{"id":4811,"date":"2018-12-09T15:24:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T15:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=4811"},"modified":"2018-12-09T15:25:51","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T15:25:51","slug":"bexhill-choral-society-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=4811","title":{"rendered":"Bexhill Choral Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Augustine\u2019s Church, Bexhill, 8 December 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bexhill Choral\u2019s annual Carols and Music for Christmas<\/em> may follow a well-worn path but it is the insertion of unexpected items which add to the pleasure of the event each year. On this occasion it was the opening items \u2013 an exhilarating Torches! Torches! <\/em>followed by the mellow glow of Berlioz\u2019 Shepherd\u2019s Farewell<\/em> which set the tone. Throughout, the crisp rhythms of the choir and the clear diction added to the sense of immediacy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If Gounod\u2019s Nazareth<\/em> is almost too sentimental for a 21st<\/sup> century audience, Bob Chilcott\u2019s arrangements are always apt and Kenneth Roberts\u2019 own adaptations \u2013 in particular the Gloucestershire Wassail<\/em> and the concluding popular numbers \u2013 move the whole evening into a lighter and more personal vein.<\/p>\n

The choir were joined on this occasion by Peter Grevatt who sang with them for the Gounod and two carol arrangements, but was in his element with Bach\u2019s Grosser Herr<\/em> from the Christmas Oratorio. <\/em>Here he was supported by solo trumpeter, Andy Gill, and organist Nigel Howard. Performing from the balcony, in the vibrant acoustic, it was spine-tinglingly exciting.<\/p>\n

We were as usual invited to join in the choral carols, which included the Yorkshire version of While Shepherds <\/em>to the tune of Ilkley Moor, <\/em>and a rousing finale with O come all ye faithful.<\/em><\/p>\n

Accompaniment throughout was provided by Nigel Howard on piano and organ \u2013 commuting between the two as needed \u2013 and the Cinque Ports Brass who flowered beautifully in the final movement of \u00a0Schutz\u2019 Christmas Story. <\/em>As is now traditional, Kenneth Roberts played clarinet and saxophone for the final songs, and had joined the brass from the piano for the jazz classic Christmas night in Harlem. <\/em><\/p>\n

All involved were on fine form throughout and we can look forward to the spring concert which will bring us works by John Rutter and Kenneth Roberts on 11 May 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Augustine\u2019s Church, Bexhill, 8 December 2018 Bexhill Choral\u2019s annual Carols and Music for Christmas may follow a well-worn path but it is the insertion of unexpected items which add to the pleasure of the event each year. On this … Continue reading →<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811"}],"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=4811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4815,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions\/4815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}