The Erleigh Cantors put on a concert of music for double choir at St. Peter’s, Caversham in May, which I sang in.
The most complex item on the programme was the Magnificat by Giles Swayne, which we sang at Southwark Cathedral a few years ago. Although I was doing the other soprano part I found it rather more straightforwards second time round, and was struck at the natural ease of the vocal writing – even the vertiginous soprano part towards the end (as I wrote before, ‘the top B’s … are just a courtesy detail’) proved to fall into place without difficulty.
There were some new pieces for me: somehow I’ve missed Tavener’s Hymn to the Mother of God until now, and also only knew Mendelssohn’s Ave Maria from having heard other people perform it. Another Ave Maria was the eight-part setting for upper voices by Holst, which I’d done before but this time was singing a different part.
We did some earlier music too: Schütz’ setting of Psalm 100 Jauchzet dem Herrn (another new piece to me) and Charles Theodor Pachelbel’s Magnificat. Two English pieces ended the programme: Vaughan Williams’ Te Deum in G (which seemed very familiar but in fact I’d only sung it once before, so I must have known it from having heard it) and as an encore Howells’ early Latin Nunc Dimittis.
The concert benefited a local charity and we had a sizeable and appreciative audience.