Botley Choral Society Christmas Concert

All Saints Church - Botley

9th December 2023

Warm words of welcome and willing hands serving wine ensured that the pleasure of the evening began for the expectant concert-goers well before the musicians arrived on stage. The popularity of this annual event was well evidenced by your reviewer’s discovery that parking would present a challenge to ingenuity and also to subsequent memory of his car’s whereabouts.

The Society’s Christmas Concert is a highlight in the season of Advent for those who are aficionados and a delightful surprise for those new to the occasion. As ever, from the very start of the performance, the choir and instrumentalists exuded their usual competence, confidence and composure. Alexander L’Estrange’s Wassail, drew the audience in with its bold unaccompanied opening, leading the way for a range of traditional instruments to introduce their distinctive rhythmic background – a key motif in the work.

Wassail explores the folk heritage of many well-known and some less common Christmas songs, managing, through its blend of lively tunes and foot-tapping percussion, to capture something of what village communities might have experienced in their seasonal celebrations in years gone by. The experience was redolent of a more reflective era, perhaps one more attuned to some of the deeper meanings of the Christmas festivities.

There were many challenges for the choir, to blend together phrases that seemed full of rapid, almost manic, movement, as well as subtle and gentle codas. The choir rose to that challenge well, combining strong volume and attack across the whole of their tonal range.

After more welcome refreshment the second half of the evening brought the audience a reflective selection of anthems, showcasing the quality of the choir’s ability to create a blended yet robust sound.

Long ago, composed by David Burgess, supplied each section of the choir with its chance to stand proud and show its strength. Towards the end of a long and challenging programme the Christmas Medley gave the choir a final test of alertness and accuracy, before the audience got its own chance to sing, a welcome and anticipated feature of these events.

Conductor David Burgess’ characterful ability to engage everyone in a relaxed and happy way meant that everyone left at the end with good memories, which hopefully included vehicle location.

Reverend Canon David Isaac

Julia Burgess

Botley Choral Society: Centenary Concert
19th November 2022

A packed church greeted the 100th anniversary and celebratory concert of Botley Choral Society. With the choir resplendent, lit up by midnight blue scarves enhancing traditional black concert dress, what a jubilant programme this was!
The Choir opened with one of Handel’s four Coronation Anthems, ’Zadok the Priest’, but with a difference - which both intrigued and delighted the audience - with the choir divided between the front and the back of the Church. As the introductory ritornello by the ensemble moved forward to the first splendid entry by the Choir, the audience was then immersed and surrounded by the music - a rare treat. The ensemble settled well into the piece, and all was magnificently led by Music Director and Conductor, David Burgess. Further treats were to follow.
Handel’s, ‘The Trumpet shall Sound’ (from The Messiah), brought together bass, Tim Burtt, trumpet player, Paul Hart, and organist, Mark Dancer, with the accompanying ensemble opening with energy, crispness, and responsiveness. The trumpeter, playing from the pulpit, played with lightness, dexterity, and an expressive, almost baroque tone, balancing well with the soloist. The aria makes great demands on the bass soloist with many long mellifluous phrases, but this was carried off with sensitivity.
Lovelady’s ‘Psalm 104’ performed by the four soloists was a delight (Helen Bailey (Soprano), Marie-Anne Hall (Contralto), Adrian Green (Tenor) and Tim Burtt (Bass). Originally commissioned for the 75th Birthday of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the version we heard was arranged by James Vivian, Director of Music for the St Georges Chapel, Windsor. The tenor soloist, Adrian Green, was particularly noteworthy and the ensemble singing towards the end of the piece was glorious.
Further Handel gems (from Samson) followed: ‘Let the bright Seraphim’ brought back trumpet player, Paul Hart, this time in duet with Soprano, Helen Bailey, and the Choir then went straight into, ‘Let their celestial concerts all unite’. They declaimed the opening words with great commitment moving between homophonic and contrapuntal styles of writing, some passages requiring almost athletic musicianship, and displayed great use of dynamics, contrasting with the final joyous praise to God, ‘in endless morn of light’.
The first half ended with another of the four Coronation anthems, ‘The King shall rejoice’. What a magnificent piece this is, with its glorious and joyous opening movement. Crisp ensemble playing set the scene for the Choir’s incisive entry. The second movement, ‘Exceeding glad shall he be’, was at first playful in mood, contrasting with reflective passages led initially by the choir altos with a beautifully delivered series of suspensions across the parts. The brief celebratory third movement, ‘Glory and Great Worship’, led into the fourth, ‘Thou hast prevented him’. Altos and tenors were notable in their blended singing, and, with some confident entries from basses and sopranos, this led to the final glorious movement, ‘Hallelujah’ with its double fugue, well delivered by all.
With the second half’s performance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Choir and soloists seemed to step up even further, displaying a renewed sense of confidence and musical expression. The expansive opening ‘Kyrie’ with its dynamic contrasts and varied timbre including the section with the soloists, set the standard and tone for the whole performance. The ‘Gloria’ again interweaved full choral forces with the soloists’ passages most effectively. Choir diction was clear and sung with commitment and with generally good communication with the audience. The third movement, the ‘Credo’, requires great choral focus and resilience, beginning as it does with a decisive and forceful rhythm with homophonic voices accompanied by the ever energetic ensemble, punctuated by sforzandos which were delivered with great effectiveness. The soloists taking up the words, ‘Et incarnatus est’, created great contrast, and sang with increased harmonic and emotional intensity. The chorus picked up the returning change of tempo and mood well, leading to the final Amen. The short fourth movement, the Sanctus, is surprisingly complex to sustain given both its brevity and its largely homophonic choral texture. However the choir tackled this well and picked up the swifter moving ‘Hosanna in excelsis’, with dynamic commitment.
With always musical conducting from David Burgess, the quartet of soloists blended beautifully in the ‘Benedictus’ with excellent accompaniment reminiscent of a period ensemble. The chorus reinforced the message with their lively renderings of ‘Hosanna in Excelsis’.
The ‘Agnus Dei’ was sublime in its delivery. The soprano soloist, Helen Bailey, sang with beauty and musical sensitivity, Here it is also worth specifically mentioning the oboes in the ensemble who interwove and accompanied the soprano soloist with expressive clarity, always well balanced. The tempos changed and first the quartet of soloists and then the choir entered, building towards the end. But ever musical, the choir demonstrated excellent and effective dynamic contrasts before the final, ‘Dona nobis pacem’.
A last word of applause should go to conductor, David Burgess. This Centenary concert was a tour de force. A beautifully crafted and joyous programme, it demanded intense musicianship, focus, and leadership from its conductor. The performers - choir, soloists, and ensemble - were exceptionally well directed throughout, and facilitated by their conductor to produce performances of great integrity. They did indeed, ‘do their forbears proud’.
Jane Bryant
21st November 2022

 

Julia Burgess

AN EVENING OF SACRED MUSIC – BOTLEY CHORAL SOCIETY
Botley Choral Society paid a much anticipated return visit to St. Nicholas’ Church on March 17th, but sadly were upstaged by an unwelcome guest, namely the “Beast from the East”. As a result the attendance was reduced to just over fifty hardy souls whose reward for venturing forth in adverse weather was an uplifting performance of nine European sacred anthems spanning a number of centuries, followed by two works written by Henry Purcell in the seventeenth Century.
The pieces in the first half of the programme varied from its opening “Lord Jesu Christ, my life and light” (J.S.Bach) which is commenced by an instrumental prelude set at a walking pace, with the singers taking up the melody to a similar tempo, to the closing piece “Beatus vir” (Monteverdi) which was sung with joyful gusto, finishing almost at a frenzy.
Purcell’s compositions are best described as “lively”, and held the attention of the audience with their variety, particularly “Come ye Sons of Art” which is divided into an overture and seven sections which include solos as well as significant parts for the choir.
It may be argued that the nave of St Nicholas’ Church is a little narrow to accommodate a choir of the size of B.C.S. but the more intimate setting enhanced the sound quality, and blended the voices together. Those who are familiar with the standards set by the choir members will be aware of the precision with which they make their entrances, sing their parts with clear diction and harmony and finish each piece in unison. On this occasion, they exceeded their own high standards and reached new heights of excellence. All of this is not just a reflection of the dedication and hours of practice on the part of choir members, but also of the expertise and leadership of David Burgess, who, again, not only chose a most enthralling selection of music, but guided the choir to give of its best.
The choir was assisted by a group of stringed and wind instrumentalists, who provided a fitting accompaniment to the singing, and two of whom played a moving oboe duet of Handel’s “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”. The five solo vocalists also displayed their virtuosity with exquisite performances to enhance the overall atmosphere of the evening.
For those who were privileged to attend, it was a most rewarding evening, and it was a great shame that more were not able to be present to show appreciation to a renowned local institution performing at its peak. In the event, we in Wickham should consider ourselves fortunate, as the performance due to take place the following evening at Botley was cancelled as the weather had worsened. It is understood that B.C.S. will return to perform at the 2020 celebration at St. Nicholas, but they would be welcome at any time!

Review of Spring Concert at St Nicholas, Wickham

Mendelssohn : St. Paul

The Winchester and County Music Festival began life in 1921 with the aim of providing an opportunity for smaller choirs to perform more demanding works which they would be unable to undertake with their own resources. For 2017 singers from Botley, Overton, Twyford and Winchester provided a splendidly large choir to give a powerful performance in Winchester Cathedral of Mendelssohn’s rarely heard oratorio St. Paul. Written in 1836 and first performed in that year in Dusseldorf and Liverpool and in Birmingham in 1837, the work tells the story of Paul’s persecution of the Christians, his conversion, baptism and ordination, as told in the Acts of the Apostles.

Saturday’s performance provided a successful opportunity to admire Mendelssohn’s elegance, romantic lyricism and superb control of his forces. The chorus responded well to the dramatic numbers as well as the more reflective ones, tackling the more complex contrapuntal music well, relaxing in the chorale numbers which reflect on the story. There was some impressive four part singing by the women’s chorus, and the gentlemen were suitably dramatic when needed. Three soloists caught the lyrical style of their arias well, tenor Adrian Green and bass Edmund Saddington being particularly effecting in their duet ‘For so hath the Lord’. Soprano Helen Bailey also caught the reflective, flowing melodies of her arias, even if she seemed a little less secure in some of the recitatives. The Festival Orchestra was led by Elizabeth Flower and provided a secure and at times powerful accompaniment, underpinned by the might of the cathedral’s grand organ. There was some lovely clarinet playing in ‘O Thou, the true and only light’ and a solo cello enchanted us in ‘Be Thou faithful.’

The whole performance was directed with clarity and security by Graham Kidd, and even if Mendelssohn’s later oratorio Elijah of 1846 is the better known and more memorable work, Saturday’s performance of St. Paul was most pleasing and a welcome opportunity to hear a work which is not performed very often these days.

Martin Hall

Review of WCMF Concert at Winchester Cathedral on 13th May 2017

Conductor: David Burgess.
On the evening of 7th May the Winchester and County Music Festival Choir and Orchestra were joined by a large audience in Romsey Abbey, for an evening of Mozart. On this occasion the choir comprised the Botley Choral Society, Overton Choral Society and the Winchester City Festival Choir. Accompanying the large body of singers was an orchestra of 28 players.
It seems a total injustice that Mozart, despite all his genius, had to scrape a living. In the year before he wrote the Vespers K. 339 his mother died, and he was rejected by the lady of his affections. Despite this, Mozart poured out music of amazing vitality.
The Vespers opened with Dixit Dominus. From the beginning it was clear that we were in for a special evening; the choir and orchestra were well balanced and responsive, and the conductor David Burgess radiated all the energy and invention which Mozart had imbued into this piece. The soloists, Helen Bailey, Soprano, Marie-Anne Hall, Contralto, Adrian Green, Tenor and Tom Herring, Bass Baritone entered at “Gloria in Patri”, and made a very professional sound. Of special mention was the movement “Laudate Dominum” and Helen Bailey’s lyrical introduction to the chorus. The Vespers were brought to an end with a rousing Amen, and the musicians were greeted with enthusiastic applause.
Only the first movement of the Requiem was written in its entirety by Mozart. Due to his failing health, the rest of the work was completed posthumously by others, based on Mozart’s musical shorthand notes, and recollections from his pupils. Nevertheless, Mozart’s genius shines through.
The requiem started with the Kyrie. David Burgess dictated a brisk pace, and the basses, followed by the other parts, responded with spirit. Many of the movements had fast running passages which the choir executed well. In the Confutatis and the Agnus the choir treated us us to some lovely softer singing. The orchestra played sensitively throughout; of special mention were the fast passages in the Dies Irae and Recordare which were brilliantly played by the lower and upper strings respectively. Another delightful passage was the duet between the trombone and the baritone soloist in the Tuba Mirum.
At the end, it was clear that the musicians and the audience had thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Pulling together an event like this, where choirs and orchestra rehearse separately until near the performance, is no mean achievement. This was an outstanding event, and credit should be given to David Burgess, Paul Timms and Graham Kidd who rehearsed the individual choirs.
“Keith Tomkinson and Mike Rowland”

Romsey Abbey – 7th May 2016 – Concert Review

On a cold and drab November evening it was hard to believe that this was the day of St. Cecilia – the patron saint of music. Yet from the opening bars of Botley Choral Society’s concert of British and French music all thoughts of the gloom outside were dispelled.

The evening began with Cantique de Jean Racine, a lush, romantic piece by Gabriel Faure. Precursor to his better known requiem, the Cantique contains some beautiful melodies, and all parts of the choir gave a lyrical account. Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle was new to me. It is a powerful work, with an astonishing variety of rhythms, textures and moods. Better known as an organist, Vierne originally scored the work for two organs, but in this arrangement, which calls for a single instrument, organist Mark Dancer gave a wonderful performance. Under the baton of musical director David Burgess, choir and organ were in dialogue throughout, and the changing dynamics were beautifully handled. The Kyrie is particularly moving, and the choir made a glorious sound that filled the church to its rafters.

In addition to the organ, a nine-strong string ensemble accompanied the choir, and in Karl Jenkins’ Sacred Songs this partnership came into its own. I especially enjoyed the Virgo Virginum, where a lovely balance was achieved between the cantabile vocal lines and the almost mysterious pizzicato of the string ensemble. The Benedictus gave another opportunity for the choir to demonstrate its dynamic range, beginning in contemplative mood, and then bursting forth into a moving fortissimo, before returning to the haunting opening melody.

Played at the coronation of every British monarch since King Charles 1, Hubert Parry’s I Was Glad is intended for large forces, and conductor, choir and musicians did full justice to this grand, well-known work. Their uplifting performance stayed with me as I made my way home through the dark and damp Hampshire lanes.

 

by Stephen Waring, Making Music

" I would like to thank you for inviting me to your concert (of Gilbert and Sullivan) last Sunday. I thought it was a real success - lots of good strong singing, and plenty of enjoyment evident on the faces of the choir! You all looked like you were having a great time as did the audience. It was also really nice to see choir members stepping forward to take the solos - what a great idea! - and I enjoyed the 'costumes' too, which really added to the theatricality of the performance. Perhaps next year, you could take it one step further and actually stage an opera....?

Best wishes,
Sharon"

Sharon from Making Music

A Lovely Concert of a Wonderful Work

Botley Choral Society gave their second performance of Mozart’s C minor Mass to a packed All Saints church in Botley on Sunday evening the 17th March 2013. This was a lovely concert with their singing ranging from pretty good to excellent!

The chamber orchestra was “especially assembled for this event” and began a little uncertainly, but they recovered magnificently, and we heard beautiful choral singing to accompany the soprano soloist, Jocelyn Somerville, and to give us a superb “Gloria in Excelsis”. The entry onto the scene of soprano Helen Bailey raised the performance further, in her duet “Domine Deus”, but particularly in the solo “Laudamus Te”---watch her, this young lady will go far!

The layering of dynamics and intonation of the “Qui Tollis” are very difficult to sustain, but the choir did very well, especially with the pianissimo passages. The two sopranos returned with tenor, Adrian Green, and blended well in the “Quoniam” trio before the chorus brought the first half to a close with a rousing “Cum Sancto Spiritu”.

The “Credo in Unum Deum” suffered a few untidy entries, but in the “Et incarnatues est” the upper woodwind got their tuning together and played this wonderful soprano solo section beautifully. The choir obviously enjoyed singing the “Sanctus” in this 8 part masterpiece—here, unlike in the Credo, they all watched the baton, and the result was a wonderful, full choral sound, superbly tight and together. The “Benedictus” is a quartet for the soloists. Ed Hawkins, bass - a fine voice - joined the 3 others. We look forward to hearing more of him at a later date. This wonderful work ends with a return to the “Osanna” fugue from the “Sanctus”. The first time it was good, the second time superb! Maestro David Burgess directed and controlled the whole proceedings with his usual consummate skill and aplomb. BCS have in him a musician of high quality.

John and Jenny Sutton

Hallelujah for the Messiah

There was a musical treat in store for anyone willing to brave the wind and rain of the last weekend in November. Botley Choral Society, assisted by soloists Jocelyn Somerville (soprano), Thomas Jordan (alto), Adrian Green (tenor) and Philip Stokes (bass), performed a magnificent rendition of Handel’s Messiah in West Meon and Botley churches. The world-famous chorus sections were beautifully sung by the eighty members of the prestigious local choral society, whilst each of the soloists sang with great expression and feeling. All were accompanied by the impressive organ playing of Mark Dancer. The addition of Paul Hart’s beautiful trumpet-playing enhanced the most emotional sections of Handel’s best-known oratorio, which was, amazingly, composed in only 3 weeks. The end of the final chorus was greeted by the audience with rapturous applause, acknowledged by a beaming smile from conductor and Musical Director David Burgess.

 

Derek and Josie Wood - local publication

The Invitation of Choral Music

Today, is singing in a choir and listening to a choir popular? Yes, surprisingly, as Gareth Malone on TV has shown. Regularly, everyone in Hampshire has access to some nearby concert by some choir, a concert equally appreciated by performers and audience alike. Botley Choral Society has been involved in this musical feast for nearly a century. On 24 and 25 March they gave their spring concert to enthusiastic audiences in the churches of Locksheath and Botley.

This was exactly the programme to woo newcomers to try a classical concert as listener or as singer. The two works were short and accessible. Dvorák wrote his Mass in D in 1887. This sacred music commission was an unusual venture for him. Yet in 1989 to mark his country’s seismic change the Dvorák nationalistic Mass was sung in Prague Cathedral to celebrate the new non-communist President Václav Havel. J.S.Bach wrote his Magnificat in D over 160 years earlier; for him the massive outpouring of sacred music was part of his genius – and his job.

The choir ably performed both works. They are different but complement each other. David Burgess, conductor since 1990, brought out with precision the romantic tunefulness of the Dvorák and the sublime mystery of the Bach. Similarly Mark Dancer on the organ ably provided the lyricism of the Dvorák in contrast to the complexity of the Bach. Members of the choir stepped in to sing the soprano solos in place of Julie Bolton who was unwell. The other soloists, Melanie Stephenson (soprano/alt), Thomas Jordon (alto), Peter Fellows (tenor), and Philip Stokes (bass/baritone) each came into their own in the short Bach arias, singly or together – local professionals contributing their gifts to the choral resurgence.

Two works, generations and culturally apart. Bach’s Magnificat is an excellent entry to his longer works. It is the more difficult of the two for any choir. David Burgess took the fast passages at a sensible speed in contrast to the pace in some recordings. It is always harder to convey the depth of the music in quieter passages but generally the choir achieved this well. Within the architecture of Botley Church the smaller numbers of the lower voices stand well back in the ranks of the large choir. Some choirs change this setting by successfully bringing some of the tenors and basses forward among the upper voices to help the balance of sound.

This is Sacred Music at her finest. It has been said that “Music is outside space”. Is such music one bridge over the secular chasm that prevents some people from glimpsing the Sacred beyond time and space? Bach would have believed so; Dvorák would have been less sure. The programme reminded us that Dvorák reflected “the atmosphere of a smiling, pleasant Czech region of hills and woods”. The lovely tune at the start of the Credo, in three time, does not fit the transcendence of the words – ‘One God, Maker of heaven and earth’, but elsewhere Dvorák approaches the genius of Bach in the poignancy and the sublime of the emotions in the religious text. Both works have triumphant moments and the choir and organ made the glorious crescendo of Bach’s final Gloria a fitting climax to a great concert.

Humphrey Prideaux