14 May 2024
The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique performs all of the Beethoven symphonies at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, and at the Philharmonie de Paris, in May 2024. The Monteverdi Choir joins the ORR for Beethoven’s Mass in C major and Symphony No. 9, with soloists Lucy Crowe (soprano), Alice Coote (mezzo soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor) and William Thomas (bass).
The Telegraph ★★★★
A gloriously optimistic affair...In the First Symphony, there was beautiful elegance while in the Mass, pathos and anguish entered the picture. Like Gardiner, Sousa is keenly aware of the meaning of words of the Mass. He made sure the Monteverdi Choir – rich and full-blooded in sound as always – caught the pleading quality of “miserere nobis” (have mercy upon us), and they found an especially harsh sound for “Crucifixus etiam pro nobis” (and was crucified also for us). The orchestral players gilded these moments with their plaintive descending phrases. Sousa was fortunate to have in the front of the choir four soloists – Lucy Crowe, Alice Coote, Allan Clayton and bass William Thomas – who were as individually fine, and beautifully blended, as any quartet I can remember in recent years.
The Arts Desk ★★★★★
Sousa and the ORR (supported in the Ninth by the Monteverdi Choir and a stellar quartet of soloists) delivered performances of radiant intensity and commitment, filling the relatively small space of the church with an electric crackle of excitement tempered by virtuosic swagger and – not least – infectious fun.
Bachtrack ★★★★★
Extraordinary attention to detail…delivered by an orchestra of astonishing collective virtuosity.
Operalogue (Hugh Canning)
Listening to these Beethoven concerts conducted by...the 36-year-old Dinis Sousa...it was hard to imagine the symphonies more thrillingly performed than they were here. This was a young man’s Beethoven of visceral impact in which the notes seemed to leap off the page, almost as if they were new.
ResMusica
One couldn't dream of a better ensemble than the Monteverdi Choir to make the Ode to Joy shine so brilliantly, accompanied by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique giving its very best, adding to the overall jubilation under the direction of a conductor who imparts his tremendous enthusiasm to all the musicians.
Premiere Loge
From the first chords of Beethoven's Second Symphony, one sensed that something magical is about to happen. Rarely have we heard such clarity in each section, which the young conductor shaped with astonishing precision, leaving us full of admiration…Undoubtedly, Dinis Sousa is one of the great conductors we will have to reckon with in the years to come.”
Musique d’aujord’hui
It was a breath of fresh air that blew for four evenings at the Philharmonie in the interpretation of Beethoven. We knew from recordings the capabilities of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, thirty years ago, under the direction of its founder, John Eliot Gardiner. What this same British ensemble presented in Paris under the direction of Dinis Sousa, with the brilliance of its powerful contrasts, striking colors, and rhythms, gave the impression of an instant recreation of the most fascinating kind.
