Spring concert review

Southern Voices: Spring Concert

Holy Trinity Church, Winchester.
29 March 2025

Taking as its title ‘Hope, Faith, Life, Love’ the chamber choir Southern Voices presented an impressive concert of entirely unaccompanied music in the dramatic and lofty setting of Winchester’s Holy Trinity Church. This was also the title of one of three so-called Songs of Faith by American Eric Whitacre which opened the second half of the programme. Whitacre favours close harmonies with chord clusters bursting into resonant resolutions. For maximum effect the choral tuning is crucial and here and throughout the contemporary items on offer the singers were both accurate and courageous. Women composers, Cecilia McDowall (b.1951) and Kerensa Briggs (b.1991), matched Holst - in his 8-part Nunc Dimittis - and Ben Ponniah (b.1984) (‘Light of lights!’) in creating opulent, rich harmonic textures which the choir relished. The voices showed equal confidence in a double-choir motet by Bach which launched the evening and perhaps a slightly over-lusty ‘Faire is the heaven’ by William Harris later. There were many thrilling
fortissimo climaxes and plenty of warm tone in evidence in all items. The principal challenge to the choir was a complete performance of Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir from the 1920s. The vocal ranges demanded, the frequent dynamic mood changes and sometimes rapid text articulation, as well as synchronising the two groups of singers, make this one of the most adventurous and taxing pieces of 20 th century choral music.

The audience appreciated a totally convincing and impassioned rendition of this great work and conductor Jamal Sutton is to be congratulated on inspiring such a powerful and engaging interpretation. He wisely separated the Mass sections across the whole concert leaving the longer and very dramatic Credo until the final item. Also helping to break up the programme was a series of thoughtful verse readings delivered by members of the choir and underlining the gamut of emotions implied in the concert’s title.

-- Derek Beck