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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Performed with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra:
The New Haven Register: NHSO Finale was Perfect End to a Stellar Season, May 18, 2010:
"When the choir in question happens to be, as here, the sterling Hartford Chorale (under music director Richard Coffey), the combination of well-focused, richly layered vocal tone in sync with the mighty orchestra can only leave an audience hoping for more such collaborations."
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Brahms Requiem
Performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra:
The Hartford Courant: HSO Director Auditions Start With A Challenging Shift, November 14, 2009:
"it was the Hartford Chorale singers, prepared by music director Richard Coffey, and two soloists in particular, soprano Amanda Forsythe and bass-baritone Kevin Deas, who carried the requiem.
The Chorale nailed the difficult choral entry - from which the spirituality of the work seems to emanate - with perfect balance and lovely German diction."
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In The Spotlight: Schumann & Brahms, November 14, 2009:
"The orchestra and chorale were very well prepared for the pairing of Romantic era works on the bill. The orchestra performed both pieces concisely, with dedication to the score and an understanding of the style of the period. Although there were some of the inevitable balance issues that occur when voices and instruments occupy the same time and space, the chorale and orchestra performed admirably throughout the Brahms."
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Verdi Requiem
Performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra:
The Hartford Courant: Hartford Symphony Meets The Requiem Challenge, April 4, 2009:
"The Hartford Chorale, prepared by music director Richard Coffey, broke cleanly, in forte, from the music that came before, and sang both the details and the message of the text, through dynamic extremes, in beautifully executed vocal motions."
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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra:
The Hartford Courant: A Memorable Beethoven's Ninth, October 26, 2008:
"But it was the Hartford Chorale, prepared by the incomparable Richard Coffey, who stole the show. They stood en masse at the return of what Wagner called the"schreckensfanfare" (harrow fanfare), and it then became clear that they intended an intensification of their own they sang the lengthy German text from memory."
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Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
Performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra:
The Hartford Courant: Soulful Performance Of Beethoven?s Missa Solemnis At Bushnell, May 18, 2008:
"It was an amazingly detailed choral performance. The low alto line that opens the Gloria and every word of the quiet bass entry on 'et in terra pax' could be clearly heard. The chorus was able to maintain balance in sections in which quiet singing collides with passages sung at top volume. The 'in Gloria Dei' fugue from the Gloria had a most attractive dance quality. Attention to articulation helped define rhythmic motives and create a network of associations developed by the orchestra. In this sense, the singers really did feel like an extension of the orchestra."
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In The Spotlight: Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, May 19, 2008:
"The Mass in D Major, Opus 123, "Missa Solemnis" is a Mass set to music - Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei - and requires soloists to perform seemingly impossible vocal gymnastics. The distinctive voices of soprano Inna Dukach, mezzo soprano Janine Hawley, tenor Steven Tharp, and bass Kevin Deas were reverent, supplicatory, solemn, joyous, earning heightened appreciation for the wondrous dexterity of the human voice. At times, the chorus sopranos sustained notes that trailed away like a bell: reverberations disappeared into nothingness."
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