REVIEW: Sussex Chorus offer Messiah concert

The season’s journey through Advent to Twelfth Night began for Sussex Chorus with a rousing performance of that most revered and beloved of all oratorios, Handel’s Messiah, in St Andrew’s Church on Saturday, November 30th. Choosing such an evergreen and exhilarating work swelled the choir’s ranks, reflecting both the draw of the oratorio and a relaxing of the fear of the elephant in the room: Covid. This gave the choir a fuller, more balanced voice, improving their corporate tuning and cohesion and matching the full sound of the excellent Kent Sinfonia as they shepherded the singers through their story-telling, all under the guidance of Maestro Stephen Anthony Brown. The voices blended well, giving strong leads and clear diction, with particular praise for the tenor section, often a smaller minority group, for their tone and line. It must be hoped that the choir’s excellent singing will continue to attract the new singers it deserves.

Sussex Chorus boasts fine soloists and this team were impressive in their musicianship and ability but especially in communicating the story of the oratorio to the full-house audience.

Handel, amongst his many talents, composed many operas and his skills in dramatic scene-setting transfer to his many oratorios, many based on Old Testament texts. Messiah takes us from them to the Christmas story, the coming of the title’s saviour. The soloists set the scene with recitatives and arias, to which the choir respond accordingly. Alex Aldren’s operatic penchant came to the fore in the opening with his clear, even tone unveiling the work’s purpose, Angharad Lyddon’s beautiful, powerful mezzo voice was a joy to hear, Zita Syme took a while to settle but her later arias were caressed with soprano magic and Ashley Mercer had the audience in the palm of his hand with his first-rate dramatic portrayal of the text, notably in the aria ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together’, a poignant reminder of man’s continuing inhumanity to man. The choir’s final flourish in ‘Worthy is the lamb’ sent us all home duly uplifted.

St Andrew’s Church has been honed into an excellent choral performance venue with its very giving acoustic quality, performing flexibility and its modern off-stage facilities, all of which were appreciated by the audience in the pleasant, comfortable ambiance of the nave. We’ll all look forward to the choir’s next concert, with the Mozart Requiem and Howard Blake’s Song of St Francis on the menu, in March.

Simon Austin