Saturday 7th June 2008 - Our Lady's Church, Formby
My spies had told me some time ago that the choir didn't think this was a good programme. Then my spy told me that at the last couple of rehearsals people were actually saying "you know, I think this will be good". Why did this choir not have faith in itself? The last few years have shown what they can achieve, and I was expecting nothing less than the usual - a well-prepared, musical and entertaining evening.
Whilst the idea of an alliterative theme for the Summer concert might be getting towards the end of its useful life for FCS, the choice of music for this Slavik influenced evening was far, far better than my informants had led me to believe it would be.
The idea of presenting a significant work - in this case the Mass in D by Dvorak - intersperced with other items, worked well. A Mass setting was never intended to be performed in one burst - so there seemed nothing wrong in breaking it up, and using it as the framework of the concert.
As has become the custom, local young musicians had a platform for their talents, and this year we were particularly lucky to have Elliott McDermott, Victoria Aindow, Elizabeth Bramhall and Johanna Jagger to play/sing for us.
Whilst they were, each in turn, in their youthful exuberance, real highlights, it would be unfair not to say that the star of the show was the Choral Society. Admirably and sensitively accompanied by David Houlder on the hired-in Phoenix digital organ, they probably rose to even greater heights in the unaccompanied items. The works by Tchaikovsky were fabulous - but even these were outshone by the two pieces by Rachmaninof.
An absolutely unique experience was to hear Rachmaninof's Bogoroditsye Dyevo (Ave Maria to you and me) in surround sound - the choir standing in one immense circle around the church - it was totally stunning. How did that work? David Holroyd's sheer impudence at risking the impossible once again proved his faith in his singers - and suggested it was probably greater than theirs had been in him during the preceding weeks. This was probably one of the best performances I've heard from FCS in all the many years I've been attending their concerts.
MC
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