With two Ring cycles completed some twenty years ago and another due next year, it’s not for nothing Longborough Festival Opera is known as the Bayreuth of the Cotswolds. All…
Author: David Truslove
Exaltation from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir fit for a King
Hymn of the Forests was the programme title for what was really a celebration of events earlier in the day down the road at Westminster Abbey. There was certainly much…
Past Glories Revisited from the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford
This bumper box set from Decca encapsulates a golden age for the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford. Encased in their former jacket designs, the 19 discs showcase recordings made during…
Breath-taking performances from The Sixteen
In today’s increasingly secular society where rural churches are now no longer obliged to hold a weekly service, musical settings of devotional texts can create spiritual balm for many listeners.…
Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil: Choir of King’s College London
Composed in under a fortnight in 1915, Rachmaninov’s monumental All-Night Vigil is recognised as one of the most challenging works in the a cappella repertory. Alongside his Liturgy of St John Chrysostom…
Magnificat 3: The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge
For over five centuries, the service of evensong has inspired countless musical settings of the evening canticles. Its continuing development from composers working within the Anglican tradition (and without) shows…
Akhnaten still compels at English National Opera
Those lavish costumes, the fiery sun and the troupe of jugglers continue to leave a vivid impression in Phelim McDermott’s sumptuous staging of Akhnaten. Now in its second revival since…
Mary Bevan on superb form in Signum’s Visions Illuminées
If you think soprano Mary Bevan is associated only with Baroque repertoire, think again. Yes, she’s recently wowed audiences in Handel’s Alcina at Covent Garden, and she’s about to embark…
WNO’s radical Magic Flute misfires
Out with the old and in with the new is the modus operandi for aspiring operatic directors. In this new production of The Magic Flute Daisy Evans takes her prerogative…
Bewitching Hänsel & Gretel from Mid Wales Opera
Whenever Hänsel and Gretel comes around, it’s always an opportunity for a director to bring a fresh perspective on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Humperdinck’s 1893 stage work, hailed by Richard…