Saturday 20 April 2024, 7:30pm
High Street Methodist Church, Harpenden
Great Cathedral Anthems
Hymn for St Cecilia - Howells
O where shall wisdom be found - Boyce
Concerto for piano and organ *- Peeters
I was Glad - Parry
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba - Handel
Lord, let me know mine end - Greene
Give unto the Lord - Elgar
For the Beauty of the Earth - Rutter
The Call of Wisdom - Todd
Richard Hills - organ
* Rufus Frowde - organ
* Matthew Woodward - piano
Conducted by Rufus Frowde
Tickets: Unreserved £17; Students £9; Under 16 Free
Our concert in the High Street Methodist Church in Harpenden was well attended and very much appreciated by our audience with plenty of positive comments such as “exceptional performance”, “outstanding” and “ you should be proud” One professional musician who came to the concert acknowledged that Parry's “I was glad” is usually sung by a much larger choir but that we did it justice despite our smaller numbers.
In addition to other well-known anthems the choir sung Boyce’s delightful “Where Shall Wisdom Be Found"” and Elgar’s “Give Unto The Lord”.
We were fortunate once again to have Richard Hills on the organ for all but one of our choral anthems. The audience particularly enjoyed his solo performance of The Entrance Of The Queen Of Sheba.
Some of the audience may have been a little surprised at the inclusion of the little known Flor Peeters’ Concerto for Organ and Piano in our programme. Peeters, a Belgian composer, wrote the piece in 1951. As Rufus Frowde, our Music Director, explained to the audience, the score for this piece had been lying around in his loft for years waiting to be performed and he decided this was going to be the night. He left the podium temporarily to play the organ part and Matthew Woodward, accompanist to the choir but also an accomplished performer in his own right, played the piano part. They gave a thrilling and virtuosic performance which evoked an enthusiastic response despite the unfamiliarity of the work.
After the concert the audience and choir mingled for refreshments in the church hall and the many smiling faces said it all!
