a duet by Delibes, “Dome epais”, known widely for its use in the BA advertisement.
The evening ended on a high note with "Shenandoah", arranged by James Erb, and Hadley’s “My beloved spake”, first written for a student’s wedding at Ripon and recently broadcast in Choral Evensong from Ripon Cathedral.
Ann Bailey
The Cappella Singers: Registered Charity no 262530