Thursday, 26th October, 2006
Concert in Ledbury Church
Friday, 27th October
Recitals in Worcester Guildhall and Worcester Cathedral
Saturday, 28th October
Concert in Tewkesbury Abbey
Sunday, 29th October
Recital in Moseley Old Hall on the way home.
REVIEW: Levens Choir, Tewkesbury Abbey, 28.10.06.
From Gloucestershire EchoMozart and Finzi were the main attractions in this concert by a leading choir from the Lake District.
The Vespers contain some of Mozart's finest choral music and the singers under their conductor Ian Jones succeeded magnificently in revealing the riches of these psalm settings.
Psalm 111 was sung with strength and conviction, and the contrasts in the Beatus Vir were handled well. Julie Leavett's clear soprano voice rang round the Abbey to sublime effect in the Laudate Dominum and the work ended splendidly with a joyful Magnificat.
Unaccompanied motets by Tallis, Byrd and Tomkins featured in the second half, but the main interest lay in the more contemporary works including Paul Spicer's celebratory setting of Glory be to God for Dappled Things sung with rhythmic zest.
(Organist Adrian Self effected a change of mood with local composer Herbert Howells' meditative Psalm Prelude Set 1 No 1. But Finzi's settings of metaphysical poets made a more profound impression. God is Gone Up combined joy with feelings of ecstasy, and in Welcome Sweet and Sacred Feast the beautifully controlled singing reflected tellingly the spirituality of the words.)
Howells' Hymn for St Cecilia concluded this imaginative and well executed concert on an exultant note.
ROGER JONES
