St John’s, Smith Square used to be a venue with a questionable future, with occasionally fewer people in the audience than on the platform. But a new regime has turned the place around (quite literally in that there are plans to shift the platform from one end to the other). And the innovations include a Holy Week Festival 2017 of choral music, drawing on the success of a similar fixture that runs there at Christmas.
As a former church that feels in many ways as though it still were, Smith Square suits collective singing. The acoustic is supportive without being over-resonant. The ambience is excellent. Running from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday with contributions from Polyphony, Tenebrae and a host of others, it was if nothing else an opportunity to hear in quick succession some of the best choral groups around, comparing and contrasting. And one group that I fear suffered from the comparison was the BBC Singers, who delivered a programme of English Tudor polyphony and Poulenc with their usual deadening combination of professionalism and reserve. They typify self-conscious excellence: it’s very proper singing, by the book, but never catching fire. And rarely heartfelt.
