Marian Consort, Kendal Town Hall

A RECENT lunchtime visitor to Kendal’s Town Hall could have been under the impression that an audience was gathering for a performance of the musical Evita. The set was there (battlements, delicately pink in hue, some sort of castle, maybe?), so was the orchestral pit, waiting for the players. A gentleman in a not-so-delicate pink jacket arrived on stage-left to announce, amongst other things, that there would be no players arriving, but would “we please give a warm welcome to the Marian Consort." Our casual lunchtime visitor would now realise that Eva Peron’s story was not about to be revealed; instead, (although he didn’t know it!) he was soon to be regaled with a near-hour-long performance of unaccompanied, mostly Spanish Renaissance music, all dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

I do hope he didn’t leave immediately, because, together with the devotees of the Kendal Midday Concert Club, he would have been spellbound by the exquisite quality of the performances by the six, sombrely, but appropriately dressed Consort members. Rory McCleery, their erudite director, spoke of the honour they all felt at being invited to perform in Kendal; the club, in fact, were equally honoured to have witnessed such musicianship, in a genre too rarely heard in the area.

The stylistic range of music was, inevitably, rather narrow. But, my goodness, what wonderful variety of tonal colour and impeccable blend in the 3-, the 4-, 5- and 6-part pieces was on offer; what detail was apparent in the balance between the voices; how glorious was the lyrical flow of the lines, the attacks, the releases, the lovely phrasing, the beauty of the cadences, the breath control and clarity of diction.

Intermingling with the Spanish masterpieces were works by contemporary British composers. Here was idiomatic divergence; the contrast between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ was immediate, extraordinarily compelling and necessary to the successful overall impact of the programme.

I trust our visitor felt uplifted by his experience.

Brian Paynes