Stunningly beautiful commemorative British choral music from Tenebrae under Nigel Short at Perth Festival of the Arts in St John’s Kirk’s wonderful acoustic.
Andrew Litton and the BBCSO and the BBC Singers create order out of chaos at the Barbican Hall in a challenging programme including Charles Ives monumental 4th Symphony.
From the altar of their customary home in Edinburgh’s 1691 Canongate Kirk, Calton Consort presented an a cappella concert enigmatically entitled “Translated Daughters”. The enigma dissolved upon hearing W.H. Auden’s text for Britten’s Hymn to St Cecilia. It features the arresting couplet: “Translated Daughter, come down and startle / Composing mortals with immortal fire.
In my notes for this evening’s concert by Renaissance, a chamber choir founded by the young singer, conductor and composer Ben Rowarth, one word kept recurring – “thoughtful”. This was a programme that had been carefully put together, and which was performed without any unnecessary flashiness or attempts to impress.
2014 marque le centenaire du début de la Première Guerre Mondiale. Les Tallis Scholars ont choisi de célébrer cette date par un programme qui tourne autour des idées de conflit, de paix, de deuil, et de consolation.
