 |
|
This short video clip shows The RAF Spitfires in
concert, as guests of the Reading Male Voice Choir,
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Hook, Hampshire in
May 2010.
The Choir sing a beautiful and stirring arrangement of
a traditional spiritual song entitled Steal
Away, in which the slaves long for the death that
will release them from servitude and into the waiting,
loving arms of Jesus.
|
 |
|
This clip shows The RAF Spitfires taking their places in
the RAF Central Church of St Clement Danes in the Strand,
London for their inaugural concert in November 2010.
The concert also featured guest performances from The
Metropolitan Police Male Voice Choir and a chorus drawn
from the Kainé and Leicester Ladies Gospel Choirs.
|
 |
|
The RAF Spitfires Choir sings Douglas Guest's musical
setting of the Ode of Remembrance taken from Laurence
Binyon's poem For The Fallen, which was first
published in The Times of September 1914.
This setting was first performed in 1971 as part of the
annual Festival of Remembrance.
|
 |
|
The Choir perform Locus Iste, by Anton Bruckner,
during their inaugural concert at St Clement Dane's, the
Central Church of the RAF.
The Latin text describes the sense of awe and reverance
felt when entering God's house, inestimably holy and
of blameless purity. The splendid setting of St Clement's
is certainly apt to inspire such sentiments.
|
 |
|
Antonio Vivaldi's rousing chorus extolling the glory of
God, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, is an ever-popular
addition to any choir's repertoire.
The RAF Spitfires were fortunate in their inaugural
concert to be supported by two trumpeters, a necessary
ingredient of many Vivaldi pieces and a positive must
for this work.
|
 |
|
A moving hymn at any time, Abide With Me is
surely most evocative when performed in the eventide,
as shadows lengthen and the night draws on.
Here, in the sacred setting of St Clement's, its hopeful
sentiments strike a yet more emotional chord.
|
 |
|
One notable feature of The RAF Spitfires is the breadth
of their repertoire.
Here we see a piece from the upbeat end of the spectrum,
the traditional song When The Saints Go Marching In,
which is sure to set bodies swaying and toes tapping, in
both choir and audience alike.
|
 |
|
The finale of their inaugural concert sees The RAF
Spitfires joined by the Metropolitan Police Male Voice
Choir for a rousing rendition of William Blake's
patriotic classic Jerusalem.
Blake wrote the poem in 1804, but it was not until 1916
that Charles Parry set it to the music with which it has
since become so much associated.
|