A carnival of choirs

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 6

A carnival of choirs

By

HEATH LEES

The Oxford Terrace Bap-1 c tist Church was full for the ? thirty-first annual concert of 1 Christchurch community IE choirs. Those taking part were I? the Aeoilan Choir, the 11 Canterbury Singers, Adding-1 „ ton Workshops W.E.A. ; Choir, the South Brighton E Choral Society, and Rising- 1 holme Community Choir. * Each group sang its own p selection and combined in a the final song. The in- b strumental interlude was supplied by Russell Kent, t who played two organ items t in a convincing and musical e fashion. The choirs chose in the p main to rely on what may s

best be described as “typi- i cal” choral-society pieces — 1 arrangements of shanties, i f o 1 k-songs and early i twentieth-century middle- ' brow compositions. It was pleasing to see how most of i the choirs attended so care- ; fully to many matters of presentation, especially die- I tion and dynamic control. There was a continuous sense of enjoyment, and though the concert was presented traditionally the atmosphere was far from being stilted or artificial. It was unfortunate, though, that ail the choirs used the piano so often, even for items that were intended to be sung unaccompanied. The instrument was I so out of tune that the cho- ’

ral intonation inevitably suffered. The Risingholme Community Choir had sufficient courage and musical conviction to dispense with the piano occasionally, thus reaping the benefit of greater expressiveness and a more obviously homogenous blend of tone. In some ways this concert is the adult counterpart of the schools’ music festival (again sponsored by the Civic Music Council) and it is good to have a focus like this where choirs and audience can meet to share their enthusiasm and, without greatly wishing the pun, compare notes. Even if the musical standard could have been higher the occasion was rewarding.