A rare and beautiful evening at the Trinity College chapel
View(s):The Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge is not easily matched. They have performed across the globe, most recently on stages in Ukraine, 
Germany, Switzerland and the USA, mastering well known and challenging choral works including Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion and Faure’s Requiem.
Some of the world’s largest classical recording labels including Naxos have undertaken producing their sounds, while their latest recording project My Beloved’s Voice – Sacred Songs of Music made it to number five on the classical charts in August 2014. Their current director, Mark Williams, has worked with well-known ensembles, festivals and even TV shows in the UK as well as around the globe. The choir’s tour of Sri Lanka was part of the Songbound collaborative music development project begun in India last year.
With such an impressive name for themselves, it was inevitable that the 24 voices would create a breathtaking experience for Sri Lanka. They had already had fun workshops and beautiful services with the choristers of Ladies’ College, Colombo, and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, as well as performed at Lighthouse Hotel in Galle before they joined the choir of Trinity College, Kandy, for a simply divine service on December 17.
The evening’s programme of sacred music in Kandy included favourite Christmastime works such as Jesus Christ the Apple Tree by Elizabeth Poston,Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day by John Gardner and Bell Carol by Mykola Leontovich. The familiar harmonies were sung by the choir of Jesus College, Cambridge, with sweetly ringing upper tones supported by glorious swells. Though it felt at times like the moisture in the
Harmonious sounds: The Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge (above) and with the Trinity College choir (top)
air and the open sides of the Trinity College chapel made the sound rather scattered and exposed, it wasn’t hard to recognise and appreciate the rare ease and grace with which the lines were delivered. Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque, an intriguing piece with such dramatic dissonance and suspense, thrilled in its near-divine sound, touched with his trademark synthetic.
One expects that next to such a performance, the relatively inexperienced choir of Trinity College, Kandy, will have trouble keeping up. Under the keen direction of Lasantha Tennekoon, though, the young men sang confidently and with maturity, through their repertoire. At times, the lines felt laboured, though at most they were sweet and always sincere, and the combined sounds of the two choirs on Ah! Dearest Jesu, dedicated to its composer and Trinity College’s previous choir master, the late Ronald Thangiah, failed not to draw a few tears at least.
Most of the numbers were performed acapella, with one or two accompanied on the piano or organ. While Suresh de Mel, Bertie Baigent and Benjamin Morris all three cleverly executed their work on the keyboards, it was difficult not to long for the grander sounds of a more powerful organ when the instrument was played on.
The evening was rare and beautiful, and the choirs of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Trinity College, Kandy, must be thanked and applauded (as they were, heartily, after a jolly rendition of Jingle Bells!) for the treat given to a congregation starved for such music.
-Namali Premawardana