Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions

To all musicians, appear and inspire
 

From Britten’s Hymn for St Cecilia






 Finchley Choral Society’s spring concert will feature a selection of unaccompanied choral works by Britten, Tippett, Verdi, Bruckner and Purcell.

Britten’s Hymn for St Cecilia sets words of a three part ode by WH Auden. Britten was born on St Cecilia’s day (22 November) and had long wanted to write a piece dedicated to St Cecilia – the patron saint of music and musicians. Britten's music to the Hymn embraces this idea of celebration. The piece was first performed on St. Cecilia's Day in 1942 – Britten's twenty-ninth birthday.

Tippett, a contemporary of Britten, composed the oratorio A Child of our Time between 1939 and 1941. The piece responds to the events in Europe at that time and the Negro Spirituals, which the Finchley Choral Society will perform, appear in the oratorio as the songs of victims of oppression. The set of spirituals features popular songs including Steel Away and Deep River and the work encapsulates Tippett’s own style, recognisably English, coloured with jazz and folk influences.

Verdi’s Hymn to the Virgin is a loving hymn of praise to the Virgin Mary scored for a cappella female voices. The concert will also include sacred setting by Bruckner and Purcell and will be conducted by the choir’s Music Director Grace Rossiter.

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 2 April 2011 at 7.45pm

Hampstead Garden Suburb Free Church

Central Square, London, NW11 7AG

Benjamin Britten                        Hymn to St Cecilia

Michael Tippett                        Five Negro Spiritual from A Child of our Time

Giuseppe Verdi                        Hymn to the Virgin

And choral settings by Anton Bruckner and Henry Purcell

Grace Rossiter                         conductor

Tickets £13.00 | £1 students/children

Tickets are available from the FCS box office (020 7263 3358) FCS members or at the door. Tickets can also be purchased from Les Aldrich Music, 98 Fortis Green Road, N10 3HN or call 020 8883 5631.

Sacred  offering  is  powerful  and  tender.

FINCHLEY CHORAL SOCIETY 

 St.Pancras Parish Church
 Saturday 21st November 2009


St. Pancras Parish Church, opposite the Arts and Crafts inspired fire station on the Euston Road,
is a beautiful venue for a sacred concert. 

The weather was dreadful but, for the several hundred souls who braved the rain, wind and pulped leaves coating the streets, the rewards were great.

The 70 or so members of the choir (sporting lipstick red roses pinned on austere black) and the excellent Florian Chamber Orchestra were arranged under the six massive black stone pillars behind the altar.

Under the fluid and focussed direction of Grace Rossiter, Finchley chose to throw themselves in the musical deep-end with four a capella partsongs of Mendelssohn's sacred music. They were beautiful pieces, beautifully performed and a perfect opening for the evening.

Then on to Mendelssohns Psalm 115. This really gave the choir the opportunity to show what it is capable of. After the powerful opening fugue and an amazing soprano (Emma Tring) and tenor (Stephen Jeffes), the misery of Eustons pavements was forgotten. The choir offered just the right amount of measured, contemplative support to the soloists and started to beam with pleasure at the beauty of the sound they were making. The finale of the piece was powerful, measured, relentless, but tender.

Following the interval (which included a particularly exciting visit to a dark and rocking Portaloo in the graveyard), we were on to Beethoven's Mass in C.

The opening gave an opportunity for more inter-play between soloists and choir as well as the chance to relish the range and control of Tring's lovely voice.

The almost "belted" Glopia reverberated through the church to produce a magical effect - Rossiter
seemed to be holding the choir back by a few milliseconds to fully exploit the echo.

A little disconcertingly, extra accompaniment for the Misere Nobis came from the car sirens of the lads of Met's EK Division.

Finchley has clearly been on a recruitment drive with several more male voices to balance the excellent contribution made by the women. Encouragingly, there were several new young faces peering over the folders of the libretto.

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


David Winskill. The Ham and High Newspaper.