I Fagiolini can always be relied upon to bring a double shot of invention and intellect to a choral Christmas cocktail. Stalwarts of VOCES8’s Live from London festivals, their Monterverdian…
A Renaissance Christmas: Stile Antico, live from London
Place ‘A Renaissance Christmas’ alongside ‘Stile Antico’ and one might comfortingly anticipate familiar festive fare, immaculately performed. That final expectation was rewardingly fulfilled in this instalment of VOCES8’s Live from…
Singing of surpassing beauty from The Dunedin Consort: Ich habe genug
Here’s a disc of outstanding solo performances from the Dunedin Consort of three of J.S. Bach’s finest cantatas. John Butt’s musicians have already garnered considerable critical acclaim, and two of…
Gallic elegance from Les Arts Florissants in Charpentier’s Un Oratorio de Noël
Originally issued almost forty years ago, this re-release reminds us of the ease and certainty with which William Christie navigates his way through uncharted French Baroque territory at a time…
‘Hymns to the Virgin’: The Tallis Scholars at St John’s Smith Square
St John’s Smith Square’s 36th Christmas Festival has gone ahead as planned. That in itself is something to grant seasonal cheer, especially at what again is proving a trying time…
A stirring Nabucco at Covent Garden
The run-up to curtain-up wasn’t auspicious. The Royal Opera House prefaced this opening night of the revival of Daniele Abbado’s 2013 production of Nabucco with an earlier announcement that the…
Kirill Karabits conducts the LSO in mixed performances at the Barbican
Dedicated to the memory of Bernard Haitink, this Barbican concert with the London Symphony Orchestra could have been stymied by cancellations of conductor and soloist. But Ukrainian-born Kirill Karabits (more…
Monteverdian mystery, magic and majesty from L’Arpeggiata at the Barbican
A discontented and depressed composer demonstrates his talents in the hope of employment elsewhere? Is that how we are to understand the publication in Venice, in 1610, of Monteverdi’s Vespers…
Arvo Pärt: Passio
Given the cult following Arvo Pärt has attracted over the last thirty years, it is interesting to note how seldom the chaste landscape of Passio – with its relatively modest…
Cinquecento – a class act in the sacred music of Jacob Regnart: Missa Christ ist erstanden
Thanks to two recordings by the Vienna-based Cinquecento issued on Hyperion, the name of Jacob Regnart (c.1540-99) has become more familiar. On this showing the Flemish-born composer will continue to…