Reviews: Stanhope - A New Requiem
Photo: Pepe Newton/classikON
Sydney Morning Herald
Standing ovation for major contribution to Australian choral music
Peter McCallum | March 15, 2021
In his new Requiem, Paul Stanhope has interspersed and, in some cases, replaced the words of the traditional Latin Requiem with poems by five women. As Stanhope notes, the choice of female poets was not pre-planned but the end result of an instinctive set of decisions. The result is a work of nuanced expressive variety alternating between ritualised sorrow and reflection reminiscent of Britten’s War Requiem. This is a major contribution to Australian choral music and deserves not only the standing ovation given it at the end but wide dissemination.
Limelight
A rich, engaging piece for our times
Shamistha de Soysa | March 14, 2021
Stanhope’s Requiem is an engaging piece for our times. Rich traditional harmonies surprise with unexpected twists and turns; the voices combine with an unusual instrumental assemblage, the percussion driving the rhythm, woodwind emulating and contrasting with the voices and the harp adding a celestial touch.
SoundsLikeSydney
Concert Review: Paul Stanhope: A New Requiem/Sydney Chamber Choir
Alex Siegers | March 15, 2021
The Requiem continued from strength to strength, with the eighth movement Lux aeterna demonstrating the choir’s discipline and attention to detail, and finally, In paradisum/Hope is the Thing with Feathers. The final lines “And of the strangest Sea – Yet – never – in Extremity” were otherworldly as Butler and Lankshear sang in duet with the choir. The final, whispered “requiem” was met with rapturous applause from the audience who were clearly ecstatic to be back in the concert hall experiencing live music again.
classikON
A standing ovation for Stanhope’s new Requiem
Pepe Newton | March 16, 2021
It had been 364 days since The Sydney Chamber Choir last performed in the City Recital Hall. On this balmy Saturday night they returned enthusiastically to perform a beautiful concert linked by the concepts of mortality rituals, mourning and overcoming grief.
Sydney Arts Guide
Paul Stanhope: A New Requiem @ City Recital Hall
Ben Apfelbaum | March 15, 2021
Tonight I broke the live concert COVID drought and saw my first live concert since lockdown came to Sydney. I could not have picked a more stimulating, harmonious and absorbing reintroduction to live music than The Sydney Chamber choir at the City Recital Hall.
One of Sydney’s finest vocal ensembles, tonight they performed a concert dedicated to remembrance and spirituality under the fine direction of Paul Stanhope. It was appropriate after the serious and fraught year we have had to have such an evening. It was a celebration of the glory of music and the whole evening was an uplifting experience.