The Camerara Chamber Choir at St Chatherine's Church. Picture by Laura Holme.
MUSICMARKING the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11, the Camerata Chamber Choir joined ensembles the world over in presenting a concert of contemporary choral music as part of the Global Sing for Peace initiative.
St Catherine’s Church, Ventnor, is becoming well known as a concert venue, and not without good reason; it was an ideal setting for a concert of this scale.
The 14-strong choir has been in existence for 19 months, and in that time they have developed a distinctive sound. At times, their general musicality and sympathetic phrasing was second-to-none. Admittedly, the concert opened with a somewhat unsure performance of Duruflé’s well-known motet Ubi Caritas, which did not bode especially well for the remaining pieces, but once on the rather more familiar territory of Bob Chilcott’s choral works, the performers relaxed and began to produce some excellent sounds.
The slight numerical imbalance between the ladies and gentlemen was occasionally evident, particularly in the enormously complex O Salutaris Hostia by Vytautus Miskinis (a quick peek at the score during the interval revealed many split parts, a tall order with only three gentlemen on each part, and textural writing as dense as it was!), but director Jurgita Hayward guided the ensemble through difficult passages with some of the most elegant, precise and effective conducting an amateur ensemble is ever likely to be lucky enough to receive; perhaps something the lower parts may like to bear in mind, as it felt a lack of watching very occasionally deprived good performances of the polish required to make them excellent.
The second half was exclusively music by the Welsh (and living) composer Karl Jenkins. His Mass for Peace — The Armed Man formed the centrepiece of the entire Global Sing for Peace initiative, and the movements from it were well sung, the gentlemen particularly demonstrating their innate musicality and potential. From his 'Stabat Mater’ came three movements, excellent examples of Jenkins at his best, and worst. The excellent 'Now My Life is Only Weeping’ was truly moving – the alto soloist captivating the audience with her chocolaty tone and genuinely pained musical expression. Conversely, Hayward did her best to rescue the truly dreadful 'classical chillout’ favourite 'And the Mother did Weep’ from its fate as an instantly forgettable six minute indulgence, but, alas, failed – this was, crucially, the music’s fault, not the choir’s. The final two pieces – 'Ave Verum’ and the 'Pie Jesu’ from Jenkins’ 'Requiem’ were excellently performed, and rounded off what was an enormously enjoyable concert. This choir shows a huge amount of potential, and under the inspired leadership of Jurgita Hayward, there is little doubt that they will achieve it; if they exploit their distinctive sound and specialise in contemporary choral music, the Island will have an ensemble to get excited about.