musicweb-international.com

This was a splendid and very faithful account of an underrated masterpiece. Coming just a few days after War Requiem it was very good to hear a contrasting but no less effective and eloquent musical testimony to the wastage of war. Incidentally, the juxtaposition of the two pieces was especially appropriate because, I believe, Britten admired Spirit of England. This was to be my final experience of the full Festival Chorus and I was glad, though not surprised, to hear them maintaining the excellent form that they had been in all week.

This was a very fine account of Holst’s orchestral masterpiece and the performers deserved the ovation that they received for the audience. I can’t recall seeing Adrian Lucas conduct before but he impressed me very much with a clear, incisive beat and evident command of the score. This is such a well known piece that it can’t be easy to perform it in such a way that it sounds fresh to the audience but that’s just what Adrian Lucas achieved.

Click here to return to the list of Reviews