The Royal Northern Sinfonia and Chorus, performing for the first time under the title bestowed by the Queen, opened its new season at The Sage Gateshead with contrasting accounts of the Requiem.

Takemitsu’s Requiem for String Orchestra, all but ten minutes long, featured an intense lyricism and range of dissonant harmonies which were brilliantly portrayed.

A German Requiem, completed by Brahms at the death of his mother, was intended to serve as consolation to the bereaved rather than a plea for redemption of the dead.

Musical director Thomas Zehetmair crafted a radiant rendition conveying the upbeat spirit of the work.

The opening movement was carefully measured, with the chorus' mellifluous lines flowing with an ineffable grace. In the second movement, timpanist Marney O’Sullivan played the underlying pulses with lightest of touches, as Zehetmair built up the tension to wonderful climaxes.

Baritone Matthew Brock gave an authorative account of Lord teach me that I must have an end, engaging in passionate dialogue with chorus, while in the ensuing section the fugal passages of How Lovely is thy Dwelling Place were laid out in all their glory.

Soprano Elizabeth Atherton’s You now have Sorrow was sung softly yet invested with a powerful poignancy.

O Death, where is they sting? was hurled out with gusto by the choir, while the final Blessed are the dead ended in a serene silence.

It will be Zehetmair’s last season as the sinfonia's musical director.  But his association with the orchestra will continue with his appointment at the end of his term to the position of Conductor Laureate - an announcement greeted with cheers.

 

 

 

But his association with the orchestra will continue – a relationship cemented with the announcement of appointment at the end of his term to the position of Conductor Laureate.