What better venue for this concert than Edinburgh’s beautiful, soaring St Giles’ Cathedral, just as the sun was setting? There is no austerity here, and the mixture of ancient and modern throughout the space was echoed in the repertoires of the two choirs. So writes Sass MacDonald for theQR.co.uk…
Brythoniaid, as they loudly proclaimed on the adverts for the concert, are seven times Welsh National champions and are rightly proud of that. They began their programme with the Welsh version of their National Anthem, of course. It was glorious and stirred the heart, no matter your nationality. It’s perfect for this choir. They all know the words and tune by heart – both choirs sang ‘off book’ throughout, but it does give you confidence when it’s truly embedded – so concentration is all focused on singing it with all the heart and soul you can muster. It was fabulous, faultless and raised the roof.
Nobility from The Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir
The rest of their repertoire was, as Choir leader John Eifion mentioned at the start, an eclectic mix from round the world and we heard a Welsh rendition of Nessum Dorma, a playful ‘Sunshine on Leith’, lots of Welsh favourites and, charmingly, ‘Flower of Scotland’ to very sportingly acknowledge Scotland’s win against Wales earlier in the day in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations rugby match.
Brythoniaid…began their programme with the Welsh version of their National Anthem, of course. It was glorious and stirred the heart, no matter your nationality.
It was a close thing, but very noble of the Choir to acknowledge it and sing Scotland’s National Anthem as well as their own. The whole section was a huge crowd pleaser and just exactly what you’d expect from a Welsh Male Voice Choir.
Edinburgh Police Choir took the second section, and what a fabulous demonstration of how diverse choirs can be and yet please the same audience. Their repertoire is as varied as Brythoniaid’s, but tends towards the pop, traditional and folk, though with some popular classical pieces. Of course, their choices for this concert had to be in keeping with what the Welsh choir was going to sing, and the medleys were great fun – for the choir as well as the audience, I’m sure – whereas the folk songs were quite heart rending.
Differing strengths, power in union
EPC is a community choir, set up initially by the Lothian and Borders Police, but now open to singers across Scotland’s central belt. Whilst Brythoniaid was founded in 1964, EPC only started in 2008. EPC sing a cappella, whereas Brythoniaid are accompanied on the piano by Elizabeth Ellis. Of course, members and choir leaders have changed in both cases, but the heart of each choir remains the same. EPC is a smaller choir and mainly comprises women. It had seven basses and tenors last night, whereas Brythoniaid – all men of course – has nearer 60.
The difference might perhaps be expected to speak (or sing) for itself, but actually the difference – except for the obvious power of numbers of male voices – is much more nuanced. Brythoniaid could probably literally blow EPC away with their volume, but EPC’s tenors and basses punch well above their weight and certainly don’t offer only an eighth of the volume of Brythoniaid. The four-part harmony of a mixed choir offers cadences that an all-male choir can’t and, wisely, EPC’s Musical Director, Stuart Murray Mitchell, chooses a repertoire for the choir that makes the absolute most of a dedicated choir, which sings for pleasure but which very evidently takes its performance preparation very seriously.
Brythoniaid could probably literally blow EPC away with their volume, but EPC’s tenors and basses punch well above their weight and certainly don’t offer only an eighth of the volume of Brythoniaid.
The finale was both choirs singing together – a demonstration, if one were needed, that choirs of any description should all be able to make beautiful noise together. And oh my they did. I imagine they’d only rehearsed separately until the day of the concert, so all due recognition to the two choir leaders, who each conducted one of the pieces. The final piece was ‘Mor Fawr Wyt Ti’ sung in both Welsh and English.
It’s impossible – and unwise – to compare these choirs. They are both fantastically poised and good at what they do. They do things differently, and the audience was all the more entertained for that. The quieter – but not quiet – beauty of EPC’s work contrasted perfectly with the wall of sound from the Welsh dragons. OK, so I want to say Beauty and the Beast, but would I dare? But it was a fairy tale of sorts, and I travelled home singing ‘How Great Thou Art’, and it might even have been out loud occasionally!
Featured Image: The combined might of The Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir & Edinburgh Police Choir – (c) Sass MacDonald
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