Some of our previous successes.

Stanford Requiem in Adrian Boult Hall.

Handel Messiah in Birmingham Town Hall.

Elgar Spirit of England and Beresford King-Smith Psalm-Symphony in Adrian Boult Hall.

Poulenc Gloria and Gounod St Cecilia Mass in Cathedral.

Haydn Nelson Mass and Handel Dettingen Te Deum in Cathedral.

Verdi Requiem in Symphony Hall.

Orff Carmina Burana and Borodin Polovtsian Dances.

 

Even More Critiques !!!

 

 

Recent comments from the Birmingham Post and Mail, unless otherwise stated:

 

 

Stanford Requiem in Adrian Boult Hall.

"Stanford’s Requiem, heartfelt and poignant, was premiered at the Birmingham Triennial Festival in 1897, but has rarely been heard since.
So it was good that Birmingham Choral Union had the courage to give it a welcome airing last Saturday, in an unfailingly enthusiastic performance, commendable for its musicianship and commitment.
There was the occasional imbalance, probably due to the numbers within the choral sections, but careful preparation compensated.
Colin Baines conducted with diligence and urgency, and the four soloists – Pamela Davies, Claire Bartram, Anando Mukerjee, Byron Jackson – were stunning, all bringing this haunting, sometimes gloriously operatic music to life. Organist Darren Hogg and the expert (on such short rehearsal-time) orchestra, timpani and sharply-focused brass especially commendable, made a contribution to equal that of the remarkable BCU.
Rating: 4/5
Apr 2 2010 by Francesca Treadaway."

 

Andy Goff enjoys a long neglected Birmingham masterpiece at Adrian Boult Hall.

"There are times when one listens to music and it does something to you. The reaction varies from person to person. With me, the hairs on my arms stand on end. Last Saturday was one of those hairs-on-arms-on-end nights. The Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham’s Conservatoire is an outstanding centre of musicality. The acoustics are magical and listening to Stanford’s Requiem performed by the Birmingham Choral Union was magic within magical.
Sir Charles Stanford, who died in 1924, was a composer, organist and conductor. He taught at The Royal College of Music – his pupils included Vaughan Williams, Holst, Bridge, Ireland, Howells and Bliss. In doing so he was at the forefront of the 20th Century revival of British music. Yet, bizarrely and very sadly, his Requiem, written in 1896 at the commission of the Birmingham Triennial Festival, has been largely ignored and gradually forgotten. The performance on Saturday was a one-off concert of this delightful work by the BCU, conducted by Colin Baines.
Paraphrasing the programme notes, “Stanford’s Requiem is certainly on a grand, choral festival scale requiring a large if not massive orchestra from which some beautiful effects are created.”
The choristers and orchestra captured the power, wistfulness and passion that Stanford’s little-performed Requiem embodies. Soloists Pamela Davies - Soprano, Claire Bartram - Contralto, Anando Mukerjee – Tenor and Birmingham boy Byron Jackson – Baritone gave terrific performances.
Led by Nigel Stubbs and accompanied by noted organist Darren Hogg, the orchestra comprised musicians who had only practised the piece en masse the afternoon before the concert and were outstanding.
As you would expect from a musical director with Colin Baines’ experience and abilities, he conducts with his whole body and at times it was if he channeled the music into his baton and then waved it back out to the audience after blending.
He told me in the interval that he couldn’t understand why this beautiful music isn’t performed more often. I hope that this means there will be another night of the long hairs.
Andy Goff."
The Stirrer.

 

 

Handel Messiah in Birmingham Town Hall.

Messiah told in familiar language but with an exhilarating finale.

"On this Good Friday, we commemorated the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death with his mighty oratorio Messiah, a fine way with which to begin Easter.
The Birmingham Choral Union presented a performance closer to Handel’s original intentions, with chamber orchestra including chamber organ and harpsichord as suitable recitative accompaniments. Where better for such a performance than our fine Town Hall with its splendid acoustics?
There is a danger with this time-honoured work of taking too much for granted. Familiar arias and choruses need to be approached afresh. Fine words and imaginative orchestral writing are telling history’s most dramatic story, needing expression and commitment.
Plodding dynamics from the orchestra set the scene initially, with a strident leader eventually taking over, too often tipping the balance between discretion and participation. Conductor Colin Baines was understandably more involved with vocal contributions, urging the chorus towards more joy and wonder so often depicted in the text. One wished for clearer consonants from all voices, but familiar language shone through.
A light baritone was inappropriate for some of the weightier bass arias, but Peter Taylor manfully pursued his mission whilst being occasionally overwhelmed by an urgent orchestra, particularly in well-executed florid semiquaver passages.
Rich tone from Anne Chivere delivered alto arias with thought and conviction, contrasting well with Sarah Cotterill’s light soprano. Adam Magee’s firm tenor executed his dramatic roles with imagination and sincerity.
The choir was noticeably more relaxed with the stirring Hallelujah chorus – a true wake-up call. Worthy is the Lamb was wonderfully inspiring, with rich harmonies leading eventually to an exhilarating Amen chorus.
Maggie Cotton."

 

 

Elgar Spirit of England and Beresford King-Smith Psalm-Symphony in Adrian Boult Hall.

Elgar pulls emotional strings.

"Music which had practically to be torn out of its composer, Elgar's The Spirit of England is a masterpiece which remains too little known.
Almost as autobiographical as the slightly earlier Music Makers, these First World War settings of three poems by Laurence Binyon breathe an immense sadness, clinging onto visionary hope.
The A major ending of the concluding For the Fallen pierces the heart in its desperate idealism, and the whole trilogy conveys Elgar's outrage at the futility and carnage of it all.
"Oh, my horses!" he railed, the horror of the suffering of humans already a terrible reality.
This music is Elgar at his most personal, written with his customary experienced skill, which allowed Colin Baines' Birmingham Choral Union to deliver a performance on Saturday with a sonority blazing with conviction.
The singers' response to this heartbroken music, allied to soprano soloist Janet Vine's affecting contribution, created a genuine sense of emotional commitment which couldn't help but communicate to the audience.
And the expert way with which the BCU's scratch orchestra (on a minimum of rehearsal) tackled Elgar's adroit score brought riches of eloquent, sumptuous sound.
Perhaps it was unfair to set this great work against one which, though equally sincere in its Beresford King-Smith's Psalm-Symphony, successfully premiered last year, is well-constructed, making resourceful use of pedal-points, fanfaring excitement and vocal parts which are generally grateful to sing (despite a passage towards the end which drives the sopranos into very deep regions).
It will find an appropriate audience who will welcome its unrelenting born-again joyousness. Others will wince at its marriage of Songs of Praise with The Vicar of Dibley."

 

 

Poulenc Gloria and Gounod St Cecilia Mass in Cathedral.

Classical Preview.

"Vocal music of a somewhat different nature is presented at St Philip's Cathedral, Colmore Row at the same time, when the Birmingham Choral Union under its popular conductor Colin Baines performs an attractive sweet-and-sour menu consisting of Gounod's St Cecilia Mass and Poulenc's Gloria."

 

Review.

"From lurid melodrama to piety overladen with saccharine, and Gounod's Saint Cecilia Mass. Continuing its shrewd policy of exploring lesser-known works, Birmingham Choral Union gave an often powerful account of this uneven composition.
Colin Baines persuaded his sing-ers to impressive sonorities, but there were also moments of undeveloped, underprojected tone. The trio of soloists failed to achieve a satisfactory blend.
Soprano Celia Gibb had more success in the Byzantine invocations of Poulenc's Gloria, its glitter, jollity and tenderness approached with gusto by the BCU. And Poulenc's Organ Concerto found a sturdy solo-ist in Darren Hogg, and an orchestra which achieved marvels on a single rehearsal."

 

 

Haydn Nelson Mass and Handel Dettingen Te Deum in Cathedral.

Full Nelson has cathedral in thrall.

"Many of Haydn's late symphonies and masses tremble with an awareness of Napoleon's ambitious military campaigning, and his Mass in Time of Anguish is a prime example of this concern, with its foreboding fanfares and hammer-rhythms.
Yet sunny hope mingles with grim fear, giving the piece such unique personality.
Composed in 1798, this Mass in D minor was performed at Eisenstadt for Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton in 1800. Henceforth, and certainly confirmed by the Admiral's victory at Trafalgar on October 21 1805, it became known as the Nelson Mass. And last weekend, 200 years after that great event, Birmingham heard this tremendous work twice within 24 hours.
Birmingham Choral Union's account on Saturday was part of the city's official bicentenary celebrations, with the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, Royal Navy personnel (such polite and attentive cadets) and Civic Society members adding to the significance of the evening.
Conductor Colin Baines has an enthusiastic bunch of choristers under his clear, reassuring baton, and they sang with sturdy fluency. Soprano tone was occasionally unsupported, attack on initial consonants could sometimes have been crisper, and attention to phrasing was not always consistent (as in the "Credo's" tight canon).
But the overall effect was invigorating, aided by a superlative orchestra, crispness and sonority achieved on only the minimum of rehearsal - a tribute to everyone's efficiency. Haydn's important organ scoring was neatly delivered by Darren Hogg.
Equally efficient were the soloists, though soprano Rebecca Bouckley, her intonation sweet and true, was somewhat small-voiced in this context - a cruel comparison when set against Carolyn Sampson, a star of truly universal magnitude, who sang the solos in Ex Cathedra's taut, dramatic version of the mass on Sunday.
. . . .
BCU's programme had opened with Handel's overblown Dettingen Te Deum, composed to mark a great military victory.
Brightly, confidently delivered, it also featured enchanting contributions from mezzo Rebecca Mitchell-Farmer.
And if its half-hour length, Handel doggedly changing gear for each line of text, seemed interminable you could always play 'spot the Messiah quotes'."

 

 

Verdi Requiem in Symphony Hall.

Amateurs shine on their big night out.

"It's a bold amateur outfit that takes over Symphony Hall for something as daunting as Verdi's mighty Requiem, or a foolhardy one.
It's for neither the faint-hearted nor the half-prepared, demanding unfailing strength, stamina, technique and discipline, and there's nowhere to hide if they get it wrong.
Mercifully, they got it right, most of the time. Colin Baines' direction was impeccable, with sensible tempi and clear control, and for the most part the band was faultless, brass, woodwind and timpanist adding a good shock of excitement to the Dies Irae. . . . .
The choir met the challenge well, with excellent diction and good discipline . . . ."

 

 

Orff Carmina Burana and Borodin Polovtsian Dances.

Lust and savagery without the carelessness.

"Whether it’s the uninhibited lust, savage energy and unabashed amorality of the 13^th  century texts, or the directness – even violence – of the music, the qualities that are central to the unflagging popularity of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana also provide cover for many crude, careless performances.
But that’s not Birmingham Choral Union’s style, and meticulous diction and phrasing in the opening bars set the scene for a reading distinguished by attention to detail and highly effective realization of contrast.
Although it was often the versatility of the women’s voices that was responsible for such mood changes between verses, some of the most exciting moments were generated by abrupt shifts within a single setting, and these were very much a reflection of sustained gutsy effort across the choir, even from the sorely outnumbered men.
Much of this individuality was clearly driven by Colin Baines’ distinctively forthright, boisterous conducting, but baritone Stephen Well’s impressive ability to switch between expressive sweetness and operatic drama was also essential in defining musical character. Colour was further heightened by Christine Sumner’s lyrically regretful soprano, the robustly resonant boy sopranos of Solihull School Chapel Choir, and counter-tenor Roy Batters’ wonderfully camp portrayal of the roast swan.
Orchestral support (including five hard-working percussionists plus timpanist) was consistently strong particularly in vivid sectional work, but these strengths, plus excellent clarinet and flute playing, were revealed more fully in the opening Overture and choral Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s Prince Igor."

 

 

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