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.