This year the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (RMP) Choir celebrates its 172nd year of music-making in Melbourne, making it Australia’s oldest surviving cultural organisation and one of the oldest secular choirs in the world. The RMP’s choristers are strictly auditioned, voluntary musicians who share a common love of choral music, and who give their time freely in the pursuit of musical excellence. This commitment by the choristers was abundantly evident in their performances in the RMP Carols in the Cathedral, held on Friday December 18 (with two performances on the following Saturday). All performances quickly sold out and it’s not hard to see why.
Led by conductor Andrew Wailes, the Carols featured renowned soprano, Helena Dix, piano supremos Stefan Cassomenos and William Schmidt as accompanists, Roland Rocchiccioli and Julie Houghton reading lessons and reflections, and The National Boys Choir of Australia under the direction of Andrew Bainbridge, who also soloed on the mighty St Paul’s organ.
If that was not enough, the choirs were supported by the RMP Orchestra soloists, RMP Brass and Percussion Consort and the City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band.
The concert was a Christmas stocking stuffed with so many goodies, it’s hard to pick the most exciting.
In the first half of the program there were fresh Christmas works by contemporary Norwegian composers Kim André Arnesen and Ola Gjielo. Their pieces were agreeable and up to the mark for a family occasion like this. We were treated to a lively arrangement by Mark Hayes of Katherine Kennicott Davis’ “The Little Drummer Boy” that had spirited percussion effects from the choir and, indeed, some percussion.
Throughout all but one of items the choir was supported by the RMP Orchestra soloists, giving well-rounded support to the choir. Point of disclosure here: I was a St Paul’s chorister many years ago and know how boomy the cathedral can be. I sat within four rows of the ensembles and still had a little trouble hearing the choir a lot of the time. The cathedral is a lovely, big old bathroom to sing in and this is not the first time I have noticed the weakness of sound from choirs positioned at the pulpit. The RMP is an incredibly well-disciplined outfit and you could see they were delivering an all-out performance. At times conductor Andrew Wailes gestured to his ear to get more out the sopranos.
It’s hard work singing in St Paul’s. The generously long decay of the sound down the building ends up being a wash of crazy tonalities by the time it reaches the West Door. Perhaps to allow for the reverberance Andrew Wailes kept the tempi of most pieces very steady, maybe a bit plodding at times. With about 42 music items in the program the more lively works were much appreciated. On the steady-as-she-goes level, Helena Dix sang beautiful solos in Stephen Adams’ “The Holy City” and Adolphe Adam’s “O Holy Night”. Her delivery of the “Ave Maria” by Vladimir Vavilov (attributed to Caccini) was sublime. The copious program notes explained the misattribution and provided excellent information on all the works and composers.
Surprisingly perhaps, Rutter’s “Angel’s Carol” gave the second half of the program a real lift, sung by The National Boys Choir directed by Andrew Bainbridge. Rutter is always “safe” material to offer, yet not as easy to sing as it sounds. The National Boys Choir sparkled. Donald Fraser’s “This Christmastide” (Jessye’s Carol) was written for Jessye Norman. At St Paul’s Helena Dix and the RMP gave a powerful performance.
I was not wholly convinced by the RMP’s only unaccompanied work, Morten Laurdisen’s “O Magnum Mysterium”. The choir sang through all the haunting harmonic changes, but missed on delivering the lines of beauty and mystery that run through the work, as if they were comfortable singing the vertical, but not the horizontal. It could have sounded exquisite in the setting, instead of functional.
There was so much to enjoy in the RMP Carols Concert, it’s impossible to name-check all the fun. I very much enjoyed Dan Forrest’s arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard on High” and John Frederick Hudson’s arrangement of “I Saw Three Ships”, both in the second half when singers’ energy levels seemed to have increased.
Young New Zealand composer Hamish Ander provided a moving arrangement of WG James’ “Country Carol” (The Oxen). This was a world premiere, and (let this not be understated) as with all the works sung by the RMP, you could hear every word of it.
It’s a huge amount of work for all and deserves the full-house support it gets. So, be prepared for next year: book early and line up early, as seats are not allocated.
Photo supplied.
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Nick Tolhurst reviewed “Carols in the Cathedral”, presented by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic in St Paul’s Cathedral on December 19, 2025.
