Madrigal '75/Orchestra of St Cecilia/Geoffrey Spratt St Ann's Church, Dawson Street

{TABLE} Cantata 150 Nach dir, Herr................. Bach Sinfonia from Cantata 42/.................. Bach Cantata 140 Wachet auf..................... Bach {/TABLE} THE annual Bach cantata series at St Ann's, Dawson Street, is now in its third year of revival with Lindsay Armstrong's Orchestra of St Cecilia. This is the second season under the conductorship of Geoffrey Spratt, principal of the Cork School of Music, and the choir being used for both of this year's concerts is the Cork group Madrigal '75.

With a chorus of about two dozen singers, whose strength of male and female voices is nicely balanced, and a one-to-a-part orchestral string section, Sunday's performances were at the lighter end of the scale, though not all of the music-making took account of this.

The slow Sinfonia of Cantata 150, Nach dir, Herr, had string playing that was a bit syrupy for my taste, and the orchestral contribution to the opening chorale of Cantata 140, Wachet auf sounded seriously overloaded at the lower end. An over-prominent bassoon was a feature of this concert, where, by contrast with last year, the cello continuo was at all times sensitive and discreet (and the cello's running semiquavers in Cantata 150's choral aria, "Zedern mussen", were also beautifully realised).

The soprano soloist, Helen Hassett, who communicated tonal beauty with clarity and chasteness, contrasted strongly with the bass, Nyle Wolf. The two shared two duets in which the latter's forceful manner was often grating. The small contribution by the young tenor, Robin Tritschler, suggested that he is a singer of interesting potential, though what he does is not yet by any means finely adjusted.

As in the early St Ann's years of Bach cantatas under John Beckett, the choral singing constituted the major strength of these performances, making a vivid impression in the "Leite mich" of Cantata 150 and scoring highly in the opportunities afforded them in the great, familiar terrain of Wachet auf