“Gloria – The Splendour of Choir and Brass”
Saturday 18th May 2013 in the National Concert Hall at 8pm
Liz Nolan, the ever popular Lyric FM personality, was the presenter at an unusual concert titled Gloria – the Splendour of Choir & Brass given by the 120-strong Dublin County Choir at the National Concert Hall on Saturday 18 May 2013 at 8pm.
Exciting brass and percussion sounds featured right from the start with the stirring
opening piece, Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland, played by the 13-
member sforzando Brass & Percussion.
The programme was wide-ranging, from the polychoral splendour of 16th-century
composer Giovanni Gabrieli to the delightful Little Jazz Mass by Bob Chilcott.
There were Glorias for choir and brass by Gabrieli, Mary McAuliffe, and the ever
mellifluous John Rutter. This last work made a most impressive finale for the
concert.
A substantial nod towards Benjamin Britten in his centenary year was made with
his moving short cantata Rejoice in the Lamb in a version adding percussion to the
organ accompaniment.
There is compositional talent within the choir too! The programme included a Magnificat in Irish by bass Brian Ingoldsby, who is currently taking a master’s degree
in Composition at Trinity College having qualified last year as a mature student with a Bachelor
of Music Degree at Maynooth.
The choir was joined for many of the pieces by soloists, Kay Lynch, Soprano; Mark Chambers, Countertenor; Jacek Wislocki, Tenor; and Jeffrey Ledwidge, Bass, and also by John Dexter on the organ and pianist Celine Kelly. As if this were not enough, the Earlsfort Brass Quintet entertained with, among other pieces, excerpts from West Side Story.
The whole ensemble was under the baton of the choir’s musical director Colin Block, who also devised the programme.