A window on the Three Choirs Festival: Debussy, Tabakova and Fauré

By Katherine Dixson, 25 July 2012

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Reviewed at Hereford Cathedral, Hereford on 23 July 2012

Debussy, Danses sacrée et profane

Tabakova, Centuries of Meditations (Festival commission and world premiere)

Fauré, Requiem, Op.48

Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir

Orchestra of the Swan

Katie Trethewey, Soprano

Marcus Farnsworth, Baritone

David Hill, Conductor

Troubled dreams from David Le Page and the Orchestra of the Swan

Mark Valencia, 29th March

David Le Page's The Interpretation of Dreams did not, sadly, live up to the trailer.

**111

Helping put Salieri back on the map

Hedy Mühleck, 12th October

The Orchestra of the Swan and David Curtis are on a mission to rescue the reputation of Mozart's alleged rival and tormentor.

***11

Dramatic Shostakovich and tender Tchaikovsky

Katherine Dixson, 13th April

Being the resident band in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Orchestra of the Swan is having a busy time of it right now, in the lead-up to Shakespeare400.

****1

Raphael Wallfisch: the Czech connection

Hedy Mühleck, 13th May

Two individually strong musical components met in this Czech field trip, but will they connect to form something new?

***11

The silver chain of sound with Orchestra of the Swan and Tamsin Waley-Cohen

Katherine Dixson, 26th April

David Curtis displayed his usual deceptively effortless ease on the podium. Perhaps this felt like a handy warm-up for the marathon that he would run, hard on the heels of this concert, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Orchestra of the Swan’s home territory.

****1

Three Choirs Festival goes out in a flawed blaze of glory

Simon Cummings, 30th July

Adrian Partington directs a well-managed but ultimately disjointed performance of Mahler’s most idealistically challenging symphony.

***11

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Katherine Dixson

Katherine is an enthusiastic choral singer. Becoming chairman of her choir proved the catalyst for writing a memoir into which she crammed musical experiences galore, including her own belated musical education and encounters with professional musicians. Combining music, writing and travel is Katherine’s idea of bliss. Her website is here.