Kaija Saariaho’s latest opera, first seen at the 2021 Festival d’Aix en Provence, has now reached another of its co-commissioners, the Royal Opera House. It would be difficult to overstate…
‘Babi Yar’: Shostakovich, Noseda and the LSO
Shostakovich’s ‘Babi Yar’ Symphony, his thirteenth, is amongst his greatest works – and yet in a sense it disappeared completely after its troubled premiere on December 18th, 1962. The composer…
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.…
One Good Friday: two St John Passions
After the reverential intimacy of Johann Sebastiani’s St Matthew Passion at Wigmore Hall, on Good Friday evening J.S. Bach’s St John Passion – performed at the Barbican Hall by the…
Johann Sebastiani’s St Matthew Passion at Wigmore Hall
On Good Friday, it was out with the new and in with the old at Wigmore Hall. A little context, first. In Germany, Baroque music was embedded in religious culture,…
Tannhäuser at Salzburg
Tannhäuser made the young Richard Wagner’s reputation. Charles Baudelaire, Franz Liszt, Oscar Wilde, Queen Victoria and other luminaries became obsessed with Wagner’s portrayal (and subtle critique) of the struggle between…
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…
Bryn Terfel and Alexander Soddy in Wagner and Bruckner with the Philharmonia
Wagner and Bruckner often make a good coupling in concerts – if they have the right conductor. Musically they can be close – but they do need to be treated…
Handel in Rome: Nardus Williams and the Dunedin Consort at Wigmore Hall
London audiences seem to have been frequently invited to travel back to Handel’s Rome of late. After In the Realms of Sorrow at Stone Nest during the London Handel Festival…
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…