Thank you for those clips, javerylibe. Who is the director? I am surprised they apparently let people in for their practice, unless they're all parents etc? The choir sounds really good but I thought the beginning of This Little Babe was a tad muddled, what with all those lines quickly following eachother - it made me realise how hard it must be to sing! I love Britten but he does not make it easy for his performers
Today I went to the summer concert of the
Kampen Boys Choir. I had never heard them - most boy choirs are still new to me - and I wanted to know what they sound like. Kampen is a lovely city in the north of the Netherlands, known for its two theology universities. I have never seen such a big Christian section in a bookstore before!
The choir consists of about 13 men and 16 boys. They are modelled entirely at the English male choir tradition, in terms of training, repertoire, outfit, etc. First time in my life I saw boys wearing ruffs in real life!
Their director is still pretty young (27) and very enthusiastic. I wonder, because he has limited experience because of his age, how he manages to hold up such a high standard. At some pieces I felt the boys were a little uncertain, not all cut-offs were exact, but on the other hand the director worked really hard and seemed very precise in pointing out details (even mouthing an O and making a circle with his finger around his mouth when they sang the word "Lord" in a closing chord
) At times this produced a wonderful glowing overall sound.
They sang some well known pieces and some unknown ones, with some organ pieces in between. One surprise was For the Beauty of the Earth by John Rutter which was sung by 3 soloists! You could tell they were a bit nervous but also excited. As the song progressed, they calmed down and really started enjoying themselves more, because they realised they were doing OK. At the end, two of them smiled really proud smiles, and some people in the audience clapped
The head boy ('leader') of the decani (the part of the choir on the side where the Dean would stand, in a service) stood right in front of me and from the beginning he caught my eye because he sang with such expression and conviction, for instance in Psalm 150 by Stanford and the Evening Service in B flat, also by Stanford.
(btw it's thanks to the informative program booklet that I received at the entrance that I know the terms cantoris, decani and headboy
)
The first song - To Thee o Lord by Rachmaninoff - was sung in the back of the church, where the quire is located, which gave a really ethereal sound, and the trebles painted some gorgeous lines. Another beautiful piece was William Byrd's Ave verum which was sung by some of the men. The organ piece that I liked the best was an Aria by Bach, Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, a very simple, charming dance-like tune.
But the absolute highlight for me was kept till the end with Parry's I was glad. The first part of that brought tears to my eyes. I don't think that apart from Libera a choir actually made me nearly cry but these boys and men did. They sang it so powerfully and beautifully. You could tell that they were excited to be doing this as their final number. A feast to watch and hear from the first row. If I ever wonder why I travel so far for an hour of singing, it's moments like this that wipe away all doubt.
To share, here are some pictures I took.
Bovenkerk (or St Nicolas church) where the concert was held
Hinsz organ
Quire ceiling
The 3 soloists singing For the Beauty of the Earth
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!
Then again, kid pop doesn't really strike my fancy, so maybe I'm not the best judge. 
