Camerata at St Martin, 30 Jan 2016

The mild winter weather held for us as we went up to London for the choir’s first ever — surprisingly — concert in St Martin-in-the-Fields. The Brandenburg Choral festival, now in its seventh year, is the brainchild of Bob Porter, London orchestral player and Guildhall School HoD.  Bath Camerata was invited to appear at the end of January. It was a quick set, just an hour, but it gave us the opportunity to road test a couple of works we were doing for the first time, such as Brahms’s delicious Liebeslieder Waltzes. A quick rehearsal in the Neville Marriner room and then into the church for a run through. Benjamin had worked at St Martin’s before but few of the choir had ever sung there, so we were curious to try it out. In the event, I can see what the fuss is about: not only is it an iconic venue bang in the middle of London but it has a wonderful acoustic, clear and true, and is a joy to sing in. From the ecstatic opening rush of Finzi’s My Spirit sang all Day to the last “tumbling in the hay” of George Shearing’s Shakespeare Songs, the concert swung and the gratifyingly full house gave the choir a great reception. Afterwards, the festival director himself was heard to say how impressed he was by our sound and our music making.