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Stephen Jepson
From:
To:
"Bob Cowell" <bobcowell@ntiworld.com>
"Alan Batterbury (E-mail)" <Publicity@GuildfordPhilharmonicChoir.org.uk>; "Elizabeth-Claire
Bazin (E-mail)" <ecbazin@bwlaw.co.uk>; "Jackie Alderton (E-mail)" <jrcb@cwcom.net>;
"Jeremy Backhouse (E-mail)" <jeremy.backhouse@50montacute.freeserve.co.uk>; "John
Trigg (E-mail)" <Chairman@GuildfordPhilharmonicChoir.org.uk>; "Margaret Dentskevich (E-
mail)" <meldreth@freenet.co.uk>; "Marion Arbuckle (E-mail)" <mariohelarb@fsmail.net>;
"Noreen Ayton (E-mail)" <noreenayton@voicesforhospices.freeserve.co.uk>; "Stephen
Jepson (E-mail)" <Secretary@GuildfordPhilharmonicChoir.org.uk>
Sent:
Subject:
19 March 2001 08:58
Brahms
Dear All,
If you haven't already seen it, the crit is below:Choir sang with incisive accuracy
BRAHMS'S Requiem is not a straightforward setting of the Latin liturgical text, rather, the
composer chose biblical texts which reflected his own view of the human predicament, coloured as it
was by the deaths of his mentor, Schumann, and of his own mother.
The texts are set in a colourful and varied manner, but are never allowed to obscure Brahms's
essentially classical approach heightened by a deliberate use of academic techniques such as the
fugue and the canon.
The work therefore calls for a straightforward, unfussy interpretation, which is what it received at
the hands of the Guildford Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra last Saturday. Under the outstanding
direction of David Hill, the choir sang with incisive accuracy, and was responsive to every dynamic
nuance.
That every word of the German text came across was not merely the effect of the dry acoustic of
Guildford's Civic hall. The orchestral contribution might have been strengthened by such superb
playing as that of oboist Neil Black, but the strings tackled the tricky divisi of the opening
movement with sheer professionalism.
Lynda Russell lent a wonderfully rich tone to her soprano solo, beautifully echoed by the chorus.
Stcphcen Varcoe was a sensitive interpreter, if a little light in vocal quality for a hefty bass role.
Shelagh Godwin
19/03/01