News

Cathedral Choir Concert

Singing to a packed cathedral, the choristers gave a moving performance in the annual Cathedral Choir Summer Concert.

The choir sang music which had marked particularly important occasions throughout the academic year. Terence Charlston’s When All Is Dark opened proceedings and is the first track on the soon-to-be-released recording of Advent and Christmas music that they made in February. This was followed by Bruce Neswick’s upbeat Let the peoples praise You, O God which featured on a BBC Radio 4 broadcast in October. Later in the programme, the choir sang works by Brahms, Bairstow and Wesley.

Perhaps most notably, the choir performed Benjamin Britten’s complicated 1943 Festival Cantata Rejoice in the Lamb. This 15-minute 20th-century work was revolutionary in the world of choral music and sets words from the 18th-century poem Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart, an English poet who was in an asylum when he wrote it. Britten's setting brings Smart’s eccentric but deeply spiritual vision vividly to life. The music is rich with word painting, humour, solemnity and Britten’s distinctive modern tonal language. William S sang one of the most famous sections for treble solo, whimsical yet reverent, treating the poet’s cat, Jeoffry, as a holy being.

As the end of term approaches, we prepare to bid farewell to those who will be leaving the choir and to celebrate the end of the choir year at Evensong on Sunday 6th July. Before that, the choristers will sing a full week of services and a concert at 12pm on Saturday 5th July as part of the Llandaff Cathedral Festival. It will be a busy end to a busy year which has seen the choristers sing over 200 services, four concerts, two broadcasts and one recording. Phew!