Strathaven Choral Society - Spring 1999 Concert

Strathaven Choral Society gave their annual concert in Hamilton Town Hall last Sunday evening.
         Their choice of works contrasted religious celebrations with metaphysical musings, both using an imaginative interaction of choir with solists.
         Although the Society is now rather reduced in numbers, the chamber orchestra required for the three works meant that a better overall balance was achieved than is some previous years.
         Standards of singing, however were not reduced with the opening of Bach's Cantana II demonstrating confident attack and tight choral discipline.
         This was maintained throughout and the use of the Senoir Choir from Holy Cross High School as "the congregation" added a lighter quality in the chorales.
         Athough the two male solists had only recitatives and a short duet, they displayed a superior clarity of diction and command of style.... The tenor, Paul Rendall deserved special praise for standing in as a solist at extremely short notice.
         The soprano and alto, Adeline Ramage and Barbara Brodie, certainly had the more difficult arias to sing....
         Both sounded........confident vocally and stylistically in Haydn's Nelson Mass when Adeline Ramage, with the major share of the solos, used ber brilliant upper register with great fluency.
         The four solists also blended very well together in the "El Incarnatus" and "Angus Dei" to provide an excellent balance.
         The choir too continued to prove their worth and........sang a particularly responsive and controlled "Santus"
         Creating a passage of concentrated stillness between the more triumphal sounds of the other works, Vaughan Williams' "Five Mystical Songs" were a rare musical treat with only the string of the orchestra accompanying the baritone soloist and chorus.
         Ivor Klayman was impressively scrupulous to musical and textual values and proved an ideal advocate for this work. The chorus provided an admirable backing in creating the uniquely English atmosphere of these songs.
         The chamber section of the City of Glasgow Symphony Orchestra played well throughout. The strings were properly mellow in the Mystical Songs, while matching the brightness of the three trumpets in the Mass and Cantana.
         David Hamilton, the conductor, was very much in command of his forces where is careful training paid dividends. His tempi were always inteligently chosen and he provided sympathetic support in the accompaniments for the solists.
         The total musical satisfaction derived from this concert turned out to be greater than the mere sum of the individual parts.