Diocesan Festival Choir gives pleasing concert

Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

After rehearsing from January at St Luke's Church, Cross Roads, the Diocesan Festival Choir held its 2011 Gala Concert at the same venue on Sunday evening. Though it had some failings, the two-hour concert was generally pleasing and deserved a larger audience than it got.

About 130 people heard the music delivered by the choir and the accompanying musicians - pianist Ann Trouth and four members of the Jamaica Military band, Albert Shaun Hird (flute) Ferdinand Campbell (trumpet), Kevin Barrett (trumpet) and Delroy Franklin (percussion). The choir was conducted by Michael Sutherland and the band by Hird.

After invocation and welcome by The Rt Rev Dr Robert Thompson, Suffragan Bishop of Kingston and the chairman of the diocesan Festival Choir Management Committee, the choir launched into the main work of the evening, Felix Mendelssohn's cantata Be Not Afraid.

Arranged by J. Michael Diack, the cantata (defined as "a vocal and instrumental composition consisting of choruses, solos and recitatives") comprises 11 short pieces from various sources. Those sources include the composer's larger works (like his oratorio Elijah) and the Bible - Psalms 13 and 95, for example.

Applause

For some reason (perhaps because it was not easily pleased), the audience did not applaud each item. The fourth one, O Come Let Us Worship (from Psalm 95), which featured a glorious solo by soprano Carole Reid, did get applause and after that most of the pieces were applauded.

On the other hand, Love Divine (from the composer's Trio in D Minor), which has a pretty tune and was sensitively supported by both piano and flute, got no applause. Neither did If With All Your Hearts (from Elijah), another melodic piece which was distinctly sung by the tenors only. The cantata's final song, Be Not Afraid (from Elijah), featured rather confused singing and a choir overwhelmed by the instruments. Yet, there was applause when it ended - but whether it was that the audience was pleased with the song or with the cantata as a whole was not clear.

During the 15-minute intermission, conductor Sutherland told The Gleaner that the concert would next be presented at the Anglican Church (Christ Church) in Morant Bay on July 10. Before that, on July 3, the choir will be singing at St James Cathedral, Spanish Town. Sutherland also said that for Sunday's concert, he had wanted the choir to perform in the sanctuary downstairs in front of the congregation, but the downstairs piano was out of tune and so the balcony was used instead.

This caused some discomfort for the audience - not only did the members have to look upward for nearly two hours, but they had to look into the sunlight shining through the windows behind the choir.

Happily, the sun's rays were not a problem for much of the second half. It began with a silent item - a "dance" and signing of the words of the hymn Your Great Name by St Luke's Sign Language Ministry, a troupe of six girls wearing white gloves. The graceful performance took place in front of and in the aisle dividing the audience.

Though there were some weak items in the first half, all the pieces in the second half were at least good. Some were very good, including Albert Ketelby's soothing In a Monastery Garden, the sublime God and God Alone (Phil McHugh) and John Rutter's heavenward-looking Beautiful River.

The final song, Holy, Holy, Holy (Carol Cympala), featured a powerful solo by one of the altos and beautiful flute playing by Hird.

In his programme note, patron of the concert, the Rt Rev Alfred C, Reid, bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, wrote "throughout its long and distinguished history, the Diocesan Festival Choir has maintained a high standard and, in so doing, has played and continues to play a significant part in being the lead choir at Diocesan Services".

All who heard Sunday's concert would agree that the words still apply.