Review: Chapter House Choir; Chapter House, York Minster (From York Press)

Review: Chapter House Choir; Chapter House, York Minster

IT is one thing to found a choir that wins a national competition. It is quite another to lay its foundations so well that, even after several changes of conductor, it remains in rude health nearly 45 years later.

Andrew Carter’s affair with the Chapter House Choir was always a two-way street. He honed his considerable skills as a composer with pieces written for his singers, and they in turn thrived on being his guinea pigs. So Saturday’s celebration of his 70th birthday (which falls next month) was bound to be one of reciprocal admiration.

In that spirit the choir’s present conductor, Stephen Williams, generously yielded the baton to its creator for several works: three of his own, including a beautifully tailored How Do I Love Thee?, and Vaughan Williams’s Three Shakespeare Songs, which epitomised the choir’s excellent intonation and taut ensemble throughout the evening.

Clearly the years have in no way diminished Carter’s conducting finesse – and the singers responded warmly.

They also commissioned a piece in his honour from Robin Walker, who by happy chance was present at the choir’s birth in 1965.

The new work, Consolation, sets a (presumably Elizabethan) sacred text that looks like a sober meditation on eternity. Walker’s double-choir score is anything but: a fervent prayer, laced with echoes of plainsong, turns positively ecstatic, as it embraces divine love with extreme optimism. It made a brilliant finale and an ideal birthday present. Many happy returns to both choir and founder!