CELEBRATE HANDEL!
Boston Globe (Jeremy Eichler)
"In the Coronation Anthems...Christophers managed to draw from the combined forces an impressively wide expressive range given the confines of each brief work."
"The chorus sang with both clarity of detail and an attractive depth of tone."
Classical Voice New England (Marvin Ward)
“Musicians, singers, and soloist responded to [Christophers'] style with an energetic and finely rendered performance. Diction was excellent and dynamics well nuanced. This was an auspicious beginning for his tenure."
The Edge (Ed Tapper)
"The works were sung and played to perfection...with the Handel and Haydn chorus producing a honeyed tone, and, under their new leader, achieving a total transparency of texture."
"With Artistic Director Harry Christophers joining Advisor Sir Roger Norrington, Principal Conductor Grant Llewellyn, and Conductor Laureate Christopher Hogwood, Boston's Handel and Haydn Society qualifies as our best-guarded artistic treasure."
The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)
"Christophers is smart, but straightforward, and conducts with physical verve and emotional openness--he's at home both with Handel's rhetoric and his sublimated rapture."
"In collaboration with John Finney, Christophers draws performances from the Handel and Haydn chorus that are consistent marvels of clarity, poise, and emotional commitment."
BEETHOVEN AND MOZART
Boston Globe (David Weininger)
“Egarr led the A-major concert, K. 488, from the fortepiano in a lucid and elegant performance that featured a tight rapport with the orchestra.”
“There was no gainsaying in the results [Egarr] achieved, especially the near-perfect balance between richness and clarity in the orchestral texture and the prominence of the cellos and basses.”
Classical Voice New England (Marvin Ward)
“Performances were crisp, precise, with excellent dynamic control and tempo variation.”
“These were impressive, convincing, and satisfying readings that carried the audience right along, and it gave Egarr and the Handel and Haydn ‘band’ a richly deserved standing ovation at the conclusion.”
The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)
“During his solo [in the second movement of the piano concerto], Egarr seemed to be drawing tragedy directly from a clear, deep well, and I found myself nearly fighting tears.”
“Certainly the orchestra's virtuosic playing once again threw down the kind of intellectual guantlet one has come to expect from Handel and Haydn, and the early music movement in general.”
HANDEL'S MESSIAH
The Boston Globe (David Perkins)
“When the accompaniment was light, the chorus’s soft and nimble singing often created a sparkling effect, as in ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates.’”
“In ‘Their sound is gone out,’ the chorus entered quietly and slowly, as if calling from the other side of the world just what was being represented. The evening was full of surprises.”
The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)
“Daniel's reading was nothing if not fresh, and his players and singers responded to every surprising decision with excitement and passion - and this kind of intellectual commitment to musical exploration is, I admit, what impresses me most about this group; they'll follow their conductor anywhere, even when he decides to open the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ at something close to a whisper.”
“The orchestra was the conductor's real musical focus, and I have to give Daniel props for the most cleanly delineated musical layering I've heard yet from H&H - in this department, he rivals James Levine.”
“Daniel drew particularly fine work from the timpani, and of course the reliable Jesse Levine, Handel and Haydn's secret weapon on natural [trumpet].”
Classical Voice New England (Mary Elizabeth Nordstrom)
“Maestro Daniel guided the orchestra unpretentiously, and led the chorus and guest soloists in an expressive delivery of the familiar narrative.”
“The conductor appeared to be innovating with dynamics and tempi that actually gave this rendition the sense of a spirited story-telling to a receptive audience by an assembly of elegant troubadours.”
A BACH CHRISTMAS
The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)
“It's rare that a classical music concert manages to be cozy, and actually capture something of a ‘just us friends’ holiday atmosphere; but that's what's most striking about Handel and Haydn's ‘A Bach Christmas.’"
“In the smaller ensembles the interweave of voice and instrument was impeccable and gently lively, and Finney is to be thanked for bringing a note of humble, but genuine, joy to the holiday season.”
The Patriot Ledger (Julie Fay)
“Finney wove the chorus into the musical tapestry throughout the program, rather than consigning the orchestra to an accompanying role. The result was a performance in which the voices blended with the instruments instead of standing out.”
“The final choruses featured more beautiful singing, with the final, decisive D Major chord – soothing after all the counterpoint – providing a ringing, satisfying conclusion to this gift of a concert from the Handel and Haydn Society.”
HAYDN'S ORFEO
Financial Times (George Loomis)
"The Handel and Haydn Society's orchestra, which has enlivened Boston's musical life with period-instrument performances for some 20 years, was on fine form, as was its chorus."
Boston Phoenix (Lloyd Schwartz)
"It's hard to imagine a conductor whose phrasing and wit and sense of musical architecture could make a better case for this piece than Sir Roger."
The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)
"The orchestra sounded superb - with particular praise going to the harp and timpani."
The Edge Boston (Ed Tapper)
"It was a pleasure to hear an orchestra so attuned to the Classical idiom, and the ensemble played wonderfully throughout. The chamber-sized Handel and Haydn chorus sang with vigor and dead-on intonation."
BAROQUE GRAND TOUR
Classical Voice New England (Marvin J. Ward)
"Goodwin conducts using precise, often very energetic gestures that give clear cues to the musicians and result in excellent shaping and dynamic variety."
ROMANTIC BRAHMS
Boston Globe (Jeremy Eichler)
"The freshness here came less from ideas about tempo or phrasing, and more from the fine playing by the winds and brass that allowed one to appreciate the distinctive sonorities that a period orchestra can bring to core Romantic repertoire. And it was abundantly clear from the level of intensity and commitment in the string playing - and the warmth of the musicians' own applause afterward - that many of these players will be sad to see Llewellyn go."
Classical Voice New England (Marvin J. Ward)
"We are fortunate to have an organization that seeks to find what the initial renditions may have been like and that achieves such fine results."
MUSIC AT FEVER PITCH
Classical Voice New England (Marvin J. Ward)
"This performance was simply breathtaking."
Read more critical acclaim :
2007-2008 Season
2006-2007 Season
2005-2006 Season
2004-2005 Season
2003-2004 Season
2002-2003 Season
2001-2002 Season
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