December 2010
| Review |
| Christmas Roundelay |
|
Ringwood Musical & Dramatic
Society Choir, With a delightful evening of festive music and song, the RMDS choir has excelled once again. The highly talented Ivy Tan and Chris Guy have creatively blended a number of musical genres within a programme which had something for every ear. The programme combined some well known and loved pieces with refreshing charm and introduced less familiar ones. Ivy Tan clearly has great expectations and achieves high standards. The choir responded to every change in dynamics so that the vocal sound rose and fell according to the needs of the piece. The choral sound was superb when it was rousing and equally impressive when the volume was taken right down to almost silence. The balance between soprano, alto, tenor and bass was very good. The audience was taken on a musical tour from Bethlehem to Broadway and invited to participate in traditional carols along the way. It is hard to select best pieces as all were competently performed but the highlights for me personally were the Austrian Alp carols where the music had been cleverly arranged to sound like yodelling, The Little Drummer Boy and the combination of recorders, voice and percussion in The Sound of Pipe and Drum. All the musical items were enhanced by the quality of the accompanist, Nicola Perry and the percussionists. Colin Petheram gave variety to the mainly vocal programme with his clarinet pieces which were well received and the readings were entertaining. On a cold winter’s night it warmed the heart to enjoy a performance by people who clearly love what they do and share it with others. RMDS has been entertaining the community since 1911 and has centenary celebrations to look forward to in 2011, starting with Hello Dolly in April and choir concerts in June. Long may they continue! For more details visit www.rmds.org.uk. |
|
Jan French |