You could sense in the final rehearsal on the day that something special was about to unfold in performance. After weeks of rehearsing in the unforgiving acoustic of the Buckland Community Centre and having to endure the intrusive honky-tonkery of the spare piano – albeit conveniently self-tuned to 415 – there was a collective sense that our voices had been set free to absorb the energy of Handel’s flashy response to the hard-hitting words of Psalm 110 as the Consort of Twelve (in the finest of form) embarked incisively and with additional ornamentation on the opening bars of Dixit Dominus, the whole ensemble transformed by the resonant acoustic of St Paul’s. Only Malcolm on the podium seemed unsurprised: he’d assured us that this would be case once we got together with the soloists and instrumentalists on the day. His well-planned final rehearsal, clear beat and well-judged tempi inspired confidence. Both pieces in performance were remarkably special and brilliant.But that’s enough from me: David Harris listened from the gallery and took some wonderful photographs. A selection of them is in the PBC Gallery. David Holmes was also there and sent in this glowing review:
Portsmouth Baroque Choir’s concerts frequently feature less often heard works alongside those that are better known, and Saturday’s concert was no exception. Stylishly accompanied by the excellent Consort of Twelve and under the direction of Malcolm Keeler they performed Alessandro Scarlatti’s rarely performed Messa di Santa Cecilia and Handel’s much better known Dixit Dominus.
Pairing these two works together did reveal the difference between a good composer and a great one. Scarlatti’s Mass has some lovely moments. notably the alto solo Gratias agimus tibi and the tenor solo Domine Deus – though the faster movements, featuring mainly solo passages with short interjection by chorus were musically less interesting. However, conductor Malcolm Keeler ensured that the interplay between soloists and chorus was crisp and neat. Three fugal movements, one each at the end of the Gloria and Credo, and the other being the Agnus Dei, were the only extended choral passages and these were well handled by Portsmouth Baroque choir, with the intricate part writing well balanced and clearly projected.
Handel’s Dixit Dominus is musically much more interesting, and particularly demanding on all singers – especially for the chorus, particularly in the vigorous and virtuosic final movement – Gloria Patri et Filio. Here the Baroque Choir’s full-voiced and confident singing brought the concert to a rousing conclusion. Elsewhere the two soprano soloists Naomi Barkley and Sarah Baker duetted with panache and good vocal blend (especially in the Scarlatti), alto Melissa Wingfield gave a very fine account of the challenging Virgam Virtutis – accompanied by some fine cello continuo playing from Lynden Cranham. (Both having been equally good in a solo movement from the Scarlatti). Tenor Chris Clark and bass Giles White had less to do than their female counterparts, but both sang well – Chris negotiating the awkward and challenging solo passages at the beginning of Dixit Dominus with impressive flexibility and Giles being appropriately stentorian in covering the wrath of Dominus a dextris tuis. Elsewhere I enjoyed the hushed singing of the tenors and basses in De torrente – an excellent foil to the two sopranos duetting above them.
This concert was deservedly well received by a large and enthusiastic audience.
David Holmes
Sign of a job very well done. Final bow after Handel’s ‘Dixit Dominus’
Really, as a performer, it doesn’t get much better than this and it bodes well for our next collaboration in the same venue with the Consort of Twelve in December 2026. However, the real stars of last Saturday’s concert were, of course, the two composers. It’s unlikely that Handel and Scarlatti heard these pieces performed more than once but at least the Mass did not have to wait more than a century after the composer’s death for publication. Even then, in the case of Dixit Dominus, there is scant evidence of any performance until after the 1960s when a new edition appeared and I can find no commercial recordings until the mid-1980s. When I started singing in chamber choirs in the 1970s Dixit Dominus was referred to in hushed, respectful tones as a piece to approach with great caution. The demands on vocal technique and stamina are indeed tough, best suited perhaps to voices closer to the age of Handel when he wrote it, but choirs of all age groups relish the challenge and nowadays it gets performed somewhere in the world several times every month of the year. Whereas the Scarlatti, an elderly man’s music, very seldom gets an outing, so it was a privilege to get the opportunity to sing both and to such good effect. It did seem that our stage smiles at the final were being acknowledged and returned by the spirits of the old masters. We certainly brought the glow from the Eternal City to an autumnal evening in Chichester.