REVIEW: A real slice of music-theatre
The main works were Arion And The Dolphin, by Jonathan Dove, and the popular favourite for which it was written as a companion-piece, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Dove’s nearly-new piece tells of a poet who wins a singing competition and then evades murderous sailors greedy for his prize-money.
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Hide AdThe drama is portrayed both in words and in music that is also vivid in capturing the sea’s shimmer and swell.
A counter-tenor sings the role of Arion, and here a garlanded and dramatically expressive Joseph Bolger was always on the move. PCU was also joined by fine, characterful choirs from Castle Primary School, Portchester, and Prebendal School, Chichester.
Dramatic movement also enriched Orff’s score, still effective in the version with pianos and percussion rather than orchestra, and here conductor David Gostick encouraged vivid characterisation from the soloists, with soprano Faye Eldret and bass Edward Price joining Bolger as potent and engagingly characterful soloists – yes, highly theatrical again.
MIKE ALLEN