Guestbook
Thank you for visiting our site.On the face of it, the latest offering from the Liverpool Welsh Choral – along with their guests, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union – could have been a very dull affair.
Choral Cathedral Classics implied a whole string of hum-a-long favourites, with nothing new and certainly nothing to challenge neither performers nor audience.
But what a refreshing concert this was. The Faure Requiem apart, this was a concert of works rarely heard outside a liturgical setting – and, even then, one would be hard pushed to find most of these works on a service list.
The opening work set the scene: a large setting of Laudes Organi by Zoltan Kodaly, written in 1966. This is Kodaly’s last composition and the text was taken from a 12th-century manuscript discovered in a Swiss monastery.
It uses some stunning harmonic language and large forces. The choir used the drama of this setting to an excellent degree with an excellent range of intimate, pianissimo moments contrasting with the thunderous fortissimos. The tenors felt a little hard-pushed at times, with the tonality sinking, but that was a minor point in what was, overall, a triumphant performance.
The large and hauntingly beautiful prelude, played competently by organ accompanist Stephen Hargreaves, was a fitting opening.
The other unusual choral piece was Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle in C sharp minor. Again, this contrasted the drama of the Kyries with the gentle moments of the Benedictus. A lively Gloria and a thoughtful Agnus Dei made this another fascinating work.
Quite whether fascinating is the word to use for Goreki’s Totus Tuus is debateable. This mesmeric piece progresses like a mantra but the spell was broken by Stephen Hargreaves’s spirited performance of the fiendish Scherzo from Vierne’s Second Symphony for organ.
Add to that a fine performance by baritone Thomas Eaglen. His clear, defined voice rather took the sugary edge off Saint-Saens’s Ave Maria, making it a much more pithy work. And a competent performance of the Faure Requiem, where Eaglen was joined by the confident treble James Orrell whose voice rang out well in the Pie Jesu, and this was a fine performance.
Conductor Keith Orrell has done much to turn round the Liverpool Welsh Choral. It’s now back where it should be – among the ranks of the fine, large choruses which can turn their hand to anything. They certainly showed that this weekend.
GLYN MON HUGHES
As appeared in the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo
Greetings from New Jersey!
Sharon Sauer <info@proartechorale.org>
USA United Kingdom - Monday, October 16, 2006 at 18:52:39 (BST)
Very informative website. Pleasing to the eye. I really enjoyed the choral workshop.
Steve Ross
Runcorn, Cheshire United Kingdom - Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 22:58:33 (BST)
