Lush, timeless and haunting
Glenalmond’s Chapel Choir gave a very memorable concert performance in Perth’s central church on March 3.
“It’s lovely to see St John’s Kirk so busy on a Sunday afternoon,” extolled Howard Duthie, director of music at St John’s, as he welcomed crowds and detailed fire exits; “and an especially big welcome if you are here for the first time, please don’t let it be your last.”
Indeed, anyone witnessing the school’s Chapel Choir perform amid the Gothic surroundings of the city centre church would certainly return.
Dr Tim Ridley from Glenlamond College, together with Henry Wallace OG, organist and choirmaster at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, guided the choir (including wife Amelia Wallace singing soprano and son Alex as tenor) through a beautifully crafted hour-long programme.
The event was free to attend and open to everyone.
Finzi’s ‘God is gone up’ started proceedings. Composed for the feast day of St Cecilia in 1951, the muscular and rhythmic hymn was bookended by the organ’s dramatic fanfares.
The much calmer ‘O light of life!’ by American Mack Wilberg was characterised by leaping sixths and a plentiful supply of suspensions and a richly textured organ accompaniment.
Pupils Alexandra Milne, soprano, Molly Ridley, alto, Alex Wallace, tenor and Alex Coward, bass, impressed as soloists in Benjamin Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the lamb’, at 15 minutes the longest work in the programme.
Based on Christopher Smart’s Jubilate Agno, Britten’s piece captured the rhythmic irregularities of Smart’s free-verse poetry with Glenalmond’s choir musically reproducing a sung text that flowed like spoken language.
Ireland’s finest choral masterpiece, ‘Greater Love Hath No Man’ surged through six scriptural readings, designed to individually illuminate God’s grace.
Katie Bradshaw’s soprano phrases rose and fell like arches in a Gothic cathedral.
A contemporary piece by one of the United States acclaimed composers, Morten Lauridsen, was based on references to light from scared Latin texts.
‘O nata lux’ produced frequent tempo changes, lingering on the interplay between vocal lines, creating a showpiece of a cappella in choral singing.
The mood changed to a more sombre note with the performance Glenalmond College’s Chapel Choir performing in St John’s Kirk