CHORAL SINGING is regarded as being under threat in some quarters, for some choral societies recruitment is a problem. The real problem, we're told, is that singing is not as much a part of our culture as it used to be. Mothers don't sing to their children, people don't sing to entertain their friends as they did in Joyce's time.
The Cork Choral Festival, which has now been running for 43 years, therefore plays a very significant role in encouraging choral singing. It is an international event which this year draws contestants and contributors from 12 countries, but equally importantly it provides a platform for Irish choirs, most of them fairly local.
Four local choirs - Cantairi Mhuscrai, Cor Cois Abhann, East Cork Choral Society and The Carrigaline Singers - together made up a special Festival Chorus for the opening concert, which followed a civic ceremony.
The resulting performance may not have been ideally polished - the RTE Concert Orchestra's cellos sounded distinctly undernourished at the start of the Offertorio - but Richard Cooke, former conductor of the London Philharmonic Chorus, certainly had a feeling for the dramatic contrasts which are so important in this work, and the performance had plenty of enthusiasm.
The steadiest solo singing came from the tenor Ronan Tynan, but the soprano Cara O'Sullivan was also effective in the final Libera me.
One would have liked more steadiness from the other soloists, and passages featuring two or more soloists failed to blend as they might have. However, the concert still made a good start to what looks like being an interesting festival.
