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Four lovely Bach cantatas in a row, played and sung in a find acoustic space, to an appreciative audience: a lovely experience, and we'll be back for the next instalment.
it was an enjoyable affair and I appreciated the baritone's voice. I would have appreciated solo performances from members of the orchestra.
I really enjoyed this concert. A great way to get into the Christmas mood. The performance was tidy and the sound was well-balanced between the ensemble and the soloists/chorus.
An extraordinary evening of magnificent music. This concert will become a Christmas "must do" for us from now on.
I thought the orchestral playing was very moving. But the singers were not so outstanding. They were excellent but not noteworthy or inspiring. I do not understand why Suzie Leblanc is continually a soloist at the Chan. She has a pretty voice but there are a lot of better sopranos around.
The overall technical skill was astounding. Bach made his singers work! Baritone Sumner Thompson communicated the feeling and beauty of sound to the Max! Next most lovely solos performed by Laura Pudwell who sang sublimely. However many fans of Susie LeBlanc--like us-- left the concert disappointed. She was lacking any power in her voice. Of course we know from previous concerts her famous lightness and effortless feeling in her voice but when the end of phrases trailed into nothing we felt so cheated.. We loved her clear and sweet high notes and heard sadly not much else . She had wonderful facial expressions, always enjoying herself but limited music made for a most frustrating audience experience. Perhaps if she had stood further forward and committed fully to ending the phrases we would have left much happier and there would be 5 stars! Peaceful encore "Jesu Joy"..., but wished it could have been something rousing and Festive instead.
Peter Phillips knows how to select and blend the best voices for this repertoire of renaissance polyphonic music from the 15th and 16th centuries. Ten voices filled the Chan with a pure sound for a transcendental evening.
The Tallis Scholars are masters of the art of polyphony and the selections at last night's concert at the Chan Centre demonstrated the range of their collective talent. The selections introduced the audience to the transendental beauty of European and English polyphony from Josquin des Prez' early work on the settings of the mass in the to selections from Nesbett, Tallis and Byrd. Here laid out before an appreciative audience was the progressive richness of the polyphonic form over the course of two centuries.
UBC recital hall provided an Intimate venue with good acoustics and visibility for all. Mature playing. There were a few errors and inaccuracies, but they were easily forgivable since the musicians are particularly adept at baroque style playing. The only constructive comment I'd like to make is that more variation in instrumentation (i.e. some duet, trio, quartet) would have been appreciated by my ears. As an aside, is it possible to ask that ALL electronic devices be switched off during the concert; the guy in the the glasses and striped shirt a couple rows ahead of me fiddling about on his iPod touch (which also made a bleeping sound every now and then) was quite irritating and distracting.
Purcell's glorious music; superbly presented - a sheer delight. Audience showed appreciation with overwhelming applause. Looking forward to listening again by tuning in to the CBC recording presented on September 2, and October 17, 2009. The Chan Center for the Performance Arts, with its well-known excellent acoustics, packed to 90%, was a perfect venue for this event. My grateful thanks to the ALL the organizers and performers involved.
A splendid production, stellar performances, excellent music and direction.
Susie LeBlanc was divine in her performance and appearance. The entire ensemble was excellent. I do wish however that some effort had been made to create some of the ambience of the period. Visually the production lacked any imagination considering this work was originally concieved and performand as an opera.
The Baroque Opera is always a highlight of the Festival Vancouver/Early Music Festival! Purcell's "The Faerie Queen" was such a delightful presentation. It was pure music, sung without any staging or props - one had to use one's imagination so there was nothing to distract from the singing. The eight soloists, including Susie LeBlanc and Matthew White, were exceptional in their solos and blending of voices. The Baroque Festival Orchestra conducted by Alexander Weimann provided a wonderful, balanced, and exciting marriage of singing and instrumental music. The emotions portrayed went from very delicate, sublime, to very, very funny - who thought one could laugh at such a beautiful piece. Well done, Alexander Weimann, soloists, and instrumentalists - what a beautiful evening!!!
