A CHRISTMAS RHAPSODY / International Festival Chorus / Review

 

A CHRISTMAS RHAPSODY 

International Festival Chorus 

SOTA Concert Hall 

Sunday (8 December 2024) 

It all started with a concert of Christmas music in 1974, after which British music educator John Edwards, Head of Music at the United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA), decided to turn his choir into a permanent entity. Named the International Festival Chorus (IFC), it became Singapore’s longest running community choir, even predating the Singapore Symphony Chorus by some six years. Edwards (who was also The Straits Times’ music reviewer) was the IFC’s longest serving director (he left Singapore in 1983), and past directors have included Robert Casteels, Peter Stead, Eng Meng Chia, Albert Tay and Chong Wai Lun, just to name a few. 

IFC celebrated its 50th anniversary this year with a Christmas concert under its 17th music director the American Tom Anderson. And what an enjoyable and eclectic mix the 140-minute concert was, featuring what must be the most cosmopolitan and diverse choirs performing for the most cosmopolitan and diverse audience in Singapore. The singers of the IFC main chorus, chamber chorus and UWC Children’s Choir (Jamee Guerra, Director) all knew how to have fun in an informal and unstuffy atmosphere that is often lacking here. 

The concert’s first half was occupied with seasonal favourites, opening with the children in It Feels Like Christmas accompanied by pianist Francesca Lee (also IFC’s longest serving member). It was all plain good fun, with the children merrily waving to their parents in the audience after each song. The IFC singers, wearing red scarves and ties on black, were no less festive, registering with Ding Dong! Merrily On High (accompanied by piano four hands) and Chuck Bridwell’s Nutcracker Jingles, a very nifty arrangement combining James Pierpoint’s perennial Jingle Bells with movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. The highly rhythmic African Noel was accompanied by percussionists from the Magnificat Orchestra. 

When it came to the more traditional songs, the chamber chorus delivered with precision and accuracy, In Dulci Jubilo and Es ist ein Ros ensprungen had that glow of warmth while Greg Gilpin’s Ding-a Ding Ding benefited from intimate tintinnabulation and that decrescendo could be heard all the way from the highest circle seats. Handel’s Messiah had to feature sometime, and it was Glory To God with soprano Renata Hann delivering the recitative. Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Ecce Novum, accompanied by piano and strings, is destined to be a future classic. It is just that beautiful. The Austrian cradle song Still, Still, Still, arranged by Norman Luboff, was sensitively by Bianca Beng’s harp. 

It was a return to popular music, with Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, and Tom Anderson (wearing a top hat) had a ravishing cameo solo as Willy Wonka in Pure Imagination, the sumptuously orchestrated version being a particular highlight. The children returned for This Is My Wish and the first half closed with the full complement of singers in Do You Hear What I Hear? 

The concert’s main event was Sir John Rutter’s Magnificat (1990). For creating some of contemporary choral music’s most treacly sweet confections, the poor Knight of the British Empire (he was decorated by King Charles III earlier this year) has received criticism from high snobdom while laughing all the way to the bank. His music is a guilty pleasure, like a high-calorie, high-cholesterol cheese cake with all the fruits and icing on top. And why not? 

The Magnificat Orchestra, formed by some of Singapore’s best free-lancers and a full complement of brass, did the honours to ensure the singers had the best accompaniment ever, and the final result was a veritable treat. The Magnificat subject was Virgin Mary’s joyous response to the annunciation (that she would bear the saviour of the world, impregnated by the Holy Spirit). The high spirits evident in the opening Magnificat anima mea (My soul doth magnify the Lord) with the sopranos in their element. The purity of their voices is celebrated here. More sober was Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose that followed, the only non-liturgical movement and sung in English. Sopranos again ruled, this time with a unison of silky evenness. Quia fecit mihi magna (Because He has done great things for me) had that broad celebratory feel, with men’s voices, not to be overshadowed, taking the lead. 

Soprano Renata Hann returned as an ethereal soloist in Et Misericordia and Esurientes, her amplified voice was a pleasure to behold even if a slight miscue caught on microphone was a small price to pay. Inserted in between, Rutter’s Fecit potentiam took on an unexpectedly syncopated edge, with a jazzy fugue to challenge the singers, which they accomplished with suitable aplomb. The final Gloria Patri provided a suitably grand conclusion with all voices on deck, a reprise of the Magnificat melody and blaring brass to complete the festivities. 

The Magnificat’s forty-minutes or so passed like a dream. Sacred choral music was never meant to be boring or uninvolving, and IFC emphatically confounded all hoary stereotypes with this lively performance. Never mind if the audience applauded between every movement. If there was a work (in effect seven separate works) that deserved multiple plaudits, this was it and the guilt is purely and unreservedly ours. Tom Anderson and his charges have ensured all who attended went home to a blessed and fulfilling Christmas season (with proverbial chestnuts roasting on an open fire) ahead.