Southbank Sinfonia’s involvement in the National Theatre production of the St Matthew Passion was noted by a number of leading critics. Read on for some of the highlights…
The Stage Graham Rogers
The young musicians of Southbank Sinfonia excel, playing on modern instruments with the stylish buoyancy of period bands.
Observer Kate Kellaway
But the most moving moments of all are when single instrumentalists stand up and walk into the circle. Nicola Barbagli’s oboe solo in the garden of Gethsemane is one such overwhelming moment. Matthew Truscott’s violin solo is another and Lindsey Ellis seems to dance with her lovely flute, as if bending in the wind.
Independent Michael Church (4/5 stars)
…And – much aided by the translation which Goodwin has compiled through years of working with singers – this they certainly deliver, from the moment the first great orchestral and choral statement wells up from the bowels of the earth. Since the band is the youthful Southbank Sinfonia and the chorus comes from the Guildhall, the energy is electrifying, with the instrumental solos – pre-eminently on violin, cello, flute, and oboe – being every bit as dramatic as the arias they accompany. This is emphatically not a concert: it’s life and death in the raw.
The Independent Anna Picard
Conductor Paul Goodwin draws some finely detailed, idiomatic playing from Southbank Sinfonia
Evening Standard Henry Hitchings (4/5 stars)
…And the young members of the South Bank Sinfonia play with conviction, conducted alertly by Paul Goodwin, who has also compiled and edited a crisp English translation.
