Alice Coote's recital the the Wigmore Hall, on Wednesday 27th, with the English Concert directed by Harry Bicket, was a slightly uneasy mixture of vocal items. It was one of those programmes which seemed to have been constructed on the basis of 'things I'd like to sing' rather than a coherent narrative. So that Coote started with Monteverdi's Lamento di Arianna and then went on to sing a pair of Dowland songs before finishing with Handel's cantata La Lucrezia. In between these items the English Concert offered us Vivaldi's Sonata La Folia, Vivaldi's violin Concerts Il Grosso Mogul and a Vivaldi Cello concerto.
Now Coote is one of those singers who has managed to hang on to her period performance strand whilst still running an impressive career singing Strauss, Elgar and co. And when she performs it is never less than interesting, never. Her way with Monteverdi's Lament was mesmerising, detailed and large scale. She was accompanied by a substantial continuo group which included two fretted instruments, a harp, cello, double bass plus keyboard. The result was thrilling and vivid, but perhaps a little big boned.
Coote's way with the music was in fact so vivid, that you can't imagine her sustaining such a level of detail throughout an entire opera. And there is a case her for 'less is more'. This was definitely the case with the Dowland, where Coote seemed in danger of overshadowing her accompanist, William Carter. But it was in Handel's cantata that her approach brought immense dividends, actually using the music to drive the drama you almost felt that Coote was in danger of committing suicide herself. This was a coruscating performance. Can't someone persuade a record company to record this singer in Handel cantata's before her voice gets too big for the repertoire.
Before the concert started Coote was announced as having only recently recovered from 'flu but there seemed happily no sign of this in her singing.
The English Concert opened with the Vivaldi sonata in a thrilling performance led by Rachel Podger. And Podger shone even more in the cascades of notes which Vivaldi provides in his violin concerto, her performed with the surviving cadenzas so that we had an even closer idea of what it might be like to hear Vivaldi himself playing.
Jonathan Manson was the elegant soloist in the Vivaldi cello concerto.
After all the tumult of Handel's cantata had died down, the English Concert sent us home, toes tapping, with a delightful account of Pachelbel's Canon
Friday, 29 October 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
What about blowing the box to pieces: composer Eímear Noone on writing for video games, films and TVEímear Noone (Photo: Andy Paradise) Dublin and LA-based composer Eímear Noone is known for her scores for video games, films and TV. She re...
-
Bach: Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen - Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska - Wigmore Hall (taken from live s...
-
Holly Harman Ground: Nicola Matteis, Heinrich Biber, Turlough O'Carolan/James Oswald, Marco Uccellini, Alice Zawadzki, Sid Goldsmith; H...
-
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, cellist Senja Rummukainan & conductor Ryan Bancroft at 2024 Lichfield Festival (Photo: Tyler Whiting) F...
-
Noah Max (Photo: Richard Ecclestone) Last month, Toccata Classics released a disc of the four string quartets by the young British composer...
-
Jack Bazalgette (Photo: Ehimetalor Unuabona) Jack Bazalgette is perhaps best known as the co-founder and director of through the noise , wh...
-
Natalie Burch, James Way and Annemarie Federle at St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington where their recording of Britten's Canticles ...
-
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro - Sarasota Opera, 2025 - (Photo: Robert Millington for Sarasota Opera) Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro , Verdi: Stiff...
-
Jonathan Sells (Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell) In April, the Monteverdi Choir released a disc of motets by Bruckner and Gesualdo conducted by J...
-
Britten: Peter Grimes - Nicky Spence - Welsh National Opera, 2025 (Photo: Dafydd Owen) Britten: Peter Grimes; Nicky Spence, Sally Matthews,...
No comments:
Post a Comment