Review: York University Chorus and Orchestra ****

It is good to remind ourselves that when the work was composed, almost 50 years ago, it would have been beyond the performing scope of most universities, and if there was some uneasiness in the opening Requiem aeternum, it had been totally dispelled by the thunderous day of wrath predicted in Dies irae.

While the tenor James Gilchrist tore at our emotions in "for those

that die as cattle", Roderick Williams had the nobility of utterance that looked at death in the First World War as an inevitable fact of life.

The small chamber group, that formed the accompaniment to their superb singing, was as good as any you will encounter in the concert hall, while the solo sections from the Choristers of York Minster were deeply moving.

Conductor, Peter Seymour, did not push the tempos in his meticulously directed performance, allowing the music to speak with clarity and internal balance.

York Minster