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The Langcliffe Singers Choral Classics in the Yorkshire Dales |
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Reviews - Updated 5th July 2008 |
Giggleswick School Chapel 3rd May 2008
An entertaining and contrasting programme featured Vivaldi's ever-popular Gloria and Duruflé’s evocative setting of the Latin Requiem Mass.
The choir were ably accompanied by an ensemble of local musicians and students from the Royal Northern College of Music and, in the second half, these were joined by the resident organist, David Arkell, on the newly-restored Father Willis organ.
Highlights of the first half included the duet Laudamus Te, which was sung with plenty of verve by Rachel Harrison and Ali Darragh. Rachel then went on to sing the Domine Deus with the obbligato oboe solo provided by Ross Barrand.
The choir came into their own in the second half for the more challenging work of the evening and captured the atmosphere and emotion of the beautiful Latin Requiem Mass. The subtle counterpoint was well handled, with all the intricate threads of the plainsong successfully brought out. In the Kyrie, the soprano and alto sections were perfectly balanced in their duets. The choir's director, Tricia Rees-Jones, also managed to inject terrific excitement into the performance. The concluding In Paradisum was exquisitely executed. Darren Everhart |
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Musical World Première for Settle Settle Parish was filled with the magnificent sounds of choral music on Saturday 15th July . The Langcliffe Singers and Skipton Music Centre choir did not disappoint a large and enthusiastic audience with their imaginative, enjoyable and memorable programme. Tricia Rees-Jones their Director and conductor coaxed a splendid sound from these local choirs with some crisp ensemble, super clarity, exciting dynamics and superb balance throughout. Music included works by Purcell, Bob Chilcott and a world premiere of a challenging new work, ‘The Leaves of Life’, written by Andrew Gant and commissioned by the Langcliffe Singers. This skilfully crafted work was well received. It was an exciting and stimulating piece, which contained some strong unison sections with angular melodies, long, skilfully navigated unaccompanied sections, and some free arrhythmic sections and a humorous waltz parody, which raised a few smiles! The entire piece was a resounding success and it encouraged some of the audience to follow the choirs for a second helping at Christ Church Skipton the next evening. Brian Heaton skilfully and sensitively accompanied the music on piano. He was joined after the interval by Lindy Williams for a four handed accompaniment to the Bob Chilcott work, ‘Songs and Cries of London Town’. This attractive work had our feet tapping to the rhythmically infectious tango sections and driving rhythms. We were also treated to a beautifully controlled rendition of a setting of William Dunbar’s ‘The Flower of Cities All’. The Skipton Music Centre Choir under the direction of Nigel Waugh were also given an opportunity to show off and their brilliance certainly rang out in the ‘London Bells’ ! Andy Hiles
For more
information about Andrew Gant and his music ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~~~ ~ ~ ~ |
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Craven Herald April 7th 2006 Impressive Start to a Double Dose of Requiem The first of two performances of Mozart’s Requiem reported in last week’s edition of this newspaper, was given by The Langcliffe Singers at Settle Parish Church on Sunday, directed by Tricia Rees-Jones. A large audience showed their justifiable appreciation of a fine interpretation of this much-loved work, Mozart’s last, composed during his fatal illness in 1791 and incomplete when he died. Much romantic myth and controversy surrounds this composition, but there is no doubting the power and beauty of the music. The opening movement showed a confident choir, with good tone and blend, responding to clear, musical direction, and this was followed by some sparkling singing in the Kyrie and by powerful rhythmic forte ensemble in Dies Irae. The strong attack at the beginning of Rex Tremendae led effectively to the beautifully sung, quiet legato ending, and one of the highlights of the whole evening was the gorgeous choral singing in Lacrimosa, so responsive to the conductor and with excellent diction throughout. Many similar high points of performance appeared elsewhere as well, but were not quite sustained throughout the individual movements. So, for example, the opening of the Confutatis from the tenors and basses lacked bite and rhythm, whereas the ladies sang the legato passages very musically. Similarly, the excellence of most of Domine Jesu Christe really danced along but was let down by insecure entries at quam olim. Overall, however, the choir gave an impressive, musical performance. The four soloists, who lifted everything musically each and every time they sang, enriched the performance wonderfully. If individually the voices were all very good, then collectively the sound was even more impressive – so important in this work, because it contains no arias and Mozart never singles out one voice for any length of time. The exciting voice of young New Zealand soprano Amelia Whiteman and the fine lyrical tenor of David del Strother (who has sung with this choir several times before and who seems to get better every time he appears) were coaxed and blended by the ‘older’ heads and tonal depth provided by Kathyrn Cook (mezzo) and David Costly-White (bass), whose opening of Tuba Mirum set a standard which thereafter never faltered. Michael Hodges made us forget the absence of an orchestra by organ accompaniment of the highest quality, supporting the singers sensitively. The first half of this all Mozart programme opened with the sublimely beautiful Ave Verum corpus, they type of music which this choir sings with such relish. Laudate Dominum is heard so often by itself that it is easy to forget it is just one movement in a longer work, the Vesprae Solonnes de Confessore, which took us up to the interval. This is a deceptively testing piece to sing and the choir was clearly less at ease, revealed by the fact that for most of the time very few eyes were on the conductor. Therefore, though the excellent quartet of soloists again lifted the performance and tried hard to give confidence to the choir, there were too many tentative entries for the performance to carry real conviction. However, it would be churlish to end on a critical note, because this was yet another evening of vocal music to remember from the Langcliffe Singers. Readers will have a chance to hear them perform this Mozart programme again on April 29th at All Saints’ Parish Church, Ilkley. David Fox ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~~~ ~ ~ ~ |
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Craven Arts Scene - December 2005
Assured display was Delight for audience Review: Langcliffe Singers - Gloria!
The Langcliffe Singers gave their latest concert — Gloria! — last Saturday, to a large. audience. in St Alkelda's, Giggleswick, which was richly rewarded for turning out on a damp evening, by an impressive performance of an imaginative programme of music. The concert began with three Tallis motets, interspersed with organ pieces by Gibbons and Tomkins, and the opening was magical, with the full choir of over 60 voices encircling the nave and facing inwards to sing If Ye Love Me. The beautifully controlled, soft legato singing and a slower tempo than normal for this piece, set an immediate quality of performance, which rarely faltered thereafter. In this section the solo organ pieces, confidently played by Michael Hodges, sustained the mood set by the choir, whose singing of the final sumptuous motet, Salvator Mundi, was excellent. Vivaldi's Magnificat followed. Of the three parts of the programme, this was the least convincingly performed. The performance was patchy, with some movements bringing the best out of the singers, but others much less secure. The conductor worked very hard to give clear entries and to convey the different rhythms of the piece and when the choir's eyes were on her their performance was spot on; when their eyes were down, however, it was a different, more tentative story. The choir clearly has the laudable policy of giving its members solo opportunities whenever possible, but in. this case a small number of the eight soloists used were not confident in their performance and this slowed down the momentum of the work overall. After the interval, the choir and their guest soloist Julie Charles treated the audience to a memorable performance of Poulenc's Gloria. Written in 1946, this was a controversial composition at the time (labelled sacrilegious by some), but has become a favourite work among singers and audiences alike. By turns witty, reflective, joyful, wonderfully rhythmical, respectful, almost cheeky, this popular work contains much that is not at all easy for an amateur choir to sing; but The Langcliffe Singers were on top form almost throughout, singing with real brio and panache in the livelier movements. The soprano Julie Charles, just a little tentative to begin with (not surprising, perhaps, since she could barely talk on the morning of the performance), rose quickly to the challenge of some exposed, high singing, and added significantly to the overall success , of the performance. This was an evening to remember and The Langcliffe Singers should be proud of their performance, congratulations for which are due in no small measure to their director,, Tricia Rees-Jones. In the programme there was an appeal for more singers to join — "There's no audition — you just have to enjoy singing." If interested, ring 01729 823385; you would not regret it.
David Fox |
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