A musician attending a school concert must expect his pleasure to be interspersed with pain. The technical immaturity of the orchestra will ensure that occasionally the strings sound frail and scratchy, especially in the acoustics of the New Hall, the wind coarsely over-blown, and the percussion mechanically insensitive. In these circumstances, a reliable continuo is essential for the secure accompaniment of the choir. In a performance of extracts from Bach's Christmas Oratorio this was efficiently provided on the organ by Mr. Waller, and on the piano with stimulating pulse by Roger. A. Bowen.
Mr. Haley was making his first appearance as conductor of our school music. Quiet and undemonstrative in approach, he yet obtained excellent results from his choir, which, as only one full chorus was included, concentrated its efforts on the counterpoint of chorales, where their precision of harmony was remarkable.
Visiting soloists demonstrated the style required for dramatic delivery of recitatives and accurate phrasing of arias. J. Hill's trumpet obligato was pure in tone and pleasantly uninfluenced by his brass-band cornet playing. G. A. Pitts took a brief soprano solo. Messrs. Kincaid, Williams and Thurtle, of the Staff, and Miss Derbyshire and Mr. Fiske should be thanked for assisting in the performance.
Mr Waller's special Junior Choir gave exquisite renderings of two German carols. Its members should be especially proud of "Susanni," now perfected.
The Junior Dramatic Society has graduated from the Christmas-card tableaux of elementary Nativity plays, through medieval mysteries to mummery. This year it presented the traditional comedy of St. George and the Turkish Knight. The production by Mr. B. E. Williams, was the more successful through avoiding the remoteness of the stage and gaining intimacy on a central rostrum. Costume was imaginatively motley, with a happy air of improvisation such as one might associate with village players; acting and dialogue were as spirited as the roughness of the writing allowed. Besides reliable characterizations from B. Williams, P. Cook and R. Grace, now veterans of the company, the show glittered with D. Belcher's virtue in armour, and introduced a confident D. Franks in some humorous thaumaturgy.
Perhaps the most exciting item of the evening was the début of Mr. Golland's verse-speaking choir, in excerpts from "Murder in the Cathedral." Transition was made from the joys of Christmastide to the Christian responsibilities attendant upon the feast. Declamation was preferred to acting, and emphasis was successfully laid upon clear rhythmic delivery and antiphonal interplay of voices. D. A. Woodward spoke Becket's sermon with a moving sincerity. During the penitential chorus, led by G. Dimmock, "Dies Irae" was intoned by a senior choir led by Mr. Waller. In a darkened hall, Eliot's words throughout obtained the cathartic effect of the inevitable tragedy.
B. G. Marchant
from Gaytonian 1960