First Night of the BBC Proms 2010 – Mahler: 8th Symphony
Photos of CEFC and friends rehearsing in the Royal Albert Hall by Marie-Noëlle Lamy
“With over 400 singers from the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Crouch End Festival Chorus, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and choristers from St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, the fervour of the opening hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus made quite an impact.”
Christian Hoskins in MusicOMH
“And whilst the vocal soloists were terrific, … the real stars were the amassed choruses; the hundreds of members of the BBC Symphony Chorus, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and the choristers of St Paul’s and Westminster Cathedrals and Westminster Abbey. Their grasp of the text, control of dynamic range and sheer exuberance at times blew the roof off that great hall. Such were the moments of immensity, such were the breathtaking silences, that Mahler’s suggestion: ‘Imagine that the universe begins to ring and resound…’ was unnecessary. We didn’t have to imagine; we were living it.”
Clemency Burton-Hill in The Independent
“This was music as theatre, in the perfect setting.”
Doundou Tchil in Classical Iconoclast
“[The choirs] found the right fervour in their full-throttle unisons, for once truly antiphonal in this arena, and luminous delicacy to Mahler’s more relaxed moments of quiet play.”
David Nice in theartsdesk.com
“choral singing was … very fine indeed”
Mark Berry in Opera Today and Boulezian
“Despite being hundreds strong, [the combined choirs] sang in tune and with perfectly intelligible diction – a miracle, but standard with Britain‘s world-class choirs (adding a nod to the visiting Australian chorus).”
Huntley Dent in Berkshire Review for the Arts
“[All the singers were] singing and enunciating as one. The more energetic moments were freshly voiced and devoid of raucousness; the hushed chorale passages equally compelling in their intensity. Although rehearsal had obviously been thorough there was still a strong sense of excitement and spontaneity.”
Alexander Campbell in classicalsource.com
“[This] opening night felt, in the best sense, like an event in its own right. More than that, it was a celebration of the voice. In the final stanza, the choirs breathed together into an unaccompanied pianissimo, which grew and grew until it was capped by the extra trumpets pealing echoes of the opening Veni Creator Spiritus from the top balcony; and right there, that was what choral singing is all about.”
Erica Jeal in The Guardian
“Delivered like this, the [work's climactic] moment seems like the Apollo Moon landing, VE-Day and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel all rolled into one: a thrilling affirmation of humanity’s better achievements.”
Richard Morrison in The Times
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