Just an hour before this performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder I had been sitting through a recital of Philip Glass’s piano Études. In one sense this was much better preparation for…
Category: Recitals/Concerts
The English Concert at Wigmore Hall: Purcell and Blow
Harry Bicket assembled the ‘Dream Team’ for this English Concert programme of music by Henry Purcell and John Blow. Seven internationally renowned singers were joined by new-kid-on-the-block, countertenor Hugh Cutting,…
England Under the Tudors: The Marian Consort at Ightham Mote
Now in its twelfth year, the Music@Malling Festival presents concerts and events in historic venues in and around West Malling in Kent, and the Marian Consort invited us to the…
A due voci: Iestyn Davies and Hugh Cutting at Wigmore Hall
This truly lovely recital represented the fruits of the introduction of the basso continuo at the end of the sixteenth century, which liberated polyphonic voices from their fundamental harmonic role…
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the Proms
John Eliot Gardiner surely named his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique with an intent that was thrillingly in evidence during this performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, the instrumentalists being joined by…
Chineke! Voices and Orchestra at the Proms
Very much a concert of two (unequal) halves, I am afraid. The first Proms performance of George Walker’s 1995 Lilacs promised and delivered much. However, the following performance of Beethoven’s…
A stirring The Dream of Gerontius from Edward Gardner and the LPO at the Proms
The final weeks of this Proms festival are serving up some terrific big choral works and, sitting in the stalls before this performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, how wonderful…
Bath Camerata on excellent form at Leominster Priory
Now in its fortieth year, the Presteigne Festival once again brought an eclectic mix of cultural events (music, film, art and poetry) to this unassuming Welsh border town. Under the…
Stateliness and sincerity from John Butt and the OAE: Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Proms
Why Bach wrote the B minor Mass is a puzzle that keeps musicologists occupied. How to perform it today is a probably unresolvable question for practitioners. The Mass began life…
Prom 49: An overwhelming ‘Resurrection’ Symphony from Sir Simon Rattle
There can be no better venue in London for a performance of Mahler’s ’Resurrection’ Symphony than the Royal Albert Hall. Those fortunate enough to acquire tickets for this sell-out concert…