Concert Reviews

Prom 71: BBC Singers / David Goode / Ed Lyon /David Hill

SIR PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Westerlings / Solstice of Light

"...His two choral masterpieces, both inspired by the Orcadian poetry of George Mackay Brown, received immaculate performances from the BBC Singers under David Hill..."
Financial Times
Andrew Clark

Westerlings
"...Under the careful directorship of David Hill the BBC Singers were like a soft breath of wind..."
Solstice of Light
"...The BBC Singers were excellent throughout, capturing the Brucknerian grandeur of ‘Hawkship’, while responding to the composer's vivid word-painting..."
Classical Source
Ben Hogwood

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Prom 50: Soloists / BBC Singers / Geoffrey Mitchell Choir / West-Eastern Divan Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim

BEETHOVEN Fidelio

"...the final scene - with great work from the BBC Singers and Geoffrey Mitchell Choir - was stirring, powerful and moving..."

MusicalCriticism.com
Hugo Shirley

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Prom 39: Soloists /BBC Singers / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins / Ryan Wigglesworth

JONNY GREENWOOD Popcorn Superhet Receiver
STRAVINSKY Apollo
SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE The Mask of Orpheus: ‘The Arches’
"...The vocal contributions were equally outstanding, not least from the BBC Singers. One might be tempted to take for granted the quality of their performances in contemporary music, but one should not; their contribution was invaluable: distinctive, yet blending effortlessly with the other performers..."
musicweb-international
Mark Berry

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Prom 6: BBC Singers / Manchester Camerata / Douglas Boyd

HAYDN The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross
JAMES MACMILLAN Seven Last Words from the Cross
"...some beautifully measured musicianship from Manchester Camerata and the BBC Singers under Douglas Boyd..."
The Independent - 25 July 2009
Anna Picard

"...sublime singing from the choir..." BBC Proms website full review

"...the BBC Singers gave flawlessly articulated and tonally refined accounts of both [pieces], under Boyd's sentient direction."
The Guardian - 21 July 2009
George Hall
"...the ensemble was superb, the choral-singing sensitive and stylish...Boyd’s immense commitment conjured a performance of astonishing power, beauty and emotional engagement from the radiant Manchester Camerata strings and the BBC Singers (with strong solo contributions coming from the ranks)..."
Classical Source
Graham Rogers

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Xenakis: Total Immersion - 7 March 2009

"...The BBC Singers delivered with aplomb.....The BBC Singers pitched in with impressive capability."

The Evening Standard - 9 March 2009
Barry Millington

"... the BBC Singers gave equally accomplished accounts of two unaccompanied vocal works."
The Guardian - Wednesday 11 March 2009
Andrew Clements

Tristan Murail: Total Immersion - 7 February 2009

"...the BBC Singers’ [gave a] pristine performance of ...amaris et dulcibus aquis..."

The Financial Times - 9 February 2009
Andrew Clark

Stockhausen: Total Immersion - 17th January 2009

Choral
"...David Hill shaped the BBC Singers’ mellifluous response to the text very well..."
boulezian.blogspot
Mark Berry

Chöre für Doris
"...The BBC Singers were on superb form in well-rehearsed performances that made light of the works’ complex use of harmony...."
Classical Source
Andrew Maisel

Litanei 97
"...If you can imagine how the human voice would try to reproduce the sound of a short-wave radio being tuned, then you have some idea of what “Litanei 97” sounds like. Words are twisted, elongated, hissed and distorted (the BBC Singers quite brilliant) creating an effect that is startling and arresting..."
Classical Source
Andrew Maisel

"...the spectacle, replete with blue and silver robes, was captivating..."
boulezian.blogspot
Mark Berry

Elliott Carter Mad Regales

" ... Mad Regales , delivered by six fearless voices from the BBC Singers, proved a bracing modern madrigal, enigmatic, multi-layered, mischievous and mad — just what John Ashbery’s crazy poems deserved..."
The Times
Geoff Brown

BBC Proms 2008 - Prom 68

Rimsky Korsakov Kaschey the Immortal

London Philharmonic Orchestra
BBC Singers
Vladimir Jurowski conductor

"The BBC Singers...were particularly impressive in the exultant final chorus."
Music OMH
Ben Hogwood

"...The LPO and BBC Singers rose to the drama and to a score whose subtleties and refinement Jurowski emphasised..."
The Times
Hilary Finch

BBC Proms 2008 - Prom 63

Messiaen Cinq Rechants

BBC Singers
David Hill conductor

"...The BBC Singers delivered a dynamic account of Messiaen's sensual Cinq Rechants , whose refrain-based structures create a vibrant sequence of playfully erotic sound patterns..."
The Guardian
George Hall

"...a virtuoso performance..."
The Daily Telegraph
Matthew Rye

BBC Proms 2007 - BBC Prom 67
Britten Hymn to St. Cecilia
Scarlatti Stabat Mater

BBC Singers
David Hill conductor

"... a deliciously lucid interpretation of Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia , by turns ethereal and dancingly buoyant, and in a performance of Scarlatti's Stabat Mater that radiated the music's rich sonority and delicacy of texture."
The Telegraph
Geoffrey Norris

"...The BBC Singers under David Hill were vivid...in Britten's Hymn to Saint Cecilia , and captured all the multi-textural colour in Domenico Scarlatti's 10-part Stabat Mater."
The Guardian
Erica Jeal

BBC Proms 2007 - BBC Prom 25

Birtwistle Neruda Madrigales

BBC Singers
London Sinfonietta
Susanna Mälkki conductor

"...The BBC Singers were taxed to their limits in a tense interpretation of the text, from the depths of the lower register to some extremely lofy soprano writing, delivered with impressive sensitivity by Elizabeth Poole."
MusicOMH.com ****
Ben Hogwood
"...In this marvellous performance from the Sinfonietta and the BBC Singers under Susanna Mälkki the simplest things - a single plucked chord, a silence, the dialogue of a lone voice and shadowy bass clarinets - all took on an immense gravity."
The Telegraph
Ivan Hewett

"...Harrison Birtwistle's Neruda Madrigales was...exquisite, although Pablo Neruda's Spanish text seemed less important that the sounds it made. The BBC Singers delivered them with precise virtuosity against an ensemble led by an array of flues, shimmering over the cimbalom's eerie undulations. Mälkki, her players and singers seemed to have got it just right.''
Evening Standard 01/08/07 ****
Nick Kimberley
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/BBC Singers/Ilan Volkov
City Hall, Glasgow
"...Sophistication...characterised Volkov's beautifully atmospheric and delicately-shaded reading of debussy's great Nocturnes in whose finale the ladies iof the BBC Singers made their first apprearance of the night with a luminous sound and breath control to die for.

...the elite corps of BBC Singers gave a masterclass in refined choral singing."
The Herald 25/05/2007
Michael Tumelty

Tchaikovsky Launch
BBC Singers
James Morgan conductor
"...A little known aspect of Tchaikovsky's work featured in a short, perfectly executed concert at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Ennismore Gardens, for broadcast on Radio 3 on 14 February. The All-Night Vigil Opus 52, or Vespers , sets liturgical texts for mixed voices.

Ancient chant combines with the ardent choral writing we know from Tchaikovsky's operas, here stripped bare but still radiant and full-bodied. The challenge to the performers, nearly an hour of vigorous unaccompanied singing, was met with masterly skill by the BBC Singers. Intonation was impressive, their attempt at a Russian sound quality highly creditable..."
The Evening Standard 25/01/2007
Fiona Maddox

Cambridge Festival
Christian Poltéra cello
BBC Singers
Stephen Cleobury conductor
"...Giles Swayne’s The Silent Land must be one of the most powerful memorial pieces written in recent years. It uses the same number of voices as Tallis’s 40-part motet, Spem in Alium, and marshals them into rich bursts of polyphony, dense cluster-chords or polychoral declamations with much the same degree of mastery. But Swayne adds another line: a solo cello, representing the soul of the dead person whom the singers are lamenting in the words of Dylan Thomas, Christina Rossetti and snatches of the Requiem text. The cellist weaves his own anguished swansong, adding to the charged atmosphere. In the spacious resonance of King’s College Chapel — performed by the BBC Singers and the young Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra under Stephen Cleobury’s direction — I found it overwhelmingly moving..."
The Times 27/11/2006
Richard Morrison

PROM 22
BBC Philharmonic
BBC Singers
Gianandrea Noseda conductor
"Haydn's 1796 Mass in B flat, nicknamed the Heiligmesse, benefited from the presence of such a responsive choir as the BBC Singers. The sopranos briefly soared in the Kyrie, and the Benedictus brought the altos and tenors, both singing beautifully smoothly, into the spotlight; but more important was the substantial, blended sound the choir made en masse, one that belied its compact forces..."
The Guardian 01/08/2006
Erica Jeal

THE PASSION OF JESUS OF NAZARETH - Francis Grier
BBC Singers
Choristers of King's College, Cambridge
Endymion
Stephen Cleobury conductor
"...The singing...was out of this world, and Cleobury's direction was masterly..."
The Independent 19/04/2006
Roderic Dunnett

SINGERS AT SIX - Hurray for Hungary!
BBC Singers
Bob Chilcott conductor
"...the most sizeable work was the world première performance of Cinq Choeurs by the father of Hungarian music, Franz Liszt. Recently rescued from manuscript, these five settings of French texts originally destined for a choral-music competition don't reveal Liszt at his most inspired, but the BBC Singers, under Bob Chilcott's experienced direction, leant them substance. More distinctive were Kodály's Three Hungarian Folksongs , the third of Ligeti's Nonsense Madrigals ...and finally Kodály's movingly serene Evening , all sung with the Singers' typical authority and precision."
The Daily Telegraph 31/03/2006
Matthew Rye
NOCTURNES - Debussy
BBC Singers
Orquesta Nacional de España
George Benjamin conductor
"...the BBC Singers gave a lesson in class, strength and vocal virtuosity..."
El Pais 05/12/05
Luis Suñén
Inventions 2005, QEH
"The Singers' conviction in delivery always gave pleasure."
Times Online, February 2005

MacMillan weekend
"Warm, stylish singing and a good sense of drama...a performance to remember."
The Classical Source, January 2005

MacMillan weekend
"A stirring performance by the BBC Singers"
ConcertoNet.com, January 2005

The Ring Dance of the Nazarene
"The excellent BBC Singers…brought the audience to its feet at the end."
The Independent on Sunday, July 2004

Late Night Prom
"Monday's Late Night Prom, the BBC Singers and Endymion, conducted by Stephen Cleobury, was a treat. Stunning virtuosity from all concerned."
The Daily Telegraph
David Fanning

Singers at Six
"One of the most reliable pleasures of London music making is the series of two part concerts promoted by the BBC at the Barbican, the first given by the BBC Singers in St Giles's Church, Cripplegate...one of a dozen or so English choral miniatures performed by the BBC Singers at the early evening concert with hair raising accuracy and a beautiful luminous tone. It was a reminder that in music a still small voice can be more powerful than a noisy one."
The Daily Telegraph
Ivan Hewett

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