{TABLE} Yugoslav Folk Songs.........................Seiber Trois chansons..............................Debussy La cathedrale engloutie.....................Debussy Spirituals from A Child of Our Time.........Michael Tippett Gypsy Songs, Op 103.........................Brahms {/TABLE} THE National Chamber Choir presented a pleasantly varied, high-quality programme of 19th and 20th-century music at the National Gallery yesterday evening. The quality of the performances varied, too, but there was plenty to enjoy.
Among the better things was Seiber's Yugoslav Folk Songs, which were conducted by the choir's apprentice conductor, David Brophy. The singing was too calculated and careful to take off, but its vigour and. concentration was absorbing. So was Debussy's Trois chansons de Charles d'Orleans, which, like the rest of the concert, was conducted by Colin Mawby. These demanding pieces received by far the most accomplished performances of the evening - flexible, purposeful and naturally expressive.
All the pieces on the programme included solos, and these were so generously shared that only four of the 17 singers never had a go. The variable quality of the results made me question whether this policy is in the choir's best interest. Certainly, variable solo work was one reason for an inconsistent performance of the Five Negro Spirituals from Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time.
In Brahms's Gypsy Songs (Zigeunerlieder), Op. 103, Fergal Caulfield had problems in co-ordinating the demanding piano parts with Colin Mawby's conducting; though he earlier gave a beautifully sonorous and measured performance of Debussy's La cathedrale engloutie.
What a pity Brahms's excellent collection of eleven songs was sung in English - it loses so much of its bite! It was enjoyable, but was limited by failures in pacing and in driving line and shaping across large spans. The occasional exceptions to this stood out, especially Tom Cregan's superb tenor solos - a memorable highlight of the concert.
