Here’s yet another very effective German opera post-Weber but not by Wagner! We hear and see so few of these! I was quite taken in the past two years with…
Category: Recordings
Dmytro Popov: Hymns of Love
Two years ago, the Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov wooed the audience at Wigmore Hall with Russian romances, in a recital (with the Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Justina Gringytė) of songs by Tchaikovsky,…
Bruckner Mass in E minor & Te Deum: Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent and the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées bring together two sides of Anton Bruckner’s deep-rooted spirituality. Whether expressed through the rich polyphony of the Mass in E…
World-Premiere Recording: Montemezzi’s One-Act L’incantesimo (1943) Weaves a Spell
Here, from a performance (apparently unstaged) in the hall of the Milan Conservatory (on October 26, 2018), is a one-act opera by Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952), followed by an early Debussy…
Heaven full of Stars: Vasari Singers celebrate 40 years of music-making
With this 40th-anniversary disc celebrating four decades since its formation by the still-current director Jeremy Backhouse, Vasari Singers is now officially middle-aged. But with this twenty-eighth CD, there’s no sign…
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge / Stephen Layton Stephen Layton uncovers a rich seam of choral jewels in this collection of sacred music by Finnish choral composer and translator…
Liszt/Thalberg Opera Transcriptions & Fantasies: Marc-André Hamelin
‘Thalberg is the first pianist in the world – Liszt is unique.’ So declared, somewhat ambiguously, the impressively named Princess Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso in her Parisian salon after hearing…
King’s College Cambridge: Bruckner – Mass No.2 in E minor/Motets
While religious convictions are not necessarily a prerequisite for composers of sacred music (the agnosticism of Vaughan Williams was no barrier to his Mass in G minor nor Fauré’s atheism…
Messe Da Pacem: Music by Pierre Villette, Yves Castagnet & Maurice Ravel
Under Rupert Gough, the Choir of Royal Holloway is long acknowledged as one of the country’s most respected university ensembles and has an impressive reputation for illuminating hidden corners of…
Sturm und Drang #2: Ian Page and The Mozartists
Ian Page does like a long-term project. Alongside Classical Opera’s MOZART 250 project – which won’t reach a conclusion until 2041 – the conductor is in the process of completing…