Claims to create ‘a new and fresh perspective’ in the pre-release publicity for this St Matthew Passion are bold. We are led to expect ‘raging choirs, intimate chorales and emotionally…
Category: Reviews
Handel’s London Altos: Iestyn Davies at Kings Place
At Kings Place it’s currently half-portions and double-helpings: to ‘get round’ the 50% capacity restrictions, the answer is simply to perform the concert twice – and Iestyn Davies and the…
Rewarding performances from Philippe Herreweghe in three of J.S. Bach’s choral works
Every freshly minted disc from Philippe Herreweghe’s Collegium Vocale Gent prompts a rapturous fanfare. We take for granted the quality of each recording venture from this 74-year-old Belgian, but how…
Leeds Lieder Festival: Benjamin Britten’s Five Canticles
Benjamin Britten’s five Canticles span his compositional career, from 1947 to 1974, and reflect the eclectic musical, poetic and cultural influences and idioms which he integrated into an independent expressive…
Natalya Romaniw and Iain Burnside: a wonderful lunchtime recital at Leeds Lieder 2021
Natalya Romaniw’s compelling but frustratingly foreshortened debut as Cio-Cio San at English National Opera in February 2020 was one of the last live performances I heard before the theatres of…
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Ivan the Terrible at Grange Park Opera
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote 15 operas yet few have attained any sort of currency outside of Russia. As part of its Spaced Season 2021, Grange Park Opera presented Rimsky-Korsakov’s Ivan the Terrible…
An excellent Figaro at Opera Holland Park
What a welcome return to Holland Park this proved to be. Glorious weather helped, of course—quite a change from an earlier visit to Glyndebourne with altogether necessary overcoat and umbrella—but…
Lucile Richardot – a class act in Berio To Sing
This recent disc of Luciano Berio’s vocal music showcases the talents of the French mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot and the vocal and instrumental ensemble Le Cris de Paris. It begins with…
The music of celebrated American organist/choirmaster Gerre Hancock
This recent recording from New York’s Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is an affectionate tribute to the work of Dr. Gerre Hancock (1934-2012). The Texas-born musician was a…