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Stabat Mater,
15th March 2008
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
'For only his third concert
since he was appointed conductor of St Albans Chamber Choir, John Gibbons showed
his ability to understand his singers with a programme of Easter music.'
'His choice for the concert at St Saviour's Church, St Albans, on Saturday was
of pieces from the 16th to the 18th century which were all ideally suited to the
choir.'
'The first was the very brief but delightful O Vos Omnes by Italian Carlo
Gesualdo. For the piece, John Gibbons took the choir to the eastern end of
the church, relatively far away from the audience, a move which added to the
effect of the piece.'
'Orlandus Lassus' rich setting of Aurora Lucis Rutilat, a work attributed
to the fourth-century Saint Ambrose, was another fine performance by the choir
which was split into main choir and sub choir of sopranos for the unaccompanied
work.'
'But the group had left their finest performance to the last. They sang
Handel's Dixit Dominus with huge enthusiasm and obvious delight. The result
was that the incredibly-showy work was packed with life and character.'
'St Albans Chamber Choir appears to have taken on a new lease of life….'
Entente Cordiale,
19th January 2008
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
'ALTHOUGH
it is only three months since John Gibbons took over as conductor of the St
Albans Chamber Choir he is already making a huge impression......'
'All Saints chapel has a rare acoustic quality with an extremely long
reverberation time which, although unforgiving, allowed the choir to develop a
tremendous sound quality which added greatly to the impact of the Vaughan
Williams' Mass.'
'There was a strong sonorous quality throughout the work and particularly fine
solo performances by individual members.'
'John Gibbons and the choir developed the full glory of the work to give an
exciting and fresh performance. But the interspersed songs, all in French, were
equally well performed and their variety was both entertaining and refreshing.
Particularly outstanding was the extremely difficult Claude Debussy song
Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain.'
'The way the choir handled this and the rest of the concert brings hope that the
Chamber Choir, which has always had a high reputation, is now set to move on to
a more impressive future.'
Love &
Remembrance, 10th November 2007
Herts Advertiser
Extracts from
review by John Manning
‘…the choir gave a tremendous performance of Herbert
Howells’ moving work Take Him, Earth for Cherishing. The piece,
written for the memorial service of John F Kennedy in Washington Cathedral, is
rightly considered one of the great choral works of the 20th century
and the choir’s performance more than did it justice.
Similarly there were good performances of Robert Ramsey’s marvellous
anthem How Are The Mighty Fallen and Schütz’s Selig Sind Die
Toten.’
‘The main work of the evening was the rarely-heard Requiem
by the little-known English composer George Lloyd. Complete shortly
before his death in 1998, it is a substantial and tuneful work with some great
high points, all of which were well sung by the choir.’
‘I have a strong feeling that the new partnership is set to
be a great success’
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