Special Members’ Evening
at St Andrew’s Church, Farnham
Trafalgar Night Celebration
David Brown, Henry Wickham, Laurence
Cummings, Alexandra Gibson and Ana-Maria Rincon
backed by choir and orchestra
“One of
the best concerts ever held in Farnham!”, “A stunning
performance!” … just two of the comments overheard as the audience
dispersed from St Andrew’s
The event was
a concert that was Farnham’s Celebration for Trafalgar Night, to mark the
200th anniversary of Lord Nelson’s famous victory over Napoleon’s
fleet.
The concert
was presented in the presence of Michael Clark, Farnham Town Mayor, at St
Andrew’s Church by the Tilford Bach Society. The society, established
over 50 years ago, is fortunate in having, as its Musical Director, someone who
is both well-disposed and well-placed to procure the participation of some of
the country’s finest established and emerging musicians.
Laurence
Cummings is not only an outstanding musician in his own right, and renowned as
a performer and broadcaster, he is also Head of Period Performance at the Royal
Academy of Music. It was therefore his effort and genius that made the concert
possible.
The London
Classical Sinfonia, comprising over 20 musicians from the academy performed the
Overture to the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. This was followed by the Haydn
Organ Concerto with Laurence Cummings as the organ soloist. Both pieces were a
delight and performed with attack and feeling.
The pièce de résistance came
in the second part when the orchestra was joined by choir and soloists for the
Nelson Mass by Haydn. The work is strongly associated with Lord Nelson and it
was written around the time of an earlier victory over
The
performance of this superb, driving piece of music left the audience
breathless. Outstanding professional soloists included Ana-Maria Rincon singing
the key soprano solos with excellent control and power. Alexandra Gibson
(alto), David Brown (tenor) and Henry Wickham (bass) matched this in every
respect.
The Pegasus
Chamber Choir, who formed the choir, are becoming well known to our society as
this is their third performance for us in 12 months. But it was the first
occasion the TBS had heard them perform an entire major choral work –
their apparent delight in doing this was matched by the standard of their
delivery. They are a choir of young musicians with strong, well-trained voices
who delivered a magnificent sound in the confines of Farnham’s superb
parish church. Combining with the baroque orchestra, this performance left
nothing to be desired and a large audience left feeling that Nelson’s
crucial victory 200 years earlier had been appropriately celebrated in the town
of
Ian Sargeant
Saturday, 22 October, 2005