The Golden Age of Sauchiehall Street: March 1935 – Choral Concerts – Glasgow Police Male Voice Choir, in the McLellan Galleries, on the 20th and 21st

An article on page fourteen of The Glasgow Herald, on Thursday the 21st of March, 1935, reads:

 

“CHORAL CONCERT

 

GLASGOW POLICE MALE VOICE 
CHOIR

 

The first of two concerts by the Glasgow Police Male Voice Choir was given last night in the McLellan Galleries before

a large audience. This choir, which takes the place of the Glasgow Police Musical Association, now disbanded, is a

healthy organisation, conducted by Mr James M. Reid.

 

The programme included part-songs in many moods, in all of which the choir sang with freshness and beauty of tone.

Amongst the bold, strongly rhythmic numbers should be mentioned, ‘The King’s Men,’ by C. Armstrong Gibbs, and

‘Lock the Door, Lariston,’ arr. Bantock. This last is a difficult number which moved with splendid lilt, and showed the

choir’s ability to pick up, and recover, in an awkward moment.

 

‘A Dirge,’ by Howells, was beautifully sung, as was also ‘Loch Lomond,’ arr. R. Vaughan Williams and Elgar’s ‘The

Wanderer’ Two Sea Shanties, ‘Shenandoah’ and ‘What shall we do with a Drunken Sailor,’ had the real salt water tang.

The balance was very good, and rhythmic precision, intonation, and diction were of a high standard.

 

Mr Roy Henderson, the well-known baritone, put himself into the various characters of his songs with intense dramatic

effect. The ‘Prologue’ to ‘I Pagliacci’ (Leoncavallo), ‘The Vain Serenade’ (Brahms), ‘At the Mid Hour of Night’ (Cowen),

and ‘King Charles’ (White), with others, demonstrated once again the excellence of his voice and diction.

 

Mr David McCallum played violin solos, mostly of a light variety, but polished in tone and technique. His rendering of

Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ was notably good in the moulding of a finely balanced melodic line. In the solos Mr Harry Dorman

was an admirable accompanist.

 

The second concert will be given to-night, with different solo numbers by the same artists.”

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, October 2022.