Reviews & Press

What the papers say

BACCHUS AS COMPOSER
On: 'Quartet for Diverse Flutes'
Musical America (U.S.A.)
  Peter Bacchus' Quartet for Diverse Flutes proves entertaining and repeatedly listenable.
Calgary Herald (Canada)
  It paled next to Peter Bacchus' fluent Quartet for Diverse Flutes (1985), a compelling work by a ten year member of the Force.
On: 'The Wind in Tall Trees'
Classical New Jersey Society Journal (U.S.A.)
  "[Bacchus] is the owner of a fine ear for orchestral color. The first movement, "Swept Away/Reverie",blew along like the wind toward an unknowable goal … His shimmering clusters in the strings and slides to new pitches captured the essence of tree limbs swaying, making the wind "visible". "Shifting Winds", the second movement, proved to be a driving and exciting dance. Meters changed and dynamic levels rose and fell effectively."
On: 'Magnificat, Petita Suite'
Jorge de Persia - La Vanguardia December ‘05
  Christmas Concert - "The Magnificat of Bacchus (for brass instruments, organ, piano, percussion and choir with solo parts) presents a demanding vocal part. It is also of a high musical level, very effective in terms of counterpoint, it is orchestrated clearly and precisely, and at the same time being a melodically expressive work. It is well written, filled with canon like figures, contrasts of color between vocal groups, rhythmic games in the Quia fecit, and subtle colors in the instruments and in the accessible solo parts. all of it very well executed by the girls of the choir. The result was then eloquent, given the capacity, enthusiasm and precision of the singers."
Xavier Chavarria – Revista Musical Catalana January ‘06
  A Celebration with Premier - "…The main dish of the evening was the premier of the Magnificat by the American composer, resident in Catalonia, Peter John Bacchus, for double choir, brass quartet, organ, piano, percussion and handbells. Bacchus knows to perfection the possibilities of the Cor Vivaldi and he has written a work which is tailored to them: a very demanding piece without concessions, in a harmonic language on the borders of tonality, a timbrically rich work which is suggestive and effective, and which has some devilish rhythms. Cor Vivaldi resolved the challenges with great dignity, with admirable solo interventions and some very fine instrumental work, especially in the keyboards…As the Cor Vivaldi continues to consolidate and mature with this Magnificat, the piece will sound yet more in all it’s splendor. The titanic effort of the singers received a double reward: that of an unconditionally enthusiastic audience, which filled the hall to the gills, and that of their conductor (Óscar Boada), who congratulated them effusively and enthusiastically."