Pavilion, Strathpeffer, 22 September 2006

Glasgow Phoenix Choir

WE HAD TWO choirs for the price of one in this concert, and what a bargain it turned out to be. The justly famous Glasgow Phoenix Choir, on a tour of the north of Scotland, with their guests the award-winning Dingwall Gaelic Choir, presented a feast of song and fun for over two hours.

The packed audience warmed not only to the great performances by the choirs but also to the ever-rising temperature in the hall. “This is going to be a hot night,” remarked the effervescent Marilyn J. Smith, conductor of the Phoenix Choir, and how right she was.

The Phoenix Choir based their sacred and secular songs on a long repertoire list from which they selected whatever seemed right for the spirit of the moment and the programme as a whole.

Of special interest were the American composer John Leavitt’s ‘Festival Sanctus’; ‘Sing Hallelujah’, a selection from ‘The Armed Man’ by Karl Jenkins; and a fine arrangement of ‘Flower of Scotland’, all of which were sung with the full rich tone quality for which the Phoenix Choir is famous.

Marilyn had the whole audience on its feet to sing a special arrangement by the choir’s very able and accomplished accompanist, Cameron Murdoch (whose parents from Invergordon were in the audience), and we raised our assorted voices in an uplifting performance of ‘Highland Cathedral’.

During the programme, soloists, female and male (including a bass guitarist) from the versatile Phoenix Choir came forward and sang a very entertaining, and occasionally comic, variety of songs.

Dingwall Gaelic Choir, in delightful contrast with their delicate finely-honed ensemble, offered a selection of Gaelic songs directed by their gifted conductor, Hamish Menzies.

The ones I – and everyone else – enjoyed best of all were ‘Canan nan Gaidheal’ (Language of the Gaels), ‘Mnathan a Ghlinne Seo’ (Women of the Glen), ‘Gradh Geal Mo Chridh’ (Eriskay Love Lilt), and the noble, ‘Oran Do Reisimid Earra Gaidheal’ (Song for the Argyll Regiment).

That both choirs contributed to the long programme entirely without music is deserving of much praise.

This was a great evening of first class choral singing enjoyed by the huge audience who left wanting more, and who, following the grand finale consisting of a thrilling performance of Wilhowsky’s brilliant arrangement of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’, were glad to pour out of the hall at the end gulping large quantities of oxygen.

© Arthur Brocklebank, 2006