The Llewellyn Choir
Conducted by Rowan
Harvey-Martin
Wesley Uniting Church,
17 December
Reviewed by Len Power
For their final concert of the year at the Wesley Music
Centre, The Llewellyn Choir presented a varied program of Christmas-related
works by Peter Sculthorpe, Anton Bruckner, Andrew Ford and Joseph Rheinberger.
The program commenced with the Llewellyn Sinfonia nicely
playing Sculthorpe’s “Awake, glad heart!”, an arrangement for chamber orchestra
of the carol, “The Birthday Of the King”.
Next, the choir gave us two works by Bruckner, ”Os justi” and “Christus
factus est”. Their singing of these
dramatic works was clear and confident.
‘Shepherd’s Pipe Carol’, arranged by John Rutter, was bright
and amusing and this was followed by Australian Andrew Ford’s “Wassails and
Lullabies”, a setting for choir and percussion of medieval carols. This challenging and unusual work proved to
be the highlight of the concert. Its haunting
medieval rhythms and harmonies were well sung by the choir and there was
excellent work on percussion by Steve Fitzgerald and Veronica Bailey.
An added bonus for those of us near a window was the sound
of crows outside cawing eerily in time to the music. It’s a mystery how conductor, Rowan
Harvey-Martin, managed to organize that but it worked!
After interval, the choir presented Joseph Rheinberger’s
1890 Christmas cantata, “The Star of Bethlehem”. It was accompanied by the Llewellyn Sinfonia
and soloists, Rebecca Collins, soprano, and Rohan Thatcher, baritone. Beautifully performed by all, it was especially
notable for its dramatic and atmospheric opening and closing movements. Soprano, Rebecca Collins, sang gloriously in
the second and eighth movements and Rohan Thatcher’s fine, resonant baritone
was heard to good effect in the fourth movement.
The concert concluded with a very familiar work, “Ding Dong!
Merrily on High” with the audience invited to sing along with the
choruses. Conductor, Rohan
Harvey-Martin, the choir, orchestra members and soloists certainly put us in
the mood for Christmas with this concert.
This review was first published in the Canberra City News digital edition on 18 December. Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM's 'Artcetera' program from 9.00am on Saturday mornings and on other selected Artsound programs.
