Titled Songs of Antiquity, this recital by baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton began and ended both in the past and in darkness, the Prologue and Epilogue composed by…
Year: 2023
Silver Bells: VOCES8 on Christmas Eve
In 2021, VOCES8 invited us to pull a Christmas Cracker. This year they encouraged us to relish the quiet sparkle of Silver Bells. Their Christmas Eve live stream, from the…
A seasonal masterpiece: Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols at Temple Church
Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, for three-part treble voices and harp, is one of the composer’s most joyful works, its expression direct, strong and true. It was composed in the…
Resonemus laudibus: a Renaissance Christmas from The Sixteen at Wigmore Hall
“Let praises resound!” was the rallying cry of this Wigmore Hall lunchtime recital of Christmas music by The Sixteen. It’s common, these days, for vocal ensembles to juxtapose old and…
A children-friendly Hansel and Gretel at Covent Garden
Hunger and gluttony; poverty and glamour; homelessness and tinselly angels; the reality of rags and the sparkle of magic. The stark juxtapositions evident on the Strand, during my walk from…
An imaginative disc of French sacred song from Ad Fontes
This recent compilation for solo voice, harp and organ is a delightful tour d’horizon of songs referencing the Virgin Mary, with works written by those associated with the French organist-composer…
O Magnum Mysterium: The Gesualdo Six celebrate Advent at LIVE from London
The Gesualdo Six performed at the very first LIVE from London festival, back in the summer of 2020 presenting music associated with the Compline service, the works linked by a…
Götterdämmerung at Opera Australia
In one small but powerful and sobering moment, with micro-second flashbacks of digital imagery taking the audience back to where it all began seven days previously, it rather felt like…
VOCES8: LIVE from London – Christmas 2023
In a personal note to accompany his second solo disc, Bach, VOCES8’s artistic director Barnaby Smith observed that approaching his ‘beloved’ Bach’s music filled him with ‘some trepidation’: ‘I’m sure…
Die schöne Müllerin: Thomas Guthrie and Barokksolistene take Schubert’s song-cycle back to its roots
The first complete performance of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin took place in Vienna’s Musikverein on 4th May 1856, by the baritone Julius Stockhausen (1826–1906) accompanied by the Viennese Vice-Hofkapellmeister, Benedict…