Review
Review of the Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic Orchestra & Leeds Philharmonic Chorus
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14/11/2009
Airedale and Wharfedale Observer review of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Leeds Philharmonic Chorus at Leeds Town Hall on the 14th November 2009 as part of Leeds International Concert Season.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Leeds Philharmonic Chorus
Leeds Town Hall, 14 November 2009
A Mozart piano concerto, a rarely performed Haydn Mass and Mozart's Requiem attracted a capacity audience to Leeds Town Hall for a concert that will surely go down as one of the season's finest.
The evening marked the return of 2009 Leeds International Piano Competition winner Sofya Gulyak. What a treat to hear Gulyak play one of Mozart's most delicately scored concertos, No 18 in B Flat K456, after her winning competition interpretation of Brahms's barnstorming D minor concerto.
Gulyak produced a palette of tone colours and achingly beautiful phrasing whilst the RLPO conducted by David Hill - clearly inspired by the sheer poetry in her every touch of the keyboard - created a cushion of sound with exquisitely etched woodwind, burnished horns and supple, polished strings. A dream of a performance which the Town Hall audience took to their hearts.
Haydn's Miss Brevis in B Flat, generally known as the Little Organ Mass, opened the concert. Leeds Philharmonic Chorus's soft and poignantly sung Dona Nobis Pacem (Rest in Peace) seemed in perfect accord with the mood of Remembrance that has permeated the week. Mozart's stupendous setting of the Requiem Mass composed in the final weeks of his life and incomplete at the time of his death occupied the second half. Full choir and orchestra, as distinct from the reduced forces for the Haydn, were now on stage together with Leeds City Organist Simon Lindley. This performance amply demonstrated that David Hill's declared intention to "take the Phil up a league" is much more than an empty promise.
All of the by now familiar hallmarks of this conductor were evident: rhythmic vitality, absolute clarity of orchestral and choral textures, excellent diction and perfect balance. There was an immediacy and directness about the singing which was breathtaking and the dynamic range from the softness of the Lacrymosa to the force and power of the closing Communio was astonishing. Soprano Sarah Fox, mezzo Sarah Fryer, tenor Timothy Robinson and bass Roderick Williams made up the excellent solo quartet in this great performance, a performance clearly from the heart to the heart.
Book for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performing as part of Leeds International Concert Season on Saturday 13 March 2010
Book for Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Leeds Festival Chorus & Leeds Philharmonic Chorus performing as part of Leeds International Concert Season on Saturday 15 May 2010
Author : Geoffrey Mogridge
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