On a wild, wet and windy night, we ran into the sanctuary of the lovely church of St John the Evangelist on the Iffley Road, to be treated to an evening of Bruckner and Mozart, performed by the Orchestra of St John’s and the OSJ Voices. It was divine.
The concert opened with three exquisite devotional motets by Bruckner, with the full choir accompanied very gently by a brass section, lead by the masterly John Lubbock. Watching him pulling his singers and players together, a mix of amateur (the usual stratospheric level of Oxford musicianship) and professional performers to perform these complex works was a joy in itself.
John Lubbock, OSJ founder & conductor
This was followed by Mozarts’s Symphony 36 “Linz” (when is Mozart anything but lyrical and lovely?) warming us up for the main event, Mozart’s C Minor Mass. Incidentally, the programme notes were fine essays in themselves, and there was any doubt of Mozart’s consummate genius, this symphony was composed and rehearsed in just SIX days!
Back to the Mass. As always we were transported to another world, profound, lyrical, moving, led by the exquisite music and many fine performances. Standouts were the glorious sopranos, Hannah Davey, bringing operatic passion and range to a huge role (apparently originally sung by Mozart’s wife, Constanza).
Hannah Fraser Mackenzie
Finest of all, Hannah Fraser-Mackenzie, mezzo-soprano, left some of the audience in tears with the ‘Incarnatus”, described by one as a hymn of thanksgiving on the safe birth of the Christ Child. Moving, elegant, perfect. And I mustn’t forget to mention the wonderfully haunting bassoonist, Julie Andrews.
The orchestra and voices are an astonishing tribute to the very long and devoted career of its founder and conductor, John Lubbock, whose expansive command (no baton here!), brings out the best in his performers and his clearly devoted audience.
bassoonist Julie Andrews
The list of patrons and supporters runs to two tightly spaced pages, and the orchestra has an astonishingly full programme ahead – next up, Michael Palin in the Sheldonian, for a musical conversation with Sue Cook on December 5, A Night of Carols in both Dorchester Abbey (December 14) and SJE (December 15) followed by Handel’s Messiah (Dec 21 & 22) and their annual NYE concert at Dorchester Abbey.
Sir Michael Palin
Sheila Bailey
There’s plenty more – have a look at OSJ’s upcoming concerts and book atwww.osj.org.uk
