Review of Camden Chamber Choir's November 2011 Concert
by Alfie Granger-Howell in Camden New Journal's Music page (24 November 2011)

There is an abundance of rich, enticing choral music from amongst the French repertoire, though much of it often overlooked. Saturday’s concert by the Camden Chamber Choir sought to address this by giving well-deserved attention to some of these under-performed works. Pieces by lesser-known composers such as Mouton, Marais and Goudimel stood alongside those of more familiar names; Saint-Saëns, Couperin, Fauré and others.

The choir performed with passion and conviction, all the while maintaining a cohesive performance and showing technical flair. The ensemble balanced the polyphonic lines of the earlier works with ease, and the soaring melodies of the later Romantic works were full of emotion.

The pieces were performed in the chronological order they were originally composed, which provided a pleasing arc to the evening, encouraging the listener to consider the evolution of the compositional styles. Occasional instrumental works punctuated the program, offering additional interest and variation.

Musical Director Peter Lea-Cox led the choir and soloists with vitality, simultaneously providing flawless accompaniment on harpsichord and piano.

The Fauré pieces were perhaps a particular highlight of the evening, with soloists Jim Wills and Stefanie Heichelheim offering accomplished and moving interpretations.

Singers perform with zest
[Four out of five stars]

Good things come in small packages and the Camden Chamber Choir of some 24 singers is no exception. It is very rarely overly ambitious when it comes to programming and it almost never takes to the concert platform under-prepared.

And therein lay two of the reasons why Saturday night's concert of Spanish and Portugese music of the 16th and 17th centuries was so absorbing and entertaining. True, there were 14 items on the slate, but the majority were little gems by such composers as Francisco Guerrero, D Pedro de Christo and Tomas Luis de Victoria.

These permitted the singers every latitude to display their vocal talents and what a beautiful sound they made in in the five brief motets chosen to open the evening. The ensemble singing was first rate and the Latin diction almost faultless.

Brevity is not, of course, the key to success, but it did allow Lea-Cox the opportunity to pace his singers and save their resources for the repertoire that served as the backbone of the programme, namely the Missa Filipina written by Manuel Cardoso.

The mass, gentle and melodic throughout, was divided in two by an Offertory played on the organ by Lea-Cox. The conductor also played organ solos by Manuel Rodrigues Coelho and Juan Cabanilles and the continuo on organ and virginal in two instrumental works in which he was joined by chorister and oboist Clare Shanks and cellist Matthew Ward.

Taken as a whole it was a very worthy programme delivered with zest, competence and conviction.

by David Sonin in the Hampstead and Highgate Express (10 December 2004)

[Four out of five stars]

I always look forward, perhaps mischievously, to Advent to see if our local choirs can offer programmes that are both appropriate and advenurous. So, it is full marks to Peter Lea-Cox, conductor of the Camden Chamber Choir, for his blend of a capella and accompanied and instrumenal music by German composers of the Renaissance and Baroque. With the exception of Bach's Cantata No 61, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland and Buxtehude's Erhalt us, Herr, this was very much virgin territory for this listener.

The concert opened with a group of unaccompanied motets, written between the 15th and 17th centuries. They proved to be ideal fare for this 25-strong ensemble, which has strength, colour and capability. Not everyone feels aurally comfortable with long stretches of unaccompanied singing, now matter how impressive the harmonies and pleasing the sonorities. The change of pace and style came with instrumental works by Dietrich Becker and Franz Tunder, whose lives spanned the mid-17th century and J Bernhard Bach who died in 1749. And how well they were played by the Lecosaldi quintet, for whom late Renaissance and Baroque music is quite obviously first nature.

This was overall a programme of highlights. And pieces such as J.S. Bach's Bist du bei Mir and the cantata enabled some of the choir's best voices - the sopranos Anna Zilli and Carol Tye, tenor Ben Cooper and bass Andrew Harper - to take the well-deserved spotlight. No seasonal concert would be complete without a bit of a sing-song and Tunder's setting of Wachet Auf (sheet music and words provided) allowed inhibitions to be set aside for a rousing finale.