Press and Reviews

Cantate West Road Concert review - 14th March 2010

… IN WITH THE NEW

New Joint Music Directors Graham Instrall and Nicholas Shaw deserve great credit for the success of their first concert in post at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge last Sunday. Beforehand they had dubbed their decision to opt for a repertoire of 80% new material as “crazy”. When, minutes before opening, sickness required Nick to stand in to sing a solo part in Haydn’s “The Heavens are Telling”, he may have felt justified in thinking they had bitten off too much.

Nervous energy was tangible for the early pieces, but each round of applause served to settle performers, conductor and audience and the Youth Choir’s beautiful rendition of “Over the Rainbow” seemed to boost everyone’s confidence.

This was a concert planned to bring out the best of the three groups on show. The JMDs had chosen new music to suit the character and qualities of the choirs, each of which sang in isolation, with few collaborations. So not only was there variety in style of music – from Haydn, Mozart and Britten to Chilcott, Naplan and Rogers and Hammerstein – but also clear distinctions in sound and tone, from the classical purity of the Senior Choir’s “Insanae et vanae curae”, to the fresh new adult voices of the Youth Choir boys in Dyson’s “The Seekers”, to the vivacious innocence of the training choir’s performing of Chilcott’s “City Songs” and the quirky rebelliousness of the full youth choir singing Seiber’s “Three Hungarian Folksongs”, (incidentally watched by the composer’s daughter).

We could have been standing on the Kop for a Liverpool home game in the 1970s when the Youth Choir sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and when clapping above our heads, arms outstretched, joining in during the monumental second half Samba percussion piece. With referee’s whistle in mouth Graham masterminded a cacophony of beat and rhythm as the performers gyrated and “Mexican-waved”.

The core of the Cantate brand – singing and performance of an exceptionally high standard – is still clearly identifiable, but this concert gave a glimpse of the future with Nick and Graham: a broad range of genres, music and arrangements to reflect the character and qualities of the choirs, conductor trusting singers to take responsibility for their performance. With the new team in charge these are exciting times as Cantate pushes on to the next level.

Stephen Hayhurst