-
Sorrow and cackling witches from Vivace
All The World’s
A Stage
G Live
Rating: * %
% * %
THE Vivace Chorus and the
Brandenburg
directed
Sinfonia,
by
Jeremy
Backhouse,
joined
forces
with
members
of
the
Guildford
Company
Shakespeare
to
present
an
evening of Shakespearian
delight at G Live on Saturday
November 12.
The works of Shakespeare
have influenced composers
from his own time until the
present day and this concert
brought us a well-selected
programme of orchestral and
choral pieces- interspersed
with excerpts from the plays
that inspired them.
spread of the orchestra but
from Verdi’s Macbeth and fol-
and was introduced by ‘To be
the tutti sections, especially
lowed it with the witches’
or not to be, strongly por-
the ‘love theme’ were rich
and cohesive. The orchestra
played
with
tremendous
chorus from the same opera;
a switch from plangent sorrow to cackling witchery!
They showed us their fun
trayed, as were all the acted
V, arranged as a suite by Sir
excerpts. This was beautifully
Malcolm Sargent.
verve and great sensitivity
throughout the evening but
especially in Walton’s Henry
V Symphonic Suite.
We were introduced to the
The Vivace Chorus showed
actors in a scene from Romeo
and Juliet. = Tchaikovsky’s
overture Romeo and Juliet
suffered a little from the wide
us just how well the singers
adapt to a wide variety of
music.
They began with a
soulful
chorus
of refugees
sung - a perfect balance be-
The
concert ended with
Walton’s film score for Henry
Each
of the five
move-
tween orchestra and chorus.
There was light relief in an
ments has its own character
Williams’
excerpt from The Comedy of
trayed by chorus and orches-
Shakespeare songs and in
contrast, a quietly serious
Errors followed by Vaughan
Williams’ Serenade to Music.
tra, accentuated by fiery
speeches and culminating in
second
The opening orchestral sec-
the rousing Agincourt Song; a
fitting end to a splendid trib-
side in the first and last of
Vaughan
song The CloudCapp'd Towers.
Tristia by Berlioz was composed with Hamlet in mind,
tion was exquisitely played
and the choral sound had a
truly ethereal texture.
and these were skilfully por-
ute to Shakespeare.
Gillian Brierley
e
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