BRITTEN'S fledgeling musico-dramatic instincts in The Company of Heaven were magnificently realised under Alan Eost's direction but the reams of spoken text could have come over more meaningfully.
Throat frog apart, a little stronger projection from Philippa Howell would not have gone amiss, a roaming Chris Brailsford, including joining his fellow speaker in her fixed pulpit position, being more successful.
However, when his wanderings too
k him to the front pews where the soloists were, he was so clear it was obvious both should have been there throughout for a compehensive gain in immediacy.
From the jagged writing – nice transition into and out of the central angelic sounds – of the first chorus to a truly magesterial final one, albeit not original Britten but a reworked hymn, the Oratorio Chorus sang with superb clarity and attack, the unaccompanied Whoso dwelleth been exceptional and the men doing a fine job in the declamatory War in Heaven.
Bronwen Humphrey, well-known in Chesterfield and a strong-voiced soprano soloist, was mightily impressive, as was the tenor Paul Thompson if a little raggedness at the end of his aria is overlooked.
Instrumentally, the prominent timpanist was surprisingly subtle, Peter Heginbotham ensured the organ part was at a discreet level, but some dodgily-pitched violin playing in the South Yorkshire Symphony marred the exposed orchestral opening and Funeral March for a Boy.
With the chorus again offering outstanding singing and the soprano also excellent, Rutter's Magnificat should have pleased Rutter fans.
He is an extremely fine miniaturist but, with three interplorated sections, this is an extended work with passages which are long-winded and unvarying in utterance.
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