“Magnificent”, “passionate”, “exciting”, “scintillating” and “sublime” were just some of the words used by audience members to describe Saturday’s concert of Mozart choral works presented by Cantiones Choir, along with two professional soloists. The most common opinion shared was that this concert, the first under the baton of Tony Coupe, was the best that the choir has ever sung.
The programme was exclusively Mozart, always an uplifting choice, starting with his Coronation Mass in C, composed in 1779 and probably the most popular and well known sacred work. Joining the two young professional soloists, Joe Martin (Tenor) and Natasha Hendrickse-Welsh (Soprano) were soloists from the choir, who performed marvellously. Attending the concert was Christopher Symons, local Town Freeman and former Director of the Oswestry School Recital Series who said “The parts were well known and sung with real confidence. The balance was good entrances were incisive and vigorous. Good to see competent members taking solo roles, and obviously inspired by singing next to the two excellent professional singers. Tony conducted marvellously and his directions were very expressive. A commanding piece of control. All together an excellent concert”. The conductor of another local choir commented that “I sat upright in my seat from the first note and felt the excitement from the choir throughout”.
Natasha presented the beautiful solo work, Exsultate Jubilate, written when Mozart was just 16 and originally conceived for a castrato. It was designed to show off the voice and show off Natasha’s voice it certainly did as she presented the work with exuberance.
The second half comprised the Solemn Vespers which were anything but solemn at Christ Church on Saturday! People particularly loved the scintillating soaring depth of sound and felt it was very moving and expressive with great sensitivity. One was utterly captivated by the music and singing whilst others felt the choir had never felt more unified and sang very tightly together with clear vocals and harmonically in tune throughout.
The entire concert was under-pinned by the accomplished piano accompaniment from Stephen Owens who performed with exceptional mastery and sensitivity.
Of course this was the choir’s first performance under their new Director and one audience member commented that they were aware of seeing and feeling the communication between the choir and the conductor. Another noted how attentive he was to all parts, giving very clear directions to each vocal entry, thereby instilling confidence throughout the choir, which clearly came across throughout the performance.
MD Tony Coupe commented, “since joining Cantiones in January, I have found the singers to be responsive to detailed phrasing, brave in producing an extensive range in their dynamics and able to deliver the highest standard in performance. The hard work in preparation translated into an exciting performance that conveyed the intense energy, lyrical beauty and scale of Mozart’s vision in his Vespers and Coronation Mass. I would encourage anyone who is not familiar with the work of Cantiones Choir to join us for our next concert at 3.30pm on 28th June as we present a programme of master works from Allegri & Monteverdi to Finzi & Barber”.
So there you have it; a fabulous afternoon’s music with another to come also at Christ Church on 28th June. Look out for details!
As a final thought, the choir felt that the best compliment came from friends of a choir member who declared that Oswestry is lucky to have a choir of such calibre and that it was worth giving up an afternoon of gardening for! What higher praise could there be?
