The most important appointment any chorus makes is that of the person who trains and conducts the singers.
FOR the last nine years, Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus has been brilliantly served by Marc Yarrow who honed them into a professional, musical, at times clinical performing machine.
His are tough boots to fill, but no one need worry about the choice of his replacement, Joe Paxton who steps up from his role as assistant chorus director to take centre stage.
He brings a fresh, approach to music making with the chorus, and has quickly resolved the historic balance problems between the first and second tenors. From a personal observation listening and watching from out front, the chorus clearly love singing for him, with row on row of smiling faces and a more relaxed approach to the delivery of their performance. When conducting he shapes the sound rather than the music which produces a wider range of dynamics in the chorus.
For me, this show was all about one number in the second half Run by Leona Lewis which demonstrated just how good this chorus will become under his leadership. The balance of the ensemble singing was immaculate, as was the managed crescendo he engineered going from sotto voce to climaxing a magnificent full-blown male voice wall of sound, which in my humble view was world-class in its execution and I have no doubt will become the trademark of the chorus going forward. Tim Nail’s subtle arrangement was the cherry on the cake illustrating just how strong the musical partnership driving this chorus has been and will now continue to be for many years to come.
As always, featured soloists revealed the depth of talent this chorus has. Andrew Farr’s recreation of If You Go Away sent shivers down my spine morphing Jacques Brei’s words and Rod McKuen’s music together to create a performance of the very highest standard. (Go see his Piaf show at the Rialto Theatre during the Fringe Festival on May 19, 27 and 28)
In his rendition of Evermore from Beauty and the Beast, Nick Ford captured both vulnerability and hope in his performance. When he opened up each time to sing “Now I know she’ll never leave me” I believed his every word. His voice is glorious and gets better as it matures.
Graeme Clark’s interpretation of I’ll Never Love Again from A Star is Born illustrated what an accomplished artist he is. His control of the lyric was impressive, I believed he would never love again. Like Andrew Farr he brought together the music, lyric and stagecraft beautifully.
Other soloists on the night included Von Uy singing Selena’s Dreaming of You, and Rod Edmunds with a lovely controlled performance of Hello Young Lovers from The King and I. James McGoldrick and Sadoe Ueda duetted on Love is an Open Door from Frozen and Colin Eeles gave us a beautfully judged “lyrical” rendition of Soft Cells Say Hello Wave Goodbye, not an easy song to deliver while Andrew Williams and his backing dancers (James Long, John Kennedy, Peter Bird, Von Uy) bought a smile to my face with a spirited performance of Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle. Collectively this was the strongest combined group of soloists I can remember hearing at a Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus concert
Small sketches between numbers charting the dynamics of a developing relationship were penned by the writing team of Jon Taylor, Mike Tietz, Kevin Westgate, Andy Williams, Stephen Tucker and illustrated how the talents of the writers were not restricted just to their singing.
Accompanist and Music Director Tim Nail is the glue that holds the performances from this chorus together. The show was beautifully produced and presented by Creative Director Quintin Young.
Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus next show is In Time For Pride on Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27 at St George’s Church, Brighton
For more information, view: www.brightongmc.org
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