THE Ludlow Choral Society celebrated the happy coincidence of St Cecilia's Day and the 90th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten with gusto and a huge dose of courage.
The courage was needed to negotiate the hairpin bends and rapidly changing time signatures of Britten's choral writing in the rarely-performed The Company of Heaven.
The work was written as incidental music for a BBC broadcast in 1937. Although there are some superbly inventive passages, even Britten thought the recited sections went on too long, although he enjoyed the words that he was actually able to set to music.
The readers Gillian Larley and Stephen Purcell made the most of the sometimes awkward spoken sections. The Choral Society clearly enjoyed what they were singing as conductor Patrick Larley sensitively led both them and the Britten Sinfonia through a demanding score.
The tenor Neil Sharp easily tackled a demanding part.
The radiant singing of the soprano Megan Llewellyn Dorke and the moving accompaniment from Graham Eccles on the magnificent church organ each added to the occasion.
The Choral Society brought joy and optimism to the Little Organ Mass by Haydn, one of Britten's favourite composers, but Megan Llewellyn Dorke stole the show with her clear and sincere singing of the Benedictus. This was perhaps the highlight of the whole evening.
Michael Baws
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