Reviews

 
 

Sunday 20th June 2010 at Loughborough Endowed Schools

School of Music

Songs and Sonnets

Take a conventional choral group: the Leicestershire Chorale. Choose Music for Shakespeare and his period, and you’d expect something ordinary. But add jazz pianist Nicholas Scott-Burt and double bassist Pete Moore, nine music students from the Loughborough Endowed Schools (LES) and conductor, Tom Williams, who is also an exceptional counter tenor, and you have a concert which delighted the packed audience in the Music Centre of the LES.

It was a triumph: a beautifully balanced concert, with some very good singing indeed. It began with George Shearing’s (remember ‘Fascinatin’ Rhythm’?) 5 settings of Shakespearean songs in jazz style. The first half ended with the most unusual setting by Jaako Mäntyjärvi of the witches’ exchanges in Macbeth , ‘Double, double, toil and trouble’, complete with cackles and stamping of feet. In the second half, three Vaughan Williams Shakespeare songs were given a fine interpretation, the choir managing the shifting harmonies in ‘The cloud-capped towers’, and the rapid passages in ‘Over hill, over dale’ with accuracy and élan. It was lovely watching the Chorale obviously enjoying the concert greatly.

Unpublished solos written for Cleo Laine by Arthur Young were lightly sung and beautifully delivered by Tom Williams with his open-faced charm and boyish smile. Don’t miss the Chorale’s next concert!


David Clark, Loughborough Echo, June 2010


 

Brilliant with the Bard’s words

With a smile in their voices, Leicestershire Chorale joined forces with pianist Nick Scott-Burt and Pete Moore on double bass, for Songs and Sonnets, a concert of Shakespeare’s words set to music.

Two bright songs, to the wonderful jazz music of George Shearing, set the tone for the evening – Live with me and be my Love and It was a Lover and his Lass.

Little known in the UK, Australian composer Arthur Young wrote four unpublished songs for Cleo Laine and exchanging his conductor’s baton for his wonderful alto voice, Tom Williams gave a fine performance of this attractive jazz music.

Members of Loughborough Endowed Schools Chamber choir joined the Chorale for several numbers, an opportunity which they clearly enjoyed and made the most of.

Jaako Mäntyärvi’s Come Away Death had a religious feel to some of the harmonies and intonations, enclosed in a light jazz wrapping. His Double, Double, Toil and Trouble was brilliant in the terrifying madness of its recreation of the witches from Macbeth – a simply stunning performance.
Beautiful, colourful harmonies in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Full Fathom Five, The Cloud-Capp’d Towers and Over Hill, Over Dale moved away from jazz, before John Rutter’s Birthday Madrigals Suite returned to that genre, encompassing romance and fun to end the concert.

Another show in which the brilliant Chorale displayed its versatility, sheer musicality and ability to present an excellent concert around a theme.

Peter Collett, Leicester Mercury, 23rd June, 2010


 

Saturday 28th March 2010 at Holy Cross Priory, Leicester

Christ is the Morning Star

Music to take the world’s cares away

The beautifully reverberant acoustic of Holy Cross Priory church provided an ideal setting for the Leicestershire Chorale’s concert, Christ is the Morning Star. It was a wonderfully reflective selection of music for Passiontide, which took the mind far away form the cares of this world. Tallis’s Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet and Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus both have a rich musical texture and the performances created an intense peacefulness.


The Chorale items were interspersed with Gregorian plainchant performed by the choir of Holy Cross, a contrast to the rich textures of the Chorale’s music. Organist David Cowen performed inspired improvisation on each chant.


Lotti’s Crucifixus à 8 grew from simplicity to rich emotion. The pain of Michael Finnissy’s Stabant Autem Juxta Crucem was brilliantly conveyed by a small group of soloists including the emphatic tones of Oliver Parker as the voice of Jesus. In contrast Taverner’s Mother of God, Here I stand Now Praying was enormously effective in its simplicity. Split into five choirs spread around the church, the Chorale finished with Knut Nystedt’s Immortal Bach, a mesmerising and all encompassing sound, effective where or not one like d the music. A sublime performance.


Peter Collett, Leicester Mercury, 30th March 2010

Sunday 28th February 2010 at De Montfort Hall, Leicester

Youth Finds A Voice

It was a marvellous sight - the De Montfort Hall platform crowded with young singers giving their all in Poulenc's Gloria, in this year's Youth Finds a Voice concert organised by the Leicestershire Chorale.

It would be hard to imagine a more engaging personality to lead this event than conductor Tom Williams, his work with the Chorale is consistently outstanding and here he showed himself to be equally inspiring.

The singing of the massed choir had tremendous enthusiasm and spirit and the playing of the Bardi Symphony Orchestra was as impressive as ever: Soprano Rita Cullis provided the finishing touch with radiant solo singing.

The first half consisted of solo spots from the Chorale (exemplary accounts of Monteverdi and Arvo Part) and five of the participating school choirs.

Neil Crutchley, Leicester Mercury 2nd March


 

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