Home
Concerts
Contacts
Sponsors
Reviews
New Members
Click the "easy" links below to raise funds for the choir
--------
Sponsor links
Concert Reviews
*Windsor and Eton Choral Society thrill with Mendelssohn’s Elijah*
The Windsor and Eton choral Society and accomplished soloists thrilled a ‘sold out’ Eton School Hall on Tuesday evening with a ‘bravura’ performance of Elijah.
Led by conductor Ralph Allwood the 150 strong choir and Eton Festival Orchestra delivered an uplifting and dramatic performance of Mendelssohn's work.
Elijah was sung by baritone Mark Stone, a rising star on the operatic stage. The audience rated his performance as ‘brilliant’ and ‘uplifting’.
Other soloists, Tara Overend (soprano), Patricia Hammond (mezzo-soprano), James Edwards (tenor), and Eton College music scholar Leo Popplewell (treble) equally ‘wowed’ the audience.
The event also helped to raise money for the Alexander Devine Children's Cancer Trust, who are dedicated to building a children's hospice in Berkshire.
A wonderful and uplifting evening was enjoyed enthusiastically by a hugely appreciative audience and all participants.
Slough Observer, December 2008
THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS
The notoriously terrible reception received by Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at its first performance in 1900 led the composer to declare “I always said God was against art”.
But the work quickly established itself, and - as those present at Eton College School Hall on Saturday last week will surely testify, it continues to enthral and captivate audiences.
The performers on this occasion were the Windsor and Eton Choral Society joined by the Eton Festival Orchestra under the baton of Ralph Allwood. The society's approach to the work cast new light upon many corners of this familiar masterpiece. The choir were exemplary in their tonal variety and precision. The closing moments were especially memorable and the beauty of the final Amen served to underline a performance of real depth and commitment.
The chorus were joined by the Rodolfus Choir (a group drawn from the Eton Choral Courses) and their youthful voices formed a perfect complement, particularly in Part 1 around the deathbed of Gerontius - sung by Adrian Thompson - whose singing was superb. He was joined by baritone Julian Empett who provided a suitably solemn priestly figure. In Part 2 the role of the Angel was sung by mezzo soprano Jeanette Ager with great clarity.
The direction from Ralph Allwood was exemplary. His carefully judged tempos during the glorious opening orchestral prelude set the scene superbly for the drama to follow. The packed audience witnessed a very personal and heart-felt interpretation of this greatest of choral works.
Scott Price Slough Observer, 28 March 2008
___________
Handel With Care
Perfect harmonies echoed around an ancient chapel as talented musicians celebrated a special anniversary.
A thrilled audience of more than 400 people enjoyed a rendition of Handel’s Messiah on Saturday night – in the splendid setting of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Former rotary president David Shaw was among those fortunate enough to attend the rare event.
He said : “It’s such a great piece of music and many of our members were quite in awe of it.
“The four soloists were superb and the Windsor and Eton Choral Society proved it is the best choir in Windsor.” He added: “The chapel was a truly magnificent setting and we feel blessed to have been allowed to have the event there.”
Fflur Wyn (soprano), Louise Poole (mezzo-soprano), William Townend (baritone) and Thomas Walker (tenor) were the soloists for the performance of the favourite choral oratorio – part of the celebration of the Windsor Rotary Club’s 75th anniversary.
The Sinfonia Britannica orchestra and the Windsor and Eton Choral Society were conducted by Ralph Allwood, director of music at Eton College, in the spectacular chapel which took 50 years to construct after building began in 1475.
Chapel Clerk, Charlotte Manley, said: “The chapel opens up for 2 concerts to local groups each year – the schools concert in July and one other. This concert was that ‘other’ this year as it is such a special anniversary.”
Andrew van Terheyden Slough Observer, 23 March 2007
___________
VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS Eton College
I CANNOT remember the last time the Tuba Concerto of Vaughan-Williams was performed in this area - if ever?
But after experiencing Leslie Neish's superstar presentation last week in the school hall of Eton College with the Eton Festival Orchestra conducted so well by Ralph Allwood, a second acquaintance cannot come soon enough.
It is a massively enjoyable concerto and last week played with so much courage, conviction and outstanding musicianship by this highly talented virtuoso but above all else highlighted by wonderful communication with his audience.
Surely this is what the finest music making is all about and this tuba virtuoso has it in abundance and more.
For the interest of many, I am advised that his hilarious fun-packed encore simply titled Fnugg is the work of the Norwegian composer Øystein Baadsvik. I am not sure whether the huge ovation at its close was for the composer or soloist. I reckon they both deserved it. But this was only one of the four gems comprising this concert Allwood, the precentor of music at Eton College, has now been the conductor of the Windsor and Eton Choral Society for more than 30 years and one of his finest attributes is his immaculate programming, as well as the authority of his direction.
This sparkling concert was of such a high quality opened by the orchestra with Humperdinck’s overture to his fairytale opera, Hansel and Gretel followed by the choir with one of my favourites, the Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Vaughan- Williams. This had a superb contribution by baritone James Birchall and equally so from soprano Mary Bevan throughout only the second performance in 10 years of Philip Marshall’s resplendent Centenary Cantata. A 10-year gap between performances surely is unfair.
Perhaps the words of poet William Strode, set as its finale, described not only the spirit of the cantata but also the whole of this beautifully conceived concert - Our Souls Consist of Harmony. I could not agree more.
Roy McKay Slough Observer, December 2006
___________
Windsor & Eton Choral Society’s December concert in had strong seasonal overtones without being per se a Christmas programme. The opening item was Engelbert Humperdinck’s Prelude to the opera Hansel and Gretel. It begins with an orchestral arrangement of the famous duet lullaby at the end of Act II. Thereafter come various melodies in the gentle style we associate with the composer – lulling us into forgetfulness of his collaborations with no less a figure than Wagner! It was elegantly played by the “Eton Festival Orchestra”, on whom no information was offered other than the name of the leader.
Next on the programme was Ralph Vaughan Williams famous, though rarely heard Tuba Concerto, written when the composer had turned 80. A boisterous first movement leads up to a cadenza, displaying the instrument’s potential. The Andante sostenuto is marked by a flowing but unsentimental lyricism that allows us relax before the dazzling opening to the final Allegro, with its slightly more wistful cadenza. Throughout it was played with total technical assurance by soloist Leslie Neish. He obliged an enthusiastic audience with an encore demonstrating his wizardry, with double-stopping effects achieved, apparently, by singing into the instrument while playing. He almost succeeded in persuading us of the merits of the tuba as a serious solo instrument. Highly entertaining whatever!
The choir was finally heard in Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols. Here a solo baritone combines with choir and orchestra in full arrangements of three carols, with other carols quoted en passant. Young baritone James Birchall sang with exemplary clarity of diction and projection of sound. The choir, too, responded to what was required of them, notably in “Thus we were heirs”, Come all you worthy gentlemen” and “tidings of joy” – and, most tellingly of all, in the sublime anti-climactic ending to the work.
Their contribution was no less commendable in the final item, Philip Marshall’s Centenary Cantata. This is a formidable work, enjoying only its second performance. Large orchestral forces are skilfully ‘marshalled’ and the choir put through its paces in the strident harmonic writing and vigorous coloraturas. Soprano Mary Bevan impressed with the sheer beauty of her sound, and her ability, other than in the massive final tutti section, to assert herself against the overpowering sound of full choir and orchestra. All praise to conductor Ralph Allwood for training the choir and keeping firm and clear control over the excellent orchestra.
Derek McCulloch Windsor Express, December 2006
___________
Last revised 11 November 2009