Review: Marvellous choral celebration

Missing the Last Night of the Proms was a small price to pay as Hampton Lucy’s gorgeous church hosted George Parris and the Carice Singers. What a marvellous event celebrating the choral works of some of Britain’s greatest composers.

Compositions by Britten, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Parry, Warlock and Delius were passionately and beautifully delivered by George Parris’ hand-picked 21 singers supported by Rachel Haworth, the Junior Organ Scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Parris recruits his 21 to 25-year-olds from as far afield as Durham, Edinburgh and York; their commitment to Carice Singers the eqivalent to a commercial ‘internship’ providing solid experience required before embarking on professional careers.

Dangerous as it is to try to talent spot at this stage in their careers, there is sufficient evidence and every reason to believe that Elspeth Piggott - her performance of Warlock’s The Full Heart was stunning – together with Emily Burnett and William Searle will progress rapidly.

Carice Singers take the name of Sir Edward Elgar’s daughter; the performance of his Four Unaccompanied Part Songs giving the wonderful basses a chance to shine, most particularly in Deep in My Soul. Strong bass contributions featured too, in Delius’ On Craig Ddu – a composition quite different from works by his contemporaries including Warlock, Finzi and Vaughan Williams. Warlock’s choral compositions will be under scrutiny at Hampton Lucy as Carice beginning a three day recording session of his works for the NAXOS label. With George Parris in charge, creative interpretations can be anticipated.

Parris demonstrated his enormous skills in bringing such talented individuals with lovely voices together in Britten’s Hymn to Cecilia and Parry’s Hear My Words, Ye People, the composers work about how good God is. Carice ended the memorable evening with an ‘around sound encore’ (singers spread around the church) of a Warlock New Year Blessing.

Clive Peacock