Mahler 3rd Symphony
8/11/2019
5 * review
We were proud to participate in this stunning performance of Mahler's third symphony played by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
The ladies of the choir teamed up with the National Youth Choir of Scotland and singers from Edinburgh University Choir.
Read the full review here.
We were proud to participate in this stunning performance of Mahler's third symphony played by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
The ladies of the choir teamed up with the National Youth Choir of Scotland and singers from Edinburgh University Choir.
Read the full review here.
Messiah 2019
2/1/2019
A fabulous 4* review in The Herald!
A snippet here, but you can read the whole review on the Herald website.
"She may be petite, but soprano Rowan Pierce is evidently more robust than many sopranos. As she once again stepped in to replace an ailing colleague at a Scottish concert, her agent must surely be pointing out to choirs and orchestras that they’d save themselves a great deal of anxiety by simply booking her in the first place. "
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"There is a youthful look and sound to the whole tenor section of this chorus these days, more than making up for their comparative lack of numbers. Chorusmaster and conductor Michael Bawtree has his ensemble precisely drilled and there was always the feeling of power in reserve as the piece unfolded: the opening of Part Two’s And With His Stripes was, startlingly, almost sotto voce, and the closing bars of All We Like Sheep beautifully poised and paced."
A snippet here, but you can read the whole review on the Herald website.
"She may be petite, but soprano Rowan Pierce is evidently more robust than many sopranos. As she once again stepped in to replace an ailing colleague at a Scottish concert, her agent must surely be pointing out to choirs and orchestras that they’d save themselves a great deal of anxiety by simply booking her in the first place. "
...
"There is a youthful look and sound to the whole tenor section of this chorus these days, more than making up for their comparative lack of numbers. Chorusmaster and conductor Michael Bawtree has his ensemble precisely drilled and there was always the feeling of power in reserve as the piece unfolded: the opening of Part Two’s And With His Stripes was, startlingly, almost sotto voce, and the closing bars of All We Like Sheep beautifully poised and paced."
Messiah 2018
2/1/2018
4* review in The Herald
See the original review here.
Kicking off the new year in time-honoured tradition, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, accompanied by the Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra and John Kitchen on the organ, gave an uplifting performance of Handel’s Messiah in what was their 131st annual New Year’s concert.
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Performing this marvelous work every year, the choir must know every inch of the music inside out, and that is certainly what came across, with perfect balance between parts, crystal-clear diction and long melismatic passages tightly controlled. The quartet of soloists were equally rigorous in their portrayal of the piece. Showing a real talent for Oratorio, mezzo-soprano Judy Brown gave a heartfelt and compelling rendition of He was despised, the opening aria in part 2. Soprano soloist Susanna Hurrell brought a beautiful array of colour to I know that my redeemer liveth although her vibrato was a touch on the heavy side. Bass-baritone Tristan Hambleton sang with a rounded warmth, though was sometimes overshadowed by the orchestra, and tenor Elgin Llŷr Thomas gave clear and animated delivery.
See the original review here.
Kicking off the new year in time-honoured tradition, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, accompanied by the Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra and John Kitchen on the organ, gave an uplifting performance of Handel’s Messiah in what was their 131st annual New Year’s concert.
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Performing this marvelous work every year, the choir must know every inch of the music inside out, and that is certainly what came across, with perfect balance between parts, crystal-clear diction and long melismatic passages tightly controlled. The quartet of soloists were equally rigorous in their portrayal of the piece. Showing a real talent for Oratorio, mezzo-soprano Judy Brown gave a heartfelt and compelling rendition of He was despised, the opening aria in part 2. Soprano soloist Susanna Hurrell brought a beautiful array of colour to I know that my redeemer liveth although her vibrato was a touch on the heavy side. Bass-baritone Tristan Hambleton sang with a rounded warmth, though was sometimes overshadowed by the orchestra, and tenor Elgin Llŷr Thomas gave clear and animated delivery.
Messiah 2017
2/1/2017
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4* review in The Herald
Read the full review here. This year’s performance contained many more musical bonuses as well, however, beginning with one of the finest editions of the scratch “Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra”: the oboes were Cath Earnshaw and Rosie Staniforth, by way of illustration. The musicians, conducted by chorusmaster Michael Bawtree and with John Kitchen at the organ, shone much new light on the work ¬– in Handel’s varied approaches to continuo, for example. Although a little ragged on either side of the interval on the tricky His yoke is easy and the opening of Behold the lamb, the chorus, augmented by two dozen guests from the Orkney Winter Choir directed by Glenys Hughes, were also on fine, poised, and measured form, all the way to the sopranos’ peal of bells on the closing Amen. |
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Messiah 2016
2/1/2016
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4* review – The Herald
Click here to see the original review in the Herald. Now a firm fixture of Edinburgh’s contemporary Hogmanay programme as well as the capital’s long-established New Year celebrations, the 129th performance of Handel’s oratorio by the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union may be chiefly remembered for the debut of German baritone and BBC New Generation Artist Benjamin Appl, a real talent of power, confidence and exemplary diction who delivered his first aria, The people that walked in darkness, in Schubertian style and continued to treat the score’s most operative moments as Lieder. |
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Amid such riches, “The Choral” still managed to shine in its own right, Evans encouraging the texture of the chorus over its power, and the singers responding with beautiful measured poised at the conclusion of the sequence of choruses in Part Two and again for Since by man in Part Three. Chorus-master Michael Bawtree was bolstering the tenor section, so wins credit for performance as well as the drilling.
Amid such riches, “The Choral” still managed to shine in its own right, Evans encouraging the texture of the chorus over its power, and the singers responding with beautiful measured poised at the conclusion of the sequence of choruses in Part Two and again for Since by man in Part Three. Chorus-master Michael Bawtree was bolstering the tenor section, so wins credit for performance as well as the drilling.
Warsaw Philharmonic and ERCU
11/5/2015
5* Review
Read the full review on The Herald’s website.
What a phenomenal concert the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra brought to Edinburgh on Sunday to close the Usher Hall’s International Classical Season.
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Their Beethoven Nine was extraordinarily fresh: I actually felt I was hearing it for the first time. Kaspszyk’s pacey tempos were thrilling and exhilarating: the development section in the first movement seethed and went like the wind; in the pounding Scherzo I almost ducked as the rhythms flew off the page like bullets. The slow movement sang as it always does, with not one ounce of drag; and the fantastic, searing performance of the finale by the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union with four fine soloists and the Warsaw Phil felt like being there as the music was born. I found the whole thing totally cathartic.
Read the full review on The Herald’s website.
What a phenomenal concert the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra brought to Edinburgh on Sunday to close the Usher Hall’s International Classical Season.
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Their Beethoven Nine was extraordinarily fresh: I actually felt I was hearing it for the first time. Kaspszyk’s pacey tempos were thrilling and exhilarating: the development section in the first movement seethed and went like the wind; in the pounding Scherzo I almost ducked as the rhythms flew off the page like bullets. The slow movement sang as it always does, with not one ounce of drag; and the fantastic, searing performance of the finale by the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union with four fine soloists and the Warsaw Phil felt like being there as the music was born. I found the whole thing totally cathartic.
Edinburgh Royal Choral Union |
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