A packed, indeed sold-out, church welcomed the Ilkley and Otley choral societies for their annual performance of Messiah on Saturday night. Musical director, Alex Kyle, led his choral forces and the players of the Yorkshire Chamber Ensemble, together with Robert Sudall on continuo, in a triumphant performance. The occasion appropriately celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first performance in the town by the Ilkley choral society as well as giving a brilliant send-off to the retiring chairman of the society, Adrian Heeley.

The two choirs were in excellent voice and were well balanced, despite the preponderance of female voices. At no point, even in ‘Hallelujah’, did I feel that there was any forcing of tone. They also sang with delightful lightness at times, notably in ‘For unto us’, where the delineation of the first ‘Prince of Peace’ was wonderful – a tribute to their director’s choral training. In line with modern performance practice, Alex Kyle chose vigorous tempi for the choruses and this led to some difficulties in articulation in the complex runs in ‘His yoke is easy’ and a suggestion of falling behind the beat in ‘He trusted in God’. At no time could the singers’ enthusiasm for and knowledge of the music be faulted.

The players of the Yorkshire Chamber Ensemble gave their usual polished performance, with crisp articulation, providing an excellent grounding for the work. The trumpets made a real impact in the second half, not only in ‘The trumpet shall sound’, but also together with the timpani, in the final chorus. Particular praise should also be given to the group of performers who constituted a continuo group for the recitatives, especially the cellist.

A central part in the success of this performance was played by the excellent soloists. For me the outstanding performer was Camilla Seal (alto) who had a beautiful rich voice, a smooth legato and excellent diction. She performed ‘But who may abide’ with thrilling speed and gave to ‘He was despised’ both pathos and dramatic energy. She was well matched by the pure-toned light soprano of Sarah Ingham, whose performances of ‘Rejoice greatly’ and ‘If God be for us’ gave particular pleasure, and by the reliable tenor of Edd Ingham, smooth-toned in ‘Ev’ry valley’ and contrastedly vigorous in ‘Thou shalt break them’. I am not fond of William Kyle’s bass, which seems to me unfocussed: nevertheless he showed a good legato in ‘The people that walked in darkness’ and duetted acceptably in ‘The trumpet will sound’ but was let down by the speed taken for ‘Why do the nations’.

The Gazette review of the first Ilkley choral society Messiah in 1949 applauded it as an ‘Outstanding Performance’. This, its successor, was equally worthy of that accolade. The audience on Saturday were generous in their applause and would, I am sure, join me in wishing the choral society a further 75 years of successful performances!