ANNUAL CONCERT REVIEW, Saturday October 14, 2023

Crosskeys Campus Sports Hall

Risca Male Choir has always taken its Annual Concerts very seriously. These events represent some of the best from the choir, vocally and artistically, with interesting repertoire, while at the same time partnering with the best artists available to us. The 2023 annual concert was the first since 2019, with the Covid Pandemic halting such occasions, and with the added obstacle of the campus sports hall being unavailable until this year.

At last, the wonderful Steinway grand piano saw the light of day once more and was finely tuned, the staging was put in place and the hall looked ready for action. The choir, under the leadership of our still quite new Music Director, Matthew Harrison, had been drilled to virtual perfection and was eager to sing its heart out and savour the atmosphere of this special concert.

It didn’t disappoint!

The choir made a triumphant return to the stage, singing with great artistic merit, producing a well-balanced, even sound with great dynamic contrasts capturing our attention. There was vocal precision throughout, particularly in numbers such as The word was God and What shall we do with the drunken sailor? There were magical moments in the more intimate items, Hiraeth and In this very room, and there was patriotic fervour in those numbers that called for it, O Gymru! and Gwinllan a roddwyd. I was most impressed with the lovely singing to be heard in Anfonaf Angel and it was most satisfying to hear RMC’s own version of Sunset Poem again, with an expressive reader in 2nd tenor, Dave Tutton. Matthew Harrison conducted passionately, free of scores, to get the maximum from his choristers.

The guest artists were old friends of our choir; soprano Jill Padfield and mezzo-soprano Joanne Thomas go back many years with us. It was a thrill to reunite them with Risca Male Choir.

We were treated to a wide range of solo and ensemble items from both, with some exemplary singing from these long standing friends. We had sparkle (Jill’s I could have danced all night) and humour (Jo’s The boy from… and then with Jill for the hilarious Cats’ Duet). There was calm serenity from Jo’s Lascia ch’io pianga and technical agility from Jill’s Tornami a vagheggiar. This was a splendid demonstration of vocal art and much appreciated by our audience.

But it was the trio from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte that really stirred the emotion with its sublime music and the most beautiful singing from Jill & Jo joined by our own baritone, Andrew Jenkins.

The brilliant pianist, David Doidge, making a very welcome return to work with RMC, was the outstanding accompanist, producing a glorious sound as of an orchestra where you could hear the colours of the woodwind, the brass and the strings. What a difference a great accompanist can make to a performance, and this was such.

RMC’s own very new accompanists, Jeslyn Asir and the young trainee Millie Tran, gave strong support to the choir throughout the evening. Young talent was very much on show tonight.

This concert had all the elements needed for an annual concert of distinction, and RMC can feel very proud that this was the case. Congratulations to everyone who took part, from the humble chorister to the Music Director and including our thrilling guests. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Martin Hodson MBE
Music Director Emeritus