THE first large-scale choral concert in the new City Hall was always going to be a major test of the restored auditorium's acoustic. The fact that the chosen work was Berlioz's amazing, idiosyncratic and mindblowing Te Deum, with its heaven-storming climaxes, tolling choral highpoints, ravishingly tender moments and thunderous orchestral accompaniments, guaranteed a thorough-going endurance test for the acoustic.
James Hunter's Bearsden Choir and George McPhee's Paisley Abbey Choir combined on Saturday night for the occasion, along with Sinfonia Alba (largely the BBC SSO on a private-hire engagement) and, collectively, demonstrated decisively the superiority of the auditorium for choral music.
Not that we had to wait for the Te Deum to establish that fact. From the outset, with Hunter conducting the choirs in Hubert Parry's glorious I was Glad, it was clear that the City Hall was going to cope with a full-on choral and orchestral barrage. Warm, thrilling - hairraisingly so - and wonderfully sonorous, the acoustic gave the choral sound a luminous quality.
The performance of the Te Deum itself was, arguably, marred by Hunter's choice of speeds - always on the fast side - which short-circuited some of the might and majesty of the work. Tenor Matthew Marriott was very weak, though that issue was sidelined by some superb enunciation from the choirs, especially in the long, inexorable and volcanic build up to the great climax of Judex Crederis. The impressive Rodgers organ gave the music real weight.
The hall also proved a delightfully apt space for Haydn's pocketsized Missa Brevis, with McPhee conducting his splendidly-voiced choir and an ensemble of just 11 strings. Huge turnout for the event.
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