Tag: Bach

Elora Festival Singers offer up transcendent choral works!
Post

Elora Festival Singers offer up transcendent choral works!

David Richards, Toronto Concert Reviews: Edison’s genius as Artistic Director lies not only in preparing his choir to an exceptional level of performance. He consistently finds music spanning five centuries that fits into a coherent package. Yesterday was no exception; each work was exquisite on its own, but the combination added up to a mystical experience.

Post

Toronto Mendelssohn Choir delivers a mixed Bach B minor Mass

After hearing the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and Artistic Director Noel Edison last Wednesday night, it was a mixed success. It was a nuanced approach, with a special focus upon subtlety and the withholding certain melodic passages that Edison felt needed to whisper rather than call out. At other times, Edison didn't hesitate to push the choir forth and allow it to chime like carillon bells over the streets of Bach's mid-eighteenth-century Leipzig.

From the stabbing consonants of its Kyrie, through the stirring syncopation of its Credo, Edison did a fine job of maintaining a singular thread uniting the work.

Post

Toronto Mendelssohn Choir performs Bach’s ‘Mass in B Minor’ at Koerner Hall

The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s concert of Bach’s “Mass in B Minor” on March 26, 2014 at Koerner Hall was like the Titanic: it took a little bit of time to get her feet moving but once she did, she was unstoppable. The TMC’s performance was also drastically different than the Titanic’s in that the former didn’t hit any icebergs, but rather sailed off into the sunset in a sound that kept ringing long after conductor Noel Edison cued the stop.

TMC Media Release
Post

Drama, Artistry, Inspiration: the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir 2013/14 season

The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, under Artistic Director Noel Edison, has created an exciting 2013/14 season. The season, the TMC’s 120 th season, includes a celebration of Benjamin Britten’s centenary with a performance of two rarely-performed cantatas, a guest appearance by tenor superstar Ben Heppner at Festival of Carols, and Bach’s Mass in B minor at Koerner Hall. The TMC will also perform four concerts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Post

Bach: St. John Passion Program Notes

The tradition of reading, reciting or performing the story of the passion of Jesus Christ, according to the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, during Holy Week, is ancient. Centuries ago, the long gospel tales were recited or chanted by a single clergy member in a declamatory, narrative style. But with all the different characters in the story, often in dialogue, a better method was devised where the pace of recitation was altered to distinguish the words of the characters, like Christ or Peter or Pilate.