Cancelled: French and English Choral Music | Lymington Choral Society

Lymington Choral Society presents a programme of baroque and romantic choral music from France and England. Among well-loved favourites of the choral repertoire are included some lesser known pieces together with homage to Beethoven to mark the composer's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

The French baroque repertoire is full of amazing surprises. Lully never fails to please, but there are equally exquisite harmonies to be discovered in the Grands Motets of Mondonville, a composer not so well-known in England as in his native country. Rameau is an undisputed master of harmony and Classical Drama, but shows a more earthy quality in his extrovert tambourin.

Purcell's King Arthur deserves to be performed more often than it is. With its spoken dialogue and masques it is very appealing. Apart from Fairest Isle, the Chorus of Cold People is understandably the best known part. Handel's Chandos Anthems are not as widely performed as his more popular Oratorios but they offer singers and audiences much to admire, rather in the same style as his Acis and Galatea. The Immortal Hour is the only work for which Rutland Boughton is now remembered. The haunting melody, Faery Song, will be given in a choral arrangement by Michael Goldthorpe. Elgar's lighter works include From the Bavarian Highlands (with words by his wife) and Fly, singing bird, fly. Both are a joy to sing and listen to. French romantic music is represented by Fauré's lyrical Pavane in its choral version and the performance ends with Beethoven's Ode an die Freude.