Media Reviews
Media Room
May 22, 2013
Toronto Symphony Orchestra fails to transcend minutiae in Brahms German Requiem
2012-13 Season
The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, out in full force, sang with its characteristic mix of subtlety, power and precision. The Toronto Symphony players (with woodwinds and brass on risers, all bizarrely crammed into one corner of the stage with the piano, organ console and harp) were in great form.
May 17, 2013
Concert Review: Toronto Mendelssohn Choir keeps Missa Solemnis light, when perhaps it could have used more weight
2012-13 Season
Every season the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir undertakes a Big One, or even a Really Big One, such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, presented Wednesday evening in Koerner Hall under the baton of Noel Edison. It was a clear-headed and articulate performance that lacked something in Missa Solemnity.
May 16, 2013
Hats off to the Mendelssohn Choir for tackling Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
2012-13 Season
It is notoriously difficult to perform. Which is why we should thank conductor Noel Edison, his Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and Festival Orchestra, for having the courage to mount this important, if rarely heard, work. And by and large, on Wednesday evening the group of hundreds of musicians and singers acquitted themselves quite well.
May 14, 2013
Preview: Toronto Mendelssohn Choir wrestles with the beast that is Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
2012-13 Season
On Wednesday night, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, soloists, orchestra and conductor Noel Edison perform one of the monuments of early 19th century choral music, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. The performance reminded me yet again of what a monster this piece is. Beethoven spent four years writing, finishing it in 1823 (he died in 1827).
May 6, 2013
Solemnis Spirit
2012-13 Season
The Missa Solemnis is infused with the same spirit as the Ninth Symphony and other late period Beethoven – a musical expression of faith locked in combat with doubt. Extremes of mood convey an almost desperate sense of Beethoven’s desire to connect to the world around him. The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is perhaps the only group in the region that can marshal the forces for such a mammoth work.
April 5, 2013
A wondrous variety
2012-13 Season
The 2013 Good Friday concert at St. Paul’s Basilica featured the Mendelssohn Singers, the 70-voice choir formed in 2003 from the ranks of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. As in previous Good Friday concerts, music from various eras was sung (in this case from the 16th to the 21st centuries) and once again the choir used various spaces within the church to wonderful effect.
February 13, 2013
Matthew Halls leads Toronto Symphony in masterful Beethoven Ninth
2012-13 Season
Whatever it is that makes one of the most iconic pieces in the symphonic repertoire sound exciting, conductor Matthew Halls produced with the help of the Toronto Symphony, Mendelssohn Choir and soloists at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday night.
February 13, 2013
Toronto Symphony Orchestra captures original energy of Beethoven’s Ninth
2012-13 Season
Matthew Halls conducts Beethoven’s Ninth for the first time in his career — and captures much of the excitement its first audience must have felt.
February 9, 2013
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir takes a luxurious view of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle
2012-13 Season
Gioachino Rossini would probably have barely recognized his Petite Messe Solennelle as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir performed it on Saturday afternoon at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.