Rodolfus Choir & Corelli Orchestra - Tewkesbury Abbey

Thursday 13th August 2009

Crackerjack rating: 9 / 10.

Tewkesbury Abbey has a unique status. Every Three Choirs’ Festival, whether at Gloucester, Worcester or Hereford, holds at least one concert here, and this year’s event, Bach’s Mass in B minor, proved especially popular.

This is not surprising. This lengthy work contains some of Bach’s best choral music and is an immensely spiritual experience. Yet it is not all that easy to pull off, requiring as it does singers of considerable stamina and energy.

Fortunately, the Rodolfus Choir, comprising some of Britain’s best singers under 25, has these qualities in abundance. And so does the Corelli Orchestra which produced some sublime sounds in the instrumental interludes besides contributing some splendid flute, trumpet and viola d’amore accompaniments for the singers.

From the vast and complex Kyrie which opens the Mass the choir, under Ralph Allwood’s assured direction, didn’t put a foot wrong.

They brought a particularly robust tone to the opening of the Gloria ending with a fast-paced and cheerful Cum Spiritu Sanctu with a colourful trumpet obbligato. They replicated this energy in the declamatory opening of the Credo, and later moderated their tone to create a wonderful sense of mystery in the Incarnatus Est.

There was excellent rapport between the treble soloists, Elizabeth Weisberg and Polly May, in the lilting Christe Eleison duet and the Et in Unum Dominum from the Credo.

Tenor Ben Johnson’s singing of the Benedictus was beautifully expressive but I felt bass Robert Rice failed to project himself sufficiently in the Et in Spiritum Sanctum.

However, in Bach’s great Mass it is the choir which plays the leading role, and the Rodolfus Choir’s well rounded and faultless performance made this a truly inspiring event.

Roger Jones