Southwark Concert

Wednesday 4 March 2009

The school’s annual concert in Southwark Cathedral had a rather different character this year. Instead of combining the school’s choirs to perform with a professional orchestra, the schools combined both choral and orchestral forces to showcase their great talents across the board. In total, there were 140 pupils performing and the cathedral was filled to capacity with an enthusiastic audience.

The programme was dominated by music of two composers for whom 2009 is a bicentenary year: Haydn (died in 1809) and Mendelssohn (born in 1809). The concert opened with Mendelssohn’s “Psalm 43” for eight-part choir. This dramatic setting was sung with great commitment and precision by the pupils, bringing across the German text with clarity and meaning. There followed “Serenade” by the Welsh composer William Mathias – this year would have been his 75th birthday. The work is quite delicate in character, and the joint orchestras were able to show off their abilities in gentle expressivity and characterisation. The final movement took on the character of a barn dance with its combination of two folk themes. The final work in the first half was Mendelssohn’s “Overture: The Hebrides”; the orchestras played this challenging work with great sensitivity and a strong awareness of its drama.

The second half of the concert was given over to a performance of Haydn’s “Nelson Mass”. Four professional soloists had been invited to join the combined choirs and orchestras for the piece. The tricky string parts were played with good precision by the pupils and the choirs made a significant impact in the more powerful moments of the piece. The Gloria was a particularly successful movement: the hushed central section contrasting nicely with the final choral fugue. The final Dona nobis pacem was performed with wonderful energy, rounding off a most enjoyable concert in a suitably celebratory fashion.

The school is very grateful to Southwark Cathedral for allowing us to perform there once more, and also to the music staff and pupils of Channing School for their hard work towards making the concert such a success.  LSSF

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