choral music
Morison, Williams, RLPO, Davis, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool review – a vision of near perfectionTuesday, 11 June 2019
It wasn’t really the orchestra’s night. Nor the soloists'. Nor, even, the conductor's. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir totally stole the show, well surpassing the incredibly high standards which they already regularly attain and... Read more... |
CBSO, Volkov, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - Mahler goes BauhausFriday, 26 April 2019
Just over a decade ago it was predicted by those supposedly in the know that Ilan Volkov would succeed Sakari Oramo as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In the event, the gig went to Andris Nelsons, and it was probably for... Read more... |
Bach St John Passion, Les Arts Florissants, Christie, Barbican review – sombre but engagingWednesday, 20 March 2019
William Christie kicked off Passion season in London this year with a particularly sombre reading of the St John. The veteran conductor brought his French choir and orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, and a line-up of relatively young soloists to the... Read more... |
Berlioz Requiem, Spyres, Philharmonia Orchestra, Nelson, St Paul's Cathedral review - masses and voidsSaturday, 09 March 2019
Asked to choose five or ten minutes of favourite Berlioz on the 150th anniversary of his death (yesterday), surely few would select anything from his giant Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts). This is a work to shock and awe, not to be loved - music... Read more... |
Bernheim, Finley, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - top Italians in second gearTuesday, 05 March 2019
Would Verdi and Puccini have composed more non-operatic music, had they thrived in a musical culture different to Italy's? Hard to say. What we do know is that they both became absolute masters of orchestration – Puccini rather quicker than Verdi,... Read more... |
Total Immersion: Ligeti, Barbican review - exploring a 20th-century master mindTuesday, 05 March 2019
A day devoted entirely to the life and work of György Ligeti celebrated this composer’s remarkable oeuvre through a sequence programme of film, talks and concerts of his music. The final two of these performances were a short recital of his choral... Read more... |
Monteverdi Vespers, The Sixteen, Christophers, Cadogan Hall review – majesty on a modest scaleWednesday, 13 February 2019
The Monteverdi Vespers are usually a grand affair, but Harry Christophers showed they can work just as well on a smaller scale. Cadogan Hall has a dry acoustic, at least compared to St Mark’s Basilica, so there is little opportunity for billowing... Read more... |
La Damnation de Faust, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - 'concert opera' indeedMonday, 11 February 2019
Berlioz called it a "concert opera". His telling of the Faust story is in scenes and highly theatrical, but a bit of a challenge to put on in the theatre, with its marching armies, floating sylphs, dancing will-o’-the-wisps and galloping horses. It... Read more... |
Bach B minor Mass, BBCSO, Butt, Barbican review - large-scale losses and a few gainsMonday, 04 February 2019
Practitioners of musical authenticity and scholarly research, so guarded and protective of their territory in the early days, now like to spread the love around. So if an amateur choir of 100-plus like the BBC Symphony Chorus, celebrating its 90th... Read more... |
Timothy Day: I Saw Eternity the Other Night review - heavenly harmony, earthly discordSunday, 30 December 2018
In 1955, Sylvia Plath attended the Advent Carol Service at King’s College in Cambridge. Like countless other visitors, listeners and viewers before and since, she was entranced by “the tall chapel, with its cobweb lace of fan-vaulting” lit by “... Read more... |
L'enfance du Christ, BBCSO, Gardner, Barbican review - Berlioz's kindest wonderTuesday, 18 December 2018
Like the fountains that sprang up in the desert during the Holy Family's flight into Egypt - according to a charming episode in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew - Berlioz's new-found creativity in the 1850s flowed from a couple of bars of organ music he... Read more... |
Epiphoni Consort, Reader, St Paul's Covent Garden review - historical drama with seasonal spiritMonday, 17 December 2018
Like a supermarket "Christmas Dinner" sandwich, cramming the delights of a full festive lunch into every bite, Epiphoni Consort’s The Christmas Truce was at once historical play, choral concert and carol service, and so wonderfully enjoyable I didn’... Read more... |
