St Augustine’s Church, Bexhill on Sea, Saturday 7 October 2017

A Baroque evening, moving from London to Venice with delights from Purcell to Vivaldi. If the most polished part of the evening came from the instrumentalists rather than the choir it may have been a result of the long summer break rather than any lack of musicality. Albinoni’s Double Oboe Concerto with Ruth Elias and Susan Hutton as soloists was polished and pleasing throughout, forming a suitable point of repose between Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir and Vivaldi’s Magnificat RV610.

Both of these larger choral works had a good sense of pace and the collective impact was secure.

In the first half the opening scene from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen allowed Peter Grevatt to combine his acting skills as a convincing drunk with his familiar rich baritone. This was equally impressive in his brief scene from Dido and Aeneas which brought some bright choral singing and fine solo work. Lucy Ashton – moving from Paris to Carthage – was artfully seductive as Belinda; Judith Buckle was a richly voiced Sorceress and Susannah Appleyard a moving Dido for the final lament. The choir were at their best in Purcell’s brief upbeat choruses but had some difficulty maintaining the line in the two anthems. Rejoice in the Lord Always was aided by sound solo work and some fine string playing. While some of the more reflective moments of Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei were pleasingly together, many of the entries appeared to be simply under-rehearsed. The men have certainly sounded much stronger in recent concerts. A pity – for the choir have an excellent history of well-focused performances and I am sure will impress us again at Christmas when they return for their Carol Concert at St Augustine’s on Saturday 9 December.