What a fine performance of Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus was given by the Bollington Festival Choir and Orchestra, with soloists from the R.N.C.M., on Palm Sunday. It raised not only sustained applause at the end, but cheers as well. This oratorio begins with an atmosphere of solemnity and desolation but it gradually leads the listener through heroic arias and choruses to the well known and loved ‘Sound the alarm’ and ‘See the conquering hero comes’, with everything at full strength. The stately nobility and resounding excitement is offset by arias, duets and choir interludes that bring gentle passages of reflection and gracious beauty. The choir gave a consistently admirable account of this impressive work, answering every challenge. Robust and ringing where strength and exultation were needed, dulcet in tone and sensitivity when in direct contrast with that, they showed their quality and style in every way. They brought a firm sense of structure and coherence to support the excellent soloists. The choir’s lovely tone, always one of their main characteristics, and their pace and verve were in very good form for the rise and fall of the emotion in the score. The further change in the positioning of the voices is again for the better. The men’s voices, still in the centre with sopranos and mezzos on either side, now have some of the female voices behind them as well, making the men a compact and firm anchor for the whole choir: and how good it is to see the rise in numbers of the mezzos who can now give the richness of their tone in equal balance with the sopranos whose power blends more lightly with them. The young soloists from the R.N.C.M. brought their trained professional gifts to the whole performance. Nobility, power, beauty of tone were all there, as well as their understanding of the style of oratorio. How gratifying it is to find in the choir the distinguished voices of Steve Thorpe and several members of the choir who can sing with the professionals as one of them in so many concerts. In this performance Steve Thorpe sang his solos with full-voiced spirit.
For the Chamber Orchestra, what can be said? At the usual risk of repetition, it is still patently true that this ensemble, which now includes harpsichord and flügelhorns, goes from strength to strength. With the choir they have reached in these last few years a degree of integration and personal excellence which gives their audience much satisfaction and delight. Led by Catherine Yates (who is leader of the second violins in the Hallé Orchestra) and conducted by Donald Judge (himself a professional musician and composer) the orchestra achieves a well-balanced performance at each concert and the integration of choir, solo voices and instruments, even brass and timpani in this small band, is admirable.
It is so good to listen to and support such achievements, and enjoy an evening of good music. All those who took part deserved every clap and every cheer. They did us proud.
JH