Concert Review Excerpts

While Milton Moore was not a fan of Mahler, he did compliment the orchestra and chorus on performing the work.  For the full article CLICK HERE

By Milton Moore
Publication: The Day

"The Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, the ECSO Chorus and orchestra music director Toshi Shimada took on their biggest challenge to date Saturday night when they massed to perform Mahler's gigantic Symphony No. 2, the "Resurrection Symphony."

"This 90-minute epic required such a huge musical force - eight horns, five clarinets, six trumpets, two harps and a small army of timpanists and percussionists, augmented strings, the 75-voice chorus and two vocal soloists - that the 150-plus couldn't fit on the stage at the Garde Arts Center in New London. A 10-foot extension was added to reach out into the hall."

"...ample praise where praise is due: The larger the orchestra, the more difficult the issues of ensemble and intonation, and the ECSO worked very hard on this marathon performance, and it showed, both as a sum and in its parts. Principals such as trumpeter Julia Caruk, French hornist Dana Lord, English hornist Olav van Hezewijk, oboist Anne Megan and flutist Nancy Chaput, and the sectional play, especially the low brass and low strings, did justice to the complexities and nuances of the score. This is a work capable of moments of utter beauty and of hair-raising crescendos powered by boiling tympanis and brassy blaze-ups, and the orchestra did not miss in those opportunities."

"The chorus, led by director Mark Singleton, was in fine voice, from its hushed a cappella entrance to the exultant finale in full voice over the seething orchestra, the sopranos handling the high tessitura with aplomb. The vocal soloists, mezzo Janna Batys and soprano Sharla Nafziger, were good fits for their roles."