ReviewsDecember 2005, The Oxford Times‘St Barnabas in Jericho is possibly one of Oxford’s most splendid, more ornate and most intriguing churches … On Saturday night, Jubilate! harnessed all those features to turn their annual Christmas concert into an occasion that was both moving and joyous. … As always, the sound was pure, controlled and exquisite … The evening was a seasonal treat from beginning to end, every song performed with care and devotion under the firm control of Jubilate’s new conductor, Stephen Clarke. Wonderful!’November 2004, The Oxford Times‘… on Saturday night, in the glorious setting of Keble College Chapel, the Oxford-based choir Jubilate did [Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols] full justice. Under David Soward’s calm control, the different moods of the piece were finely observed, from the celebratory Wolcum Yole! To the tenderness of the lullabies, and the final exultation … The choir sang with its customary precision … This was a lovely start to the Christmas season, full of enthusiasm and joy.November 2003, The Oxford Times‘Controlled commitment like this, spontaneous in effect, with the tone warm and even, and Soward measuring his dynamic changes by the millimetre, brought to the fore Jubilate’s fine command of hushed atmospherics. We encountered it again in the two Poulenc pieces, O Magnum Mysterium and Quem Vidistes Pastores Dicite, in Tavener’s The Lamb, and most notably in the performance of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Out of Your Sleep, which struck me as hard to better.' |