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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Choirs set the tone for peace The Peacemakers Phoenix Singers/Quay Voices/OneSound Birmingham Town Hall **** THE Peacemakers was Karl Jenkin's sequel,
12 years on, to The Armed Man, his mass for peace which was written for
the millennium and a hope of a new world order. Twelve years on and little has changed with
conflicts in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and on
and on – 41 armed conflicts in all around the world. Jenkins took words by men and women of peace and
set them to music which soars and haunts in equal measure with a mix of
jazz, bringing in a soprano saxophone and shades of ethnic music from
Tibetan temple bells to the bodhrán, the Irish drum and the penny
whistle (a penny? I wish) or to give it is Sunday best name, a
flageolet, along with primitive drum rhythms which are perhaps the most
emotive music of all, built into the human DNA. For both the OneSound orchestra and choir the
changes in tempo and style along with the structure of the 17 movements,
with no set verse or chorus, is a challenge but it was one the three
choirs and young orchestra met magnificently. Musical director of all three is Matt Beckingham
who has conducts in a style encouraging his performers to shine and they
didn't let him down. Quay Voices, who were impressive in heir solo,
Sure on the Shining Night, are one of the leading youth choirs in the
country, hailing from Gateshead, while OneSound are the leading
Christian youth choir and orchestra. Their solo, Blessed Assurance, was
well executed but suffered from the bane of many youth choirs in lacking
bass and depth – a characteristic which comes with age and maturity – or
smoking 40 Capstan Full Strength a day. OneSound also supplied the organist taking on the
Town Hall's stunning instrument with its four manuals and 6,000 pipes,
all mastered and tamed by Catherine Boxall. Phoenix Singers are well known in the West
Midlands, and beyond, and have raised £20,000 for charity over the past
ten years and their solo Lead Kindly Light set the tone for the
evening. After a lively opening with Sing, the Diamond
Jubilee anthem from Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber there were a
couple of wobbles early in the evening as the three choirs introduced
themselves but that was merely a warm up, a loosener for the main event
and from the opening Blessed are the Peacemakers choirs and fine
orchestra did Jenkin's emotive work justice. The work takes words from the Bible and Koran,
and from figures including the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Shelley, St Francis
of Assisi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jnr and the
remarkable diary of Anne Frank. The Peacemakers does not have one theme, tune or
song anyone would be humming on the way home, yet the music was
infectious, with feet tapping along to the likes of the jazzy, bluesy
He Had a Dream elegy for Martin Luther King Jnr or the insistent
drumming and whistle of Healing Light, a Celtic Prayer. We also had two fine soloists, both sopranos from
Quay Voices with Molly Toolan-Kerr singing Terry Waite's beautifully
haunting Meditation: Peace is . . . Sarah Dover sand The Dove, a lyrical song by
Jenkins' wife Carol Barratt for their granddaughter Astrid May. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Coun. Mike Leddy
and his wife Pauline attended the concert which was to raise funds for
The Foundation for Conductive Education. The concert, compered by Andy Knowles, ended with an enthusiastic ovation rewarded with an encore to end a performance well deserving of a larger audience. Roger Clarke |
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