News and reviews
The following reports of past concerts are excerpts from those published in The Richmond and Twickenham Times.
Cantanti Camerati in Central London
Cantanti Camerati's visit to St. James's Church, Piccadilly on 12th July 2003, broke new ground for the Richmond-based choir in performing the "Mass in G minor" by Ralph Vaughan Williams in its entirety. At 25 minutes, this was an unusually long item for this choir which is best known for its much shorter madrigals, ayres, balletts and part-songs.
They started their concert with a ballett an ayre and a madrigal by John Bennett. Later in the first half the choir sang two American pieces: the superb part-song from Samuel Barber "The coolin" and Randall Thompson's stirring American motet "Alleluia".
The vibrant "Motet No.6 - Lobet den Herrn" was a highlight of the first half, as was Franz Schubert's "The Shepherd on the rock".
The second half began with that performance of the "Mass in G minor" with two choirs, Cantanti and Camerati either side of the four soloists: Joy Palfery (soprano); Kate Cheetham (alto); Richard Palfery (tenor) and Martin Johnson (bass) whose balanced singing was exquisite. This Mass, in five movements, was superbly sung in all parts and a triumph of this versatile choir whose finale "Serenade to Music" by Vaughan Williams saw no less than 16 of the choir sing cameo solos.
It would be remiss not to mention the other items in this "Serenade to Music" which included two partsongs from Elgar's "The Bavarian Highlands" and three songs by Gustav Holst: the delicate delights of the "Hymn to the dawn" and "Hymn to the waters" from "The Rig Veda set 3" by the ladies of the choir. These were a perfect foil to the rumbustious rendition by the men of "The song of the lumbermen". The instrumental solo was a haunting extract from the "Third cello suite" by Benjamin Britten played expertly by Philip Austin.
Although this was a very different concert to those given by this choir in recent times it was successful and extolled the abilities of the singers and the expertise of the musical director.
Fred Melling 14/7/03
"Best yet" from Cantanti Camerati
"Every time I hear Cantanti Camerati they just get better and better," said one of the audience leaving the Queen Charlotte Hall last Saturday after the choir had given its latest concert entitled "Music from Around the World".
The concert was the brainchild of choir member Barry Buttenshaw who is also the current President of the Twickenham Rotary Club. "I thought it would be a good idea to get one of my activities to help another and so when I suggested to Cantanti that they stage a concert in aid of the five Rotary Clubs in the Borough, the choir readily agreed," said Mr. Buttenshaw.
Entitled "Music from Around the World", to reflect the worldwide nature of Rotary International, the variety of music and sheer entertainment value was exceptional. "I was very pleased to do this concert in memory of my father who was a past-president of the Barnes Rotary Club, which is now part of the Richmond Club," said Cantanti Camerati's Musical Director, Geoffrey Bowyer M.Mus. who donated his fee to Rotary.
The choir commenced in Europe with that English classic madrigal from Orlando Gibbons called "The Silver Swan", followed by "Il Bianco e Dolce Cigno" written by a Dutchman but sung in Italian and then to "Il est Bel et Bon" a French madrigal.
As is typical of a Cantanti concert we next had "something completely different" in the energetic "Handkerchief Dance" by Morris dancer Fiz Markham, accompanied by Geoffrey Bowyer on the piano!
The Cantanti ladies sang the Hebridean air "An Eriskay Love lilt", an Hungarian poem arranged by Bartók called "Enchanting Song" and "The Spanish Serenade" by Chaminade all in a first half concerning Europe. There were three very contrasting songs illustrating the depth in quality of voices the choir enjoys.
The men delivered the amusing Czech song "Stodolé Pumpa" with great aplomb especially its soloist Ken Marsh. But the first half was made by three excellent solo performances with Sue Oglethorpe's wonderful delivery of "Adele's Laughing Song" from "Die Fledermaus"; Baritone Martin Johnson's rendition of the Brahms' Lullaby had everyone wanting to hear more of his exceptional voice and then Eve Baker's "Solveig Song" from Greig's "Peer Gynt" was just beautiful as was the clarinet of Patrick Martin.
The first half came to a close with a superb rendition of "The Easter Hymn" from Cavalleria Rusticana with again Eve Baker starring and then the amusing "Insalata Italiano" - a clever song utilising the Italian musical terms and again solos from Anne Gooding (soprano), Richard Palfery (tenor) and Martin Johnson excelled.
The second half whizzed around the world, with items from Tonga (The Tongan Song); India with Rimsky-Korsakov's "Hindu Song"; Puerto Rico with "America" from West Side Story and Australia with "Waltzing Matilda", complete with "tinnies" of the "amber nectar"!
Geoffrey Bowyer's setting of the Paraguayan "Bésame Mucho" was superb with its guitar (Sue Oglethorpe) and bongo (Barry Buttenshaw) backing and the excellent "Three Little Maids" from "The Mikado" (Japan) were Anne Gooding, Joy Palfery and Kate Cheetham.
However, without doubt the best item in a well balanced and superbly presented show was the five "Negro Spirituals" by Michael Tippett from "A Child of our Time". A mixture of complexity and simplicity the choir sung these to perfection aided and abetted by a variety of excellent soloists which included several of the above plus Brian Lewis, Peter Chivers and Patrick Martin.
The show ended back in the British Isles with the Irish setting by Charles Stanford of "Quick we have but a second" a fast and furious song, which left the audience wanting more. A superb concert from an excellent choir for a great organisation.
Fred Melling The Richmond and Twickenham Times 6th June 2003
A thrilling first
In the space of four days local choir Cantanti Camerati achieved a double first, for on Sunday July 23rd they sang at Cheam's Nonsuch House and then three days later on Wednesday July 26th, they sang in the Summer Concert at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall for the first time in their 30 year plus history.
At Nonsuch House, the Musical Soiree was in aid of the Sutton Branch of the NSPCC and Cantanti began in traditional style with an excellent duo of ancient balletts and a madrigal. The programme included many highlights and soloists Charlotte Rusby, Clair Jardella, Sue Oglethorpe, Eve Baker, Stella Hill, Rachel Marston and Jonathon Ouvry, all sang with great feeling.
Sue Oglethorpe's singing of Eva Dell'Acqua's 'Villanelle' was a triumph and this concert saw the swansong of one of Cantanti's stalwarts, Jonathon Ouvry who sang Peter Warlock's 'Captain Stratton's Fancy' with great humour and panache. He is moving to Suffolk and will be greatly missed after over 30 years with the choir.
Moving on to Kneller Hall, Cantanti has performed many times with the Royal Military School of Music at venues such as the Royal Star and Garter Home and even in Richmond, Virginia, but singing at the splendid Kneller Hall itself, at the kind invitation of the Principal Director of Music (Army) Lieutenant Colonel G Kingston as part of one of their Summer Concerts, was a thrilling first for this versatile choir.
Singing in the open air is always difficult, but Cantanti commenced their part of the programme with Geoffrey Bowyer's arrangement of 'The Ash Grove' and then the choir sang the 'Triumphal March' from Verdi's Aida. Their biggest challenge was singing in Sibelius's 'Finlandia' with almost 200 musicians and fireworks, a stirring performance by all and enjoyed by the 2500 audience!
The Richmond and Twickenham Times, Friday 4 August 2000