Rosenethe Singers concert Sunday 16th March 2008

A capacity audience at the Holy Rude Church in Stirling enjoyed a performance of
Passiontide Music given by the Rosenethe Singers on Sunday, 16th March. Under the
direction of their conductor, Matthew Beetschen, this choir goes from strength to strength,
and in the Stabat Mater by Domenico Scarlatti and the Mass in G minor by Vaughan
Williams all the solo parts were well sung by members of the choir who allowed the lovely
acoustics of the Holy Rude to carry their voices easily and clearly. These two works required double choirs and the singers coped well with the strong modal chords in the Vaughan Williams and the intertwining lines of the Scarlatti.

Also included in the programme were some interesting shorter items—an antiphonal
setting of The Reproaches by Victoria, which had half of the choir singing at the front of
the church and the other half at the back and this was extremely effective—a short,
intense and very moving Crucifixus by Lotti—an expressive performance by Matthew
Beetschen of an organ chorale prelude by Bach and a setting of Ecce Homo by
poet,Clive Wright and composer Tom David Wilson. Clive is a member of the choir and
teaches locally and Tom teaches composition at the RSAMD and at St. Mary’s music
school in Edinburgh. This work, written for four-part unaccompanied choir, was one of the evening’s highlights with its spare, sometimes bitter chords and profound words, and the choir performed it with confidence and feeling.
The Rosenethe Singers have a warm, unforced tone and their sense of enjoyment in the
music is conveyed in their performance.

Sasha Alexander
March 2008