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Passions
"This
spare and serious work... is quietly impressive work"
The Times
"Passions
was a heart-arresting event...accompanied by the plaintive tones of a
solo cello with achingly beautiful choral interludes."
Time Out
"…gripping musical experience by the composer Stephen McNeff, who from the initial idea 'drew a parallel with the musical world of the Passions as exemplified by J. S. Bach' and whose writing for the voice conveyed the emotional turmoil, shock, fear and anger that engulf someone whose life has been devastated.
"Two
doorways were the minimal items of scenery, but the voices were so strongly
projected, the words so clearly articulated and the existence of the characters
so vividly delineated that, enclosed in this claustrophobic space, one
was drawn into their lives."
Opera
Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe
"McNeff's
Music is always impressive, gaunt textures of piano, clarinet, violin
and cello, twining canonic figures, harshly beautiful discordances and
intervals."
The Times
"Stephen McNeff's moving tribute to the disenfranchised - a sung Matins for her in which a single soprano voices the "prayers and memories" of women gathered in a church to honour the victims of the uprising.
"Scored
for a quartet comprising of violin, cello, clarinet (including bass clarinet)
and piano, the music frequently sounds lean and hungry, the instruments'
piercing upper registers conveying pain and anguish. Gentler episodes
sparingly offer solace. A lush, lyrical psalm ends the work."
David Blewitt The Stage
"One
of the great things about the evening is the way it does something rare-
it shows us the intimate relationship between the very young and the very
old."
The Guardian
Martin Denton, New York Theatre Archive
Time Out
Oliver Twist at the Liverpool Playhouse
"Stephen
McNeff's fine score opens with the pitiful percussion of scraped pewter
bowls and builds to a pulse- quickening suite of dissonant chamber music
for the death of Bill Sikes. McNeff also intersperses the narrative with
intriguing madrigal settings of Williams Blake's odes to poverty and oppression.
It's a fine idea that provides a sobering choral commentary to the image
of ruddy-cheeked beadles and cheerful orphans."
The
Guardian
Running Scared (Classic Rhythm at the Purcell Room)
"The
second half featured the Stephen McNeff… This is a great piece which
really use the group to their full potential..."
Christa Norton Classical Music on the Web
A Christmas Carol at the Liverpool Playhouse
"Stephen
McNeff's fine, eclectic music keeps a large ensemble of muffler-clad actor
musicians milling around evocatively"
The Guardian