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Hastings Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra, Marcio da Silva<\/span><\/p>\n Christ Church, St Leonards, 6 April 2013<\/span><\/p>\n It is always a pleasure to attend a local performance which needs no allowances for being local. Such is the quality of music making under new conductor Marcio da Silva that one can relax and enjoy every aspect of the event without having to make any mental compromise.<\/p>\n The young soloists presented us with an interesting range of voices. Soprano, Alice Privett and tenor, Peter Kirk had more developed operatic voices which highlighted the dramatic side of Bach\u2019s writing while Angela Simkin\u2019s more introspective style suited the intimacy of Es ist vollbracht. <\/i>Daniel Joy\u2019s Evangelist brought a welcome clarity in his diction and an emotional involvement which carried the narrative forward. Laurence Meikle\u2019s Jesus was noble but humane.<\/p>\n The soloists in the orchestra excelled themselves with a touching viola da gamba <\/i>solo from Jenny Bullock and fine, intense, woodwind playing throughout. The choir\u2019s sound was well balanced and their accuracy impressive. They negotiated the many difficulties in the score with apparent ease and moved seamlessly from the dramatic to the reflective. Though the acoustic in the church is supportive of choral music there were some problems with the clarity of the text. Though one understands why it might be preferable to sing the work in English, the German text would have cut the acoustic with greater clarity and often words were lost because of the soft edges of the translation.<\/p>\n Throughout, Marcio da Silva maintained a steady pace which gave us time to consider what we were hearing, rather than being driven too rapidly forward, but it never became over-indulgent.<\/p>\n Christ Church, St Leonards, has a venerable history of fine musical performances since it was first opened and the choir can feel confident that they are building on this reputation.<\/p>\n For their next concert on 22 June they are returning to St Mary in the Castle for an evening of American and Brazilian folk music. www.hastingsphilchoi.org.uk<\/a> BH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hastings Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra, Marcio da Silva Christ Church, St Leonards, 6 April 2013 It is always a pleasure to attend a local performance which needs no allowances for being local. Such is the quality of music … Continue reading