"One of Britain's
finest Choruses"
Reviews
Macmillan: Invocation
Beethoven: Mass in C
15 March 2008
Wharfedale & Airedale Observer: 27 March 2008
Geoffrey Mogridge
‘Invocation’, a short work for unaccompanied voices by James Macmillan opened this concert. Set to a text of the late Pope John Paul II, ‘Invocation’ was premiered by the Oriel Singers at Tewkesbury Abbey in July 2006. Macmillan creates an antiphonal effect by sub-dividing the vocal lines of soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
All of the qualities of renown associated with the Leeds Festival Chorus were abundantly evident in this performance. Suppleness of phrasing, crystal clear diction, blending of voices and the shading of dynamics were compellingly produced by Simon Wright, the Chorus's Conductor and Artistic Advisor for over three decades. The voices seemed to float in the auditorium and the effect was quite magical.
Beethoven’s ‘Mass in C’ calls for a much broader sound, although the composer reduces the choral textures to unison or octave singing for particularly profound passages of text. The superlative blending of voices in the 170-strong Festival Chorus was equalled by the matching of the solo quartet: acclaimed Scottish soprano Lisa Milne, mezzo Margaret McDonald, tenor Andrew Murgatroyd and the bass Ronan Collett.
That most Mozartian of Schubert Symphonies, ‘No 5 in B Flat’, was inserted between the choral works. Simon Wright and the Manchester Camerata produced a performance as exquisitely coloured as it was elegant and vivacious.
Leeds Festival Chorus combines with Leeds Philharmonic Chorus for the final concert of the current Leeds International Concert Season on May 17: Elgar’s ‘The Music Makers’ and Prokofiev’s Cantata ‘Alexander Nevsky’.
Yorkshire Post: 21 March 2008
Chris Robbins
Leeds Festival Chorus are one of the few big choirs who can sing an unaccompanied contemporary piece and Beethoven's Mass in C on the same night - and do both with superb musicianship. They owe much to the brilliance of their conductor Simon Wright.
They have the technique to tackle James Macmillan’s intricate eight-part antiphony in his setting of Pope John Paul II’s poem Invocation - hummed chords and all - and to tackle Beethoven's full-bodied textures. And they have a full armoury of tone colours and dynamics.
Macmillan’s work captures the mystery of the Pope’s poem in a style which cleverly never moves towards musical resolution. By contrast, Beethoven’s Mass resolves each of its sections. But it is his least convincing liturgical work although with occasional ingenious touches such as the choral writing in the Lumen de lumine section of the Credo. It was ill served by the underpowered accompaniment of the Manchester Camerata who, between the choral works, gave a jolly but quiet account of Schubert’s Fifth Symphony.
Hummel: Missa Solemnis in C
Mozart: Kyrie in D minor
24 March 2007
Yorkshire Post: 30 March 2007
Chris Robbins
Almost all concerts conducted by Simon Wright include a rewarding work from an odd corner of the repertoire and are splendidly performed. His Leeds Festival Chorus have everything - blend, balance, flexibility and even good diction, which is rare these days. When accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic - the best orchestra north of Watford and better than most south of it - the evening cannot go wrong.
The rewarding work from an odd corner was Hummel's Missa Solemnis in C, which is not solemn, quite jolly in fact. Hummel studied with Haydn and Mozart, and his piano writing influenced Chopin.
The tunes in his Missa are not substantial enough to bear the weight of his pianistic orchestral accompaniment, but the work should be aired more often. It is entirely about the chorus - the fine quartet of Alwyn Mellor, Jean Rigby, Mark Wilde and James Rutherford having little to do. Haydn's Drum Roll Symphony was given a deep and intelligent reading. Soprano Alwyn Mellor sang two Mozart arias, the indignant and vengeful Alma grande and the melodramatic Bella mia fiamma, with conviction and technical fluency, and the concert opened with an impeccable performance of Mozart's Kyrie in D minor.
Haydn: The Creation: 20 January 2007
Yorkshire Post: 26 January 2007
Chris Robbins
For their first independent promotion outside the Leeds International Concert Season, the Festival Chorus chose Haydn's The Creation. Its astonishing Introduction and Representation of Chaos - harmonically and tonally confused - move swiftly into a harmonically well-ordered invocation of Light. Thereafter, Haydn narrates the Biblical creation with joy, wit and daring descriptive effects. Mozart said Haydn could do it all. Here he did.
And so did Simon Wright. Conducting with his accustomed assurance and lightness of touch, he allowed the sweep of Haydn's genius to roll along, and with his organist's instincts he made every sound both important and in perfect balance.
His chorus were articulate, with ideally judged note lengths and dynamic range. Over the years Wright has given them a tonal elegance more musical than the matured-in-the-cask sound of many Yorkshire choirs.
After a slightly ragged start Northern Sinfonia relished the "ensemble" nature of Haydn's orchestral scoring and what Holzmeister called "the rights and properties of the other instruments", particularly Haydn's adventurous use of clarinet and bassoon. Soloists Carolyn Sampson, James Gilchrist and Roderick Williams matched each other and the chorus in ensemble awareness, elegance and clarity.
Wharfedale & Airedale Observer: 25 January 2007
Geoffrey Mogridge
Once staple choral society fare, Haydn's great oratorio is less frequently performed nowadays. A pity, for this is such a joyous, tuneful and uplifting work. The composer's exotic orchestration so vividly depicts the glories of the Creation that you can hear the lions roaring, the stag neighing and the worms crawling.
One of the most memorable moments is the modulation from the darkness of C Minor to the dawning of light depicted by a stupendous fortissimo C Major chord for orchestra, with the chorus singing 'And there was Light'.
Last Saturday's splendid performance conducted by Simon Wright, the Festival Chorus's principal conductor, made us hear Haydn's choral masterpiece afresh. This performance can be ranked among the very finest, not only because it was superb technically, but - even more importantly - was possessed of that elusive atmosphere of mystery. Wright achieved almost perfect balance in the airy acoustic of Leeds Town Hall. Choral and orchestral textures were crystal clear and the English text was crisply enunciated by the chorus and soloists.
The 43 members of Northern Sinfonia deserve the highest praise for their exquisite colouring and phrasing of orchestral detail which contributed so much to the aura of mystery essential for this work. The solo arias achieve a simplicity that is both transcendent and deeply moving. The three singers were outstanding. Baritone Roderick Williams, as Archangel Raphael, engaged with the audience and conveyed a sense of nobility and wonderment. Soprano Carolyn Sampson, as Gabriel, was immaculate in her placing of notes and in the florid passages. In the final part of the oratorio, Williams and Sampson became Adam and Eve - ravishing in their duets `By Thee with Bliss' and `Dear Companion at Thy Side'. Tenor James Gilchrist invested Uriel's recitatives with a brightness of tone and ringing clarity that was evangelical in its fervour.
A triumphant occasion and one which attracted prolonged and rapturous applause from the capacity audience.
