SSCS - Reviews

Performing works such as Verdi’s Requiem requires not only excellent professional soloists and orchestra, together with a large well-trained chorus, but also a suitable venue, which is very difficult to find in South Somerset. By the time the singers and chorus have been accommodated, there is usually little space left for the audience; more usually, there simply is not enough space to fit in both orchestra and singers. So the building of the Tithe Barn at Haselbury Mill, which is big enough to accommodate all three elements, is extremely welcome. Usually its function is as a venue for wedding receptions, but it has a growing use for concerts and other musical entertainments. Verdi’s Requiem performed by us on Sunday 18th April 2010 is the biggest musical event the Mill has seen, with 112 singers, an orchestra of 43 and an audience of 300! South Somerset Choral Society has made local history with its excellent performance, as a reading of the following professional review will confirm. The Barn also showed excellent acoustics, which is gratifying to Roger Bastaple and Minnie Askey who have taken so much trouble to make this Award-winning venue perfect in every way.

"....this SSCS performance moved from high-point to high-point" - John Patrick Mingay

For their recent performance of Verdi's Requiem, in the magnificent Tithe Barn at Haselbury Mill, the
South Somerset Choral Society needed forces larger than usual. An invitation for experienced singers
in the area to join in this venture resulted in a magnificent chorus of around 130 voices. And what a
chorus! - along with soloists Lesley-Jane Rogers, Penelope Davies, Richard Rowntree and Stephen
Foulkes the conductor of this glorious work, Richard Barrell, gave the capacity audience an evening
to remember.

It has been said that Verdi "wrote an opera with church vestments" and certainly the dramatic
effects are worthy of any opera house, all demonstrating Verdi's innate ability to translate human
emotions into powerful music. The famous thunderclaps of the bass drum in the Dies irae and the
trumpets announcing the last trump are just two of several dozen examples that could be cited.
In particular though, the great contrast between the full splendour of the Sanctus and the delicate
opening of the next section - Agnus Dei is incredibly moving. The soprano and mezzo soprano
soloists quietly sing the same melody an octave apart, unaccompanied, followed by the hushed choir
repeating that melody - pure magic, and superbly accomplished on this occasion.

After a slightly shaky start this SSCS performance moved from high-point to high-point. Choral
precision, intonation and ensemble was generally first rate, evidence of much hard work - the
concentration levels must have been very high. Each of the four soloists have a great deal to do and
all was acquitted with fine distinction, whilst Lesley-Jane Rogers' meltingly lovely high notes were a
special delight.

The orchestral playing, with Mark Bunker leading, was also splendid although the perennial problem
of balance between choir and orchestra was not always sufficiently addressed. With only one
rehearsal I appreciate there isn't time to cover every detail. Timpani and brass can be overwhelming
and the adrenaline rush enormous but towards the back of the hall the only way we knew the choir
were singing was to notice mouth movements. These, or similar, are words I have written before!!

Nonetheless the genius that was, and still is, Giuseppe Verdi was more than adequately represented.

Congratulations all round.

John Patrick Mingay

A most enjoyable and inspiring evening. The acoustic of the Tithe Barn proved to be very dry so that one could hear every detail, loud and soft.
The chorus were the ‘stars of the show’ responding well to the conductor’s directions and the diction was excellent particularly in the spoken ‘Libera me’. What a wonderful sound the men made in the ‘Te decet hymnus’.
The orchestra had a few ‘moments’ but the trumpets were superb in the hair-raising prelude to the ‘Tuba mirum’ and the orchestra could have played a little more quietly in the ‘Offertorium’ where the soloists were completely inaudible.
Of the soloists, Penelope Davies was more able to overcome the ‘thickness’ of Verdi’s scoring without any sign of strain.
Altogether a thrilling and exciting performance of which Richard Barrell, the Musical Director and the South Somerset Choral Society should be proud.

David Mills