Nottingham Festival Chorus and Orchestra | Bach, Bruckner, Handel & Poulenc

Albert Hall
2 February 2008
By William Ruff

At first I thought that the music wouldn’t impress as much as the sight of 250 singers thronging the golden pipes of the Albert Hall’s organ. But then Handel’s Zadoch the Priest started and the tidal wave of sound unleashed from all those throats and the accompanying orchestra almost threatened to pin me against the back wall. Conductor Matt Beckingham had clearly trained them well. I have rarely heard the final ‘t’ of ‘priest’ spat out with such purpose and relish.,/p>

This set the tone for the whole evening. Bruckner’s Psalm 150 had the same super-charged brilliance and a majestic weight of sound. The choir, this time under Angela Kay, was equally responsive in Poulenc’s multi-faceted Gloria . Here the playful and dance-like rubbed shoulders with moments of grandeur.

Soprano soloist Rachel Nicholls was remarkable not only for vocal beauty and agility but also for her stamina. Contending not only with the complexities of Bach’s Cantata No 51 (with Gordon Truman’s wonderful trumpet playing) she also brought reflective dignity to her roles in the Bruckner and Poulenc.

The orchestra proved themselves a versatile ensemble, their playing of Ravel’s Pavane an oasis of tranquillity amid the ocean of choral exhilaration.