Cantores Olicanae and Ermysted's Swing Band set the summer off to a fine start in June. Read Mary Jenkinson's review from the Ilkley Gazette below:
Going beyond its more usual classical repertoire, the choir sang extracts from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘South Pacific’ (‘Some Enchanted Evening’ was an appropriate title), Gershwin’s ‘Showcase’ and Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Choral Celebration’.
The centrepiece of ‘South Pacific’ was the choir’s rendering of ‘There is nothing like a dame’ which was very well articulated at quite a pace and included a nicely choreographed solo line for the tenors. Clearly Cantores had been practising their consonants as it would have been easy for the text to have got lost in the echoey acoustic of the church.
The choir’s pieces were interspersed with some jazz standards performed enthusiastically by members of Ermysted’s Grammar School’s swing band, conducted by Geoff Cloke. They provided a good contrast to the choral element, with notable playing from the pianist, saxophonist and trumpeter.
After the interval, Cantores tackled the more challenging music of Stephen Sondheim. Where Rodgers, Hammerstein and Gershwin work with easier listening (and singing) harmonies, Sondheim thrives on the unexpected and creates an aura of uncertainty, fitting the music to his clever and sometimes sardonic lyrics. I really enjoyed ‘Into the Woods’ – a fairy tale which may not have a happy ending: ‘Into the woods to bring some bread to granny who is sick in bed/ Never can tell what lies ahead/For all that I know she’s already dead….’ Also beautifully written and sung was ‘The Little Things’ from ‘Company’, charting the decline of a marriage. Starting upbeat and with nice harmonies, ‘The Little Things’ degenerates to discords with sections of the choir arguing with each other (musically): ‘It’s not so hard to be married/I’ve done it three or four times.’
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Cantores Olicanae put on a splendid concert with a fascinating difference at St John’s Church, Ben Rhydding, on Saturday 26th October. And the fascinating difference? The concert was inspired by Oscar Wilde’s gothic masterpiece “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. This informed the choice of the pieces performed by the choir and gave the proceedings an enjoyably spine-chilling and at times macabre dimension!
