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Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra
Leader Alex Laing, conductor Philip Scriven, soloist Lisa Nelson
Venue: Lichfield Cathedral 12th May 2012
Lichfield’s artistic offering has been generous this week, beginning with the spectacular Lichfield Mysteries over the bank holiday and ending with DECO’s spring collection on Saturday. The evening began with Handel’s Water Music suite number three. This graceful piece allowed the strings, led by Alex Laing to show off their sweetest tones and most controlled pianissimo. The dance like finale set many feet tapping.
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Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra
Leader: Alex Laing
Conductor: Philip Scriven
Soloists: George Caird (oboe), Jane Salmon (cello)
Lichfield Cathedral, Saturday 11th February 2012
“Winter Warmers”
Reviewed by Chris Arnold
In these times of economic depression, the opportunity to lose yourself in great music, expertly performed needs to be seized.
The setting of a great cathedral with a generous acoustic can create an atmosphere of awe and majesty. Saturday’s offering from the Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra was a perfect match with Lichfield Cathedral. Soloist Jane Salmon’s mastery of the cello expertly captured the mood of Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile with dark brown and even chocolaty resonances. The muted strings of the orchestra were well balanced to the soloist who brought out the melodic and romantic sense of the piece. The audience were completely spellbound and the silence at the end attested to the power of the performance.
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Lichfield Cathedral Chorus Lichfield Cathedral Saturday 3rd December 2011 Beethoven’s huge Missa Solemnis attempts the impossible – and so does any amateur choir that tackles it. It’s nothing less than one of the greatest creative minds in human history talking directly and intimately to his God. Even the most perfect performance is unlikely to do it justice. So this attempt by the Lichfield Cathedral Chorus, conducted by Ben Lamb and supported by the expanded Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra, deserved respect. The Chorus has some clear weaknesses, principally an underpowered tenor and bass section. But it also has some real strengths; most notably a general spirit of real musicianship and commitment. Unsurprisingly, Beethoven’s insanely difficult choral writing claimed a few casualties – at the end of the Gloria, it sounded like the chorus was hanging on for dear life. Yet there were moments of real hushed beauty, and in the opening Kyrie, warm lyrical waves of expressive sound. With a well-matched team of soloists - Soprano Rowan Baker, Mezzo Ailsa Cochrane, an impassioned Hugh Hetherington (tenor) and a sonorous Fran Ambrose (bass) - the spirit of this extraordinary work shone through regardless. And when the flutes swirled around Alex Laing’s heartbreakingly pure violin solo in the Sanctus, it came very close to transcendence. Richard Bratby
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Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra Lichfield Cathedral Saturday 29 October 2011 There’s always a buzz at any concert by the Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra but even so, this concert felt special. No question: in bringing the Classical Brit Award-winning violinist Jack Liebeck to Lichfield, DECO had scored quite a coup. But in the event, Liebeck’s performance of the Mendelssohn violin concerto, under conductor Philip Scriven, might just have been the best thing we’ve yet heard from this spirited and resourceful ensemble. Liebeck isn’t an overtly glamorous performer; the star-quality is in his playing. His sound is generous and lustrous, yet charged with real imaginative fire. It made for a passionate, sometimes dazzling, but always gloriously songful reading of the Mendelssohn – and the DECO players were with him every note of the way, accompanying with both precision and imaginative flair. It drew a standing ovation from a well-filled Cathedral. The concert had opened with a deft performance of Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte” overture, and continued after the interval with another jolt of musical energy – Beethoven’s barnstorming Seventh Symphony. It’s a demanding play, but DECO went at it “con brio”; the sound of those horns blasting their high notes into the vaults of the Cathedral was like a musical firework display, a week early. |
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“Autumn Greats”
Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Philip Scriven
Violin Soloist: Jack Liebeck
Lichfield Cathedral
29th October 2011
You could have heard a pin drop. Where? In Lichfield Cathedral during Saturday’s performance by the star of the sound track of the new Holywood version of Jane Eyre. Winner of the 2010 Classical BRIT award for “Young British Performer of the Year”, Jack Liebeck found time in his hectic schedule to treat concert goers in Lichfield to a stunning performance of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto.
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