In case you missed it: January on Planet Hugill - Ligeti, Menotti and George Benjamin

Welcome to January on Planet Hugill, a month when we were named as as one of Feedspot Blog Reader's Top 25 Opera Blogs & Websites on the Web.

It was month which also included three remarkably different 20th and 21st century operas, Menotti's The Medium, Ligeti's Le grand Macabre and George Benjamin's Written on Skin.

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▪ Concentrated intensity: George Benjamin and Martin Crimp's Written on Skin revived at Covent Garden

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▪ Black morality tale: Ligeti's Le grand Macabre from Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican

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▪ Dark doings: Menotti's The Medium from Magnetic Opera, Menotti's grand-guignol opera in a performance from a strong young cast in a basement theatre

Wigmore Hall

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▪ Uneven partnership: Maria Katzarava & Stefano La Colla at Rosenblatt Recitals

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▪ 1767 - a retrospective: eleven-year old Mozart in context from Classical Opera

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▪ Muhly, Argento and Schumann from Alice Coote and Julius Drake, three powerful cycles, exploring creativity and mental health

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▪ Twentieth century Romantic English song at the centre of this engaging recital from counter-tenor Tim Mead and pianist James Baillieu

Various Venues

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▪ A feast of cello playing: Alban Gerhardt & the Aurora Orchestra at Kings Place

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▪ An evening of contrasts: German lieder & English song at Kensington and Chelsea Music Society

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▪ Flute, viola & harp: From Belle Epoque to Debussy's Sonata - Trio Anima at Conway Hall

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▪ Intense abandon: Christine Rice and Julius Drake in Haydn and Poulenc at Temple Song

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▪ Kancheli, Martinu and RVW: three contrasting 20th century figures from the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall

Interviews & features

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▪ Remembering Ronald Stevenson

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▪ New ideas round the edges: I chat to London Handel Festival's Samir Savant, the new Festival Director

CD reviews

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▪ Getting beyond music history: Rossi's The Songs of Solomon in engaging performances from Profeti della Quinta

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▪ A treatie of humane love: Martin Peerson's setting of Fulke Greville's Caelica from I Fagiolini and Fretwork

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▪ Moving beauty: Iestyn Davies & Arcangelo in Bach cantatas

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▪ Completely entrancing: CPE Bach's undeservedly neglected cello concertos from Nicolas Altstaedt & Arcangelo

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▪ A Viennese Quartet Party: Michael Kelly's memoirs form the starting point for a charming disc of late 18th century Viennese quartets

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▪ Poetic exploration: The first disc from the Dresden Festival Orchestra, includes Schumann's concerto with the festival's artistic director Jan Vogler

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▪ Music of a forgotten master: piano works of Adolf von Henselt, one of the great influences on the Russian piano school, from Daniel Grimwood

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▪ Wind from the East: Piano music by three seminal Bulgarian composers in engaging performances

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▪ The unfamiliar & the familiar in a new guise: RVW Discoveries

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▪ Intense & visceral: first recording of Simoon by Erik Chisholm, Scotland's forgotten composer

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▪ Spiritual dimension: piano and chamber music by Jeffrey Roden, evoking the music of Morton Feldman, yet with an explicitly spiritual dimension

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▪ Pleasure from end to end: music for Epiphany from Clare College

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▪ Playing with personality: Juliette Bausor in Mozart & Nielson Flute Concertos

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▪ Lively reminder: music from the Globe's productions of Twelfth Night & Richard III

And Elsewhere

I will be back at the Conway Hall on Sunday 12 February giving the pre-concert talk before a programme which includes Schoenberg's String quartet No.2 and Pierrot Lunaire.

Credits

Our header image this month is Ligeti's Le grand Macabre with Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra and ensemble at the Barbican Hall, photo John Phillips/Getty Images.