2021 Autumn Concert

Rochester Choral Society

This programme of music by three generations of modern English and Belgian composers was planned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, but was delayed by the more recent war against Covid-19. After a two-year wait since our previous concert performance, Rochester Choral Society welcomes audiences back with an appropriate fanfare: the Entrata Festiva for Organ, Brass and Timpani by Flor Peeters (1903 - 1986), played by King’s Brass with Jeremy Lloyd on organ. Flor Peeters was himself the organist at an early performance of Joseph Jongen’s Mass for Choir, Organ and Brass, composed during the final year of World War II. Its contemplative style and shifting harmonies reflect the restlessness of the composer’s adult life, spanning both World Wars and moving back and forth between Belgium and England. It is brightened by energetic flourishes and rich textures of the brass ensemble and ends with a tranquil plea for peace. In complete contrast, The Sprig of Thyme by John Rutter (born 1945) is a collection of folk songs of the British Isles. To Rutter, growing up in post-war England, traditional songs “brought delight and pleasure, tinged with nostalgia because, for the most part, they are forgotten and gone from our lives.” His fresh arrangements breathe new life into these songs on timeless themes of life, love and loss, showing the power of music to unite people emotionally.