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A Concert on Remembrance Sunday needs to strike the right note, to be in accord with the day’s heightened emotions and bring people together. A choral requiem will do all this and fill the Dome. The audience were crackling with anticipation. Barry Wordsworth soon put a stop to that by starting the Requiem even more quietly than Verdi indicates. The hush just racked up the tension as the full force of the Brighton Festival Chorus matched the strings’ pianissimo, and then went quieter still. What a relief when the basses came in forte!

Verdi’s operatic requiem is famous for its rich orchestration and grand climaxes, yet the score demands quiet many more times and in many more ways than it ever asks for loudness. However, when full voice was needed the orchestra and singers certainly delivered. Not every performance affords two bass drums or quite so many extra trumpets, on this occasion rousing both sides of the balcony, but their effect was electrifying.

There’s a lot more to it than just singing loud or soft. This large chorus responded instantly to the conductor’s every change of mood, as when the ‘Sanctus’, which began all pomp and trumpet fanfares, suddenly became a light madrigal. I’m sure half the BFC were singing from memory, they paid such close attention to the baton.

The star of the well matched solo quartet was Rachel Nicholls, whose thrilling top C” easily surmounted the full chorus and orchestra! Thank you for a very memorable Remembrance Sunday.

Concert Hall, Brighton Dome,
13 November 2011
Rating:
Andrew Connal

This was the perfect programme to come between Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday: Elgar’s illumination of Cardinal Newman’s poem of a good death.

Sussex based Neil Jenkins’ Gerontius sang to the heart with a refined pathos and heroic vigour as he faced death and judgement. He led us faithfully through the drama, ably accompanied by Susan Legg as the Angel and Kevin Greenlaw as the Priest and the Angel of the Agony. Their voices rang clear and beautiful over Mark Andrew James’ robust Sussex Symphony Orchestra. The Sussex Chorus provided an enthusiastic Choir of Angelicals, Demons and Souls in Purgatory.

St Bartholomew’s,
12 November 2011
Rating:
Andrew Connal

Following last year’s break, Colour Out Of Space returned refreshed for a weekend of experimental sounds and art. Things kicked off, almost literally, with the first of three days of live acts at the reinvigorated Old Market. Walkman artist Aki Onda brought the first warnings of physical danger by swinging an illuminated bulb into the crowd, a threat ramped up later as Darksmith’s noise set descended from Beckettian gloom to edgy confrontation with his peers. More lightheartedly, Id M Theft Able & Crank Sturgeon (an avant-garde Chuckle Brothers) topped a memorable slapstick performance with an enthusiastic audience tug o’ war.

The Old Market
11 November
Rating:
Stuart Huggett

With the band in death pallor white face paint, the strings commenced proceedings with a wonderfully elegant introduction. Singer James informed us that sex and death were the main inspirations for the new material and the former was clearly on his mind given his introductions to the songs. ‘Honesty’ saw Mike and Will caught up in the moment as they played together with eyes closed, and the new songs were interrupted only for ‘Let Me Fade’, a genuine work of art that earned them a lengthy ovation. Proof again of how truly fortunate we are to have them.

Green Door Store
12 November
Rating:
Steve Clements