IT was mesmerising to watch this versatile choir swing into action as they gave composer Will Todd’s Mass in Blue a fantastic premiere at The Anvil.

It was a rousing and triumphant performance accompanied by a jazz band which had, for once, to stick strictly to the written music!

BCS are best known for their outstanding classical choral concerts which this season have included Verdi’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. They have lately entered the modern world with works such as Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man.

But to jump into the mood and get swinging for the first time must have been seen as a major challenge, and it turned out to be a real success.

In opening the evening, David Gibson, musical director of BCS and conductor, described his terrifying experiences as the boy soprano soloist for the world premiere of the Chichester Psalms in front of its composer, the great Leonard Bernstein.

He introduced soloist Robyn Allegra Parton, who gave us our first taste of her impressive talent so beautifully exposed in the last movement, Psalm 133.

During this evening, she gave a thrilling performance as she soared above the 115-man chorus on the high notes, well worthy of the very best of the jazz singers of former years.

She is only in her twenties, has a wonderful range, and is clearly on the way to the top of British sopranos.

What really impressed, however, was how she showed that even as an outstanding classical performer she has the versatility to grasp a difficult jazz composition with such integrity and conviction.

Andrew Sparling, lead clarinettist, and the orchestra rendered a plausible exposition of Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto which to many of this audience was quite new. In fact it was only the second performance of this work in the whole of the UK this year.

For the main piece, Mass in Blue, the choir took to the task with evident enthusiasm. This was constructive jazz which clearly turned on whole sections of the audience, especially, one suspects, the younger elements, but even we oldies were foot-tapping away.

In terms of presentation, the evening dress of the male singers did seem to be at odds with the rather informal mode of the jazz orchestra. Do they talk to each other?

So engaged were the audience that at the resounding end of the third movement there was a spontaneous round of applause, entirely appropriate one felt.

Such a shame that we don’t seem to be able to return to the very old days when every movement in all the classical works was loudly applauded – when deserved, of course!

Mervyn Sennett