St Paul’s Cathedral was well filled for the Southern Youth Choir’s concert on Friday evening.
Choristers thus involved included Teddy Finney Waters who vigorously conducted the men in a boisterous version of German’s We’re Four Jolly Sailormen featuring excellent energetic diction with Ewen Clarke-Wallace accompanying.
Cyndi Lauper’s Time after Time was delicately conducted by Ameera Woods, accompanied by Sage Pettus, who also accompanied Billie Eilish’s What was I made for?, assuredly conducted by Tessa Campbell.
Clarke-Wallace confidently conducted Bob Dylan’s unaccompanied Make you feel my love. When Bina Holmes played the short organ interlude the choir’s intonation was exact.
Buchanan conducted the women of the choir singing Gjeilo’s Festival Gloria .
Pettus and Holmes (piano) set the scene with dazzling piano accompaniment. Resonance was full-bodied although intonation in the middle parts was not always accurate.
The sound made by the 44-strong choir in Pearsall’s Lay A Garland was healthy and well balanced, demonstrated by the strength of the final phrase, but the polyphonic lines needed greater delineation.
Three songs from Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Songs showed the choir’s ability to sing confidently in another language.
Pettus accompanied with Jasmine Longley on the flute.
Pettus played Six Romanian Folk Dances followed by the second movement of Hindemith’s Sonata for Flute and Piano with Longley.
The smaller chamber choir underpinned excellent tenor soloist Finney Waters with subtle and gentle harmonies in Grainger’s setting of Brigg Fair. Similarly, Paige Milburn was the soloist in her exciting composition Wanting More with vocal backing by seven of the women choristers.
The concert concluded with Buchanan conducting Elton John’s The Circle of Life , a fitting end to an enjoyable concert.
