Portsmouth Baroque Choir returns to St Paul’s, Chichester after a two-year gap in a collaboration with the Consort of Twelve.

They are promising a programme of two uplifting pieces written three centuries ago in Rome: Alessandro Scarlatti’s St Cecilia Mass and Handel’s Dixit Dominus.

“It’s a pairing we enjoyed and sang successfully in October 2013”, says the Choir’s director Malcolm Keeler, “and this year marks the tri-centenary of Scarlatti’s death. The Choir has tackled the notorious demands of the Handel several times going back to 1985: some of the soloists on this occasion will be drawn from its ranks.”

Lynden Cranham, cellist with the Consort of Twelve, said: “Dixit’s demands are indeed legendary. It’s as though Handel, still in his early twenties, had a point to make to his illustrious Italian hosts. The heart quails when you see page after page of continuous quavers. From the perspective of Dixit, the term ‘continuo cellist’ takes on a new resonance in that the cellist is required to play almost without a break!”

Portsmouth Baroque Choir & Consort of 12 (contributed pic)

placeholder image — Portsmouth Baroque Choir & Consort of 12 (contributed pic)

Malcolm added: “To be inspired or to be made to perspire? That is the question we face every time we embark on a new round of rehearsals. These two composers, to differing degrees, offer a bit of both. Handel was undoubtedly inspired by what he saw and heard during his brief stay in Italy, folding in vocal agility and orchestral clarity into German thoroughness and peerless melodic invention.

“Tackling its ferocious demands without due preparation”, warns a seasoned member of the choir, “can be like running out of steam during a lengthy work-out at the gym, but you definitely feel it’s been worth the effort!

“In Scarlatti, on the other hand, it’s clear that craft meant more than imagination. The soloists are given pages of rippling melodies that change very little, although in the resonant acoustic of St Paul’s, as in a baroque church in Rome, they will sound serene.”

Soprano soloist Sarah Baker said: “St Cecilia was famous for singing to God in her heart”, so this is a truly fitting tribute within the brilliant tapestry of a Mass that offers a real sense of prayer and thanksgiving.”

Malcolm added: “Whereas Dixit is very obviously the work of a precocious young man, the St Cecilia Mass was written when Scarlatti was sixty and sums up his long career. Written in the modern style, replete with brilliant, operatic solos, we reach the biggest surprise and most profound music at the final Agnus Dei, where the soloists stand down and he switches to the older style of Palestrina.

“These two pieces, bright and fast-paced, offer a broad range of sensations that should bring light from the Eternal City to a dark, autumn evening in Chichester.

You’ll find more information about both pieces at the PBC website

https://portsmouthbaroquechoir.co.uk/blog/

Portsmouth Baroque Choir and the Consort of Twelve are at St Paul’s Church, Churchside, PO19 6FT, Saturday, October 18 at 7 pm. Tickets £18 (£20 on the door), £5 students/U16, available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/baroquechoir.

Note that the Northgate car park will be closed on October 18 in preparation for the Sloe Fair on October 20. There may be a few spaces available at St Paul’s: alternatives are St Cyriacs PO19 1AJ (five to ten minutes’ walk) and Orchard Street PO19 1DD (ten to 15 minutes’ walk).