The Spanish Goden Age

Saturday evening, and I'm off to St. Mary's Primrose Hill to a concert put on by Camden Chamber Choir entitled "The Spanish Golden Age - Sacred and secular music from 16th - 18th centuries".

I've known St. Mary's Primrose Hill for a long time, ever since I went there a couple of times with Joanna Yates (now the Rev. Joanna Yates) when we were both studying at SOC.   It was a very friendly church, with quite a large congregation and rather a lot going on.   At the time Joanna was the Sacristan there and living nearby in Eton College Street; after she was ordained she moved first to St. Mark's Regent's Park and finally ended up as Vicar of Leeds.

The concert was wonderful.   Camden Chamber Choir, who have been in existence for over 30 years, are a small group of  20-25 experienced singers, who put on three concerts a year at St. Mary's.  They aim to perform works which are not so well-known, if they are known at all; with so many choirs just putting on the old favourites like Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Nelson Mass, Faure's Requiem, etc, it is nice to find a choir that likes to branch out and produce concerts where the music will be all new to most of the audience.

Most of the pieces were fairly short, so there was quite a variety.   Sometimes the words were familiar, as in the Gloria, the Salve Regina, and the Regina Coeli, but the music wasn't; most of the time both the words and the music were new.   The soloist, Alison Hawke, has a marvellous voice, and was a joy to listen to.

When most concerts advertise "Refreshments available at the interval" they mean a glass of wine or fruit juice and some crisps.   Not Camden Chamber Choir!    For an extra £1, you could have a glass of wine and indulge in a large selection of bread, dips, cakes, crisps, cheese, cherry tomatoes, olives, humous - in fact, enjoy almost a light meal.   And although the church was quite full, there was plenty for everyone, with some left over for people to fortify themslves for the journey home.

Camden Chamber Choir's next concert is in June, and I;ve already put it in my diary.