Barbara Butler, the co-principal trumpet nearly stole the show in the pieces she was involved in, tossing off mind-boggling passages with ease. The continuo players and the entire orchestra were top notch.
Of the vocal soloists I felt that Roderick Williams, the baritone was the best. He sang with a lovely sound and with great ease. Paul Agnew, the tenor, was fine in the recitative passages, with his voice able to go to voix mixe and falsetto easily. He was less successful in the arias.
The mezzo, Krisztina Szabo, has a fine voice but needs to find her bottom range, which was mostly not there.
The soprano of Yulia Van Doren troubles me. It is just not a very well organized voice. She was practically inaudible in duets and trios, a bit better in her solo pieces, but with a tendency to yelp high notes.
But the kudos of the night go to Jane Glover. She will be conducting Britten's War Requiem at the Berkshire Choral festival next summer. I look forward to hearing that performance.
I have never conducted this work but I have prepared soloists for a number of performances. In the 1950's I worked with Pamela Munson on the mezzo solos. She went to the Metropolitan Opera at that same time. My first Met singer.
Recently I worked on the bass soli with Nathaniel Watson, who is performing the work in Montreal.
So I have a vested interest in how the solos are sung.
