Music
Ludus Baroque Chamber Orchestra and Choir
Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
Miranda Heggie
Four stars
In what is perhaps one of the most compelling musical narratives of the Christmas Story, Ludus Baroque, in their performance of J S Bach's Christmas Oratorio, lent truly celestial qualities to this sublime dialogue between Earth and Heaven.
The chorus, though not large in number, produced a strong and potent sound, evidently comprising a scrupulously selected group of vocalists. Splintering into smaller ensembles at points throughout the piece, the careful consideration of singers was further evident as voices were not only appropriately juxtaposed with each other, but splendidly suited to the particular nuances of the music.
The orchestra played with a spritely buoyancy, full of festive cheer, although sadly tuning and balance issues let them down at times, most notably in the introduction to the second cantata when strings and woodwind were particularly at odds.
The quartet of soloists were each equally thrilling as they illustrated the composer's deep theological insight through their portrayal of the various Biblical figures.
Tenor Joshua Elliot gave a particularly compelling performance of St Luke the Evangelist, while soprano Fflur Wyn's clear but rich soprano voice brought an engaging tenderness to the role of St Anna the prophetess. Her duets with baritone Will Berger were beautifully blended, with their melismatic passages gracefully intermingling. Alto Catherine Backhouse sang the role of the Archangel Gabriel with assured precision and brought a dark sense of foreboding to St Mary's recitative in the fifth cantata as she learns of King Herod's wrath.
Baroque violinist Oliver Webber led the orchestra with style and aplomb, and his solo passage in the trio aria towards the end of the penultimate cantata was exquisite, his elaborate ornamentation curling round the three voices like a living vine.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article