The Colours of Mozart
17 February 2019
On Sunday 17th February, Northampton Bach Choir
joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Derngate as part of
their concert entitled ‘Colours of Mozart’. The title was intended
to represent the different shades of Mozart’s music and the
well-chosen programme did just that, opening with the charming and
lively Divertimento in D Major – an energetic piece which
showed off well the talents of the orchestra. This was followed by
Mozart’s well known and ever popular Clarinet Concerto
performed brilliantly by Katherine Lacy, the RPO’s Principal
Clarinet. The appreciative audience truly enjoyed this first half of
excellent music, performed with much style and passion.
Mozart
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Adrian Partington conducting
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The conductor for the evening was Adrian Partington, the current
director of music at Gloucester Cathedral, joint conductor of the
Three Choirs Festival, and director of the BBC National Chorus of
Wales, as well as being the conductor Gloucester Choral Society.
Working under a conductor with such an impressive CV, we had to be
on our toes and we had been well prepared by our own conductor, Lee
Dunleavy – even practising singing in Latin with a Germanic
pronunciation, rather than the usual more Italianate. Adrian had
taken our final rehearsal and we had been told to expect certain
parts to be sung without the score in front of us – but he was
gentle with us and we all looked forward to the concert under his
baton.
Colours of Mozart
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RPO and NBC in full swing
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Though the afternoon rehearsal did not go as well as we had hoped,
the evening performance of Mozart’s Requiem – such a powerful
and poignant work, left unfinished on his death and completed by
Süssmayr – went very well indeed. We were blessed with four
excellent soloists – Ellie Laugharne (soprano), Rebecca Afonwy-Jones
(mezzo-soprano), Ji Hyun Kim (tenor) and Morgan Pearse (baritone).
As always, in the Derngate, the choir need to sing with power and
passion to be heard in the uppermost seats and according to Lee,
seated in the audience, we did just that. Highlights must be the
powerful Dies Irae and Confutatis, as well as the
tender Lacrimosa. Reports from the conductor himself
suggested that the choir sang with ‘energy and commitment’ and word
has it that he will be more than happy to work with us again. An
accolade indeed!
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