Supreme ability with subtle dynamics

It is staggering to realise that Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major, composed in 1715, was not performed in public until 1939. This endearing composition was discovered during the 1920s among a host of dusty Vivaldi manuscripts.

Jubilant shouts of “Gloria in excelsis Deo” open the work and set the joyous tone for most of its 20 minutes duration. The 130 members of Leeds Festival Chorus conducted by Simon Wright sang with luminous brilliance. The Latin text was articulated with such feeling for the words and with a tangible freshness and spontaneity. soprano Ruby Hughes and mezzo Kathryn Rudge were the finely blended soloists. The lively accompaniment of the Orchestra of Opera North was infused with a tangible sense of the Baroque style.

Parts 1, 2 and 3 of J.S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio occupied the second half of the programme; the richly varied orchestration deploying strings with harpsichord and chamber organ continuo was superbly played by the OON.

Festive trumpets and timpani adorned the celebratory music of Part 1 while the pastoral sections of the work were exquisitely embellished by pairs of oboe d’amore and the more rustic-toned oboe de caccia.

The attack of the choral singing was matched by its supreme agility and subtle shading of dynamics. Down the years, we’ve been lucky enough to experience some marvellous Bach choral singing in this hall – including the revered choir from the Church of St Thomas in Leipzig.

The Festival Chorus’s Bach belongs to that elite, and ranks amongst the very finest. Soloists Hughes and Rudge were joined by the bass Matthew Hargreaves and ardent tenor Joshua Ellicott whose crystalline projection of the Evangelist’s recitatives rang around the auditorium.

Geoffrey Mogridge