Aluredian
37
Musical
highlights
by
Chris Holmes
T
his year's Arts Week at King's
was brought to a close with a
superb evening of classical
highlights, given by many of
the school's performing
groups, and a selection of
solos. The orchestra opened the concert with
Fauré's Pavane, full of sumptuous timbres,
warm rich string playing, and a beautifully
lilting tempo. Then it was strings only,
providing the accompaniment for Vivaldi's
Double Cello Concerto, in which the soloists
were Alex Wynn and Justus Bunk, and very
capable soloists they proved. The interplay
between them was sensitively captured, and
their identification with subtle Baroque style
seemed both natural and sophisticated.
The palette of sound then underwent
something of a change, as the brass group took
to the stage with the Minuet from Handel's
Water Music. There was an excellent sense of
ensemble, with neat, dovetailed phrasing, and
a really homogenous group sound. Alex Wynn
and Peter Oakley then performed movements
from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, something of a
landmark performance as this would be the last
time a King's audience would enjoy the two of
them singing together. And they didn't
disappoint. Hallmarks of their duet singing
over the last four years have been total
unanimity of phrasing and style, often in the
most sophisticated manner imaginable, and
they received a tumultuous ovation.
Alex was to have the stage to herself, but not
before the Chapel Choir had delighted with
Psalm 23 by Howard Goodall, perhaps better
known as the theme tune to The Vicar of
Dibley, and Grace by Mark Hayes. Tenors and
basses were in fine form, while sopranos
thrilled in the higher registers. Altos had
beautifully subtle moments too.
Alex chose for her final solo performance at
King's XXX. The power and control at the top
end of her voice never fail to impress, and her
characterisations of the texts were as ever
subtle and immaculately handled. A fitting
swansong for someone who has given so much
pleasure with her singing during her time at
King's.
The swan was to appear again in the finale to
the concert, as the orchestra gave us the best
bits from Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals.
This was a pianistic tour de force, as duties
were shared out between Karen Fergusson,
Alex Wynn, Alice Bevan and Jessica Dalwood,
with shifts in stage positions carried out at
breakneck speeds! Somewhere in all this Alex
also found her cello for Le Cygne, and Henry
Drysdale too was well to the fore on double
bass. And festivities did not end there, as
audience and performers decamped to the
marquee, where there was jazz and dancing till
late into the night.