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conductor: Richard Neville-Towle
soprano: Mary Bevan
soprano: Sophie Bevan
tenor: Ed Lyon
counter tenor: Tim Mead
bass: William Berger
Tickets £16 (£12) are available by phone from the Queens Hall Box Office - 0131 668 2019.
"Bach’s choral works – the B minor Mass, the Christmas Oratorio – form the pillars of Ludus Baroque’s repertoire, with Handel supplying the decoration.
It is a beneficial mix, in which the B minor Mass, the group’s annual prelude to the Edinburgh Festival, has become more a matter of riveting ritual than mere routine.
Nothing about it is wholly fixed. On this occasion an off-stage thunderclap contributed violently to the Osanna in Excelsis, and the voice of a counter-tenor – Tim Mead, Scottish Opera’s recent Orlando – added high expressiveness to the Agnus Dei. The precarious trumpet curlicues mingled drama with delight in the big choruses. The timpanist, in whom a mohawk hairstyle and an ear piercing converged with the music’s baroque splendour, was a sensational presence.
But binding it all together were Richard Neville-Towle and his 19 choristers, selected from other small groups of their kind, adeptly conveying the riches of the score. The long unfurling of the opening Kyrie was filled with light and shade, and instrumental contributions had the same fine chiaroscuro.
Ed Lyon and Mary Bevan were again sterling soloists, the tenor delivering a rapt Benedictus, the soprano showing how sweetly she could soar out of the softness of her lower register."
Conrad Wilson, The Herald, 13 August 2011
Star rating: ****
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registered in scotland no: 166115 scottish charity number: SC024893
page updated: 11th February 2012