Sessions On The Pier: Time & Tide

The Neilson ACO On The Pier

Saturday September 19

Review by Jammin’ Saturday

On a perfect silvery night just before the equinox and after an intensely warm Springtime day, Sessions On The Pier:Time and Tide was pure celestial delight. In the third edition of a series fusing classical, jazz and popular song, the shimmering voices of the Sydney Chamber Choir returned to celebrate the beauty and rhythm of the changing seasons.

Co-directed by Naomi Crellin and Nick Begbie of The Idea Of North renowned ‘a capella’ heritage, the carefully curated program included songs by Britten, Twist and The Beatles. Cabaret style seating and dazzling standards from a jazz trio set the ambience and atmosphere on arrival in the Neilson Hall. Kevin Hunt playing piano led the pedigree ensemble featuring Jacques Emery on bass and Chloe Kim on drums through Lullaby In Birdland and Gershwin’s Fascinating Rhythm, clearly enjoying each other’s musical approach and humour.

The Sydney Chamber Choir unleashed their smiles and artistry to open with Here Comes The Sun followed by the lilting, yearning phrasing of Rombergs’s Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise. Artistic Director and Conductor Sam Allchurch’s hands gesture with such delicacy and lightness, with singers following intently for precision entries and swells of expression. Our trio of co-hosts delivered lighthearted patter between songs, entertaining us with historical significance or personal background and to acknowledge that love, loss, longing and joy are to be a common thread.

Seasons of love

Moving around the intimate stage into choral formations so that particular soloists move to the fore, the Choir turned Autumn Leaves and Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most into true chamber music, beautifully balancing dynamics and exquisite four part harmonies. Jobim’s Waters Of March hinted at the promise of life in the Brazilian sun before Australian composer Joseph Twist’s On The Night Train conveyed a flickering palette of vocal colours to bush scenes from a poem by Henry Lawson.

Highlighting colder choral temperatures was the wonderful ballad When Summer Turns To Snow, arranged by Naomi Crellin from lyrics by the Bergman duo and music by Dave Grusin of GRP fame – a song that lingers long afterwards in sentiment and poignancy. From the corner and dazzling like stars in the distant night sky, the three jazz instrumentalists never intruded, never overpowered, with a soaring bowed bass solo, deft stick work on drums and the elegant improvising of a master musician at the piano.

Seasons of life

It Might As Well Be Spring by Rodgers and Hammerstein emanated an up-tempo restless vitality as The Sydney Chamber Choir faced the audience in two half circles, engaging and almost dancing with colleagues. Then to bring the concert to a more formal close, a contemporary and chorale like setting of Good Night, Dear Heart by U.S. composer Dan Forrest

How do you measure a year? Waiting for the next edition of Sessions, after enjoying exemplary singing and lush arrangements by the Sydney Chamber Choir, definitively sharing music and life through the ever-changing seasons of connections and love.