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…
Category: Performances
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…
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…
Siegfried at Opera Australia
Arriving for the penultimate installment of Wagner’s Ring can make it feel like it’s almost over but, welcomingly, there are hours ahead to get to know Siegfried, Wagner’s heroic titular…
Inspirational Christmas Oratorio from Masaaki Suzuki and the Choir and Orchestra of the OAE
Whether or not J.S. Bach’s seasonal work is an oratorio in the strict sense of the word is questionable, and for the purposes of a review, it is perhaps immaterial.…