A Garland of Folk Songs

Stourport Choral returned to their impressive base at Arley Kings Village Hall, to perform a selection of folk songs initially by John Rutter, across a range of settings from Ireland, Scotland, to Northumbria and Lincolnshire. There followed others, with music arranged by Ronald Binge, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Hugh S Robertson and finally five choral folk-songs arranged by Gustav Holst.

Following a warm welcome from MD Dexter Drown, the Choir sang a lilting opening number with the English folk-song ‘The bold grenadier’. Then followed an uplifting ‘The keel Row’ and ‘The willow tree’ which was led by the gentlemen with some rich tones. The sopranos then sang a gentle ‘The sprig of thyme’ which was then matched by the gentlemen singing ‘Down by the sally gardens’.

The ladies led from the front with ‘The cuckoo’ and the sopranos followed with a wistful and thoughtful ‘I know where I’m going’ Possibly the most impressive number in the first half was ‘Willow song’ when the full choir blended beautifully.  ‘O can ye sew cushions’ involved all the ladies, with some beautiful accompaniment by Angie Allard on piano. The gentlemen’s ‘The miller of Dee’ was sung with great diction and the half closed with everyone singing the Scottish folk-song ‘Afton water’.

The second half opened with a glorious ‘Where the gentle Avon flows’ and this was followed by a lovely ‘Linden Lea’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams. (I’m sure I sang this once, along time ago!) .There were some nice harmonies with light and shade in ‘All in the April evening’ and the first of the final five by Gustav Holst was a rousing ‘I Sowed the Seeds of Love’. The altos opened ‘There was a tree’ and were soon joined by everyone else and after ‘Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’, ‘I Love My love’ was sung with gentle and melodic variations. The concert concluded with a rousing ‘Swansea Town.

On this occasion I counted at least 37 singers and whilst some others were not available, slowly but surely the choir’s number is growing. This does not surprise me under the musical direction of Dexter Drown who was informative and  introduced each section with enthusiasm. Thank you for your usual warm welcome and look forward to ‘A Night at the Opera’ in June.

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