IN recent years the Remembrance Sunday concert at King’s College has become part of Taunton’s civic calendar.

John Cole’s Amici choir, together with a fine line up of soloists and OrchestraWest, once again presented a programme of music fit for the occasion. This year the works started small and grew in scale as the evening progressed. The three trumpet call of Benjamin Britten’s Fanfare for St Edmundsbury started quietly enough but soon blazed away in torrents of rippling arpeggios and audaciously held long notes. The choir then sang Morten Laudridsen’s ‘O Nata Lux’ from his ‘Lux Aeterna’ to devastating emotional effect. It was outstandingly beautiful and moving and again proof that this choir is working to the highest professional standards. Their performance of Carl Rütti’s ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’ was similarly accomplished in what was an exceptionally difficult and demanding choral work. And then, in a flash of inspired programme planning, we were given Parry’s extended anthem ‘Blest Pair of Sirens’ which most of us last heard at the royal wedding. The lavish orchestral writing inspired the choir up their game again and it was a wondrous sound full of pomp, circumstance and great singing. Beethoven followed with Mark Cracknell in charge of the exposed and virtuosic piano part.

This was Beethoven experimenting with the mix of forces at his disposal - solo piano, full orchestra, individual orchestral sections and choir. The Choral Fantasia opus 80 is packed with musical invention and tunes preluding the great Choral Symphony of some years later. Mark Cracknell looked super-cool at the keyboard and played with virtuosic flair and verve whilst conductor John Cole kept everything together wonderfully.

After the the smorgasbord of the first part of the concert the second part consisted of just one work, Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Here the choir were joined by four soloists, soprano Virginia King, mezzo-soprano Alison Kettlewell, tenor Anando Mukerjee and bass Alan Fairs who was standing in at short notice for an indisposed Eddie Wade. Alison Kettlewell has a ravishing voice which has considerable power as well as beauty. Virginia King and Ananda Mukerjee provided some thrilling top notes and Alan Fairs contribution was commanding and first rate. All of that said, there were moments when the ensemble wasn’t as blended as is should have been. In part I suspect that this was because all four had quite different vocal technique and colour and the packed rehearsal schedule didn’t allow the time for these matters to be sorted. None of this really distracted from the performance and the final Bach-like fugue brought the evening to a exhaultant end. The power of music to bring people together in common purpose also can give a sense of communal unity and strength. Not just because of the occasion but also because of harsh reality of the motorway accident with which we are still coming to terms with, this concert had many resonances. John Cole, his choir and supporting team did an excellent job again for which we give thanks.

By Wayne Bennett.