Festival diary: Dido and Aeneas

To be honest, this wasn't quite up to the standard of Edinburgh Symphony Baroque's previous concerts - the ensemble (in the orchestra) was a little scrappy and some of the singers' voices were a little on the tired side - but thankfully it all came together by the end. The moment Aeneas leaves the stage (and Dido), it's difficult not to be moved by the sublime music leading into Dido's lament, which Rosamund Lee sang very well.

In the smaller roles, Nicola Corbishley (as the 2nd woman) came off best, several people in the audience looking up suddenly from their programmes the moment she began to sing. It was a little odd having a countertenor as the 2nd witch (the part goes up to a top F); Tom Latham seemed a lot more comfortable in his other role, as the Spirit.

Predicably, the choir was good but struggled with some of the tempi, particularly in the laughing choruses. "Ho ho ho"s and "ha ha ha"s are very difficult to pull off successfully and these did feel a bit rushed. Overall, however, Christopher Ford can be proud of his achievement.

Edinburgh Symphony Baroque has three more concerts as part of the Fringe Festival: Italian chamber music at St Mark's, Castle Terrace (10:30pm, Friday 12th August), Bach cantatas for solo voice at the Canongate Kirk, Royal Mile (8pm, Saturday 20th August) and Music for the coronation of George II, also at the Canongate Kirk (8pm, Sunday 21st August). Phone the Festival Fringe box office (0131 226 0000) for details.

(7th August 2005)

Comments:
It's good to find another blogging church musician in Edinburgh - especially one from a fellow Episcopal church.

It's a shame you found the ESB performance of Dido and Aeneas on Saturday a little disappointing. I was singing in the chorus that night, and I happen to think it was rather good.

I agree with you that Ros and Nicola's solos were especially beautiful. And it's also true that the 'ho ho hos' by the chorus weren't perfect. But I thought the overall performance was one of the best I've ever heard - certainly as good, if not better, than the two CD recordings I have of the piece. We were also lucky enough to get a 5/5 review from ThreeWeeks. You can read it here: http://www.threeweeks.co.uk/detail_review.asp?id=1289

Good luck with your upcoming fringe performances, and I hope we can tempt you back to another ESB performance in the near future.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1:40 PM
 
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