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Translation of review, supplied by Peter ter Poorten:

Het Nieuwsblad voor het Noorden, 26 March 1966

Scottish student-like concert: musical, but choral society style

The Edinburgh University Glee Club, which gave a performance last night in the Nieuwe Kirk at Groningen, was founded in 1958 as a social club, where during their weekly meetings student songs were sung. Although it has in the meantime grown into a real men's choir, it has preserved much of its original character. Not only is their way of performing more or less "student-like", the repertoire is mainly in the atmosphere of wine, women and song.

The singing shows a definite choir culture, which is characterized by outstanding discipline, refinement and sonority. The 25 voices suggest a certain schooling, with command of the simplest basics of the singing technique; the concord or harmony is homogeneous and there are no unevennesses.

In our country, a similar students' choir is actually unimaginable because in the Netherlands, interest in folksongs hardly exists. We must admit that the Glee Club also had some serious works in its repertoire, but they were not executed last night because the required piano was not available in the Church and the permanent conductor David Bruce, had to be replaced by Charles Finch, a member of the choir and a student of music at the Edinburgh University. The fact that the choir, under these circumstances, sang so well says a lot for the preparation of the tour. Probably for these reasons, the choir stuck to nonsense rhymes, nursery songs and negro spirituals, and this is also understandable; and perhaps these circumstances also contributed to the atmosphere of jocularity which prevailed among the red-gowned students.

But this one-sidedness did not in the long run do much good to the concert. The choir arrangements separate this music, in particular the negro spirituals and nursery rhymes, from their origin and combine something artificial and meaningless with smooth (slick) calculated refinement. The very many dynamic changes, a way of singing which in relation to the text is very expressive, close harmony humming sounds in the background, all greatly affect the artlessness. The exceptions of good arrangements were too few in number. However, in spite of all the objections to the type of songs, it must be admitted that the choir sang exceptionally well. A surprise was the magnificent bass of Bruce McLennan, who sang with great ease the solos in some of the spirituals. Two songs from Nigeria, with explanation and solo by a student from Nigeria, were a successful extra.

A welcome intermezzo was provided by Charles Finch who played some choral adaptations on the organ.