Reviews
First Night of the BBC Proms: Mahler 8th Symphony, 16 July 10
Crouch End Festival Chorus joined the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for a barnstorming performance of Mahler 8, the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek.
“…right there, that was what choral singing is all about”
Erica Jeal in The Guardian
Reviews and photos of the First Night of the Proms 2010
Glastonbury, 27 June 10
Singers from Crouch End Festival Chorus performed to an open-air audience of thousands with Ray Davies of the Kinks on the famous Pyramid Stage. The gig was also broadcast on BBC2.
Watch clips and read reviews of the Glastonbury gig
The Alamo
World premiere soundtrack album of the complete Dimitri Tiomkin Score. Features Crouch End Festival Chorus and the City of Prague Philarmonic Orchestra - released summer 2010.
“…The Ballad of the Alamo is well performed by the Crouch End Festival Chorus … The Green Leaves of Summer … is sensitively performed … Praise needs to be given.’
Roger Hall in Film Music Review (who selects the album as Best of the Month)
Barbican, 11 April 10
“Beethoven’s … Mass in C was on the Barbican programme by the Crouch End Festival Chorus and London Orchestra da Camera under David Temple … This dauntless, dramatic affirmation of a key, the photographic ‘positive’ of the contemporaneous C minor (fifth) symphony, was sung jubilantly by the admirable choir, directed by the man who actually trains them. The programme’s fascination lay in its pairing of Beethoven’s supreme classicism with the great ecstatic splinterings, the abrupt, huge carollings of Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, an essentially pantheist utterance, but using more or less Beethoven’s text, albeit couched in Old Church Slavonic. With soloists Naomi Harvey, Julia Batchelor-Walsh, Alan Oke and Tim Mirfin, and Peter Jaekel all of a frenzy in the organ voluntary, the account made for a lively Sunday evening.”
Paul Driver in The Sunday Times
‘The admirable Crouch End Festival Chorus … gave an outstanding performance. … Beethoven’s Mass in C has, in the nature of things, tended to be overshadowed by the later and admittedly greater Missa Solemnis, but it is a superb masterpiece in its own right. What was so impressive here was David Temple’s excellent choice of tempi and the excellent singing of this world-class choir. The soloists were also excellent, making this first half an occasion to remember. Yet it was equalled, in terms of musical quality, by the very good account of the Janacek Mass, a thrilling hymn to life itself, splendidly performed throughout, with the Chorus clearly relishing the many moments the composer gave them to shine in this unique masterpiece.’
Alexander Leonard in Musical Opinion
Barbican, 10 January 10
CEFC performed Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (The Creation) with London Orchestra da Camera, Miriam Allen, Joshua Ellicott and Stephan Loges.
“It was done by the truly excellent Crouch End Festival Chorus … its Barbican Creation was a joy, alive with motivated energy and the balanced strength that not so many amateur choruses achieve. Too often, what you hear is like a boiled sweet with a chewy centre: decently crisp definition from the sopranos and basses at the outer edge but with a murky vagueness from the altos and (especially) tenors in the middle. With the CEFC, though, you get definition from the inner parts as well. And it comes with commitment. No coasting. No attention lapses. It’s all there – very effectively marshalled by the choir’s conductor David Temple and, on this occasion, enhanced by three fine soloists.”
Michael White in telegraph.co.uk
Read the full review