Newbury Choral Society, at St Nicolas Church, on Saturday, March 28

Newbury Choral Society's Spring Concert veered away from the conventional Requiem or Passion this year and featured instead a selection of operatic excerpts spanning two centuries.

The choir, directed enthusiastically and sympathetically by their guest conductor Daniel Jordan, responded with some energetic and well-rounded singing, getting the evening off to a rousing start with a vivacious rendering of the Roman Carnival scene in Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini.

One French composer led to another as we then listened to the Habanera and March of the Toreadors from Bizet's Carmen.

Extracts from three of Mozart's operas followed, with arias from Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni sandwiching the Voyagers' Chorus from Idomeneo. The first half ended with the final section of Act 3 from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, culminating in Dido's beautiful Lament and the chorus of cupids mourning her death.

After the interval we began with Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, whose grand Procession and Chorale preceded the sprightly Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. In these, the choir conveyed with great panache Borodin's bright exhilarating music.

They then turned their attention to Verdi with a captivating performance of the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco. Brindisi, the drinking song from La Traviata, and the Triumphal Scene from Aida, both attacked with great gusto, continued the choir's homage to Verdi, before a passionate and wholehearted rendering of Mascagni's Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana brought the concert to a triumphant conclusion.

It was altogether a wonderful evening of joyful music-making, to which the four excellent soloists - soprano Julie Cooper, mezzo soprano Annie Gill, tenor Tom Raskin and baritone Ben Davies - contributed their professional expertise both in arias and in support of the chorus.

Iain Farrington, who accompanied the singers on the piano, also did an outstanding job, his brilliant technique doing full justice to the complex arrangements in front of him.

Over the course of the evening we were regaled with so many gorgeous tunes by the choir at the top of their game, that it was difficult to know which to hum on the way home.

RICHARD MOORE

Thanks are due to the Newbury Weekly News for permission to reproduce this article.
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