Cambridge Philharmonic Chorus
Durufle Requiem
St John’s College Chapel
Saturday 3rd May 2008

One of the nice things about concert life in Cambridge is the sheer enterprise of its major musical societies, both in the university and in the town. Thus the Cambridge Philharmonic Society’s May concert this year, featuring the society’s choir, drew a virtually full house to St John’s College Chapel; and the interest of the programme and the quality of the performances more than made up for the hard seats.

The programme was not too long, the music reflective rather than flamboyant and by no means run of the mill. Conductor Tim Redmond, enjoying a busman’s holiday in the audience, must have been proud of his young and gifted chorus-master, Christopher Whitton, and of his singers. And whoever chose the music tailored it well to the choir’s skills.

The music was all by two early 20th-century French composers: the main work was Durufle’s elegiac Requiem − familiar enough to Cambridge audiences, yet nicely placed in a context of works by Durufle’s younger friend, Jehan Alain, who was killed in action during the Nazi invasion of France in 1940.

Organist James Sherlock’s excellent command of technique, choice of tempo and subtle registration made the most of his solo contributions: Alain’s Litanies, his gentle setting of the Ave Maria (also featuring soprano Kate Symonds-Joy) and Durufle’s Prelude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain (with excellent programme notes). He accompanied the Requiem, beautifully sung by the choir, with equal distinction.

Mr Whitton got his choristers to sing with excellent balance, clean diction, good intonation, fine, soft-grained tone that was never shrill or coarse and always scrupulously observant of the dynamics demanded by the composer. The young and highly promising soloists, Kate and baritone George Humphreys, and the always reliable principal cellist of the Phil’s orchestra, Vivian Williams, set the seal on the concert.

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