St Mary’s Church, Fratton, Sunday 17 November 2024
Exactly the right amount of gravitas projected from the stage the moment Portsmouth Choral Union came on, most impressive and nicely understated, setting the mood for the coming drama.
Everything bore the hallmark of practised perfection, crisp and clear both from PCU and Southern Pro Musica, joined by Sue Graham Smith sensitively adding the repetiteur. We were blessed further with stunning soloists, whose palpable chemistry capped it all beautifully.
Congratulations to conductor David Gostick for masterminding this truly memorable occasion.
One of the undoubted highlights of this oratorio, completed in 1798, eleven years before Haydn died at the then grand old age of seventy-seven, is ‘The Heavens Are Telling’ – a chorus with aria, familiar to many from their school days. Apart from the unalloyed exuberance of the choir, we savoured wistful interjections from the trio of tonight’s soloists, Gabriel (Ellie Laugharne, soprano), Uriel (Robin Bailey, tenor) and Raphael (Thomas Nießer, baritone), all consummate opera singers. Haydn provides lavishly for them, and they, individually and together, maintained the narrative in delightful, never dull, ways.
This review would not be complete without saying ‘chapeau!’ to Thomas who, describing the creation of the animals ending with ‘the worm’, chose the D an octave below that scored by Haydn, immediately followed by a confirming note from the bassoon, a definite nod to Haydn’s innate sense of fun, producing a polite level of laughter from we spellbound listeners.
The prolonged applause showed just how much the large audience had enjoyed the performance; a wonderful start to Portsmouth Choral Union’s 2024/25 season!
Anthony Spender (PCU member)
