Words & Music, St. Thomas, 2011
Once again another musical miracle was witnessed in the peerless singing and wonderful music-making of Farnham Youth Choir and its alumni in St. Thomas-on-The Bourne on Saturday, 10th December. This annual event of seasonal readings (well projected by officers and Friends of FYC) and a wide variety of high quality compositions, some combining the two choirs, demonstrated the depth of instinctive musicality and training which animates FYC. Indeed, the strength of musical ability and training which infuses FYC is brought back to life in the alumni choir which met for a day of concentrated - and highly enjoyable - rehearsal with David Victor-Smith prior to the concert. (Your writer took part in that and discovered their music from the inside!)
The evening’s music took us on a journey from the foretelling of the coming of Christ to the visit of the Eastern Kings, but it also made reference to King Herod’s attempts to silence Jesus by murdering a multitude of his contemporaries, as heard in The Coventry Carol. Thomas Weelkes’ Hosanna to the Son of David (traditionally sung at Advent but referring back to the rejoicing of the crowds as they welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday), had been expertly reconstructed for upper voices by FYC’s Musical Director, David Victor-Smith. It was sung with a great sense of expressive line, perfectly balanced and coloured chords, and with a wonderful quality of tuning (which exemplified the whole concert). Indeed, the compressing of the musical line in the clever arrangement served to increase the richness and demonstrated the tonal variety that FYC manage to achieve consistently through each and every item in the programme.
From the first moment in the Carol of the Bells the thoroughness of training and control of technique, instinctive in application, was demonstrated. Indeed, from beginning to end the richness of harmony was supported by rhythmic precision and virtuosity of colour and articulation of the very clear text. In Gabriel’s Message there was infinite subtlety of style and phrasing. The medieval Gaudete had a silvery opening with its vital, dynamic contrast and very full and richly coloured lower line.
There is an exceptional ability and instinctive musical intelligence at work throughout the choir in the very precise control of tone production and articulation but also in voices which one moment are singing a very low-lying melody with rich dark tones, and the next joining the sopranos in their melody, but yet blending imperceptibly.
The choir of former members joined in highly characterised performances of spirituals arranged by Gwyn Arch and Darrel Runswick, whose Children, go where I send thee, in declamatory choral contrast and rhythmic clarity, were all conveyed with conviction and energy . In Bob Chilcott’s For Him all stars were made the Alumni created the discreetly dark harmonic chords supporting FYC’s beautifully blended and coloured unison tone and line. There were some exceptionally fine solos, some shorter and some longer. Harold Darke’s In the Bleak Midwinter discovered only 50 years ago, epitomised the clarity of text and warmth of tone and feeling inherent in FYC’s singing.
John Owen Edward’s Wassail, played brilliantly on the piano by the choir’s accompanist Julia Freeman, and Sir David Willcock’s arrangement of The Sussex Carol, with its sparkling organ accompaniment played by Julian Cooper (who gave the audience a performance of Widor’s Toccata from the Fifth Organ Symphony), created a happy climax to the evening’s music-making and readings and sent the audience away to their mulled wine and mince pies with very warm memories of the young people’s music-making.
Christopher Hand
