The latest offering from the YouTube channel, The Shows Must Go On, was a live recording of last year's candlelight concert given by Ex Cathedra Choir at St Paul's Church in Birmingham, under the direction of Jeffrey Skidmore.
The choir were in fine voice and considering the majority of the repertoire was a cappella (unaccompanied), and some of their repertoire was really surprisingly technical, it was all the more impressive. A few of the tunes were accompanied by Alex Mason on the organ, and a couple had some rudimentary percussion provided by choir members.
Considering this was essentially a concert of seasonal Christmastide music, there were actually only 4 songs in the whole concert with which I, and more than probably the vast majority, would be familiar. Namely 'In The Bleak Midwinter', 'Ding Dong Merrily On High', the community sing-song at the end of the concert, 'See Amid The Winter's Snow' (an odd choice), and the finale itself, 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas'.
The concert was beautifully and thoughtfully compiled (apart from, as I have already mentioned the strange choice of community song), and there was a mix between very early music right through to the contemporary composers of today. The concert started with the choir processing from the rear of the church and staying in the aisles singing a hauntingly atmospheric piece by Hildegard Von Bingen, widely considered to be the first famous female composer, and her plainchant-esque 'Ave Generosa'. This morphed beautifully into Thomas Tallis's 'Videte Miraculum', and then we jumped straight to the present day with a piece called 'Torches' by John Joubert. The concert continued in this vein throughout, mixing musical eras and genres vagariously, as well as incorporating two readings and an organ solo - this was a live Chrsitian Christmas concert afterall - and was performed continuously for about 70 minutes.
I think my favourites in the concert have to be, 'Snowflakes' by Alex Roth, 'With A Merry Ding Dong' and 'Tece Voda Tece'. All three highly contemporary pieces but with interesting melodic and harmonic structures and beautifully performed.
Ex Cathedra are known for showcasing little known or under-appreciated choral gems, and so their repertoire in this concert was not surprising in that respect; however, for a Christmastide celebration, especially if they wish to engage with the younger generations, I did find it lacking the more upbeat and familiar. The authenticity of the choir's interpretations of their chosen repertoire however was never in question, and their vocal dexterity and ability in swapping genre and harmonic style was excellent.
The whole concert was performed completely under candlelight too (apart from the final two pieces), which gave the whole an air of mysticism, and undoubtedly had you been in the audience the aura would have been even more compelling with the smell of burning wax and the wonderful shadows and shapes candlelight creates.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 11/12/20
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