Songs of Contemplation was the title of the Ross-on-Wye Choral Society’s moving concert in St Mary’s Church on Saturday, April 6th. The choir performed two works, similar in theme but different in style: Hubert Parry’s Songs of Farewell, written to commemorate friends killed in the First World War, and choruses from Karl Jenkins’s more recent The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, dedicated to the victims of the war in Kosovo.

Rather than each piece being performed separately, Parry’s songs, with their often complex harmonies, were interspersed with Jenkins’s dramatic choruses, giving the audience a varied programme, as well as being historically authentic. After all, as Adrian Taylor, the conductor and choirmaster, explained, in a church service the different sections of the mass are traditionally sung at intervals throughout the service.

Parry’s Songs of Farewell begins with relatively simple harmonies in the first song, which the choir sang unaccompanied and with great beauty. The later songs become steadily more complex, but the choir, relatively small though it is, split successfully into eight parts and managed Parry’s complex and demanding harmonies with, on the whole, great aplomb. The choruses from Jenkins’s The Armed Man achieved great dramatic effect, with a delicate use of dynamics.

The choir was accompanied by award-winning composer John Merrick on the organ, which by some clever computer wizardry had taken on the thunderous tones of the Hereford Cathedral organ. To round off the first half of the concert there was a spirited performance of Elgar’s popular Salut D’Amour, played by cellist Sam Hamilton, a local lad now studying at the Royal Academy of Music.

It’s always a pleasure to listen to music in the light and spacious interior of St Mary’s Church, its Victorian pews now replaced with comfortable chairs – and even more of a pleasure when the singers are obviously enjoying their performance, as they evidently were on this occasion.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.