St John's, Upperby

On a lovely summer’s evening, with the sun streaming into the beautiful backdrop that was St. John The Baptist Church, Upperby, Dalston Male Voice Choir opened their concert with “It’s a Grand Night for Singing”. This upbeat Rogers and Hammerstein number set the tone for a thoroughly enjoyable evening of music.

This was one of a number of songs from shows or films. There was a lovely rendition of “The Rose” from the film of the same name and made famous by Bette Midler. I suspect this is one of the choir’s favourite songs as there was a warmth in the performance and the dynamics of the piece were excellently highlighted by Musical Director, Michael Deakin. The Charles Aznavour song “She” was beautifully sung and the piece revealed a lovely tenor voice.

The programme also included some male voice choir staples. One of these was “Gwahoddiad”. A complete contrast to the opening number, this was a stirring interpretation, revealing the strengths of the various sectors of the choir, the Bass singers in particular. Before singing this hymn, the choir invited some members of Carlisle Veterans Male Voice Choir, present in the audience, to join them on stage. The surprised members discovered a further revelation- it was to be sung in Welsh!

Another hymn followed “ Be Still My Soul”. This was a beautiful performance. It was the epitome of the male voice genre, sung ‘ a capella’ or ‘ unaccompanied’ and it demonstrated the pure essence of this choir. It was perhaps my favourite piece of the evening.The final song of the first section, however, really brought the talents of the accompanist, Lorraine Gash to the fore, as she and the choir took on the challenge of “Give Me The Old Time Religion” with its difficult phrasing and syncopation.

A completely different tone was then offered by the young soloist, Heather Cartwright, on guitar. Heather enchanted the audience with a lyrical interpretation of “ The Coast Road” by Stuart Ryan, followed by the interestingly named “The Impending Death Of The Virgin Spirit” by William Ackerman.

The choir really had the audience tapping their toes and slapping their knees to the lively tune “Stout- Hearted Men” whereas in complete contrast a lilting folk song “Water Of Tyne” demonstrated a more restrained and quiet approach.

As the informative MC, David Wood, outlined the songs to come ,first up in the second half was “I’m Gonna Walk” a gospel song which had earned the choir 3rd place in Carlisle and District Music Festival. The choir sang confidently and with obvious enjoyment. The second soloist of the evening was William Nixon. He gave very accomplished performances on the piano of “Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8”, which elicited extended applause from the audience, and “Nocturne from Midsummer night’s Dream” by Mendelssohn. Again the audience demonstrated their appreciation of this young man’s talent.

Heather finished the solo performances with an extremely challenging arrangement of Bach’s “Prelude in G” ‘with a twist! Heather was very brave to perform such a challenging piece. It was the second time these talented young musicians had appeared with DMVC. It is gratifying to see young talent alongside experience and it is a situation which benefits both parties.

And so to the penultimate number - an amusing arrangement of a nursery rhyme “Old MacDonald’s Farm” which had the audience laughing out loud. A memorable climax to the concert was Verdi’s “Speed Your Journey” or “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves”. A deep, harmonious sound was achieved by the choir and was a fitting end to an interesting and varied concert.

An encore piece “Softly” was obviously an old favourite of the choir as they sang it confidently, without referring to words and looking straight at the conductor. And so ended ‘a grand night’ in every sense of the word. We had been witness to a challenging, varied and exciting programme with something to suit all tastes. The choir sang with pleasure and obviously enjoyed what they did.

We had been privy to the burgeoning talent of two young instrumentalists. So as we stepped out into the still warm summer evening we all had a song in our heart, albeit a different one from our neighbours. We felt in a better mood - for that’s what music can do for you. So thank you Dalston Male Voice Choir for sharing your obvious love of the music with us.