News

"Magical...spine-tingling"

A packed Royal Albert Hall enthusiastically received Paul McCreesh’s large-scale performance of Haydn’s Creation on the second night of the BBC Proms, Saturday 18 July 2009. Below is a selection of quotes, reviews and links.



BBC FEATURES
If you didn’t make it to the concert, you can still hear it on the BBC iPlayer:
Concert (available until 9:17pm Saturday 25 July 2009)

Radio 3 In Tune (available until 7:32pm Friday 24 July 2009)
Proms opening night special featuring Paul McCreesh, Mark Padmore, Rosemary Joshua and Gabrieli principal players.

BBC Music Magazine online – Meet the Artist Feature with Paul McCreesh
Paul McCreesh gives personal insight into Haydn’s Creation.


REVIEWS
The Independent (Michael Church) Full article 
* * * * * (5) “Magical…spine-tingling”

The Daily Telegraph (Ivan Hewett) Full article
* * * * (4) “The visceral appeal of the sound was enough. With two timpanists thundering away, the storm scenes were more vivid than ever, the stereophonically separated trumpets gave a new force to the light-filled moments, and the big body of strings playing without vibrato had an extraordinary nobility of sound. All this might have seemed like gilding the lily, had not the quintet of soloists been so strong, the choral singing been so focused and alive, and McCreesh so adept at combining spaciousness with springing energy. Preparing this recreation of the Creation has been a labour of love for him, and it proved to be a triumphant one.”

MusicOMH.com (Keith McDonnell) Full article
* * * * * (5) “I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a rapturous account of this astonishingly original work before. Hearing it on original instruments was a revelation in itself, as their use brought out miracles of colour from the score – never before has Haydn’s word painting come across with such clarity…Playing of such breathtaking beauty and precision…this Prom will linger long in the memory…a benchmark for all future performances of this work.”

The Classical Source (Chris Caspell) Full article
“A striking rendition. McCreesh appreciates this piece as a musician. Conducting from memory, his lucid direction of all the performers made for a superb journey from the primordial chaos to mankind’s jubilant arrival.”

The Guardian (George Hall) Full article
* * * * (4) “The choruses possessed a weight that never impeded movement or clarity.”

Opera Today (Melanie Eskenazi) Full article
“…a performance such as this one makes not only a powerful case for its greatness, but shows how accurate Hugo Wolf was when he described Haydn’s music as ‘Sheer nature, artlessness, perception and sensitivity.”


MORE CREATION
Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli Consort & Players perform Creation two more times in the upcoming months:
28 August, Menuhin Festival, Gstaad, Switzerland
3 October, Swansea Festival, Wales, UK ** Booking opens 27 July!