A Royal Occasion II
The Choir of St James’, Sydney Youth Orchestra
June 30, 2011

In the second of its 2011 Royal Occasion concerts, the choir of St James’ joined forces with the Sydney Youth Orchestra to present some highly traditional British fare, lightly seasoned with the topical. With Warren Trevelyan-Jones at the helm, proceedings opened with Purcell’s music for the funeral rites of Queen Mary. This seemed a little undercooked early on, with the choir falling somewhat short of its usual cleanness of articulation, and seemingly trapped in the middle ground between liturgical and madrigalian rhetoric – the chromaticisms of In the midst of life, for example, were too politely negotiated.

Nonetheless, and largely due to a standout bass section, a certain amount of expressive intensity was built up, and the choir hit its stride with a strong, albeit highly safe, performance of the famous homophonic setting of Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts. The instrumental marches, meanwhile, were somewhat monochrome, as was the orchestral contribution to the succeeding Walton bracket. The delicate siciliana lilt was largely missing from the twice-played pastoral string interlude Touch her soft lips and part, a deceptively simple piece that exposed an...