EX CATHEDRA
St. Paul’s Church, Birmingham *****
One of the challenges of hitting on such a consistently winning formula as Ex Cathedra’s annual ‘Christmas Music by Candlelight’ series is that it’s all too easy to rest on one’s (programming) laurels. Perhaps mindful of this, Conductor Jeffrey Skidmore decided to mix things up a little this year with no fewer than four audience participation opportunities, necessitating a little rehearsal just before proceedings formally started.
This pre-rehearsal certainly paid off in Judith Weir’s ‘My Guardian Angel’, the choir declaiming high above the audience’s 14-bar ‘Alleluia’ refrain before joining the theme themselves in harmony. The choristers also led the audience in a hearty rendition of ‘Auld lang syne’, Skidmore reminding us of the correct yet often misconstrued pronunciation.
There was perhaps a touch more humour in evidence this year too: especially enjoyable was a ‘Somerset Wassail’, Skidmore himself taking the solo line from the podium, with pint-swilling choral interjections delivered in strong West Country accents, and a surprising but welcome alternative to the 16th century harmonisation of ‘While shepherds watched their flocks’ sung to the tune of “On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at” (complete with a whistled march down the aisle!).
But, as ever, there was plenty of light and shade in this imaginative programme that made the most of the performing space: most notable in this respect was composer-in-residence Liz Dilnot Johnson’s ‘Gentle flame’ with its flickering melodic lines delivered in quadrophonic sound from around the church, and a Johnson premiere ‘Ring out, wild bells’ with its pealing bell effects in 10 parts where the choir moved amongst the audience to immerse us in their campanology.
Also memorable was an especially tender rendition of John Tavener’s ‘The Lamb’, Arnold Schoenberg’s deeply romantic ‘Peace on earth’ (from ‘Friede auf Erden’), the beautiful Czech lullaby ‘Teče voda, teče’ employing a solo soprano line over sensitively hummed accompaniment, John Joubert’s ‘Joy in the morning’ with its crisp diction (undoubtedly joy in execution as well as title), and Ešenvalds’ atmospheric ‘Stars’, its broad choral scoring delivered with beautiful blend and balance.
Kudos must also go to organist Nicholas Wearne: his contributions included a delightful theme and variations on ‘Ding dong merrily on high’ in Skidmore’s own arrangement of Tabourot’s ‘Branle de l’Official,’ and Wearne’s organ improvisation based on the French carol ‘Noel Nouvelet’ from Roth’s ‘Love is come again’ which had been sung just beforehand – starting from small pitch-pipe beginnings, he then built gradually to a magnificent climax which left a huge smile on this reviewer’s face!
Anthony Bradbury