Location: Edinburgh Star rating: *** Well, the Edinburgh Singers in their performance of Bach's B minor Mass on Sunday were not quite the Dunedin Consort. With more than 60 voices, this was never going to be Bach in the modern manner, with every singer a soloist. Even with Dominic Peckham as a notably brisk conductor, they looked like an old-fashioned cathedral choir and the promise of Reno Troilus as counter-tenor was unfulfilled, though his replacement, Laura Kelly, sang admirably, as did the soprano Catharine Rogers during a break in the RSAMD's production of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites in Glasgow.

Location: Edinburgh
Star rating: ***

Well, the Edinburgh Singers in their performance of Bach's B minor Mass on Sunday were not quite the Dunedin Consort. With more than 60 voices, this was never going to be Bach in the modern manner, with every singer a soloist. Even with Dominic Peckham as a notably brisk conductor, they looked like an old-fashioned cathedral choir and the promise of Reno Troilus as counter-tenor was unfulfilled, though his replacement, Laura Kelly, sang admirably, as did the soprano Catharine Rogers during a break in the RSAMD's production of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites in Glasgow.

But despite Peckham's efforts, the overall blend of vocal and orchestral tone was soupy. The effect seemed lumbering even when it wasn't and none of the fast music was crisply enough propelled. Blame the cathedral acoustics for some of the shortcomings, but this was not until its closing stages a very gripping performance. The Agnus Dei, tenderly voiced and gently accompanied, was what finally did the trick. Before that, it had all seemed a long haul, though its actual duration was by no means lengthy. As winners in various choral competitions, these are not bad singers, though on this occasion they needed different surroundings in which to be heard.