The first annual Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill memorial concert, which took place over four hours at the Church of St Mary Magdalene this afternoon, was a blast as friends and fans and colleagues took turns performing a little something.
But the real kick came just before intermission, when organizer Larry Beckwith asked for volunteers to form an ad hoc choir. All but a handful of people in the audience got up.
To close of the concert, Beckwith again called for volunteers, this time to sing requests from the Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems.
The nave was virtually empty and the chancel packed as we sight-sang through anthem after anthem, navigating complex harmony and counterpoint, gamely conducted by soprano Teri Dunn.
It generated a soaring natural high that I’m still feeling two hours later.
As I left the scene, I captured one of the anthems, Richard Farrant’s Lord, for Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake, on my iPhone:
John Terauds