Review of Summer Concert 2025 at Baslow
It is summertime when the days are long and the evenings warm. And it is time for the annual summer concert of the Baslow Choir. With the river Derwent flowing serenely past its ancient churchyard, what better place could there be for this musical celebration than lovely St Anne’s Church? Despite sporting attractions competing for our attention, the concert attracted a sell-out attendance with every pew filled and chair taken.
The programme was a well-chosen medley of old and new, serious and jolly, stately and groovy. There was something for all tastes. Not surprisingly, the programme made heavy demands on the choir. At times their voices seemed to want to burst through the rafters above while at other times they whispered quietly to our inner souls. Thus, the tumultuous royal anthem, Handel’s Zadok the Priest which ended the first half and Cy Coleman’s rumbustious Rhythm of Life which ended the second half and brought the concert to an upbeat close. On the contemplative side were Heinrich Pfeil’s Calm is the Sea (in an arrangement by the choir’s musical director) and, above all, in Tchaikovsky’s wonderful Nightingale with its crescendos and sonorous pianissimos, notably as the music faded into silence at its conclusion. The song was the chance for Glyn Herron to delight us as, with his mellifluous voice, he supplied the tenor line. And there was daring too, as with Matyas Seiber’s musical rendition of two of Edward Lear’s Nonsense poems where the choir was required both to sing and to imitate instruments of percussion (including duck-like quacks). Such is the agility of the human voice.
The choir had started the evening with not altogether easy arrangements by one of its former directors, Michael Coe, of Isaac Watts’ Come let us join our cheerful songs and Bishop Ken’s Glory to Thee, my God this night. And then it was into a selection of six short folk songs (three in each half) from among those collected and arranged by the inimitable John Rutter in his Sprig of Thyme. Artfully chosen to showcase the singing skills of the choir’s differing voices, these delightful arrangements (they included the Keel Row and the Miller of Dee) provided variety and merriment. The choir was thoroughly into its stride by the start of the second half with fine performances of those favourites: joyful Oh what a beautiful mornin’ from Oklahoma and soulful Summertime from Porgy and Bess.
Two entertaining interludes were provided by the musical director and David Mayo-Braiden as dextrous piano duettists. Their offerings ranged from a Beethoven march to Arthur Benjamin (his Jamaican Rumba) with some Albert Ketèlbey and Johann Strauss (among others) in between. It was all great fun.
Forced to select two items for special mention, the prizes must go to Eleanor Daley’s Upon your Heart from the first half and Lauridsen’s Sure on this shining Night from the second half. The choir was familiar with both pieces and took obvious pleasure in singing them. And isn’t that the point of it all: to sing for the sheer pleasure of it and give pleasure to others?
The musical director and piano duettist, Andrew Marples, was at his witty best as he guided both choir and audience through the evening. Not to be forgotten is that most accomplished of piano accompanists, Carol Barnes (a real star in this reviewer’s opinion) as she accompanied the choir faultlessly through its various songs and turned the page (never an easy task) when the piano duettists were performing.
It was a joyful evening and a fitting way to celebrate this glorious time of the year. More please!
Bill Blackburn