MUSICALS PAUL'S.

Evening Star, Issue 8931, 15 September 1892, Page 2

MUSICALS PAUL'S.

The musical programme presented at the pro-cathedral last night was heartily enjoyed by a large congregation. The collect hiving beon read by Archdeacon Edwards, Mr Timaon played Handel's occasional overture to the entire satisfaction of those present, and then came Stainer's cantata ' The Daughter of Jairus,' a work well suited to a strong church choir such as mustered last evening. Mr W. E. Taylor, who acted as conductor, may be congratulated on having brought his singers to a thorough knowledge of the most of the cantata, and the choruses were on the whole creditably sung, though they somewhat missed their full effect by reason of the accompaniment being too prominent. To this drawback there was one notable exception viz., in the chorus of women, 'Sweet, tender flower,' whioh went very nicely, another cause contributing to this result being that the soprano parts were well within the reaoh of the voices. Here and there throughout the cantata the soprano was slightly overpowered by the firmly-read alto part, but that was not the case in the chorus referred to. Of the choruses for the full voices the most satisfactory was' Awake, thou that steepest,' thia being taken in the proper spirit of the theme, and proving the choir to be capable of very good work ; but, as we have said, the singers exposed themselves to very little fault-finding all through. The solos were undertaken by Miss Mary Cooper (soprano), Mr Blenkinsopp (tenor), and Mr H. E. Martin (bass), and their efforts contributed in no slight degree to the measure of success aohieved. Miss Cooper is always heard to advantage in sacred musio, and her delivery of the soprano recitatives was very pleasant to listen to, while Mr Blenkinsopp Bang < My hope is in the Everlasting' with taste and expression, The duet' Love divine,' undertaken by Miss Cooper and Mr Packer, was also nicely sung, the voices being in perfect acoord. While the offertory was being taken, Mr Taylor played a toccata by Dubois in brilliant sjtyle, and then Mr Young sang 'Pro peocatis' in his own effective manner. Mr H. Dickinson's cornet solo, 'The Lost Chord,' was taken rather too slowly, we thought, but the player produoed a capital tone until by competing with the accompaniment he was forced to over-blow bis instrument in the finale. Misß Look wood sang ' Calvary,' and the concluding item was 'The Messiah' chorus «Worthy is the Lamb.' The programme was over in good time, and those privileged to receive tickets agree in hoping that Mr Taylor and his ohoir will see their way to repeat it at an early date.