Saturday 3 December 2011

 

Finchley Choral Society

 

St Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill

 

Haydn                        Mozart            Schubert

 

 

St Mary the Virgin is a strangely down at heel building of chipped paint, age settled dust on whitewashed pillars ... and a broken organ. But it has the feel of a congregation that puts its ministry before appearance.

 

Scheduled to provide accompaniment, the organ failure meant that Richard Harvey was instead given a wonderful Bechstein piano. There was also a last-minute substitution as the brilliant Elizabeth Poole took over the soprano roles. And, following a gloriously Happy Event on the eve of the concert, the regular conductor Grace Rossiter handed her baton to the multi-talented Patrick Russil.

 

In the first piece, the wonderful Amens of Mozart's Sancta Maria, mater dei had the audience's hairs standing on the back of our collective necks. His much better known Ave Verum Corpus managed in just 46 bars to delight everyone in St Mary’s. So much so that we forgot to applaud!

 

The two Mendelssohn works were welcome. The choir's rendition of his Prayer for Peace supported Robert Schuman's description of the work as ' a uniquely beautiful composition .. this little piece deserves to be known the world over.'

 

By Schubert's Mass in G, the choir was clearly fully recovered, in great voice and thoroughly enjoying the noises they were making. Their whispered Kyrie was soon joined by Elizabeth's remarkable soprano voice. Hayden's Te Deum was delivered with a fine, animated start - crystal clear and with strong purpose.

 

The lack of orchestra placed Finchley Choral society firmly centre stage. They worked hard and delivered all that the stand in conductor asked. But it was hard to avoid the conclusion that the presence of an orchestra, however small, would have added greatly to the enjoyment of the evening. Despite all this the choir really lifted itself to deliver a memorable series of performances demanded by this well-chosen programme.

 

For details of their concert on 24th March in Hampstead Garden Suburb, www.finchleychoral.org.uk

David Winskill. Ham and High. 

 

FCS Summer Concert 2012

Handel

Jephtha

Saturday 23rd June 2012 at 7.30pm

St. Pancras Church, Euston Road/Upper Woburn Place, London. NW1 2BA

Soprano          Natalie Clifton-Griffith

Mezzo-soprano   Margaret Cameron

Counter-tenor      Tim Travers-Brown

Tenor                            Stephen Jeffes

Bass                              Michael Bundy

Florian Chamber Orchestra

Finchley Choral  Society

Conductor      Grace Rossiter

Tickets: £15.00 / £7.00 Students / £1.00 Children.
Available from FCS Box Office: 0207 263 3358

FCS Members, on the door, or from Les Aldrich Music,
98 Fortis Green Rd. N10 3HN. 0208 883 5631 

 

FINCHLEY CHORAL SOCIETY

Spring Concert  Saturday 24th March 2012

Finchley Choral Society’s spring concert will feature a selection of ‘British Choral Classics’ including  ‘The Blue Bird’ by Stanford, ‘I Was Glad’ by Parry (which was sung at The Royal Wedding in 2011), partsongs by Vaughan Williams and Finzi and ‘Old Joe has gone fishing’ by Britten.

 This is from Act 1 Scene 2 of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. The scene is set in the village pub, the Boar, while a violent storm rages outside. Grimes the fisherman, regarded as an outsider and object of suspicion by the villagers, enters and sings a visionary and mystifying aria “Now the Great Bear and Pleiades”.He is attacked by one of the villagers, but another villager, to calm the tension, starts up the sea-shanty “Old Joe has gone fishing”, which takes on the form of a round as the others join in.

 FCS will also perform ‘The Gallant Weaver’, a setting of the Burns poem by MacMillan, which echoes the wistful dreamlike nature of the country side evoked in the poem, and another partsong (a style related to madrigals) - ‘As Torrents in Summer’ by Elgar.  The text is by Longfellow and the gentle harmonies evoke the soft fall of summer rain , building up like the rush of strong water before gently receding.

 An evening of beautiful and lyrical choral music conducted by Finchley Choral Society’s Musical Director Grace Rossiter, accompanied by Organist Richard Harvey.

 FCS was founded over one hundred years ago to give local people the opportunity to take part in high quality music making. It is now a thriving community choir presenting 3-4 concerts a year. The choir will be returning to the Free Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb. This impressive Grade I listed building, built by architect Edwin Lutyens in a similar style to St Jude’s, is one of the choir’s regular concert venues.

 ‘This concert will have done much to confirm Finchley’s deserved and growing reputation. Rossiter is giving them the confidence to grow and the opportunity to take risks...’

David Winskill (Ham & High) on Beethoven’s Mass in C

 
Saturday 24th March 2012

Hampstead Garden Suburb Free Church,
Central Square, London NW11 7AG at 7.45pm 



Stanford                               The Blue Bird 

Parry                                     I was Glad

                                              Blest Pair of Sirens

MacMillan                           The Gallant Weaver

Vaughan Williams            Three Elizabethan Songs

For more photos of the FCS/FCMG Carmina Burana/ On the beach at night concert at St. Mary the Virgin Primrose Hill click on Gallery...Carmina photos.

FINCHLEY CHORAL SOCIETY
Musical Director  Grace Rossiter

"...This concert will have done much to confirm Finchley's deserved and growing reputation.
Rossiter is giving them the confidence to grow and the opportunity to take risks..."
David Winskill (Ham & High) on Beethoven's Mass in C

FCS is a thriving community choir, performing 3 - 4 concerts a year.
We are 90 strong, and welcome singers of all ages. Entry is by a simple voice test.

Recent highlights include a "Breathtaking" (Ham and High) Carmina Burana
and the world premiere of On the Beach at Night by Richard James Harvey.

This season features 'Classical Elegance': Haydn, Mozart and Schubert in December,
'British Choral Classics': Parry, Elgar, Britten & Finzi part-songs in the spring,
and Handel Jeptha in June 2012.

Future attractions include Christmas Carol singing in aid of the North London Hospice,
Spring and Summer workshops, and a tour to Holland in November 2012.

Rehearsals - Mondays 7.45 - 9.45pm Moss Hall Junior School, Nether Street, West Finchley.
London N3 1NR.  For more information please visit:   www.finchleychoral.org.uk
or call the Membership Secretary on 020 8449 8135

It was with much sadness that we learned of the recent  death of Alan Barlow,
FCS Musical Director 1957- 1983

Press Release: 11 October 2010

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio – the perfect way to start the festive season

Finchley Choral Society’s winter concert will feature JS Bach’s masterpiece – Christmas Oratorio – a retelling of the nativity tale.

 Written in six parts, originally intended for performance on each of the six feast days around Christmas, Finchley Choral Society will perform the first three parts on Saturday 4 December.

 

Finchley Choral Society was saddened to hear of the death of Michael Hamm who was our Music Director for 16 years from 1983 to 1999.  Exceptional occasions under his directorship were:  exhilarating performances, with massed choirs, of Verdi's Requiem and Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts at the Royal Albert Hall, Mendelssohn's Elijah in aid of the North London Hospice, a concert at St. John's Smith Square with a Japanese choir after the Kobe earthquake and Howells' Requiem in Chartres Cathedral.  Michael enjoyed putting on first performances and works that were rarely heard.  One of these was a composition of our own talented accompanist and composer Richard Harvey who dedicated his enchanting carol "The Darkest Midnight" to Michael.  Michael saw the high point of his career with the Finchley Choral Society as a performance, reviewed at the time as "inspired, breathtaking and moving" of Verdi's Requiem at St. Barnabas Church, Woodside Park, with local soprano Marie Hayward Segal who became a Patron of the Society.

 

 

www.finchleychoral.org.uk

Music Director: Grace Rossiter

Registered Charity No. 265563

Press Release: 8 February 2010

A celebration of French choral favourites

Finchley Choral Society’s Spring concert will feature an all French programme. Duruflé’s Requiem and Poulenc’s Litanies á la Vierge Noire will form the central part of the concert.

 

Undoubtedly the more performed of the French composer’s choral works, Maurice Duruflé composed his Requiem in 1947. Known mainly as a composer of organ music, Duruflé was writing an organ piece at the time based on Gregorian chants. He incorporated many of the same elements into the Requiem. The use of plainchant provides the music with a meditative spirituality, making it stand out as a work of sublime beauty and peace.

Finchley Choral Society would like to thank
The Williams Church Music Trust and
Michael Gerson (Investments) Ltd.
for their generous sponsorship.
Finchley Choral Society is a registered
Charity No. 265563 affiliated to
Making Music.