The Erleigh Cantors were deprived of any sort of 30th anniversary concert because it would have fallen in 2020. Nevertheless, an anthem was commissioned from Andrew Millington, and the 35th anniversary was marked in the same way with a new anthem by him, I sing the almighty power of God. The composer and his wife came to hear our premiere of it at a concert in St Peter’s Earley, and some of us enjoyed meeting them informally while we consumed our own refreshments beforehand in the church hall.
This anthem has an optional trumpet part and several other pieces in the concert made use of our trumpeter, Mark Kesel. We revisited ones we’d done over the years, including Vaughan Williams’ wonderful Lord, Thou has been our refuge, Sidney Campbell’s Sing we merrily and Richard Shephard’s Ye Choirs of new Jerusalem. A recording of us singing part of this last, made when the choir was half as old as it is now, is still on YouTube!
Back when I was a student there was a period when I couldn’t move for singing Lobet den Herrn: as well as the previously mentioned Hungarian tour, I sang it within a few months in a complete performance of Bach’s motets by the Cambridge Chamber Group and in Truro Cathedral on an Exon Singers tour. This year it happened again, as I quickly had to override Gloucester Choral Society’s interpretation with the Erleigh Cantors one and adjust to singing Lobet with fewer performers. Parry’s I was glad was another Transylvania repeat, and as it was a celebration concert we sang Zadok the Priest.
For a gentler contrasting mood we did a Byrd set: Sing joyfully, Justorum animae and the piece I once waited so long to sing again, Lætentur cœli. The concert was held over from the usual May till June (late Easter made it hard to schedule rehearsals) and I was double-booked, turning down a chance for solos in a Gibbons-themed evensong Service in Ross, but not as over-committed on the day later in the month I’ll write about shortly.