The Good Friday Choir sings Part-2 of Handel’s Messiah

Being in the comforting presence of some semi-professional tenors (and a very professional soloist, Quito Clothier) has its downsides. Personal errors are masked by the  competence of others, but it is not until you listen to the whole – as Stephen, the audience, and the video cameras were able to – that you get a true measure of what was achieved. And I think it was the Good Friday Choir’s best year yet for a number of reasons.

We were joined by members of the Aeolian Singers and the Potters Bar Choral Society  and even a brace of singers from the Goldsmith’s Choir, so there were around fifty singers. Then we had a string quintet, the Bowfiddle Ensemble, and Stephen conducting and playing his harpsichord, both  vying  with Simon Worley on our church organ to give us a truer sense of the accompaniment that Handel had envisaged. In the final rehearsal Stephen had to remind us that we were not in the Albert Hall blasting our hearts out but needed to create a more intimate sound. I’ll leave him to mark us on that. I can certainly say we filled the church with our music.  

And we had  a sizeable audience too!

For some of us it was the first time we’d sung parts of the Messiah and in rehearsals we were encouraged, and given insights on Handel had intended the singing to portray  (the scornful laughing of the crowd, for example). Rehearsals were tinged with a little bit of terror for a novice, but great fun, with friendly encouragement from other choir members.

For this ear, the result on the day was magnificent. It was a great evening, and we finished with the now traditional glass of wine and a hot cross bun (surprisingly hot cross buns and wine  do seem to go together). We smashed 180 of them!

As a member of Potters Bar URC mini-choir, I’d like to thank everyone involved for making it such a rewarding evening for us all – the choirs, our soloists Quito and Christine Petch, the Ensemble, Simon, Stephen ………..

…………….and Revd. David Aplin who opened and closed the performance with thoughtful prayers.

I think the video recording just about does us justice. I hope you do too!