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LEICESTER MERCURY 20/12/08
LEICESTER PHILHARMONIC CHRISTMAS CONCERT ST JAMES THE GREATER, LEICESTER
THURS 18 REVIEW BY MALCOLM WARNER For some it is King’s College on Christmas Eve but to many in Leicester, the real start of Christmas comes with the Phil’s annual Christmas Concert at St James the Greater. This year - and greatly to its advantage - the entire evening was devoted to Christmas music without a large-scale work in the first half. The choir, finely drilled by Richard Dacey, was on excellent form. The programme was wide-ranging although tending more to the old-fashioned and well-loved. Percy Fletcher’s clangourous setting of Tennyson’s Ring Out Wild Bells, more a motet than a carol, proved a highlight. The audience too was in fine voice when joining with the choir in the popular carols and hymns. James Oldfield’s warm bass-baritone was shown off as soloist in the well-known Three Kings. Jeremy Rouse accompanied on the organ and piano with subtlety and power, and his solo performance of Flor Peeter’s variations on a Dutch carol proved the refreshing sorbet. The Society’s President John Aldridge was the urbane compère.
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