REVIEW: Belfast Philharmonic Choir @ The Church of God, Glenmachan

Before that, however, Faure's lovely Cantique de Jean Racine opened the concert. This is a wonderfully-atmospheric work that demands precision and transparency, both of which shone through in the Phil's warm and understated performance.
Next, it was the turn of the Phil Kids, the children's wing of the Philharmonic Choir, a brilliant initiative of conductor Christopher Bell and the choir, which is giving youngsters a chance to experience the highest level of choral singing. Their set of short pieces, all memorised and beautifully sung, were a sample of the kind of energetic, fun works that a choir like this thrives on. Bell is an acknowledged master at whipping up enthusiasm in singers of all ages, and the proof of his efforts was in this very impressive pudding. Phil Kids sing with clarity and sparkle, enjoying every minute and making everyone in the hall very proud indeed. The action song When I Was One, all about sailing and pirate ships, was a great finale to their solo set.

Andrew Carters Benidicite is based on the familiar words of this canticle in the Book of Common Prayer, with added movements for children's choirs. Other text expands on the motif of blessings, and exhorts everything from 'herbs and heathers' to 'sleet and hail' to bless the Lord. There are three sections sung by the children, the first of which calls on badgers and hedgehogs to bless the Lord. Kookaburras, chipmunks, dromedaries and dragonflies also receive mention in an impressively memorised performance by Phil Kids. Later on, family members are also called on, as Grannies and Grandads to bless the Lord. This is a wonderful work, full of rhythmic interest to match the gorgeous text and rich orchestral textures. As ever, the Phil rise to the occasion and breathed life into music that is positively bursting with the sights and sounds of creation. And as for the Kids, they were the brightest stars in the whole collection of suns, moons and circling spheres that were also (you guessed it) called on to bless the Lord.

Andrea Rea

If Belfast in Northern Ireland isn’t a city that immediately springs to mind as a centre of musical excellence then it’s not for want of talent, initiative and professionalism within its cultural community.

It is also a city busy re-inventing itself after decades of internecine strife and is now buzzing with the optimism and investment that is part of the “peace dividend”. At a time of year when many cities in the UK and USA are churning out moderate and sometimes frankly embarrassing renditions of Handel’s great work it was a delight to see last Saturday night that the Ulster Orchestra, under the forward-thinking guidance of Chief Executive David Byers, had invited a top flight international conductor with excellent baroque credentials to meld the undoubted talents of its musicians and chorus with some world class soloists.

Martin Haselböck holds the titles of Vienna Court Organist (shades of Hapsburg splendour there) and Professor of Organ at the University of Vienna, but it is his work throughout Europe and the USA (he’s recently been appointed Music Director of the baroque “Musica Angelica” in Los Angeles) as a conductor of baroque opera and orchestras that he is best known perhaps. With just a couple of days of rehearsal with a slimmed-down Ulster Orchestra and Belfast Philharmonic Choir under Christopher Bell, he obviously gelled most satisfactorily with both, as on both nights before full houses there was evidence of like minds working together to produce a nimble, but supremely eloquent rendition of this iconic work. The modern instrument orchestra played with great Handelian style and flourish without ever over-doing the baroque gesture, whilst the choir was almost immaculate in both intonation and ensemble, with special mention going to the alto section for a particularly creamy tone. No fuzzy diction in the faster passages, crisp enunciation throughout, and a sense of true pleasure in singing came though loud and clear. Messiah is a wonderful platform for solo excellence, but it stands or falls by the quality of its less starry musicians, and Ulster has every reason to be proud of its achievements here – they stand comparison with many higher-profile European ensembles.

With this sort of solid musicianship behind them, it was inevitable that the soloists would have to shine and really live up to their individual billings and we were not disappointed, although on the second night there was perhaps a slightly less ebullient start to proceedings.

Young British tenor Benjamin Hulett is, like his colleagues Deborah York and David DQ Lee, now based in Germany and his warm, agile voice has been noticed there in a range of baroque and classical repertoire. At the Waterfront Hall last night his ease of production was particularly noticeable in the Part Two recitatives and arias such as “Behold and see if there be any sorrow” with some lovely unforced high notes being balanced by darker lower tones.

The one singer in the group who might be termed non-specialist in the baroque was the American baritone Randall Scarlata. However, he had no trouble in fitting into this sound world and indeed demonstrated a similar degree of agility in the coloratura as his colleagues, plus showing some impressive colouring and expression in the more passionate arias, “Why do the nations so furiously rage together” being a prime example.

With the first alto aria “But who may abide” the Belfast crowd got their first taste of the highly promising young countertenor David DQ Lee, who made such an impression this year in the BBC’s Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Just a couple of weeks previously they had enjoyed the more mature talents of Germany’s Andreas Scholl, and in the young Canadian-Korean’s voice local informed opinion found a fascinating comparison to enjoy. Lee’s instrument is more in the modern American tradition of countertenor vocal production, with a warmer, more full-blooded sound than the English/Germanic one, and his operatic experience to date appears to colour his interpretations of these classic alto/mezzo arias, although always with good taste and refinement of line and ornament. Some elegant phrasing and soft, exquisitely-held cadential notes in “He was despised” were particularly impressive.

Deborah York’s Handelian credentials are well known and respected worldwide and if we have heard her less frequently in the UK recently, it is more due to her present residence in Berlin than any lack of demand within in these shores. Her bell-like, almost vibrato-free, soprano is not particularly large, but it has the ability to ping to the farthest corners of a big house, and the 1800 seats of the Waterfront held no terrors for her. She sang “I know that my redeemer liveth” with a particularly glistening tone and was an intriguing contrast to Lee’s more vibrant one in the duet “He shall feed his flock”.

With music and singing of this standard, Belfast and the Ulster Orchestra are up there with the best in Europe and America and Handel was well-served indeed.

Sue Loder © December 2007
OperaToday.com

Drama, drama and more drama was the order of the night on Friday as the Ulster Orchestra and combined Philharmonic and Guinness Choirs performed Verdi’s “opera in liturgical vestments”, his Requiem.

Conductor Celso Antunes prepared us for fireworks and passion in his pre-concert talk; one question put to Antunes by the orchestra’s chief executive David Byers was whether there was a glimmer of hope at the end of the piece. The maestro didn’t seem so sure, but by the close of the evening, the audience was left most assuredly with the hope that Antunes returns to conduct this or any other work he wants to, again and again. At the risk of using a made-up word, this was a conductorial tour de force: a big lengthy and complex work played with no interval, conducted with no score. Risky? Yes. Worth it? Yes.

The other gold star of the evening must go to the choirs, our own Belfast Philharmonic and the formidable Guinness Choir from Dublin. Together, they provided the soul and spirit of the music, with astonishingly quiet, ghostly passages like the opening Requiem aeternam, balanced with stunning fortissimo passages as in the Dies irae. Ensemble was near perfect and they made a wonderful sound, especially the altos, who positively glowed.

The Ulster Orchestra seemed in good form on the night, augmented in some sections to accommodate Verdi’s operatic vision. One of the offstage trumpets took some time to nail that section precisely, but the attack in all cases was vivid. Timpani and percussion work hard in this music, as do clarinet and bassoon and all can be commended for their precision.

Much of this piece relies on the work of the soloists, and the team assembled was quite a mixture of voices and approaches. Soprano Majella Cullagh lived the music intensely as she sang, and grew into her role as the piece travelled towards the stunning final section. Mezzo Graciela Araya also warmed to her role, beginning a little tentatively and possibly betraying some throat trouble early on. Tenor Rodrigo Orrego took a stirring, operatic approach, clearly invested in the text and using wonderful colours in his voice to underscore that. Bass Andreas Hörl seemed the least at ease of the soloists, mostly buried in the copy and struggling with tuning some of the time. I would have liked a bigger, more assured approach. That said, nothing could take away from the control and confidence of conductor Celso Antunes. His pacing was apt and calculated to give the big moments ample weight, even as the more introspective passages had room to breath and resonate. He tended to conduct soloists as well as orchestra and choir, an approach that paid off in duet, trio and quartet sections which were remarkably together and often very moving. In the end, although this is essentially a concert work, we were given a sense of the impetus behind its composition, a memorial to a departed friend, a work of reverence and power.

Andrea Rea
Newsletter 20 November 2007

Verdi’s Requiem is rarely performed in Ireland because of the many resources it demands – so it was good to witness an impressive performance in the Waterfront Hall on Friday evening given by the Ulster Orchestra, Dublin’s Guinness Choir and the Belfast Philharmonic. These groups ably provided the necessary large-scale forces that this work requires.

With a minimum of rehearsal time the combined choirs certainly did justice to the piece. All credit to their chorusmasters David Milne and Christopher Bell and Friday’s conductor Celso Antunes.

Antunes was impressive in that he conducted the whole piece from memory, bringing tremendous musicality and colour to the performance. He kept a good balance between singers and the orchestra, despite the wide range of dynamic contrasts in a piece that moves continuously from moods of mystical spirituality to high drama.

As well as the thrilling climaxes for which this work is justly famous, not least the Dies Irae, we also got moments of tremendous tenderness and intimacy. All credit to Mark Robinson for his superb playing in the big bass drum passages. Soloists for the evening – soprano Majella Cullagh, mezzosoprano Graciela Araya, tenor Rodrigo Orrego and bass Andreas Hörl had a great deal to do, often having to project over the full orchestra. They performed their difficult dramatic solos well. The ensemble singing from the soloists was less impressive and tuning often suffered. Hörl had difficulties with intonation in this hall. The audience enjoyed the visual spectacle of more than 300 performers putting their hearts and souls into this performance.

There’s a story about Handel having such a big appetite that he once ordered and ate four meals in a restaurant, in one sitting.

It is perhaps an unrelated fact that some of his best loved and most characteristic music comes as a feast too, which can leave one feeling either pleasantly full or a bit bloated and sleepy.

This last weekend’s annual Messiah performance by the Ulster Orchestra and soloists -a feast for the ears that was served fresh and beautifully seasoned (or should that be seasonal?:).
Conductor William Lacey from the start kept a quick pace with great lightness of texture and deft transitions of mood and colour.

The Belfast Philharmonic had no choice but to keep pace which they did admirably and sometimes thrillingly, struggling only once, when His Yolk is Easy sounded a little less so.

The soloists for the evening each took a little time to settle into their roles, apart from the bass-baritone Matthew Hargraves who brought an operatic flair to his music from the beginning, singing with authority and conveying his parts of the story with drama and clarity.

Contralto Hilary Summers warmed to her task quickly and was commanding and warm by turns, Soprano Natasha Jouhl never quite seemed at ease, blending vowel sounds in pursuit of a lovely tone and losing the integrity at times of the beautiful text the Handel gives to the soprano soloist. Her ornamentation was occasionally less restrained than was perhaps wise, a fault which did not trouble the other singers. Tenor Robert Murray has a smallish voice which none the less reached to the edges of the Waterfront Hall and became less inclined to resonant sharp of the note as the evening progressed.

For their part the Ulster Orchestra, reduced in numbers, had the most arduous task of the evening as Handel’s score while very familiar, is not an easy play. Lacey’s uncompromising tempi added an edge to the proceedings, as did precise and characteristic phrasing, both of which were managed with flair and some enthusiasm. There were only occasional tuning lapses in tuning, of which, in If God Be For Us was the most unfortunate.

Musically, this was a Messiah to treasure, as fitting a fixture of the musical banquet on offer this Christmas and any feast you could name.

I’ve a notion even George Fredric himself would have been well satisfied.

Andrea Rea
NewsLetter December 2006

The Belfast Philharmonic Choir joined forces with the Ulster Orchestra to produce a superbly accomplished performance of Mozart’s Requiem, containing all the important elements needed to execute a majestic yet subtle performance of probably the first great Requiem of the standard choral repertoire.

The unassuming melancholy of a basset-horn duet paved the way for the controlled ferocity conductor Christopher Bell was to unleash on the concert-hall as a well-marshalled orchestra was reduced to a supporting role and an almost unrecognisable Belfast Philharmonic pushed both dynamics and tempi to create a genuinely exciting performance. Each of the four soloists displayed unquestionable competence within their respective roles, but it was the phrasing and panache of the baritone Roderick Williams, which set audience member’s pulses racing as he matched energy of the choir with authoritative ease.

The ebb and flow of Lacrimosa’s phrases and the enunciation of the text was crystal clear as was the complex fugal lines of the Kyrie, this culminated in producing a performance which was as disciplined as it was fresh and fiery.

Rathcol
Belfast Telegraph April 2006