{"id":2400,"date":"2015-07-05T19:40:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T18:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=2400"},"modified":"2015-07-05T19:48:01","modified_gmt":"2015-07-05T18:48:01","slug":"bath-camerata-spirit-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=2400","title":{"rendered":"Bath Camerata: Spirit of America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The Guildhall, Bath, 4 July 2015<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bath-Camerata1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2406\" alt=\"Bath Camerata\" src=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bath-Camerata1.jpg\" width=\"495\" height=\"102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bath-Camerata1.jpg 495w, https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bath-Camerata1-300x61.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bath\u2019s prestigious chamber choir chose to celebrate American Independence Day this Saturday with an all-American programme, and where more appropriate than the splendours of Bath\u2019s Guildhall, built at precisely the same moment as our cousins across The Pond were fighting to cede from the English Crown. Sir Joshua Reynolds\u2019s portrait of George III looked out across the Guildhall audience as Bath Camerata took to the stage. He would hardly have approved of such celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>After 29 years under the leadership of former King\u2019s Singer Nigel Perrin, Bath Camerata was also marking its own quiet revolution. This was the first outing under the direction of their gifted new conductor, Benjamin Goodson. And what a splendid debut it was, announcing a renewed focus and purpose from this much-loved choir.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the concert stood a beautiful arrangement of the traditional American song <i>Shenandoah<\/i>, sung with quiet intensity. Tippett\u2019s Spiritual arrangements, Barber\u2019s famous <i>Adagio<\/i> arranged for voices, and Bernstein\u2019s jazzy <i>Warm Up<\/i> demonstrated to the full the choir\u2019s impressive expressive range, moving with ease between very different styles. When they sing softly, the music has a powerful concentration; when the 24 voices go off at full tilt, they blow you out of your seat.<\/p>\n<p>Britten\u2019s exceedingly English <i>Flower Songs<\/i> seemed a little out of place in this programme, and the choir too did not appear entirely convinced, but their strength is their trademark arrangements of popular songs. Regulars will have heard Billy Joel\u2019s <i>And So It Goes<\/i> many times before, and they perform it brilliantly. Everyone was tapping their feet by the end, and the lengthy ovation was richly deserved.<\/p>\n<p>An excellent start, then, for a new era with Bath Camerata. We look forward with excitement to their development over the coming years. They are truly the jewel in Bath\u2019s choral crown.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Cross<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Guildhall, Bath, 4 July 2015 Bath\u2019s prestigious chamber choir chose to celebrate American Independence Day this Saturday with an all-American programme, and where more appropriate than the splendours of Bath\u2019s Guildhall, built at precisely the same moment as our &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=2400\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2400"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2407,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions\/2407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}