Skipton Choral Society spring concert

Christ Church, Skipton

IT was with great trepidation that my ten year old grand daughter and I entered Christ Church, Skipton, to listen to the spring concert performed by Skipton Choral Society entitled ‘I Rose Up With The Lark’.

Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice by Gerald Finzi, was the first item on the programme, with the first movement being rather sombre as one would expect from the title. However the depth and quality of tone during this movement was incredibly intense holding me completely in the moment. The latter movements were not disappointing with beautiful harmonies and a nicely projected confident solo performed by Sally Goodman.There was also clear diction from the male voices including the smooth mellow tones from the bass voices who provided a lovely soft accompaniment.

Eric Whitacre’s The Seal Lullaby was the next piece. What an amazing and enchanting arrangement. The expression and dynamics produced in this beautiful Disney-esque song brought goosebumps to my arms.

We were treated to the tenor voice of Toby Ward. His voice was completely mesmerising – holding the audience completely in his spell as he told the stories of Ca’ the Yowes, Loch Lomond (Ralph Vaughan Williams), and Brigg Fair (Percy Grainger). The accompanying voices were slightly strident during the high forte section. The interval was announced and the spell of Toby’s voice was broken. It was with disappointment that the first half had come to an end.

The second half commenced with Four Motets on Gregorian Themes by Maurice Duruflé. It was a pleasure to listen to the lovely voices of six ladies in the choir. Their voices were melodic and the top line gave a nice descant effect. The further movements were pleasant to listen to and the high notes in the third were beautifully in tune. The pleasure in singing and performing was evident through these pieces and was shown on many of the faces of the choir.

Finally the choir sang Five American Songs by Daryl Runswick and again the voice of Toby Ward undertaking a lovely duet with a beautiful soprano voice from the choir – amazing harmonies.

Shenandoah is one of my favourites and one which I have sung to my grandchildren in their cribs. The solo from Rosy Robinson in Shenandoah was beautiful, clear, tonal and the sustain in the notes was glorious. It was haunting and I was near to tears, there was such emotion in the voice, which the accompanying choir showed so much sensitivity to during their accompaniment.

It was another great evening listening to Skipton Choral Society.

- Louise Coverdale