Perth Choral Spring Concert

Mar 19 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

IN March 2008, Perth Choral Society presented Luis Bacalov’s Misa Tango to Scottish audiences for the very first time.

That premiere performance was very well received and its success has encouraged the Society to embark on another venture into virtually unknown territory for their spring concert on Sunday, March 28.

Perth Choral Society’s Dalene Radin explained: “The music of Antonin Dvorak, apart from the Cello Concerto and the Ninth Symphony, is not featured very often in concert performances. Always heard are the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart and Brahms, who was a great admirer of Dvorak’s melodic invention skills – but never the Dvorak, which is absolutely at the same level as those, if not even greater: every bar of this work is a masterpiece.

“For sheer beauty of music and such talented composition, this stands alongside the Brahms and is in fact an extension of what Brahms achieved.

“Dvorak’s eloquent orchestration, with the four soloists intermingling with the chorus, makes for intriguing listening and there are unexpected melodic lines, like the heavy rhythms of the ‘Dies Irae’, contrasting with the grace and gentleness of ‘Pie Jesu.”

“Dvorak’s Requiem is not to be missed.”

The concert is in Perth Concert Hall next Sunday (March 28) at 7.30pm.

Soloists are Lee Bisset, soprano; Carolyn Dobbin, contralto; Philip O’Brien, tenor; and Ronald Nairne, bass.

The Angus Chamber Orchestra accompanies and Peter Rutterford, the society’s director of music, conducts.

Tickets cost £12 (concessions £10, accompanied children under 16 free).