Sweet Bird

BIRD/SONG Collegium Musicum of London Chamber Choir (Greg Morris conductor) Temple Church Saturday November 22 2025

I have been to a number of Coll Mus concerts, as my son Sam is a member of the tenor section. I might not be a totally disinterested party but my opinion of the high quality of this concert was so obviously shared by the large and very enthusiastic audience that I feel justified in speaking my mind...

Quite simply: this is the best I have heard this choir sing (their 'B Minor Mass' of May this year coming a close second). Balance between the parts was excellent and intonation was secure, but what took these performances onto another level was the superb range of dynamics. Whispered pianissimos were balanced by exhilarating, ringing climaxes. The overall effect was wonderfully stirring.

The programme was notably well chosen, with a judicious selection of the familiar and less well known. The concert began with what I can only describe as a mass mating call, where the tenors and basses of the choir serenaded the sopranos and altos (decorously scattered amongst the audience) with Purcell's 'Come, all ye songsters'. The S/A were duly attracted, (well, they took their places anyway). We were treated to a an absolutely ripping performance of Janequin's 'Le chant les oiseaux' in which a bewildering range of bird calls were rendered with virtuosic skill and confidence. Definitely a highlight. The works by Elizabethan and Victorian composers which followed produced fewer vocal pyrotechnics but were still most satisfying, with Orlando Gibbons' 'The Silver Swan' demonstrating that familiarity very definitely need not breed contempt...

The two pieces by Stanford in this programme were both gems: 'Heraclitus' elicited the loudest fortissimo of the evening and 'The Blue Bird' received the calibre of performance that demonstrated what an extraordinary piece of impressionistic writing it is. For a few minutes, Temple Church was transformed into 'the idle hill of summer' - quite magnificent.

The first half ended with Harold Arlen's 'Over the Rainbow' -a heart-warming delight. Congratulations to Verity Algar for a very moving opening solo and to Irene Carter for her later contribution. Throughout the concert they, along with the other soprano ladies produced wonderful bright, focussed tone, moving calmly into the stratosphere when required (which was often).

At the start of the second half Greg Morris reminded us he is a choirmaster and organist with a fine performance of Messiaen's 'Communion: Les oiseaux et les sources'. After pieces by Ravel and Kenneth Leighton the choir sang a moving G. Morris arrangement of 'The Ash Grove' followed by Vaughan Williams' 'The Turtle Dove', a work very close to my heart as the baritone solo was one of the first things I sang in public when I was still at school. Here the rich toned soloist was Gavin Watts - I was pleased to discover he is Welsh like me!

The concert ended with more Vaughan Williams: Paul Drayton's ingenious arrangement of 'The Lark Ascending', with SATB replacing the usual orchestral accompaniment for the solo violin. This made a tremendous impact, with the chorus singing words from the George Meredith poem which inspired the work. I was pleased to see Sam Herman-Wilson had been allotted a solo, and very lovely it was too, but the entire chorus sang their hearts out to sublime effect. Ian Belton was the silken toned, musically immaculate soloist.

The audience reaction was little short of ecstatic. Special plaudits to Greg Morris, a self-effacing gentleman (and gentle man) but a consummate musician who has made this choir one of the finest of its type in the UK. I'd also like to pay tribute to Laura Sandford and John Biggins who edited and designed the programme. CML programmes are always impressive but this one was particularly lovely.