A Christmas Celebration.  Southwell Minster.  18 December 2024,

5☆☆☆☆☆.  Review: William Ruff.

“A magical tradition – but with plenty of surprises.”

Just when you think you’ve heard every possible variation on the theme of Christmas concerts, along comes the Southwell Music Festival to prove that the carols-and-readings format is alive and well and still capable of springing surprises.

Many of the ingredients were familiar from past years, including the thirteen world-class singers who make up the Southwell Festival Singers.  Each one is an impressive soloist – but together they sing as if communicating with each other telepathically, always perfectly in tune, always crystal-clear in their diction, always beautifully balanced.

A major change this year was that Festival Director and choir conductor Marcus Farnsworth took on the major additional role of baritone soloist.  He is a singer who has a special talent for story-telling, a quality which breathed vivid life into the Peter Warlock songs he performed (‘The First Mercy’ and Bethlehem Down’) as well as the two German songs, ‘Die Könige’ (Peter Cornelius) and ‘Schlafendes Jesuskind’ (Hugo Wolf).  In these he was accompanied by pianist Libby Burgess, another distinguished musician whose musical talents have underpinned so many Festival successes over the years.

The musicians were joined by actor Richard Goulding who, from a commanding position high up in the pulpit, gave a masterclass in how to project the meaning of words which the audience cannot see but need to understand.  His clarity and pacing were exemplary in a wide range of texts, such as Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ and ‘A Cradle Song’ and more modern poems by writers such as U.A Fanthorpe, Carol Ann Duffy, Wendy Cope and Ed Skoog.  Whether the subject matter was serious or comic, spiritual or whimsical, celebratory or satirical, Richard Goulding set the right tone and brought the writing vividly to life.

Marcus’s approach (as conductor) to the choral pieces was similarly attentive to the stories they told as well as to their beauty of sound.  Most of musical programme would have been unfamiliar to the audience: very few traditional carols, focusing instead on the wealth of Christmas music that has been written in recent years. There were well-known 20th century names such as Herbert Howells, Benjamin Britten and John Tavener – but there was also plenty of new material too, such as pieces by Joanna March (‘In Winter’s House’), Cheryl Frances-Hoad (Bogoróditse Dyévo) and William Billings (“Me thinks I see an Heavenly Host’).  Much of this music places considerable demands on its performers, especially when the tempo is slow and when breath control has to be rock-solid.  Errollyn Wallen’s ‘Peace on Earth’ was intensely moving when sung with such conviction and technical assurance.

Other things which moved and delighted the audience: the opening, magical sound of the women’s voices floating into the Minster’s vaults from afar; the beautifully lit church with its two Christmas trees; the inclusion of Sterndale-Bennet’s very funny music hall number ‘The Carol Singers’; the clever sequencing of music so that the quiet, poignant and reflective pieces were balanced by music with a smile on its face.

Mixed together, the ingredients made the audience forget about the appalling weather which lay outside the Minster’s walls and to focus instead on the magic, mystery and beauty of the Christmas story.

The Southwell Music Festival presents A Christmas Celebration

Southwell Festival Voices directed by Marcus Farnsworth (Festival Director and solo baritone) with Richard Goulding (narrator) and Libby Burgess (piano).