REVIEW

CASTERBRIDGE MALE VOICE CHOIR

DORCHESTER COMMUNITY CHURCH, POUNDBURY

THEY raise a great deal of money for local charities and give pleasure to many people in doing so, that is what this bunch of mainly retired men do and they do it very well.

Under the leadership of Julia McFarlane with piano accompanist Louise Dukes, the men sang a variety of songs both old and new in this new church building that was both welcoming and acoustically efficient.

Their programme included much loved favourites by Cole Porter and a Perry Como medley while getting the audience to join in The Hippopotamus Song by the hugely talented duo Flanders and Swann.

And if there was a certain problem with the harmonies at times in particular among the altos, songs like Magic Moments and What a Wonderful World made up for some slight calamities elsewhere in the programme.

Special guests were the Buccas Four from Cornwall a quartet of male singers with amazing symmetry, showing us their considerable skills as they sang in acapella melodies such as How Great Thou Art and the Cornish traditional song Camborne Hill.

The concert was in support of the British Heart Foundation and everyone in the audience would have undoubtedly agreed that there were many magic moments during the evening that made their donations very worthwhile.

MARION COX