I went to hear Bath Minerva Choir conducted by Gavin Carr perform their seasonal concert, An English Christmas, in St Swithin’s Church, Walcot. This was the first time I’d been to a concert in this church (I gather that they have only started to happen recently, after a change of clergy and a refurbishment of the building). It has a pleasant acoustic though not a very resonant one. Performers also included soprano and baritone soloists and members of the Bath Phil (I’m a bit short on details, as the programmes had all gone by the time I arrived).
The concert sold out and by the time I got my ticket from the Bath Festivals box office I was told that it was for a seat in the gallery, and so I could not buy a second ticket for one of the children. (I suppose the parapet in the gallery must be lower at St Swithin’s than in the galleries at Christ Church Bath or St Mary’s Bathwick, where children are permitted). When I arrived though I found that the seats were totally unreserved and we could have both sat in the body of the church. However, I’m not sure our children would have lasted the course as the concert went on for nearly three hours!
The programme included several familiar pieces such as A Ceremony of Carols (in the SATB version), Finzi’s In Terra Pax and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols. To give the choir a rest, the strings played Britten’s Simple Symphony. I can never hear the scherzo of this without being reminded of the theme from The Archers. The lengthy slow movement seems slightly out of place and perhaps betrays the work’s origin in some unrelated juvenile pieces. The programme ended with a selection of carol arrangements, including a couple by the conductor’s brother, interspersed with four congregational carols.
I thought this was one of the more successful Christmas concerts I’ve been to. I normally give them a miss because they can get into a muddle about whether they are a concert or a service, or become bogged down if they involve readings, because the readers feel they need to take up a significant amount of time. Despite the length of the programme, this concert seemed to fly by.
Another event to mention: my husband went to a concert performance of Otello with Colin Davis and the LSO at the Barbican, which he enjoyed. I don’t think his opinion varied very much from those of the reviewers, so I’ll post some links here: Independent, Telegraph, Guardian, The Classical Source.
Thanks, Virginia! I’m delighted that ‘the concert seemed to fly by’ as I also worried it went on longer than planned – once you’ve added on all the intros and change overs it adds up rather. But I wouldn’t have cut any of the programme unless I had to. As a singer I found the acoustic excellent and loved the closeness of the audience. The rules about the balcony are slightly obscure but are I believe connected with insurance – though there is no very obvious reason why anyone other than a suicidal lunatic should be excluded from the balcony, which after all people have been using for over 200 years. I thought it a lovely venue and would like to sing there again.