On Saturday 19 October 2019, the Bournemouth Symphony & Youth Choruses, together with the strings of the BSO, travelled to the Cadogan Hall to give the first London performance of Richard Blackford's Pietà. Gavin Carr conducted, and the soloists were Catherine Wyn Rogers (mezzo), Huw Montague Rendall (baritone) and Amy Dickson (saxophone). The concert received some amazingly favourable reviews, including a four-star review in The Times from Richard Morrison.
From KH, ArtmuseLondon.com
"Most impressive was the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Having already performed the work at the Lighthouse, Poole, the BSC was by now a slick operation. Most memorable was the a cappella piece in Akhmatova’s poem A Chorus of Angels Sang. I closed my eyes and the chorus’s melded voices transported me back to Easter Mass at the Russian Orthodox Church in la Rue Daru, Paris, where my Georgian grandmother used to take us as children. My mother, accompanying me on the night, told me that she had had the same reaction and had shed several tears." Click HERE to read the whole review
From Planet Hugill
The chorus was on fine form, moving from understatedly bleak parlando to intense choral climaxes. They really committed to the work, and brought out the variety of moods which Blackford's music articulates. The fourth movement, 'Eia mater, fons amoris' with its polyphonic writing and slow build, was a particular choral highlight and they made a powerful contribution to the nagging anxiety of the concluding tutti movements. The children's chorus provided a more naive voice in the fifth movement, 'Sancta mater, istud agas'. Click HERE to read the whole review
Post Created: 25/10/2019
Event Date: 19/10/2019
Last Updated: 12/05/2020