Uplifiting Christmas Oratorio at Hereford Cathedral (From Hereford Times)

Uplifiting Christmas Oratorio at Hereford Cathedral

1:28pm Monday 1st February 2010 in

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MUSIC lovers are spoilt in Hereford. There is no other cathedral choir in the country that does what ‘our’ cathedral choir does, namely sing Bach’s three great choral works regularly; the two Passions alternately each year just before Easter, and the Christmas Oratorio early in the New Year. Last Saturday evening – joined by four excellent soloists, accompanied by Marches Baroque, and directed by Geraint Bowen – a very large and appreciative audience heard a fine performance of the six cantatas that make up the Christmas Oratorio, and which Bach performed for the first time in Leipzig in 1734/5.

There was much to enjoy in this performance. The four soloists bear a heavy responsibility but perhaps the tenor, Simon Wall, has the lion’s share as he is the narrator, and links the movements together. This he did with total assurance and a fine sense of movement, one or two vocal hiccups notwithstanding. He also sang the tenor arias, two of which are spectacularly virtuosic and were despatched with appropriate flair.

Bach is a little unkind to the soprano giving the voice only two solo arias. They were entrusted to Lucy Bowen who made them very much her own with many felicitous turns of phrase. In one of them, the delightful ‘echo aria’, her echo was the very confident chorister, Rory Turnbull. Patrick Craig (counter tenor) impressed with his vocal dexterity, but it was often difficult to hear the text. Robert Rice (bass), standing in for an indisposed Colin Campbell, sang with a strong sense of communication.

Marches Baroque provided solid if not always perfect support – there seemed to be difficulties with the principal trumpet, one of the oboes and the horns – but that said, there was a lovely flute obligato in one of the tenor arias; the leader of the band, Sharon Lindo, contributed two fine violin solos, and the continuo duo of Warwick Cole (’cello) and Peter Dyke (organ) were models as to how that art should be executed.

From the first notes of the first cantata the cathedral choir shone. The adult singers providing sonorous and agile support to the boys who were on tremendous form. Their confident singing is perhaps the abiding memory of this performance, especially the opening movements of the fifth and sixth cantatas – they were truly impressive. So, congratulations to Geraint Bowen, who trained the choir, and directed such a uplifting performance.

Roger Judd