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DG One Concert Hall, Dumfries
22 March 2009
Concert with Dumfries Choral Society
Conductor - Geoff Keating (Variations on 'St Anthony Chorale')
Conductor - Nicola Junor (Requiem)
Soprano - Jenny Wilson-Best
Baritone - Stewart Kempster
Programme :
Brahms :
Variations on a theme by Haydn 'St Anthony Chorale' Op 56a
Brahms :
Ein deutsches Requiem Op 45
I visited your Society as above and would comment as follows:
Concert Planning/Publicity/ Venue : Don’t know whether it was the draw of the different venue or the publicity at the venue itself, but the audience certainly flocked in, to such a degree that the seating reserved for the choir in the first half had to be reallocated to audience. The venue was comfortable, with good facilities for audience; perhaps acoustically not perfect, and definitely favouring woodwind over strings in the orchestral work.
Management : This was handled jointly by the choir and the venue and worked well. A wee hiccup in the timing of the first half meant that the pre-ordered drinks were not ready at the start of the interval, but people coped well enough with this (even if the bar staff were a bit frazzled!) Programme sales and welcome were well handled.
Music : First half orchestral, with the Requiem featuring both groups forming the second half – a nice programme.
Printed Programme : A really well-presented and informative publication. It was lovely to have the descriptions of the movements of both works – audience members were able to be more involved with the music in this way. No SAC logo, but correct acknowledgement wording for funding. Good information about both groups – but no contact given should anyone want to play or sing with them.
Presentation and Performance : The hall’s acoustic favoured the choir quite well, with good balance between voices and instruments in the Requiem. I believe it is a difficult acoustic to sing in as you don’t hear the parts around you, but that didn’t come over to the audience. The concert opened with the Sinfonia playing the Variations and it was excellent, with some really good contrasts, if there was a little definition lacking in the strings at times. The Requiem was the second half, and the choir and orchestra looked very impressive in the hall, which, with its retractable seating is very good from the visual point of view of the audience. The opening movement had good line, though some sopranos were struggling a little for the high notes. There were some really good dynamic contrasts in the second movement, and I loved the gentle and lyrical singing in the 4th. Having the choir sitting for the 5th movement, where the soprano soloist is featured supported by the choir, worked really well – and gave the choir a much needed seat! The balance was very good. There was real energy in the sixth movement and the fugue was well handled. The final movement sees the return to the sadder mood of earlier and brought one or two problems of tuning as the choir were by now tired and sung out both emotionally and physically. All in all, it was a very creditable performance and an excellent collaboration of two local groups.
Any Other Comments : An experiment which worked . . .!!
Signed : Hilary Stokes Date : 28/03/09