MUSICTHE comfortable Freshwater Memorial Hall made a pleasing venue for the Tritone Singers’ Summer Concert which appropriately fell on the solstice.
Clearly much thought and preparation had gone into a highly varied programme.
The 24-strong choir, directed by Richard Wilkins, began with Three Old American Songs by Aaron Copeland, good party pieces with their folksy charm and lightness of touch.
Interspersed with solos and duets, the choir proceeded to a luminous account of Holst’s songs from The Princess, for sopranos and altos only.
Later on, we heard Richard Wilkins’s own arrangement of the Welsh lullaby, Suo Gan. The flute accompaniment played by Siobhan Cosgrove made a refreshing departure from the norm, and each verse was differently scored and harmonized, maintaining interest throughout.
On the piccolo, Siobhan later played some sparkling Nautical Pieces by Thomas Pitfield
Towards the end of the first half, Wilkins’s original setting of John Masefield’s Twilight was performed. Here the composer used all the resources of his choir to provide a heartfelt elegy, exploiting vocal range and harmonic colour to moving effect.
This was preceded by the touching Linden Lea by Vaughan Williams, and followed by John Rutter’s arrangement of Dashing Away With The Smoothing Iron. Both these items in their different ways were delivered with skill and confidence by the choir.
The second half of the programme focused on songs of the sea. The opening Four Haiku to words by James Kirkup, were sung with much sensitivity and dedication to detail, and Charles Wood’s Full Fathom Five gave us a welcome helping of full-blooded Romanticism.
Finally, we were treated to some of the modern arrangements this choir does so well, with a Willcock’s Drunken Sailor whose tipsiness belied the skill required to perform it, and a foot-tapping Bobby Shaftoe whose brilliance provided just the right coup-de-grace.
In addition to his role as conductor, Richard Wilkins was piano accompanist in a number of other items.
These included melodious Shakespeare settings by Betty Roe, beautifully presented by Helen Mansfield and Robin Lang; vocal solos and a prose recitation from Dai Morgan-Huws, delivered with bucketloads of character and humour; saucy Roundelays skilfully sung by a ladies quartet; and charming love duets by Anton Dvorak, sung by Angi Millard and Eleanor Boulter.
Well done to this talented gathering of singers for another outstanding evening’s music.