A French programme brought the Leeds International Concert Season to a vibrant close with two choral works that are not frequently heard in the concert hall. The greater rarity was Debussy's settings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem The Blessed Damozel ... expressed with a voluptuousness beautifully captured by the chorus.
Under the direction of David Hill, the performance of Berlioz's Te Deum was, in stark contrast to all that, a vibrant and sturdy experience ... The powerful singing of the opening hymn (Te Deum laudamus) and the following Tibi omnes ... made sensational listening. Adrian Thompson was the tenor soloist in the prayer, Te ergo quaesumus, ending with the magical unaccompanied choral repetition of his closing lines. The whole performance ended with a powerful energetic blaze of colour, Judex crederis ...
Yorkshire Post
26 May 2006
"Leeds Town Hall audiences are not best known for their empathy towards anything composed in the last 50 years, so that the prolonged ovation that greeted the choral work, Harmonium, by the American composer, John Adams, must have surprised and delighted the combined Leeds Festival and Philharmonic choruses.
It had been a brave venture with the technical demands obviously requiring much detailed rehearsal, while the fact that they were for long periods harmonically contrasting with the orchestra was a severe test of their intonation.
They emerged wonderfully secure, unscathed and triumphant, the work's long, quiet ending as absorbing as the many passages that required a shiver of excitement to race through the music.
Culture Yorkshire Post Today BBC Symphony Orchestra
12 May 2006
"...The question for the second half was how would the massive forces - large orchestra, baritone soloist, and a choir (the impressive Leeds Festival and Leeds Philharmonic Choruses) - for a performance of William Walton's masterpiece, Belshazzar's Feast, survive in the most resonant of acoustics?
Brilliantly was the answer. This was no small part due to the quality of the singing where 'staccato' articulation ensured clarity of text in the loud passages, a commanding contribution from baritone Paul Whelan and superlative orchestral playing.."
Extract from a review on www.thisisyork.co.uk Belshazzar's Feast
May 2005
"...This concert marked David Hill's first appearance as 'the Phils' music director; a post he occupies concurrently with the music directorships of the Bach Choir and St John's College Cambridge. The members of his Leeds Choir are going to have a very fruitful relationship with their new conductor. This was abundantly clear to those of us who were able to witness the sheer pleasure on Hill's face at the crisp and wounderfully expressive singing that he coaxed from his choir and the splendid Sheffield Philharmonics Chorus... The airy textures in the Requiems most well-known number, the consoling 'How loverly are thy dwellings fair' were a revelation. So too were the looks of enjoyment on the faces of the choirs as they sang it
Leeds Town Hall Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem
May 2005
"...the best sounds of all emerged from the choirs the Leeds and Sheffield Philharmonic Choruses singing with that soft, comforting tone ..."
Mahler, Resurrection Symphony
April 2005. The Times.
"The chorus [created] the tingle factor, launching into the Chorus of Demons
with suitable venom and pulling out all the stops as they came to that moment of crowning glory in Praise to the Holiest in the Height."
Elgar, The Dream of Gerontius,
March 2004. Yorkshire Post.
"A performance of such glowing intensity that it is likely to have earned an approving nod from the Elysium fields. ... The ecstatic outburst of Praise to the the Holiest in the Height ... revealed the spirituality and the drama of Elgar's masterpiece."
Elgar, The Dream of Gerontius,
March 2004. Ilkley Gazette
"The Leeds chorus made a most impressive sound, exemplary in attack and quality of diction. The strain on sopranos is notorious in this work, but here they stuck to their task and were unstinting in the fortissimo passages."
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis,
November 2003. Yorkshire Post.
"This performance contained power and introspection... a meaningful performance, full of integrity" Pärt,
Te Deum,
September 2003. The Guardian
"Tingling with atmosphere ... as natural as breathing"
Verdi, Requiem,
May 2003. Daily Telegraph.
"[In the Requiem Aeternam] The Leeds Philharmonic Chorus ... produced a refined texture. The Dies Irae, by contrast, was a terrifying blaze."
Verdi, Requiem,
May 2003. The Guardian.
"From the outset, the combined Leeds and Sheffield Philharmonic Choruses sang with ... subtlety and flexibility. ... They were majestic in full strength"
Verdi, Requiem,
May 2003. Manchester Evening News.
The Leeds ... Philharmonic [chorus] sang with heart and responsiveness
Verdi, Requiem,
May 2003. The Independent.
Throughout the choral diction was exemplary"
Verdi, Requiem,
May 2003. Yorkshire Post.
"The choir's ... unaccompanied moments showed ... finesse and sensitivity"
Finzi , Intimations of Immortality
November 2002. Yorkshire Post
"A brisk, shapely performance"
Elgar, The Music Makers
November 2002. Yorkshire Post
"Crystal clear ... superbly conducted and performed"
Mozart, Requiem,
September 2002. Darlington Stockton Times
"The chorus shone out magnificently ... They sang with strong, open resonance and obvious enthusiasm"
Mendelssohn, Hymn of Praise
March 2002. Yorkshire Post.
"We have never heard the Leeds Philharmonic ... in finer voice ... this concert was one we were all deeply privileged to attend"
Mahler, Symphony No. 2, (Resurrection),
December 2001. Yorkshire Post.
"The voices of the ... Philharmonic Chorus produced singing of ferocious power and beauty"
Mahler, Symphony No. 2, (Resurrection),
December 2001. Wharfedale Airedale Observer.
Walton, Belshazzar's Feast,
March 2001. Yorkshire Post.
for further details please click on the image below:
