Jubilate! University Church, Oxford (From The Oxford Times)

Jubilate! University Church, Oxford

1:18pm Tuesday 15th December 2009

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I have to start this review with a confession. Jubilate! completely caught me out on Saturday night with their early start time of 6.30pm – yes, I know I should have doubled checked! – and when I arrived expecting a 7.30pm start I found that it was the interval and I had missed Handel’s Dixit Dominus. A great shame because, judging by the quality of the second half, I’m sure the choir must have given a wonderful account of this glorious piece, a young Handel’s setting of Psalm 110, which seems to encompass the full range of his extraordinary inventiveness.

The exuberance of the Dixit Dominus continued in the second half with an inspiring selection of Christmas music, which really captured the spirit of the festive season. Under conductor Simon Whalley’s authoritative direction, the choir set the standard at once with the unaccompanied Up! good Christen folk, and listen, delivering the piece with assurance and panache. The exquisiteness of Adam lay ybounden and A maiden most gentle provided a good contrast, and the sopranos sounded particularly lovely; clear, vibrant yet delicate.

Darke’s In the Bleak Midwinter was appropriately moving, and included some sublime solo work from soprano Jennifer Snapes and tenor Adrian Lowe, while in The Infant King the choir showed that they can handle quiet, slow numbers, displaying exceptional control throughout. Mathias’ lively Sir Christèmas is the kind of number that could easily become overly boisterous, but Whalley kept any such tendencies firmly in check, with a performance that was joyful but controlled. Sandwiched between all that was Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G major, with organist James Gough commanding the attention with a solidly powerful rendition.

But the tour de force of the second half was Vaughan Williams’s delightful Fantasia on Christmas carols, which provided a suitably uplifting finish to the evening, and saw the choir’s well-blended sound contrasting superbly with baritone Gabriel Gottlieb’s warm, honeyed tones. Magnificent.

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