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Dignity and Restraint
Derby Choral Union's Armistice centenary concert,
heard by MIKE WHEELER
Derby Choral Union's Armistice centenary concert, with conductor Richard Dacey — Derby Cathedral, Derby, UK, 10 November 2018 — got off to a refreshingly unusual start with Beethoven's rarely-heard Elegischer Gesang (Elegiac Song), a five-minute setting for chorus and strings of words to commemorate the young wife of one of his patrons, who had died a few years before. From the choir's precise first entry the performance projected the music's dignity and restraint.
Haydn's so-called 'Nelson' Mass was written against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, though the connection is nowhere near as direct as popular legend has it...
Copyright © 19 November 2018
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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