A CAPACITY audience gathered at All Saints’ Church, Marlow on March 1 to hear The Chiltern Camerata, with the Camerata Consort perform a programme of English baroque music by William Croft, G F Handel and Henry Purcell, directed by Sam Laughton.

The programme opened with the festive Overture from the Ode for the Peace of Utrecht by William Croft (1678-1727); a piece with an important part for solo trumpet featuring the Camerata’s Cathy Gough.

Her virtuosity shone through with beautiful bright tone, perfectly balanced by the orchestra. There is no hiding place for players of Baroque repertoire; the music is very exposed and although the orchestra played with a lightness of touch and were well balanced throughout the evening, some string entries in the frequent fugal writing and cadences were occasionally a little untidy.

Followers of the Camerata appreciate the brief but helpful commentaries Sam Laughton gives to the listeners to place the music in context and I am sure this was particularly welcome on this occasion. Once again Sam has shown his considerable skill in concert planning, by bringing attractive but lesser known works to the attention of his audience.

The excellent Camerata Consort (whose director is Mark Johnstone) joined the orchestra for the Utrecht Te Deum composed in 1713 by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht which established peace and the ending of the War of the Spanish Succession. It had its first performance in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. The familiar text of the Te Deum is a work festively scored for six soloists, mixed choir, two trumpets, flute, two oboes, bassoon and strings. The choir is in five parts (SSATB) for most of the movements. Almost all movements are set for solo singers and chorus; there are no arias. In this performance, all the soloists were drawn from the choir.

The well blended chorus sang with excellent diction throughout and were well supported by the orchestra. However, when a quartet sang “The glorious Company of the Apostles: praise thee” a balance with the woodwind accompaniment was not achieved. The soloists sang from their places behind and to the side of the orchestra probably due to a lack of performing space at the front. In other movements with just continuo support, solo singers on the whole gave a good account of their movements. However, there were one or two passages for soloists, where the vocal range of the music was not ideally suited. The passage “We believe that thou shalt come: to be our judge” was beautifully done by a quartet of voices, supported by some luscious orchestral textures including the flute.

After the interval came “Hail! Bright Cecilia”, also known as Ode to St. Cecilia, which was composed by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) to a text by the Irishman Nicholas Brady in 1692 in honour of the feast day of Saint Cecelia, patron saint of musicians. Annual celebrations of this saint’s feast day (22 November) began in 1683, organised by the Musical Society of London, a group of musicians and music lovers. The first performance was a great success, and received an encore, in its entirety, so Lam Laughton reminded us!

Brady’s poem was derived from John Dryden’s A Song for St Cecilia’s Day in 1687, with a text full of references to musical instruments; the work requires a wide variety of vocal soloists and obbligato instruments. Brady extols the birth and personality of musical instruments and voices, and Purcell treats these personalities as if they were dramatic characters, scoring the work appropriately and very effectively.

Purcell’s writing is by any standards notoriously difficult to get effectively off the page. Highly virtuosic for all, especially for the vocalists, we had here a piece full of challenges. The choir’s singing of the opening “That thine and Musick’s Sacred Love” had all the sensuousness required of the text in honour of St. Cecelia, following the stirring bass introduction by soloist Andy Mackinder – “Hail! Fill every Heart”.

As the text requires, Purcell uses appropriate instruments most descriptively, with gorgeous writing for duets of recorders, trios of reeds and of course trumpets with timpani. The players acquitted themselves admirably, with only one or two minor lapses of concentration. These did not however detract from the orchestra’s overall performance, where they rose to the challenging writing with aplomb.

Once again Sam Laughton is to be congratulated on providing an excellent programme, which he ideally paced and moderated, with brisk tempi when required, yet with sensitivity to the more reflective moments – an inspiration to his musicians.

Special mention should be given to soloists Jeremy Rowe (Alto), Matt Bernstein and Andy Mackinder (Basses) who were outstanding. Some excellent contributions were also made during the evening by Geraldine Rowe, Sheilagh Armitt, Cathryn Caunt (Sopranos), Debbie Alder, Denise Fabb (Alto) and Kelvin Turner (Tenor) The warmth of the applause at the end of the concert marked a successful end to another excellent evening in the company of the Chiltern Camerata and Camerata Consort. Surely tickets for future concerts will be highly sought after.

By Graham Davies