Faire is the heaven – beginnings in Bournville, Ex Cathedra, St Francis Church Bournville, Sat 09 November 2024,

5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: David Gray & Paul Gray.

“A celebration of music from the early years of this excellent choir.”

I was glad – Parry

Faire is the heaven – Harris

Blessed are they – Gibbons

Reges Tharsis – Sheppard

This is the record of John – Gibbons

Crucifixus a 8 – Lotti

The lover’s ghost – Vaughan Williams

Dance to your daddy – Trad. arr. Humphries

Trois Chanson, No 1 – Debussy

Anyone who had a heart – Bacharach arr. Skidmore

Blessed are the peacemakers – Bates

Here, there and everywhere – Lennon & McCartney arr. Rose

O Lorde, the maker of al things – Joubert

Three Portraits – Joubert

Three Shakespeare Songs, No. 2 – Vaughan Williams

Greater love hath no man – Ireland

Requiem: Libera Me – Fauré

Jerusalem – Parry

Blake Reimagined – Johnson

And I saw a new heaven - Bainton

Conductor, Jeffrey Skidmore, making comments to introduce and contextualise the evening’s music, apologised if any of his choices might seem a little indulgent. The apology was not necessary. The concert drew on repertoire explored by this now well-established choir during the first twenty years of its life. It was a nicely balanced programme which, like a well-stuffed Christmas stocking (if it’s not too early for such analogies) just kept yielding its delights.

Indeed, if anything, the concert demonstrated how this type of smorgasbord programme, which draws together a disparate range of shorter musical items, does not need a theme or overarching idea. It just needs a variety of great music.

Chosen perhaps for its association with Maestro Skidmore’s early musical life, the venue proved to be a perfect one. Although a little out of the way, St Francis’ Church in Bournville, with its simple shoe box configuration and uncluttered acoustic, is perfect for this size of choir and the repertoire on offer. It provided boom for more powerful passages, picked up pianissimos and carried them out over the audience, but never smudged the sound with excessive reverb.

Although Ex Cathedra has been around for a long time, the choir’s commitment to encouraging new talent means it is always being infused with fresh young voices. The list of singers for the concert indicated at least eleven musicians in receipt of scholarships. The mix of younger and more experience voices resulted in a tone that was both bright and full-bodied. Blending within each section was quite flawless. And balance within the choir as a whole, excellent.

This enabled the conductor to shape the music with tremendous attention to detail, and all of the detail came across. Nothing was lost. This was particularly noticeable during John Joubert’s Three Portraits. These are densely composed, harmonically rich and imaginative pieces. The choir sang them with a degree of commitment and concentration that was utterly engrossing.

Choosing other highlights is difficult. All of the items on offer added something special and all were delivered with love and care. The choir has been around for fifty-five years. This concert covered the first twenty. We look forward to concerts covering the remaining thirty-five.

Ex Cathedra

Conductor – Jeffery Skidmore

Organ – Martyn Rawles

Soloists - Alice Madden, Alexandra Burstow, Dan Marles, Laura Toomey, Nick Drew, Jeremy Burrows, Maria Willsher, Oliver Barker