Pro Nobis Singers, St Mark’s Church, Natland

The concert produced some of the finest choral singing I have heard in the region. Conductor Clive Walkley had assembled a wide-ranging programme for From Darkness to Light, from 16th Century motets to recent works, exploring great contrasts of emotion, from sadness and despair to joy and serenity.

Great motets by Brahms began each half, demonstrating the considerable range of the choir, from full-blooded and sonorous to gentle, soft colours, well-balanced and clearly enunciated.

The earlier works, from England, Italy and Spain, whilst showing great feeling for the mood of the texts, would have benefitted from a more focussed tone from the lower voices to complement the excellent sopranos.

Motets by Clucas and Sumsion and Clive Walkley’s own Missa Brevis completed the programme, fine compositions all, quite demanding and very well sung, the Mass in particular worthy of wider hearing. The concert ended with an unfortunately less than perfect rendition of How lovely from Brahms’ Requiem.

We also heard two groups of organ solos, played by Hugh Davies; appropriate chorale-preludes by Bach and Brahms and a fugue on Bach by Schumann bringing the best out of a small but telling instrument.

Ian Thompson