Concert
Skanderborg Kammerkor/dir. Troels Lund Nielsen; St Paul Choral Society/dir. Hugo Agius Muscat soprano Laura Flensted-Jensen; piano, Niels Bo Emegren; piano and organ, Elisabeth Conrad
St Paul’s Anglican pro-Cathedral
This well-attended joint concert was, thanks to the chamber choir from peninsular Denmark, an uncommon opportunity to hear choral music from that country plus a few international classics.
The latter was the case with the contribution of the Maltese choir. The choir from Skanderborg, Jutland, consisted of some 25 singers only five of whom were males, often reduced to four when one of them accompanied at the piano. Yet they were very cohesive and balanced except in a rare exception or two when the paucity of males could not bring home with enough force certain fortissimo effects.
The general tone of the music was sacred and this applied to both choirs with the Danes singing their selection first. It began with Morning Hymn by Niels Gade, the balance displayed here setting the tone for practically the whole selection.
Three sections from Schubert’s Deutsche Messe were sung with particular smoothness and controlled fervour. Zum Eingang, Zum Gloria and Zum Sanctus were an absolute delight, especially the Sanctus.
Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller’s Three Madonna Songs had the middle one, which sounded like a lullaby, contrasting well with its companion pieces. A touch of Sweden came with Waldeman Åhlen’s Summer Hymn and it was back to Denmark with two beautiful religious songs by Christian Nielsen.
Two solos for soprano were sung by Laura Flensted-Jensen, accompanied by Niels Bo Emgren. Her lovely, clear voice rang out in her singing of How Beautiful are the Feet from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, with a hint of strain in some top notes.
Adding to the variety of national sources, she sang the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén’s Saa tag mit Hjerte (Take My Heart). This very beautiful love song is one of Sweden’s best known and was given a heartfelt interpretation. Equally beautiful in that charming, almost understated way, was the Danish choir’s last selection, John Rutter’s A Gaelic Blessing, The Lord Bless You and Keep You and All Things Bright and Beautiful accompanied by the same pianist.
The St Paul Choral Society is a large choir I had not heard for a while. They sang five pieces of varied length and were accompanied either at the organ or at the piano by Elisabeth Conrad. The first and very substantial work was Handel’s Allelujah from his Second Coronation Anthem.
Precision did not at all lack, neither did verve and gusto. One just wished that in the frequent forte passages, the sopranos were more polished and less screechy.
One could say perhaps that the awful scirocco took a toll upon the voices which had settled down and sounded better when the choir launched into Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s far-from-easy Alma Redemptoris Mater.
There was fine balance and cohesion in J.S. Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. The concluding pieces were the equally well-rendered Pie Jesu by Karl Jenkins and John Rutter’s positive Look at the World.
Concluding, the two choirs joined forces with Hugo Agius Muscat conducting Sergei Rachmaninoff’s richly sonorous Ave Maria, known as Bogoroditse Devo, followed by another lovely Rutter piece, For the Beauty of the Earth, directed by Troels Lund Nielsen.