Musical Opinion / May/June 2008
(Review of Aurora's recent CD release with David Campbell)
Robert Matthew-Walker
****

David Campbell is well known as one of the leading British clarinettists of his generation, and this very fine new CD from Clarinet Classics brings three Concertos, two of which were composed for him. It opens with a quite outstanding and beautiful performance of Finzi'swondrous work, followed by a relatively new piece, Agnostic, a Concerto for Clarinet, Strings and Percussion by Graham Fitkin, dating from 1997. This fits very well with the Finzi and shows itself to be a finely composed, highly atmospheric composition, although the title of the work remains somewhat obscure and might eventually militate against it receiving the wider audience the music clearly deserves. Finally, Carl Davis' Concerto, a work the finale of which caused me some concern at the World Premiere in 1984, in that I was not sure that the composer had successfully integrated the various tempi of the music. In this performance it comes across as a much more successful conclusion to a work that deserves to enter the repertoire, attractive but not flippant, and clearly music by a confident composer who clearly knows what he is doing at all times and why. The Aurora Orchestra plays very well indeed for its distinguished soloist, and Nick Collon is much to be commended for his ability as an accompanist in works that are by no means easy to direct, The recording quality is superb, making this a valuable CD which is most recommended.

Opera Now / March/April 2008
Roderick Dunnett
****

...A cleverly designed show, a heroic costume team, much acting to die for, and vocals to match (plus a 21-strong band wreathed in in Krasa-like irony by conductor Nicholas Collon). And poingnancy? In swathes.

L'Orient le Jour (Beirut) / February 2008
Edgar Davidian
****

There was a thunderous applause for a long serenade, rich in brilliantly varied modulations.....a long standing ovation by the audience, absolutely delighted and charmed by such talented youth and this perfect performance.

Sunday Times / December 2007
Paul Driver
****

The opening concert, at Shoreditch, was very different in ethos, and a most unusual juxtaposition of items, yet unexpectedly conjured the Christmas spirit. Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, played by the new, young Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon, was written as a present for the composer’s wife, Cosima, and first performed on the staircase of their villa near Lucerne on the morning of her birthday, Christmas Day. In the intimacy of St Leonard’s, with an acoustic well suited to chamber forces, one could easily imagine that occasion. Each phrase sounded as fresh and near as if you were on those stairs yourself.

In contrast was the grand sweep and plangent lyricism of Schubert’s Mass No 6 in E flat, performed by the orchestra with the Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, under Geoffrey Webber.

Evening Standard / December 2007
Nick Kimberley
****

UPBEAT FESTIVAL OPENING
Stuck for present ideas? Follow Richard Wagner's example. He wrote his Siegfried Idyll for his wife, Cosima. Not content with merely giving her the score, he secretly arranged for it to be played on the stairs as a surprise wake-up call on Christmas morning. Well, it's better than a book token. Short, to the point and written for small orchestra, the Idyll is everything that Wagner's operas aren't. Yet as demonstrated in this performance by 12 players from the Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon, it has genuine narrative drive and an enchanting transparency. Brief solos for flute, then clarinet, then horn had poise, while the strings played with warmth but without applying any sentimental overlay.

Opening Spitalfields Winter Festival, it made an upbeat, secular counterweight to Schubert's darkly ambivalent Mass No 6, written in the last year of his life. Here the orchestra tripled in size and was joined by the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, with Geoffrey Webber as conductor. Despite the augmented forces, the orchestral textures remained bold and clear, except in the fugues, which were somewhat muddy, but not damagingly so. The choir, on the other hand, was precision itself, while the occasional solos added quasi-operatic drama.
With youth on their side, players and singers alike caught the tempestuous mood swings, from fear to rustic good humour to serene acceptance.

Musical Opinion / October 2006
Rian Evans
****

‘Had the concert given by the chamber ensemble Aurora on 22 June [‘06] been my only taste of Aldeburgh this year, it would have sufficed. Their playing of György Ligeti’s Kammerkonzert was truly memorable. Conductor Nicholas Collon recreated the magical textures of this Ligeti score, gossamer threads, crystalline chords and dancing, shimmering passages were simply beguiling. Robin Ticciati then brought the same insight to Erwin Stein’s chamber arrangement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. While nothing can replace the exhilaration of the Symphony at full force, this performance had a clarity and linear sense which revealed felicities more often lost. It also had the luxury of soprano Kate Royal singing Das Himmlische Leben from Des Knaben Wunderhorn in the final movement. This was indeed heavenly.’

The Guardian / November 2005
Judith Mackrell
****

'But the quality of sculpted simplicity for which Clark aims is lent most astonishing resonance by Aurora Orchestra, giving Stravinsky's score a particular transcendent uplift, and it's on the music's light-rippled momentum that Clark sets his choreography striving towards a centre of purged, pure stasis.'

The Times / November 2005
Features
Debra Craine
****

But first we have Apollo, a score that Clark first tackled in 1994. For the reworked 2005 version there is an added bonus: Stravinsky's glorious music played, by the Aurora Orchestra, as if it has been delivered straight from Heaven.

Independent On Sunday / November 2005
Jenny Gilbert
****

What does come as a revelation, however, is Stravinsky's 1928 score. Twenty-two-year-old Robin Ticciati coaxes the most intoxicating sounds from the Aurora Orchestra strings, teasing single melodic strands from the rich, six-part texture with the skill of a master weaver, and finessing the overall swell with a sculptor's care. Though I've heard and loved this music a hundred times, its oddly matched material " the modal Greek tunes, the French baroque dances, the café waltzes and foxtrots " have never seemed so sweetly melded or convincing.