A warm-hearted and appreciative audience greeted Tenby Male Choir at one of their earliest concerts of the season last Saturday.
The venue, the Kilgetty RAOB Club, was a new one for the choir. In a large and comfortable lounge/bar, it was good to see people of all ages - including impeccably-behaved children - enjoying the music.
During the evening, four brand new pieces to the choir were sung for the first time in public. They added greatly to the enjoyment of regular choir supporters. In addition, there was another 'new' face in the choir who was making his debut performance.
In the first section, the MD, Christine Shewry, chose two old favourites and a new piece entitled 'The Joys of Love'. Sung in both French and English, the piece is perhaps better known as 'Plaisir D'Amour'.
After the first three pieces, two of the choir's regular soloists, Dave Flanaghan and Eric Mullins sang 'I'll take you home again, Kathleen' and 'Mud, mud, glorious mud', respectively, and these, providing such a contrast, were much applauded.
Eddie Stapleton, choir steward, then came on stage to do a comic turn. He told some very amusing stories, which were heartily enjoyed.
When the choir returned, they sang that very lovely piece composed by Ryan Davies 'Pan fo'r nos yn hir', followed by a Yiddish folk song 'Tumbalalaika', also new to the choir. This well-known piece has a melancholic, yearning quality which came from the performance of the choir and soloist David Blackmore. The clear enunciation of the Hebrew and English words were accompanied by deep harmony in chorus.
In complete opposite mood, the choir next sang a Gilbert and Sullivan favourite from 'The Pirates of Penzance', "With cat-like tread' which, of course, had everyone tapping toes and wanting to sing along. Keith Nixon and John Griffiths sang the short solo piece as a duet, adding variation.
Then came a break in the concert, to draw the raffle and award charity prizes. Dai the Butcher was the winner of the £50 donation to charity, which he presented, along with several other smaller donations, to local worthwhile groups. He used the occasion to kiss several fair maidens!
The second half of the concert opened with three firm favourites 'Rhythm of life', 'She' and 'Blue moon'. As often happens, when 'She' was being sung, there was absolute silence in the room, with everyone listening intently to this really beautiful performance. In that huge room, with people enjoying a drink and socialising with friends and family, you could have heard a pin drop. This piece epitomises the Tenby 'sound', the sort of song they perfectly deliver.
Tom Pearce, a founder-member of Tenby Male Choir, then gave a solo. He sang 'Some enchanted evening', another of those songs that everyone knows snatches of and are tempted to join in with.
Eric returned to sing his almost-fabled 'If I were a rich man', and Eddie returned to entertain and amuse the audience greatly.
In the final three numbers, the choir introduced yet a fourth 'new' piece 'Smoke gets in your eyes' which was, once again, one of the sort of songs that so suits the choir. The piece contained some unusual and yet beautiful harmonies.
The final piece of the evening was 'American Trilogy' and at its end, the audience were so persistent in their shouts for 'more' that the MD could not get away until she had led the choir to sing an encore. Thus, the most well-known well-loved male voice choir piece 'Morte Christe' then led everyone into the Welsh National Anthem.
Christine thanked the chairman and secretary of the club - who presented the choir with a cheque as a token of their gratitude for a wonderful evening's entertainment - and her accompanist, Jill Williams, as well as the soloists of the evening.
The choir's next concert, which will be open to the general public, will be at St. Johns Church, Tenby, on Easter Sunday (April 20) at 8 pm. It is hoped that the choir's new CD/cassette will be available then.