Chineke! Orchestra
Sergio A. Mims writes:
The Chineke! Orchestra has gotten another rave review this time for their Sunday April 15th concert in St. George's in Bristol
By C, Monday Apr 16, 2018
Chineke! Orchestra dazzled at their long-awaited return to St George’s with an electrifying evening of music.
The ensemble handled Britten’s tumultuous The Building of the House
with beguiling ease. From the shifting cross rhythms to the ethereal
shivering of the melodic sections, every phrase of music was taught with
tension. The final frenzied build up was incredibly intense, giving way
to a glorious release of sound in the final ringing chord.
Samuel Colridge-Taylor’s Romance in G was a gorgeous
contrast. The orchestra played with extraordinary depth and personality,
but soloist Sofia Roldán Cativa blew them out of the water. The violin
was soft and expressive with characterful playfulness and lingering
passages of incredible maturity and richness. A sweet solo moment in the
lowest register of the instrument was particularly sublime, the lines
blurring between one note and the next. Roldán Cativa and the ensemble
had fire, too – passionate driving music that soared and faded into
lilts of tone and effortless sweeping lines that held the audience in
rapture until the final note.
Daniel Kidane’s newly commissioned work Dream Song heard the
voice of Martin Luther King through the medium of baritone Roderick
Williams. The modern, clashing urgency behind the music had almost an
angry undertone, which Williams’ extraordinarily powerful voice cut
through, booming the famous words of ‘I had a dream’ through the clutter
of noise. The rhythmic complexity of the music was almost overwhelming,
but Chineke! performed the stark and solemn work with exacting
precision.
Every moment of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 was impeccable –
not only perfectly played, but beautifully, joyfully expressed. The
enthusiasm of conductor Anthony Parnther spread like fire through the
ensemble: here there was no pretension, no expectation, just the simple
pleasure of performing– and who knew that Beethoven was so joyful.
It was a triumph of a performance, the link between conductor and
ensemble so strong and precise it gave the entire work a new lease of
life.
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