Balanced musicality: Handel's Serse from the Early Opera Company

Anna Stéphany - photo Marco Borggreve

Handel Serse; Anna Stephany, Claire Booth, Rupert Enticknap, Keri Fuge, Rachael Lloyd, Edward Grint, Callum Thorpe, Christian Curnyn; the Early Opera Company at St John's Smith Square
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 18 2016
Star rating: 4.5
A beautifully musical account of Handel's late semi-comic opera

Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company returned to Handel's Serse (an opera they have recorded) for a concert performance at St John's Smith Square on 18 November 2016. Anna Stéphany sang the title role, with Claire Booth as Romilda, Rupert Enticknap as Arsamene, Keri Fuge as Atalanta, Rachael Lloyd as Amastre, Edward Grint as Elviro and Callum Thorpe as Ariodate. Clare Booth was announced as having been ill but that she would still sing, whilst Rachael Lloyd had stood in for an ailing Emma Carrington.

Handel's Serse is a slightly strange beast. It premiered quite late in Handel's operatic career, in 1738, and he would write only two more Italian operas, Imeneo (1741) and Deidamia (1742). And during this late period, when he was freed from the pressure of pleasing his aristocratic patrons in the Royal Academy, he rather experimented with forms, often abandoning the strict formal structures of opera seria. The results rather puzzled his audience, Serse was performed only five times and never revived.

The mixed nature of the opera, with its buffo elements, the fact that less than half the arias are da capo (and of these, two lack a formal exit afterwards), the way Handel fluidly responds to the drama with a mix of snatches of aria, arioso and recitative, all these are attractive to us today. The piece contains a mix of comic and serious characters, and with all of them Handel asks us to take their emotions seriously. The opera might have comic elements, but it is not slapstick and as Winton Dean has commented (in his book on Handel's opera serias) Handel's approach is often close to that of Mozart.

It was clear that Christian Curnyn and his cast took quite a serious view of the piece, perhaps unsurprising since this was a concert performance with little rehearsal time to organise large scale comic set pieces. But there was still a vein of comedy running through it, with Edward Grint's Elviro sporting a head-scarf and character voice for his flower seller scene in Act Three. There were some lovely sparkling moments of dialogue, as the cast sparked off each other in the recitatives a witty sense of character, whilst Keri Fuge's Atalanta was a delightful creation with a lovely sense of naughty flirtatiousness.

The arias were nearly all taken seriously, with a consistently impressive approach to Handel's music. This was an evening with some uniformly fine singing from this well balanced cast. Given the superb quality of the singing it seems churlish to cavil, but there were occasions when the large scale arias could have done with the same sense of dramatic character as the recitative. But if you were content to sit back and simply enjoy fine music, superbly sung then this was certainly for you.

Infinite variety: I chat to Anneke Scott about the french horn

Anneke Scott - photo John Croft

Anneke Scott with a Courtois hand horn (Paris, 19th century)
photo John Croft

You have probably heard Anneke Scott playing the French horn even though you may not immediately recognise her name. Anneke plays in a large number of period instrument ensembles including John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the English Baroque Soloists and Europa Galante as well as a number of chamber ensembles. Whilst her recent disc, Music for a Prussian salon exploring late 18th century German chamber music with Boxwood and Brass (see my review), showcases her French horn playing talents her other disc The Celebrated Distin Family (see my review) with The Prince Regent's Band, sees her playing a rather different instrument, the saxhorn, in a programme of 19th century brass music. I caught up with Anneke over tea in Greenwich, where she lectures at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, to find out more.

I have encountered Anneke in a number of guises over the years, ranging from playing in the orchestra for Opera Settecento, to giving almost a lecture recital on the horn trios and quartets of the early 19th century French composer and horn virtuoso Jacques-François Gallay (see my review), a composer that Anneke has rather specialised in. For me, one of her most memorable discs was, Voices from the Past, when she played on a variety of historical instruments from the Bate Collection, demonstrating the wide variation in types of French horn over time, from the earliest hand horn to the early valve horns. I wondered whether she had always been interested in the French horn, and how this specialisation in its infinite historical variety had come about.

In fact, she started out playing the trumpet which she hated. With hindsight she realises that the brass teacher who came to her school wanted a student who read music (she was already learning the piano) to learn the trumpet, and she fitted. She moved to tenor horn (an instrument mainly found in brass bands), before her parents (who were musical, having learned instruments in their youth) persuaded her to learn the French horn. She never looked back and was determined to study music and went to Royal Academy of Music.

This got Anneke interested in the hand horn, she found it such good fun

Boxwood and Brass (Robert Percival, Emily Worthington, Fiona Mitchell,
Kate Goldsmith, Anneke Scott) - photo John Croft

She was aware of historically informed performance, even before going to the Academy. She sang in the Birmingham Schools Chorale conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore, director of Ex Cathedra, and performances included providing the ripieno choir for Bach performances with Ex Cathedra, as well as doing Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with performers such as His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts (who are now colleagues). She comments that Birmingham Schools Music Service at the time was terrific and she played in a modern instrument orchestra which specialised in baroque era music such as Handel's Water Music, and Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Her horn teacher at school was into repairing instruments, and he would buy old piston horns. These were the type used in the UK in the early 20th century but if you filed off the pistons they were in fact the same as the earlier French hand horns. This got Anneke interested in the hand horn, she found it such good fun. So when she auditioned for the Academy she knew she knew she wanted to learn the hand horn.

At that period at the Academy, John Wallace was head of department, and he saw clearly that musicians had to have a wide portfolio covering teaching, chamber music as well as varieties of orchestral work. But in fact, whether you learned the hand horn was down to who your modern horn teach was, and some would not let you.

Experimentation is part of period performance

BravurA: Gabriella di Laccio in Handel and Vivaldi

Vivaldi, Handel; Gabriella di Laccio, Musica Antiqua Clio, Fernando Cordella; Drama Music
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 4 2016
Star rating: 3.5
Bravura baroque arias on a recording which does not quite do the young Brazilian soprano justice

This is a new disc, on the Drama Musica label, from the young soprano Gabriella di Laccio. Accompanied by Fernando Cordella and Music Antiqua Clio, she performs arias by Handel and by Vivaldi. Entitled BravurA the disc includes arias from Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans, Griselda and L'Olympiade and Handel's Rinaldo and Giulio Cesare, with the orchestra contributing the sinfonia from L'Olympiade and the overture to Rinaldo.

Gabriella di Laccio was born in Brazil and has dual Brazilian and Italian nationalities. She studied in her native Brazil and at the Royal College of Music. She is undoubtedly a fine singer with a stupendous technique, but the arias on this disc are either very famous or very bravura or both. Gabriella di Laccio and Fernando Cordella have taken the risky decision to take all the fast arias very fast indeed. All three Vivaldi arias have lots of fast-paced passage-work and it is something of a relief to finally get to the slower Handel aria, Lasci io pianga from Rinaldo. The results sound rather inspired by Cecilia Bartoli, and you felt that di Laccio and Cordella would have been better to concentrate on the quality of the sound being made rather than sheer speed.

Celebrating Arcangelo's residency at the Wigmore Hall

Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo

On Wednesday 16 November 2016, we attended a private event to celebrate Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo's forthcoming residency at the Wigmore Hall. The group's first Wigmore Hall concert is on 14 December 2016 when they will be performing Bach's cantatas Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV4 and Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit BWV106 'Actus Tragicus', and Telemann's cantata Du aber Daniel, gehe hin TWV4:17.

At Wednesday's event Jonathan Cohen introduced their Wigmore Hall programme and performed a selection of pieces with recorder player Rebecca Miles. Rebecca gave us the opportunity to hear a selection of different recorders whilst playing music by Frescobaldi, a Telemann fantasia for unaccompanied recorder and a Bach flute sonata.

Jonathan explained how Arcangelo's 14 December concert does not look forward to Christmas, but rather picks up on the penitential nature of Advent by performing mourning cantatas. Bach's Actus Tragicus features the relatively unusual combination of two recorders and two viola da gambas. This is an instrumental combination which rather looks backward and creates an extraordinary sound world, and as the recorder in music is often associated with death links to the work's references to peaceful sleep. Jonathan also commented that Bach's often cantatas make the players work hard, with the solo instrumental moments hard to play well. The sense of a particular quality of sound applies to another work in the programme, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 with its combination of two violas, two violas da gamba, cello, violone and harpsichord. The programme also includes something rather more unusual with Telemann's cantata Du aber Daniel, gehe hin

Looking ahead, the group returns to the Wigmore Hall on 13 January 2017 for a programme of Bach harpsichord concertos with Kristian Bezuidenhout, who is recording the complete Bach harpsichord concertos with Arcangelo, and then on 5 May 2017, Jonathan Cohen (harpsichord), Sophie Gent (violin), Jonathan Manson (viola da gamba) and Thomas Dunford (lute) will be performing a programme of Biber, Schmelzer and Buxtedhude at one of the Wigmore Hall Late evenings.

There followed a lively discussion which covered subjects such as the issue of taste in ornamentation in baroque music, modern versus period recorder playing styles and the question of different temperaments. This latter discussion, referencing how the recorder player had to adapt to whatever temperament the harpsichord was tuned in, let to a fascinating demonstration when the harpsichord tuner (who was present at the event), tuned the same D major chord to two different temperaments, one on each harpsichord manual, so that we could hear the very real difference between them.

From Hänsel und Gretel to La Gioconda: Midsummer Opera's season

David Roblou and Midsummer Opera are back at St John's Church, Waterloo this weekend (18 & 20 November 2016) for performances of Engelbert Humperdinck's perennial favourite Hänsel und Gretel. For some reason, perhaps its fairy-tale origin, the opera is regularly associated with Christmas and Midsummer Opera is being traditional in performing it in the run up to the Christmas season. Thankfully they are not following another tradition, and the Witch will be played by Lynne McAdam (rather than by a tenor as is often the case). The remainder of the cast includes Lucy Goddard and Catrine Kirkman in the title roles, Jane Streeton as mother, and John Svanholm as father. David Roblou conducts and there will be a children's chorus from St Benedict's School, Ealing.

Further ahead, Midsummer Opera returns in April 2017 for something of a rarity, Ponchielli's La Gioconda one of the few operas by one of Verdi's younger Italian contemporaries to develop a real international reputation. The work's last UK staging was in 2008 when Opera Holland Park staged it, and I caught the Opera North performances over 30 years ago with Rosalind Plowright superbly dramatic in the title role (it was the role in which Maria Callas made her Italian debut). At Midsummer Opera the role will be played by Zoe South, with a cast including John Upperton, Marie Elizabeth Seager, Sian Woodling, Trevor Alexander and Stephen Holloway.

Full details from the Midsummer Opera website.

Update: I have corrected the information about La Gioconda as a correspondent pointed out the Opera Holland Park performances.

An important waypoint in British operatic history: Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers

The Wreckers at Bard Summerscape, July 2015 - photo Cory Weaver

Ethel Smyth's opera The Wreckers premiered 110 years ago on 11 November 1906, in Leipzig. Smyth was 48 at the time, with a developing European reputation having trained in Leipzig, and The Wreckers was her third opera, written to a libretto by Henry Brewster.  It is still a rarity in the opera house, having last been performed in London at the 1994 Proms (thankfully captured on disc), but the piece is an important way point in British operatic history coming forty years before Britten's Peter Grimes. Smyth was the only British operatic composer of the period to have a European reputation.

The idea for the opera came to Smyth on a walking tour of Cornwall in the 1880s, and the libretto would ultimately be written by her friend (and sometime lover) Henry Brewster. Brewster is a somewhat forgotten figure nowadays, remembered mainly for his relationship to Smyth. An American brought up on France (Henry James is said to have based the character of Gilbert Osmond in Portrait of a Lady on him), he wrote prose in English and poetry in French. I have so far never managed to track down any of his published poetry, but would love to do so.  He and Smyth met whilst he was married and their intense and complex relationship played out against the development of Smyth's musical career. By the time Brewster was free, she was reluctant to commit and he died in 1908, yet remained Smyth's most significant personal relationship. One of her last works would be the oratorio The Prison, based on Brewster's poetry.

Recording in a Suffolk idyll

Pianist William Vann at the recording sessions

I have just returned from a lovely few days at Potton Hall, deep in the Suffolk countryside, where we were recording my songs for release on disc which comes out next year on on the Navona Records label. Provisionally titled Quickening, the disc will have settings of English and Welsh poets, Rowan Williams, Christina Rosetti, Ivor Gurney and AE Housman.

The pianist was William Vann and we were joined by Anna Huntley (mezzo-soprano), Rosalind Ventris (viola), and Johnny Herford (baritone), with recording engineer Andrew Walton from K&A Productions. We recorded my song cycle Quickening for mezzo-soprano, viola and piano, setting poems by Christina Rosetti, Winter Journey (for baritone and piano) setting Rowan Williams' poem Winterreise: for Gillian Rose, 9 December 1995, plus cycles of poems by Ivor Gurney and by AE Housman for baritone and piano. The Housman poems are selected from his later poems rather than the better known A Shropshire Lad.

Faure Requiem at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea

William Vann & the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea

Tonight, Wednesday 16 November 2016, the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea conducted by their music director William Vann are giving a concert taking the theme of Remembrance. Music includes Faure's Requiem, RVW's Five Mystical Songs, Finzi's Lo, the full final sacrifice, Holst's The Evening Watch and music by Guest, Ireland, Byrd, and Elgar. The choir is being joined by baritone Gareth John (who won first prize at the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier awards), and organist James Orford.

The concert takes place in the historic chapel of the Royal Hospital, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. 

Tickets for the concert, which begins at 7pm, are available from the Cadogan Hall website, and the ticket price includes an interval drink in the Great Hall of the hospital

Mark Bowden: Sudden Light

Mark Bowden Lyra, Heartland, Five Memos, Sudden Light; Hyeyoon Park, Huw Watkins, Julian Warburton, Oliver Coates, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn; NMC Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 16 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Imaginative orchestral writing in a survey of Mark Bowden's recent works

This disc from NMC Recordings showcases orchestral and instrumental music by Mark Bowden. Born in South Wales, many of the orchestral pieces on the disc are the fruit of Bowden's residency with BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW). Both Lyra (2011) and Heartland (2012) were commissioned for the BBC NOW, and Sudden Light (2005, Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize winning, and premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra) was the first work of Bowden's played by the BBC NOW. On the disc the BBC NOW is conducted by Grant Llewellyn, and they are joined by soloists Oliver Coates (cello) and Julian Warburton (percussion). Along with these, the disc also contains Five Memos (2015) for violin and piano, performed by Hyeyoon Park (violin) and Huw Watkins (piano), who gave the work's world premiere.

Mark Bowden - photo Kate Benjamin & Rob Orchard

Lyra was commissioned as a cello concerto, the title refers to the lead character in Philip Pullman's fantasy novels His Dark Materials, but can also refer to the name of a constellation of stars, a Russian class of submarine and of course the lyra viol.

The first movement (Allegro), has a lyrical incantation from the solo cello (Oliver Coates, who premiered the work), with interruptions from a glittering, Britten-esque orchestra. Gradually these to coalesce, with a vibrantly lyrical cello part and busy orchestra, full of lovely textures and colours. But there is more than just colour to the piece, and the performers give a real sense of journey. A cadenza-like passage leads to the intense Adagio e lontano, with a passionate soloist over spare yet magical orchestral colours, becoming richer and more passionate at climaxes. The final movement, Vivo con anima, has less of a sense of concerto and more of an ensemble. This is a big bold work, with some brilliant detail in the orchestra.

Five Memos for violin and piano is based in ideas from Italo Calvino's essays Six Memos for the Next Millennium (which Calvino left unfinished at five essays).

Springtime for the pian' e forte

Trio Goya (Kati Debretzeni, Maggie Cole, Sebastian Comberti)

Beethoven, Haydn, Diabelli; Trio Goya; Brighton Early Music Festival at Ralli Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 13 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Two contrasting piano trios dating from 1793, in engaging period performances

Our final visit to the 2016 Brighton Early Music Festival (BREMF) on Sunday 13 November 2016, was Springtime for the pian' e forte from Trio Goya, Maggie Cole (fortepiano), Kati Debretzeni (violin), Sebastian Comberti (cello) at Ralli Hall, Hove. The trio performed Haydn's Piano trio in G minor, Hob XV:19 and Beethoven's Piano Trio in E flat Op.1, No.1 (both written in 1793), Beethoven's Violin sonata in F major, OP.24 (Spring) and Anton Diabelli's Gran Sonata in D major, Op.92 for cello and piano.

Haydn's trio was his 33rd in the genre, the work still has its origins recognisably in the accompanied sonata, and though Haydn gives the violin melodic moments independent of the piano, he rarely lets the cello off the leash. Maggie Cole was playing a modern copy of a 1795 Viennese fortepiano by Anton Walter, and I had forgotten quite how light the tone of such instruments could be, so that both Haydn and Beethoven need to clear the strings out of the way to make room for the fortepiano, giving a sense of dialogue to both trios. Though Beethoven was only 23 when his trio was published, he was already pushing the envelope and his cello part is far more liberated than Haydn's and we are already well on the way to three full independent parts.

So Haydn's Andante first movement opened with almost a fortepiano sonata, the material then repeated with strings. There were a couple of occasions when I wondered if the violin and cello were a bit too present in the balance. But this was lovely characterful playing from all three, with a superb sense of ensemble. The Adagio had a nice sense of singing line from both the fortepiano and the strings, with some lovely little corners. The final movement, Presto was a perky delight taken at quite a fast tempo, something facilitated by the quick die away on the fortepiano.

Christmas Carols in Upper Norwood with London Mozart Players supporting Barnados

London Mozart Players (LMP) is holding a Christmas concert A Christmas Carol in its new home, the church of St John the Evangelist in Upper Norwood, on Friday December 16, 2016 and all profits from the concert will be going to Barnardo’s and The Triangle, its centre in Upper Norwood, which was developed to appeal to all local families while also supporting the most vulnerable children and young people in the area. The programme includes a specially commissioned Christmas piece Tu scendi dalle stele for solo trumpet and strings written by the Peter Longworth, alongside Christmas classics, Winter from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, and Corelli’s Christmas Concerto. The Central Band of The Royal British Legion, which also makes its home in St John the Evangelist, will be joining the celebrations with a selection of popular Christmas melodies.

LMP's residence at St John the Evangelist includes a significant amount of community engagement, and previous concerts there have sold out fast. As well as the Christmas concert composer Peter Longworth will be visiting local Croydon schools to assist the children in composing their own Christmas carols. The children will then perform these carols in local care homes, with the project culminating in a performance at the LMP's concert on December 16.

Tickets for A Christmas Carol go on sale at 10.00am on Tuesday 15th November via the LMP’s website. Book your tickets before Friday 25 November for 15% discount using the code ‘EARLYBIRD15’ at the checkout

Celebrating 40 years of Bach cantatas in the City with the City Bach Collective

Peter Lea-Cox and members of the City Bach Collective at the 40th Anniversary Concert
photo  Joseph Ford Thompson

Bach Cantatas BWV 61, & BWV 62; City Bach Collective; St Mary at Hill
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 11 2016
A pair of Advent cantatas performed with the size of forces Bach might have expected

It is 40 years since Peter Lea-Cox started the Bach cantata series at the City church of St Mary at Hill. The City Bach Cantata Series celebrated the event with a lunch time concert at St. Mary at Hill on Friday 11 November 2016, when the City Bach Collective, Nicola Corbishley (soprano), Patricia Hammond (alto), Christopher Bowen (tenor), Cheyney Kent (bass) and instrumental ensemble directed from the violin by Hazel Brookes, performed JS Bach's Cantata BWV 61 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland and Cantata BWV 62 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.

Since 1982 the Bach cantata series has been associated with the performance of Bach's cantatas in the context of Vespers at St Anne's Lutheran Church (whose congregation now worships at St Mary at Hill), and there is a chance to hear the performers again in BWV 62 on 27 November 2016 in Vespers at St Mary at Hill (see the image of the poster for further details).

BWV 61 dates from 1714 when Bach was in Weimar, with BWV 62 dating from 1724 when Bach was in Leipzig. The two use the same text for the opening chorus but apart from that the text and layouts are completely different. The selection of the solo voices provided tempting hints about what Bach's strongest soloists were.

With the instrumentalists playing one to part and just four singers providing both solos and chorus this was a performance on the sort of scale Bach might have expected on a regular Sunday.

Songs from our Ancestors

Dowland, Britten, Schubert, Argento, Goss, Ruan Ji, Xu Changjun, Chen Yi; Ian Bostridge, Xuefei Yang; Globe Music
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 08 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Wide-ranging recital for voice and guitar, with music from Dowland to contemporary, ancient to modern Chinese

This disc is the first release on the Globe Music label, celebrating the concerts in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse house and the new collaborations engendered. For this first disc, tenor Ian Bostridge is joined by guitarist Xuefei Yang for a programme which combines music by John Dowland, Franz Schubert and Benjamin Britten, with new music by Dominick Argento and Stephen Goss, and Chinese composers Ruan Ji, Xu Changjun and Chen Yi.

The disc opens with a group of John Dowland songs and from the first one, In darkness let me dwell we can hear how dramatically Bostridge treats the songs, with an intense concentration on the words. The songs are not lacking in lyrical line, but Bostridge seems to be not content with the easy route and brings a surprising intensity to the songs. The descriptive passages in Come again, sweet love are really bitten out, whilst White as lilies was her face comes over as a vivid dance. In My thoughts are winged with hopes we notice the little rhythmic felicities, and Flow my tears has a lovely contained intensity.

Throughout the disc the songs are interspersed with guitar solos, the music chosen being a wide range of Chinese composers. Drunken Ecstasy is by Ruan Ji (210-263 CE) arranged for guitar by Xuefei Yan. There is a real feeling of the exoticism of the original Chinese instrument (a guqin, a 7-stringed zither) with some fascinating textures.

Gaia: Three intermedi for a living planet at BREMF

Gaia: Three intermedi for a living planet 
Josquin des Pres, Antoine Brumel, Claudio Monteverdi, Orlando di Lasso, Giaches de Wert, Giammateo Asia, Marco di Gagliano, Maurizio Cazzati, Lodovico Agostini, Heinrich Isaac, and Giovanni Gabrieli; 
BREMF Consort of Voices, Christina Thaler, Natasha Stone, Matthew Pochin, Dominic Bevan, Andrew Robinson, the Lacock Scholars, Greg Skidmore, BREMF Community Choir, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Claire Williams, Aileen Henry, Toby Carr, Alison Kinder, Zen Grisdale, Deborah Roberts; 
Brighton Early Music Festival at St Bartholomew's Church
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 12 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Audio visual spectacular, combining renaissance music with film of the natural world

BREMF - Gaia: Three intermedi for a living planet
St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton

Brighton Early Music Festival's (BREMF) Gaia: Three intermedi for a living planet, was presented at St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton on Saturday 12 November 2016. Inspired by the festival's 2014 production of the Florentine Intermedi of 1589, it was a theatrical event devised and directed by Deborah Roberts, Gaia which featured music by Josquin des Pres, Antoine Brumel, Claudio Monteverdi, Orlando di Lasso, Giaches de Wert, Giammateo Asia, Marco di Gagliano, Maurizio Cazzati, Lodovico Agostini, Heinrich Isaac, and Giovanni Gabrieli, performed by the BREMF Consort of Voices (director Deborah Roberts), Onde Sonore (Deborah Roberts, Christina Thaler, Natasha Stone, Matthew Pochin, Dominic Bevan, Andrew Robinson), the Lacock Scholars (director Greg Skidmore), the BREMF Community Choir (director Andrew Robinson), the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Claire Williams (harpsichord, organ), Aileen Henry (harp), Toby Carr (chitarrone), and Alison Kinder (bass viol).

Just as the festival's production of the Florentine Intermedi had been interpreted via modern visuals, so Gaia featured featured performances from Anonymous 2 Dance (Sebastian Blue Pin, Tom Shale Coates), and Laura Shipsey (yoga), film by Zen Grisdale (with extra footage from Sid Dult and Oliver Martin), lighting and projection by Pitch Black, costumes by Gladrags Community Costumes Trust.

Each intermedio took a particular theme, The Earth's Core, The Earth's Surface and The Skies and the Heavens, and within this each had two parts, the first purely descriptive, the second mythical and allegorical. Whilst elements were staged (the extracts from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and Marco di Gagliano's La Flora), much of the presentation combined imaginative lighting with Zen Grisdale's spectacular film of the earth's natural features, the film being projected onto a huge screen erected at the East end of the church.

Goehr, Knussen, Pelleas & more: I chat to conductor Jonathan Berman before his Ensemble Modern debut

Jonathan Berman

The young conductor Jonathan Berman makes his debut with the Ensemble Modern in a concert at the Wigmore Hall on 25 November 2016 with music by Alexander Goehr and Oliver Knussen, two composers with whom Jonathan has close links. Jonathan's recent UK appearances have included the English Touring Opera's 2015 tour of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande (see my review). I recently caught up with Jonathan to talk about the concert, new and old music, musical notation and much more.

Jonathan Berman - photo George Garnier

The centrepiece of the Ensemble Modern's Wigmore Hall concert is Alexander Goehr's Verschwindendes Wort, a 2015 work which was premiered in New York in January 2016 and which is receiving its European premiere. The piece is a song cycle, for tenor and mezzo-soprano (sung by Christopher Gillett and Lucy Schaufer), and Jonathan describes the texts as being selected from all over the place, 'in true Sandy fashion', ranging from mystical 12th century monk to Rilke. The work's title means Vanishing Word, and Jonathan describes the piece as talking about the word as an idea. It deals with language, speech and humanity, using nature metaphors, and considers what happens when the word stops, what occurs in the silence.

As a companion to this Jonathan has chosen Oliver Knussen's Songs without Voices. Knussen's work is based in Walt Whitman settings, but in Songs without Voices the vocal lines are absorbed into the instrumental ensemble. Jonathan sees this as a very apt companion piece as the word is there but not there. There are other connections too, Goehr and Knussen are friends and one of the links Jonathan cites is that Oliver Knussen's Requiem for Sue is based on Goehr's translation of a Rilke text which Goehr chose for a memorial to Sue Knussen. And Jonathan continues this fascinating interlinkage, by describing how Oliver Knussen's setting of a poem created by taking lines from different Emily Dickinson poems echoes Sandy Goehr's Sing Ariel which used a patchwork of texts constructed by Goehr and Frank Kermode from poems ranging from Milton to Wallace Stevens.

Alexander Goehr's music is under represented and misrepresented in the UK

Thrilling yet disturbing theatre: first UK staging of Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Simplicius Simplicissimus

William Dazeley. - Hartmann: Simplicius Simplicissimus - Independent Opera - photo Max Lacome

Hartmann Simplicius Simplicissimus; Stephanie Corley, William Dazeley, Adrian Thompson, Mark le Brocq, dir: Polly Graham, cond: Timothy Redmond, Britten Sinfonia; Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 11 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Hartmann's disturbing opera receives its first UK staging in a brilliantly theatrical production

Adrian Thompson, Stephanie Corley - credit Max Lacome

Karl Amadeus Hartmann's opera Simplicius Simplicissimus has a strong reputation, being the operatic response of a composer who famously refused to compromise his principals in the face of the Nazi regime in Germany. Despite this, the work had never been staged in the UK, so that Independent Opera's performance on 11 November 2016 at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells, was a real opportunity to experience this strikingly dramatic work. The opera was directed by Polly Graham, with designs by Nate Gibson, lighting by Ceri James, projection designs by Will Duke and choreography by Michael Spenceley. Timothy Redmond conducted the Britten Sinfonia, with Stephanie Corley as Simplicius, Emyr Wyn Jones as the Farmer, William Dazeley as the Soldier, Adrian Thompson as the Hermit, Tristan Hambleton as the Sergeant, Mark Le Brocq as the Governor, Matthew Durkan as the Captain and Chiara Vinci as the Woman. The work was sung in David Pountney's new English translation.

Mark Le Brocq, Stephanie Corley - photo Robbie Jack

Hartmann was born in 1905 in Munich and initially wrote in a neo-classical style with jazz influences, but the coming of the Nazis wrought extreme changes on his style. Personally he went into what he termed internal exile, withdrawing from public life, and his music became more serious. Hartmann's opera Simplicius Simplicissimus dates originally from between 1934 and 1936. Based on Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's 17th century novel about the 30 Years War, the opera was designed to explicitly satirise the Nazis. Mixing music with spoken dialogue, stylised, rather theatrical and not a little didactic, the work seems to have been in the same genre as some of Bertolt Brecht's Lehrstücke some of which had music written for them (Der Jasager of 1930 had music by Kurt Weill, Der Ozeanflug of 1927 had music by Weill and Hindemith). Hartmann wrote his own libretto, with contributions from his teacher Hermann Scherchen. The work was for chamber orchestra, and wasn't actually premiered until 1948.

In the 1950's Hartmann revised the piece, removing the direct reference to the Nazis and making it more general, and Hartmann also re-orchestrated it for full orchestra. This revision substantially increased the work's solidity, with a new overture inspired by Prokofiev and other orchestral interludes. Hartmann removed some of the spoken dialogue, setting some of it to music. The version used by Independent Opera was Hartmann's revised version, with a few passages restored.

Nate Gibson's spectacular set was a multilevel structure which included the Britten Sinfonia on the lowest level, and at the top had a rubbish strewn attic room which was the space inhabited by the young boy, Simplicius (Stephanie Corley). During the long overture we saw Simplicius playing with his toys, being shouted at by parents and being harassed by the local Hitler youth. The three episodes of the story were thus seen as the boy's response to his surroundings and at various times during the opera, we would see him sitting in the corner, reading (presumably von Grimmelshausen's novel) and writing. During the opera this set would be overlayed with projections (designed by Will Duke) which wrought simply magical transformations, I particularly enjoyed the way that Duke's projections transformed a large landscape painting into a variety of different moods.

All Blood Runs Red: London Song Festival explores composers and poets from World War One

James Newby

All Blood Runs Red, George Butterworth, FS Kelly, Cecil Coles. William Denis Brown, Rudi Stephan, Ernst Kunsemüller and Ronald Corp; James Newby, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Nigel Foster; London Song Festival at Hinde Street Methodist Church
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 10 2016
Star rating: 4.0
An intense evocation of World War One using poets and composers from both sides.

Marta Fontanals-Simmons

For the opening concert of this year's London Song Festival at Hinde Street Methodist Church on 10 November 2016, artistic director Nigel Foster created a sequence of words and music, All Blood Runs Red, which explored the music and poetry produced by artists from both sides of the conflict in World War One. So there were songs by British composers George Butterworth, FS Kelly, Cecil Coles and William Denis Brown and by German composers Rudi Stephan and Ernst Kunsemüller, as well as Ronald Corp's settings of German poets from World War One. The performers were mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons and baritone James Newby, accompanied by Nigel Foster at the piano, with Jack McCann as speaker. Texts included English and German writers, including Charles Sorley, Alfred Lichtenstein, Isaac Rosenberg, Wilfred Owen, Gerrit Engelke, and August Stramm.

The programme played continuously (with an interval) interleaving text and songs, sometimes overlaying text with music, in a narrative which went from signing up, through scenes of battle, to the final end. James Newby sang all the songs from memory, and Marta Fontanals-Simmons despite stepping in to the programme at five days notice, rather impressively sang most of them from memory. The result was a very affecting and thought provoking programme.

James Newby displayed an impressively smooth fluid baritone in George Butterworth's On the Idle Hill of Summer. Throughout the programme he showed a lovely attention to the words, combining this with resonant tone in affecting manner. On the Idle Hill of Summer started intent and interior before opening up in a passionate manner. Marta Fontanals-Simmons used her rich, well produced mezzo-soprano to fine effect in In Nachbars Garten by Rudi Stephan (1887-1915), who was killed by a sniper on the Galician Front in the Ukraine. Though the song was lyrical, there were interesting harmonic byways, and a certain expressionist cast to the music.

The Big Sing: 1000s performing new Jonathan Dove songs for Friday Afternoons

Friday Afternoons - Photo Aldeburgh Music

On Friday November 18, 2016 thousands of young people will come together to sing a new set of songs by Jonathan Dove (with lyrics by Alasdair Middleton) as part of the Friday Afternoons project's Big Sing. Friday Afternoons is led by Aldeburgh Music they will host 800 Suffolk school children at Snape Maltings Concert Hall and other participants include music hubs in Nottingham, Lancashire, Lincolnshire; schools in Kent and Leeds; and choirs in Ipswich, Isle of Skye, London and Birmingham.

Friday Afternoons arose out the the the worldwide 2013 Britten centenary celebrations and takes its name from the set of simple songs the Britten wrote for his brother’s school to sing every Friday. Each year Friday Afternoons commissions a new set of songs, creating a significant resource of songs written for young people’s voices. Now in its fourth year, the annual project champions the joy of collective singing and encourages as many young people as possible to join in. It culminates in the Big Sing day when performances take place across the UK as close to Britten’s birthday (22 November) as possible.

A selection of performances of Jonathan Dove's new songs from across the UK will be live streamed on the Friday Afternoons website on 18 November 2016. The website also includes the resources needed to learn the songs, including scores, recordings, teaching resources and interactive material from Charanga, available for free download.

Elegance and anxiety: Aleksandar Markovic conducts Der Rosenkavalier at Opera North

Der Rosenkavalier - Opera North - Helen Sherman, Mark Burghagen and Henry Waddington
Photo Credit: Robert Workman

Strauss Der Rosenkavalier; Ylva Kihlberg, Helen Sherman, Fflur Wyn, Henry Waddington, dir: David McVicar/Elaine Tyler-Hall, cond: Aleksandar Markovic; Opera North at the Lowry
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Nov 9 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Words to the fore, engaging and vital revival of David McVicar's production.

We caught Opera North's latest revival of David McVicar's well travelled production of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier at The Lowry, Salford Quays on 9 November 2016. The production originated at Scottish Opera and was first performed by Opera North in 2002, we previously caught English National Opera's performances of the production in 2008 and 2012 (see my review).

Opera North's current run of performances of Der Rosenkavalier represented Aleksandar Markovic's first outing as the company's musical director, adding extra added interest to the performances. David McVicar's production, designed by McVicar and Tanya McCallin, was revived by Elaine Tyler-Hall, with Ylva Kihlberg as the Marschallin, Helen Sherman as Octavian, Henry Waddington as Baron Ochs, Fflur Wyn as Sophie, William Dazeley as Faninal, Jung Soo Yun as the Italian tenor, and Victoria Sharp and Aled Hall as the Italian intriguers.

Fflur Wyn, Ylva Kihlberg, Helen Sherman
Photo Credit: Robert Workman

The Lowry has quite a dry acoustic (it was my first visit to the theatre), with a large orchestra pit which projects a significant amount from the stage. This meant that while the sound perhaps lacked bloom it brought great clarity. During the prelude we were able to appreciate the clarity of detail in the orchestral writing, despite Markovic's lively tempi. And throughout the piece we delighted in details of Strauss's orchestration which do not always come over. Because of the openness of the orchestra pit, the balance rather favoured the orchestra, but I found that my ears soon adjusted.

Markovic's approach to the prelude was almost hectic, you sensed that he took the orchestra to the brink of the possible, but the result successfully incarnated the carnal activity that is being depicted, complete with some fabulously orgasmic horn whoops.

Whilst none of the principals was native German speaking, what I noticed about the performance was the sense of drama in the dialogue, and the primacy of the word. Partly because Markovic kpet this flowing at a lively pace, which meant that the conversational passages were vivid rather than dallying over incidental delights.

None of the principles has what might be called a luxuriant voice, yet all the women (Ylva Kihlberg, Helen Sherman, Fflur Wyn) had great character and a distinct timbre. Markovic took advantage of this to bring out the lively conversational drama. This was a performance with few of the longeurs sometimes attendant on Der Rosenkavalier, and all three acts (including the closing scenes of Act Two) sped by. I have heard more luxuriant Der Rosenkavalier performances but rarely one which was so vital and involving.

Words, words, words: new dots' Lexcon with The Hermes Experiment

The exciting people at New Dots are back with a linguistic based programme, Lexicon. Taking place at the Crypt on the Green, Clerkenwell, EC1R 0EA on Wednesday 16 November 2016, the concert features music by a selection of promising young composers and writers, performed by The Hermes Experiment (Heloise Werner, soprano Oliver Pashley, clarinet Anne Denholm, harp Marianne Schofield, double bass).

We are promised the incorporation of Japanese poetry and Utai chant and the musicality of spoken Chinese into Western musical writing, with works by Josephine Stephenson, Andrew Thomas, and Jia Chai (these latter two through recent call for works). Composer Freya Waley-Cohen and poet Octavia Bright explore female sexuality in a new song cycle, We Phoenician Sailors, and there will be improvisations by the poet Ali Lewis, and music be Meredith Monk,

Tickets from the TicketTailor website.