St Petroc’s Church Bodmin was the venue for this year’s Christmas Concert by the East Cornwall Bach Choir. The programme, comprising a selection of Baroque music by composers from the New World, was an exciting and varied choice of music that is unfamiliar to most performers and audience

In addition to the singers, the Hercules ensemble, a very talented group of professional instrumentalists from London’s Globe Theatre, provided accompaniment for some of the choral items and some instrumental pieces, on period instruments

The opening piece Hanaq pachap kusikuynin set the high standard for the evening. The driving ostinato rhythm of the drum, heralding a strong, confident and noble start. The music of the first half, contained movements of the Missa Ego flos campi by Juan Gutiérrez Padilla, interspersed with instrumental and choral motets and single movement works. The transition through a variety of textures, ranging from double choir in polyphony, to solo voice was smooth and effective. Throughout the choir was well balanced, had excellent intonation and tackled with apparent ease the complex Latin American rhythms.

Whether singing a cappella or accompanied the singers’ performed confidently and with clear diction. (unfortunately I’m not in a position to comment on the accuracy of 15th century Mexican dialect pronunciation!). They produced a bright, light sound, well suited to music from this period. The choir’s sustained top notes of the Versa est in luctum, were beautifully controlled and the melodic runs in the credo of the Mass were neat and very together.

The unusual and complex Latin American rhythms used throughout the evening, would be a challenge to any performer, but tonight they were expertly directed by Paul Ellis, the conductor and executed with enthusiasm and vigour, by the choir. The programme incorporated syncopated dance rhythms, including the early Rumba heard in Los coflades de la estleya by Araujo and the Salsa, used in Convidando esta la noche by Zespédes. The use of such “foot-tapping” rhythm, reminds us that the roots of this genre are found in West Africa (brought over to Latin America by the slaves) and Spain. The final work before the interval required some fiendish counting for members of the solo quartet. Breath-taking for the audience, but without much opportunity for the singers to breathe!

The Hercules ensemble performed a selection of short pieces. A concise, informative demonstration preceded a performance of two motets for the warm sounding double-reed instruments and then a softer, lyrical piece for flutes. It was wonderful to hear these instruments being played so expertly and blending so beautifully

The final instrumental section of the evening, to the delight of the audience, was for a bagpipes consort with percussion

As the final Ay rang out from last work, the audience erupted into applause and cheering, demanding an encore. At the end of this evening’s excellent performance, it was very apparent by the smiles and buzz, that both the choir and audience were delighted by their achievement. It was indeed a rare treat to hear this relatively newly discovered music performed so expertly. It is good to see a couple of student age singers amongst the performers and I hope that a few more youngsters will take the opportunity to join this choir and thereby gain, in addition to immense enjoyment and satisfaction, invaluable musical experience. We all look forward to East Cornwall Bach Choir’s performances at the St. Germans Festival in May

Chris Howarth