Choral Performance of 'Belshazzar's Feast'

[Andrew]

Hi All,

Are any of you familiar with 'Belshazzar's Feast' (by William Walton)? 'HWI' member David Floyd (aka "The Flying Scotsman") and I are looking forward to performing 'Belshazzar's feast' as members of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union (ERCU), this Saturday evening (21st April) at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. Our special guests, the Belfast Philharmonic Choir will join us in the performance and we will be accompanied by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (SSO) There are some details here if anybody is interested to read more. We've been practising the piece every Tuesday evening with the ERCU since the beginning of the year so I guess we should know it pretty well by now! This piece is quite complex so all that practice should pay off on the night (hopefully!) This week we have to attend 4 rehearsals... One down now and three more to go before Saturday evening! We'll let you know how it goes...

We're excited!

Andrew

[Joe]

Hi Andrew,

Wishing you, David, and the other members of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union all the best in your performance on Saturday.

I was very impressed with the details on the website.I shall be there in spirit, Andrew!

Best wishes, sir !

~ Joe

[Caitlin]

Ahh! You are so lucky to be singing 'Belshazzar's Feast'
I love this piece: it's challenging, but lots of fun.

Best of luck to you and your choir!
<3 Caite

[Stephany]

Hi Andrew,
I'm not familiar with 'Belshazzar's Feast' but I'm sure you & your choir will do very well.
I wish you all the best for Saturday !
Best of luck,
Stephany

[Richard]

Good luck Andrew and David!

I'm sure you will give an excellent performance of this great work, and I hope you will tell us all about it afterwards.

I felt the 'Off-Topic' board was the wrong place for this thread, so I moved it to 'Other Music'! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Best Wishes from London,

Richard

[david]

Hi everyone from the Flying Scotsman! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Glad to say that Belshazzar's Feast went really well the other night, everyone from the orchestra and the two choirs, the Choral Union and the Belfast Phil, gave a top-class performance, judging from the audience's reaction at the end! As you say Caite, It's certainly a challenging piece to learn, we've been rehearsing it since early January, however I think I can safely say we all had huge fun doing it as well, as I'm sure Andrew would agree! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Cheers & best wishes

David

[Joe]

Hello David (aka The Flying Scotsman)

I'm so pleased that the performance went well! I was wondering how it all went.

Bravo to you and Andrew!

Best wishes,
Joe

[Andrew]

Hi All,

Indeed 'Belshazzar's Feast' by William Walton was a very exciting choral piece for us to perform. In fact I'll never forget it! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Here's the picture from the front of the concert programme... Some of you may recognise this picture as the painting of 'Belshazzar's Feast' by Rembrandt (1606-1609). The original painting which dates from around 1635, shows the moment when a divine hand appeared and wrote on the wall a phrase only Daniel could decipher (Daniel 5; Psalm 137). When translated the inscription reads:

'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN' - "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; your kingdom is given to the Medes and the Persians."

Rembrandt derived the form of Hebrew from a book by his friend, the Rabbi and printer, Menasseh ben Israel, yet mistranscribed one of the characters and arranged them in columns rather than right to left, as Hebrew is written.

Two newspaper reviews of the concert will follow in the next post.

Andrew

[Andrew]

Hi All,

Here are two newspaper reviews of our concert from Saturday night. I sourced the first review, which was published in 'The Herald' newspaper yesterday (Monday 23rd April 2007) from here It is very positive and we got a "4 star" rating! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif (The text has been reproduced below).

Music: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
USHER HALL
EDINBURGH
Miranda Heggie
****

Encapsulating highlights of instrumental and choral music of the twentieth century, Edinburgh Royal Choral Union's production of William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast was spectacular. The concert opened with two orchestral pieces played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The first, Grey Galloway by John Blackwood McEwan, is the the second and best known of Three Border Ballads. The sounds produced ranged form dramatic, explosive notes from the brass section to elegantly lilting melodies on the oboe, which were played with a beautifully clear tone.

It was followed by Walton's Symphony No 1, in which the talents of conductor Rumon Gamba really shone through as he pulled and shaped the orchestra to perfection. The opening sounds of the third movement seemed to come out of nothing, with an alluring and haunting flute solo sailing above the strings.

The real magic, however, lay in the second half, during which the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union was joined by the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and singers from the National Youth Choir of Scotland. They formed an immense chorus to accompany baritone soloist James Rutherford. The orchestra was still very much on form, creating tension with eerie sounds from the percussion section bubbling underneath the brass. Rutherford's rich, yet light, voice was echoed by the chorus, who intercepted one another seamlessly and with immaculate clarity under Gamba's animated conducting. The huge orchestra and chorus worked perfectly together and with a real sense of excitement to deliver a performance that evoked the whole spectrum of human emotion, from terror to pure exultation.
Here is the second concert review, as published yesterday (Monday 23rd April 2007) in 'The Scotsman' newspaper. Unfortunately this report is not quite so favourable! and we received a "3 star" rating...

Andrew