6th November 2021

CIRENCESTER CHORAL SOCIETY – GREAT CHORAL CLASSICS
Cirencester Parish Church, 6th November 2021

It’s definitely autumn…forget salads and picnics, think soup, hot chocolate and tea and cake by the fireside. Comforting, warming and familiar. That’s what Cirencester Choral Society gave us too …a warm, comforting concert of beautiful, colourful pieces and a welcome return to live music in the stunning surroundings of St John the Baptist church.

How wonderful to see and hear those voices working together after a tremendously tough year for all choirs, choral music and their congregations. The opening piece from Haydn perhaps captured the mood of the previous year “Insane and stupid worries flood our minds, often mad fury fills the heart, robbed of hope’ Not the best known of pieces and overshadowed by his other works like The Creation – so great to hear it performed, followed by the very familiar and comforting Ave Verum Corpus from Mozart.

Say ‘Pachelbel’ and most people think of the Canon in D – a wedding favourite but also, sadly, one of those chosen to entertain you while the call centre tells you how important your call is to them. Instead, we had Pachelbel’s Magnificat – a wonderful cascading complex piece that demands careful attention to timing and tuning and the choir (and conductor) did a great job in such a large auditorium with lots of voices to co-ordinate.
Two organ interludes provided great contrasts – Bach from the early 18th century and a very different piece from Simon Preston in 1965 (himself a renowned Bach performer) – reminiscent in places of Gershwin in its almost jazzy tone and mood.

The poignant “Crossing the Bar” by Parry was dedicated to three choir members lost in the last year and then some fireworks – it was November 6th after all. Stanford’s “For lo, I raise up” with its clear anti-war message. Written in 1914 and not published until 1939 – two terrible years never to be forgotten. You can almost hear the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding through the opening bars. Stirring and scary at the same time and lots of energy from the choir to deliver it.

The joyous twelve movements of the Gloria from Vivaldi filled the second half, and the choir and soloists filled the space with the beautiful variety of upbeat movements and period of reflection. An uplifting, invigorating and warming end to the evening’s proceedings – like a tot of something before bedtime – now there’s a thought…

Thank you to Cirencester Choral Society under the guidance of Carleton Etherington and the majestic organ under the fingers and feet of John Wright. It’s great to be back in their company and surrounded by live music again…

Clive Hook
8th November 2021