The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
The voices of six women composers are celebrated by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and soprano Yunah Lee on this characteristically ambitious and valuable release by Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt).
As Paul Spicer, conductor of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, observes, the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is as ‘old as Christianity itself’, and programmes devoted to settings of texts which venerate the Virgin Mary are commonplace.
Ethel Smyth’s last large-scale work, written in 1930 by the then 72-year-old composer who was increasingly afflicted and depressed by her worsening deafness, was The Prison – a ‘symphony’ for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra.
‘Hamilton Harty is Irish to the core, but he is not a musical nationalist.’
‘After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.’ Aldous Huxley’s words have inspired VOCES8’s new disc, After Silence, a ‘double album in four chapters’ which marks the ensemble’s 15th anniversary.
A song-cycle is a narrative, a journey, not necessarily literal or linear, but one which carries performer and listener through time and across an emotional terrain. Through complement and contrast, poetry and music crystallise diverse sentiments and somehow cohere variability into an aesthetic unity.
One of the nicest things about being lucky enough to enjoy opera, music and theatre, week in week out, in London’s fringe theatres, music conservatoires, and international concert halls and opera houses, is the opportunity to encounter striking performances by young talented musicians and then watch with pleasure as they fulfil those sparks of promise.
“It’s forbidden, and where’s the art in that?”
Dublin-born John F. Larchet (1884-1967) might well be described as the father of post-Independence Irish music, given the immense influenced that he had upon Irish musical life during the first half of the 20th century - as a composer, musician, administrator and teacher.
The English Civil War is raging. The daughter of a Puritan aristocrat has fallen in love with the son of a Royalist supporter of the House of Stuart. Will love triumph over political expediency and religious dogma?
Beethoven Symphony no 9 (the Choral Symphony) in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.
A Louise Brooks look-a-like, in bobbed black wig and floor-sweeping leather trench-coat, cheeks purple-rouged and eyes shadowed in black, Barbara Hannigan issues taut gestures which elicit fire-cracker punch from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freischütz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
Majesté, a new recording by Le Poème Harmonique, led by Vincent Dumestre, of music by Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726) new from Alpha Classics. Le Poème Harmonique are regular visitors to London, appreciated for the variety of their programes. On Friday this week, (11/5) they'll be at St John's Smith Square as part of the London Festival of Baroque, with a programme titled "At the World's Courts".
Since the theme of this year's London Baroque Festival is Treasures from Le grand Siècle their concert will naturally include music from the court of Louis XIV, such as Lully and Charles Tessier, but with typical Le Poème Harmonique flair will focus on the French fascination with turqueries, works evoking Turkey, Arabia, China and beyond. The origins of Orientalism, which would bear fruit with Rameau Les Indes Galantes and much more.
This new recording, however, focuses on music Lalande wrote for the Chapelle Royale at Versailles, where he officiated for more than 40 years, producing 77 grands motets for the Messe du Roi. Since the monarch was Louis XIV, religious ceremonies glorified not only God but his temporal French equivalent, a consideration to take into account given the relationship between the Papacy and the French court. On this recording Vincent Dumestre and Le Poème Harmonique present three of these grands motets, Deitatis Majestate, Ecce nunc benedicte and a Te Deum.
The earliest of these, Dietatis Majestate, dates from 1681 before Lalande took up his posts at Court. As Thomas Leconte writes, it "unfolds in a single majestic sweep from a succession of récits mostly for vocal trio or quartet, and grand choral sections regularly punctuated by instrumental interludes". Ecce nunc Benedicte (1683) is a setting of Psalm 133 and may have been used on feast days. It is "at once grave and festive". Vocal ensembles alternate with elaborate choruses. At its heart is a récit, "in noctibus extollite", where the soloists, are shadowed by an instrumental récit, high voices entwining against a backdrop of low timbres (bassoon, low-pitched winds and strings). The Te Deum was performed and revised many times, becoming a regular repertoire for Le Consort Spirituel, created to provide Paris with music during Lent when non-religious music was proscribed. The version used here is based on an early manuscript, retaining various revisions made over time, enabling modern performers to understand the evolution of performance practice. It is an impressive piece , each short section flowing elegantly into the next. "Tu Rex gloriae, Christe", the organ singing along with the voices. But the last lines "Et rege eos et extolle illos unique in aeternum" could apply to,other potentates as well, and are set with suitably glorious flourish. Le Poème Harmonique and Vincent Dumestre are joined by soloists Emmanuelle de Negri, Dagmar Šašková, Sean Clayton, Cyril Auvity and Andre Morsch with Ensemble Aedes (led by Mathieu Romano). .
Anne Ozorio