Radlett Choral Society boasts a healthy team of supporters and there was certainly a good audience for their concert on Saturday evening. Those who chose this concert to attend, rather than one of the other numerous musical events in and around Watford that evening, must have been pleased with their choice because it was an excellently excecuted programme which ranged from the whimsy of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the melancholy of Brahms' Alto Rhapsody and the poignancy of Schubert’s Stabat Mater.

The spirited opening of the Mendelssohn was neatly played by The New Mozart Orchestra, setting the positively frolicksome mood of this charming work and the ladies’ chorus with the soprano and mezzo soloists, Sally Harrison and Katherine Allen was perfectly balanced and prettily sung. Each movement of this piece was a delight, conjuring up visions of flitting fairies and it was difficult to stay seated for the ever-popular Wedding March that brought smiles to the faces of audience and choir alike.

The Alto Rhapsody made a wonderful contrast and Katherine Allen grasped the mood of desolation perfectly within her first phrase. There were truly rhapsodic phrases for soloist, orchestra and men’s chorus, the latter adding sonorous support to the soloist in the final stanza with a robust and warm tone.

The opening of Schubert’s Stabat Mater is painfully heart-rending as may be expected by the subject matter; the chorus describing the death of Jesus on the cross and the soprano follows with a powerful aria imagining his mother’s pain at watching her son die. After this, however, the music takes on a more optimistic quality, suggesting the joy of the resurrection and heavenly reward.

The tenor, Christopher Bowen and bass, Simon Lobelson joined the soprano for this work and added some moments of lovely singing full of emotion. In the fifth movement the ladies of the choir managed to maintain a good tone and accurate pitching with a minimal accompaniment from the brass and a little woodwind and in the later choruses there was some wonderfully rousing and uplifting singing from the chorus. Then there was, O du Herrliche, a big sing for the chorus over a full orchestral sound; wonderful descending phrases for everyone and music to wallow in. As the piece neared its close there were real spine-tingling moments as the soprano line soared over the choir and orchestra. Some exciting running passages for the choir and strings brought the concert to an impressive conclusion.

Throughout the concert, the orchestra made a great job of accompanying under the attentive direction of Clive Fairbairn and the enthusiastic applause at the end of this concert was certainly well-deserved.

Nicola Craig