Singing cellos in John Tavener - Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival

Guy Johnston

John Tavener - The Protecting Veil, Requiem: Guy Johnston, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, David Atherton: Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival at St David's Hall, Cardiff
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 17 2014
Star rating: 5.0
Two of Tavener's large scale works bring the Vale of Glamorgan Festival to a spectacular conclusion

John Tavener was one of the featured composers in this year's Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival and so it was appropriate that the final concert in the festival (17 May 2014) featured two of the composer's large scale works, performed in St. David's Hall, Cardiff. David Atherton conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with cellist Guy Johnston as the soloist in Tavener's The Protecting Veil. Then the orchestra was joined by the BBC National Chorus of Wales, cellist Josephine Knight, soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and tenor Nicholas Mulroy for Tavener's Requiem.

The Protecting Veil was written in 1998, originally a commission from cellist Steven Isserlis though Isserlis had envisaged a work of around 10 minutes whereas The Protecting Veil lasts some 45 minutes. The piece is inspired by the vision of the Mother of God appearing at a time when Constantinople was threatened by the Saracens in the 10th century; she appeared spreading out her Veil as protective shelter for the Christians.

Clare Hammond at the Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival

Clare Hammond, credit Julie Kim

John Tavener, Andrew Keeling, John Metcalf, Adam Gorb, Tarik O'Regan: Clare Hammond: Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival at Penarth Pier Pavilion
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 17 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Shorter works for contemporary piano performed by young British pianist

Penarth Pier Pavilion is a relatively new venue, a stylish new concert venue having been created in Penarth Pier as part of the 2013 renovations of the pier on the esplanade at Penarth (near Cardiff). This year's Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival has been making good use of the venue. For the festival's final visit to Penarth Pier Pavilion, on May 17, pianist Clare Hammond performed a programme of contemporary music for solo piano. Her programme consisted of a highly varied selection of generally short works, some written specifically for Hammond, including music by John Tavener, Andrew Keeling, John Metcalf, Adam Gorb, Tarik O'Regan, Peter Fribbins, Alan Mills and Robin Walker.

Penarth Pier Pavillion

Hammond started with John Tavener's tiny Zodiacs (1997). It opened with a simple bell-like motif which Tavener managed to imbue with his usual fascination. The middle section repeated the same motif, but at a far faster speed, creating a rather attractive moment, before the opening returned.

Composer Andrew Keeling has a varied background, working both in contemporary classical and in rock. His Coniunctio (2013) was written for Clare Hammond and was receiving its world premiere performance.

In search of the contemporary string quartet - Quatuor Tana at Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival

Quatuor Tana and Nick Baron

Music for string quartet by Gabriel Jackson, Yann Robin, John Metcalf, Daniel D'Adamo, John Tavener: Quatuor Tana, Nick Baron: Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival at Ewenny Priory Church
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on My 16 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Young Belgian string quartet performs contrasting group of contemporary works for string quartet

Ewenney Priory Church

The Belgium-based string quartet, Quatuor Tana made their second appearance of the Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival at the lovely Ewenny Priory on 16 May 2014. The 12th century priory church hidden in the countryside outside Bridgened formed the venue for a programme of contemporary music for string quartet with music by Gabriel Jackson, Yann Robin, John Metcalf, Daniel D'Adamo and John Tavener. The quartet were joined by Nick Baron on handbells for Tavener's The Last Sleep of the Virgin.

Chamber Choir Ireland at Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival

Chamber Choir Ireland

Lang, Tavener, Martland, Williamson, Fennessy: Chamber Choir Ireland, Paul Hillier: Vale of Glamorgan Festival
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 16 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Wide range of contemporary short pieces in this imaginative programme from Ireland's premiere chamber choir

The second of Paul Hillier and Chamber Choir Ireland's concerts at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival took place at lunchtime on 16 May, in the light and bright modernised gothic interior of All Saints Church, Penarth. The choir performed a programme of contemporary works by David Lang, John Tavener, Steve Martland, Michael Williamson and David Fennessy.

In a spoken introduction , Paul Hillier explained how he had planned the concert over a year ago, to include music by Steve Martland and John Tavener. In the intervening period both composers died, thus turning a tribute into a memorial.

Romanian adventure

Alexandra Dariescu - credit London Studios

London-based Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu joined forces with the Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu for a recital exploring music by Romanian composers for violin and piano. The two played together for the first time at a recital on 14 May 2014 at the Romanian Cultural Insitute, and we heard them at a private recital on 15 May 2014. 

Alexandru Tomescu

In the first half each instrumentalist played some solo items, with Tomescu performing a group of Pagannini's Caprices, and Dariescu performing some of Chopin's Preludes op. 28, and Constantin Silverstri's Bacchanale. Then in the second half we heard Dinu Lipatti's Sonatina for violin and piano, Tiberiu Olah's Sonatina for violin and piano and Bela Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances

War and Peace - The Tallis Scholars

The Tallis Scholars - credit Edic Richmond

War and Peace; The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips; Cadogan Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 14 2014
Star rating: 5.0
Music inspired by war and by peace from the 16th and 21st centuries

For their second appearance at the Cadogan Hall as part of Choral at Cadogan on 14 May 2014, The Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips presented a programme called War and Peace. The concert was structured as a mass with a mass setting interleaved with motets and other music, but instead of performing a single mass Peter Phillips had assembled different movements of masses by Josquin, Guerrero, Victoria and Palestrina. War was represented by movements from Josquin's Missa L'Homme Arme, Guerrero's Missa L'Homme Arme and Guerrero's Missa de la Battalla Escoutez, with peace of a sort coming from Victoria's Missa Pro Defunctis and Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli. Threading their way through this were works by Mouton, Lobo and John Taverner each written in memory of a friend of patron, plus Arvo Part pre-figuring Christ's death.

Champs Hill wins the 2014 RPS Award for Chamber Music and Song

The Music Room at Champs Hill, and Champs Hill Records were named as joint winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society's Award for Chamber Music and Song at a ceremony on 14 May 2014. The Music Room at Champs Hill in West Sussex was built 15 years ago by David and Mary Bowerman and has played host to many artists with particular support given to those at the beginnings of their career. This support has extended to the development of the Champs Hill Record label which for the last four years has released a series of recordings by young artists made at the hall. There are now 85 releases in the catalogue.

The most recent Champs Hill Records release is a boxed set of all the Mendelssohn string quartets, each quartet performed by a different young ensemble with the set featuring performances by the Benyounes, Ideomeneo, Sacconi, Navarra, Castalian, Piatti, Badke, Artea, Wu and Cavaleri String Quartets.

BBC Symphony Orchestra new season

Brett Dean

The BBC Symphony Orchestra's 2014/15 season at the Barbican includes some very tempting offerings. There are three operas, Smetana's Dalibor, Bartok's Bluebeard and Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland. Total Immersion covers John Tavener, Pierre Boulez and Percussion. Brett Dean is the featured composer, but there is also music by Kevin Volans, Thomas Larcher, Ryan Wigglesworth, Detlev Glanert, Christopher Rouse and Henze. Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo explores the symphonies of Nielsen, whilst Busoni's Piano Concerto and Bliss's Morning Heroes both get an outing.

Unsuk Chin

Operatic offerings include the UK premiere (at long last) of Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland. Conducted by Baldur Bronnimann, the work will receive a multi-media staging from Neita Jones and cast includes Rachaele Gilmore, Marie Arnet, Jane Henschel, Jenni Bank, Andrew Watts and Peter Tantsits (8/3/2015). Then Kirill Karabits conducts Michelle de Young and Gabor Bretz in Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle, with music by Ravel and an new work from Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer, Tales from Suburbia (13/3/2015). The third operatic offering of the season is Smetana's Dalibor conducted by Jiri Belohlavek with a cast including Ivan Kusnjer, Pavel Cernoch, Ales Voracek, Dana Buresova and Alsbeta Polackova (2/5/2015)

Phillip Cooke - Choral Music

Phillip Cooke is a young composer who is currently a Lecturer in Composition at Aberdeen University, and this disc on Regent Records contains a selection of his recent choral music. From 2008 to 2010 Cooke was Career Development Fellow at the Faculty of Music, Oxford University and a Junior Research Fellow at The Queen’s College, Oxford University and much of the music on the disc is linked to this period. Performed by the chapel choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Onyx Brass, Timothy Parsons and conductor Sarah MacDonald the disc includes Cooke's Morning Service, Evening Service, Three Partsongs, The Glory of Zion, Verbum caro factum est, O salutaris hostia, Invocation and The Hazel Wood.

The disc opens with Cooke's Morning Service, a Te Deum and Jubilate written in 2011 and 2012. They were written for the female choir Aurora Nova (recorded here in versions for mixed choir). The Te Deum was written for the choir to sing at St Paul's Cathedral, with the requirements that it needed to be singable, readable and almost instantly performable. Like most of the music on the disc this is gebrauchsmusik.

In the CD booklet Cooke details the various links and connections between the works, many written for groups that he knew. He also talks about his musical background and how, unlike many choral composers he has no background as a chorister and Oxbridge Collegiate singer. Much of the music on this disc was designed to be useful, to fill a role; something that music has been doing for for generations.

Julian Anderson premiere

It seems to be Julian Anderson's time: not only is his opera Thebans playing at the London Coliseum until 3 June, but on 15 May the Arditti Quartet will present the world premiere of Anderson's String Quartet No. 2 300 Weihnachtslieder at the Wigmore Hall. Anderson says that the new quartet celebrates 'both the Arditti's wonderous playing and my affection for old German Christmas Songs'. The Arditti Quartet will also be playing music by Scelsi, Lachenmann and Kurtag. Further Ahead, Members of London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Clement Power, will perform Anderson's Book of Hours at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 9 June, in a a programme which includes George Lewis's The Will to Adorn and music by current members of the LPO's Leverhulme Young Composers Programme.

Gloria - A Pigtale

Gloria - A pigtale with Gillian Keith and cast

Gloria is a lonely pig looking for love. Ousted from her fascist pig stye, she falls for the butcher and is about to get the chop when Rodney the wild boar comes to her rescue.

 H.K. Gruber's mad opera was premiered in 1994 in the UK, and has not been seen here since. Now it is the first opera being produced by the newly launched Mahogany Opera Group. Frederic Wake-Walker's production debuts at Hull Truck Theatre on 17 May and then tours with visits to Norwich (20-21 May), Covent Garden (16-19 July), Buxton Festival (23-26 July) and the Bregenz Festival.

Frederic Wake-Walker

We are promised singing sausages and a chorus of yodelling frogs, burlesque, barbershop, big band, hot-dogs, Hollywood and a fascist rally in a pig stye. But Gruber's tale is not all fun, it is a darkly comic and subversive work which takes a sideswipe at right-wing politics.

The cast includes Gillian Keith, Jessica Walker, Andrew Dickinson, Charles Rice and Sion Goronwy, with Geoffrey Paterson conducting CHROMA

Piffarisimo - Instrumental music at the Council of Constance

Piffarissimo - Instrumental music at the Council of Constance: Capella de la Torre: Challenge Classics
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 09 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Imaginative reconstruction of the music for pipes, trumpets and drums from 15th century

The Council of Constance was huge, both in concept and in terms of size. The rulers of Western Christendom came together between 1414 and 1418 to solve the central problem of the age, the Papal Schism. There were three competing popes and the intention of the council was to revert to one. And around 50,000 people came to Constance to help them. On this disc from Channel Classics the period instrument ensemble Capella de la Torre, director Katharina Bauml, reconstructs some of the instrumental music associated with the council, centred on an ensemble of pipes and drums.

The alta capella, an ensemble of shawm, alto bombard and slide trumpet/trombone was an important contributor to medieval festive ensembles. So much so that individual rulers brought their own ensembles to Constance, so that we can imagine groups competing with each other. And national styles of playing were important too. We know that Duke Friedrich IV of Austria brought pipers, trumpeters and sackbut players who caused a sensation. And British trombone players and pipers played polyphonic music, with three trombones playing together in three parts just as is normally sung.

Win a day with Bellini and soprano Nelly Miricioiu

Courtesy of Divas and Scholars we have two wonderful prizes in our latest competition. First prize is attendance for two people at Divas and Scholars study day on Bellini at the Cadogan Hall on Thursday 19 June (10.30am to 3.30pm), when there will be lectures from Sarah Lenton and myself, plus a lecture recital from soprano Nelly Miricioiou, giving attendees a chance to spend a whole day learning about Bellini's life and hearing his music in context. 

Second prize is attendance for one person at the Divas and Scholars: History of Opera Champagne Evening on 11 June, when Sandy Burnett will be talking about Bizet's Carmen with musical excerpts provided by Sophie Goldrick accompanied by Christian Dawson.

Full details of how to enter the competition after the break.

Ancient and Modern in Weston-super-Mare

Peter Leech and Harmonia Sacra

We were in Weston-super-Mare last night (11 May 2014)for a lovely concert given by Harmonia Sacra, conductor Peter Leech, at All Saints' Church. The event was a memorial concert for Christopher Manners LRAM who had been the church's organist from 1974 to 2013. It was also the launch of the choir's latest CD on the Nimbus Alliance label. The concert mixed earlier composers with more recentones , including one by Peter Leech and a group of my own motets.

The concert included music by a group of 18th century Italian composers, both well known and lesser known, Alessandro Scarlatti, Tommaso Bai, Giovanni Battista Costanzi, Giovanni Giorgi, and Antonio Bicci which echoed the theme of the choir's recent CD Princely Splendour: Choral works from 18th century Rome. From a non-musical point of view Costanzi is interesting because one of his patrons was Prince Henry Benedict, Cardinal York, who was Bonnie Prince Charlie's younger brother and the last direct Stuart claimant to the English throne. All the motets were fascinating works which certainly deserved the choir attention which the choir gave them, in a series of brilliant, bright-toned performances which were both technically strong and wonderfully involving.

New season at the South Bank

The South Bank Centre has published its 2014/15 season. Its impossible to summarise an entire season like this in an article, but I thought that I would bring out some highlights. So we have Berlioz's Requiem, Donizetti's Les Martyrs, Debussy's Pelleas et Pelisande and extracts from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov on period instruments. Festivals devoted to Rachmaninov and to Paris, plus visits from the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Things start with a bang, as Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts with Gloucester Choral Society, Bristol Choral Society and Philharmonia Voices plus tenor Sebastien Droy. (25/9). Marin Alsop conducts musicians from the Royal Academy of Music in Britten's War Requiem for Remembrance Sunday (9/11). The Bach Choir and their conductor David Hill celebrate the music of John Tavener with a programme including The Protecting Veil and Requiem (25/11). And the Batch Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Hill perform Mendelssohn's Elijah with Simon Keenlyside in the title role (7/6).

Three4 going informal at Rich Mix

Three4 is trio for the intriguing combination of violin, voice and piano. They are led by violinist Kate Conway and soprano Emma Dogliani. Their repertoire encompases well known and lesser known composers, but they tend to perform in more relaxed circumstances. They will be performing on May 15 in the bar stage at Rich Mix, in Bethnal Green when you can see them perform and have a drink, all in relaxed circumstances with trios, duos and solos from Bach to Shostakovich.

James Brawn in recital

Mussorgsky, Liszt, Bach/Busoni, Rachmaninoff: James Brawn: MSR Classics
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 11 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Bravura recital from young pianist James Brawn

On pianist James Brawn's 2012 recital disc he pairs Mussorgsky's virtuoso tour de force Pictures at an Exhibition with piano show pieces, with Feruccio Busoni's arrangement of Bach's Chaconne from the Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, List's Mephisto Waltz No. 1 and Consolation No.3, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in B minor and Bach's C Major Prelude from Book 1 of the Well Tempered Clavier. The disc is on the American MSR label, with whom Brawn is also recording a sequence discs of Beethoven.

Brawn was born in the UK, but brought up in New Zealand and Australia. He reached the concerto final of the ABC Young Performers Awards in 1987, leading to concerts with the Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony orchestras. James continued work with his mentor, Rita Reichman, in Philadelphia and gained a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, London, at the age of 17 in 1988. At the age of 19, he won the keyboard final of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, performing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Brawn returned to the UK in 2010 and is now based in the Cotswolds.

All you ever wanted to know about The Ring

Divas and Scholars' History of Opera Champagne Evenings continue next week with Richard Peirson talking about Wagner's Ring Cycle. On 13 May Peirson is joined by soprano Rachel Nicholls to provide sung excerpts from the Cycle. Divas and Scholars address another 19th century landmark on 11 June, when Sandy Burnett talks about Bizet's Carmen with Sophie Goldrick and Christian Dawson providing the musical excerpts. Both evenings take place in Chelsea.

For those wishing to explore a composer in greater and depth, Divas and Scholars is presenting a study day on Bellini on 19 June. Opera Historian Sarah Lenton will be talking about bel canto, I will be talking about Bellini's life and times and soprano Nelly Miricioiu, who has sung many of Bellini's soprano roles, will be giving a lecture recital. The study day takes place at Cadogan Hall on 19 June 2014.

Furrther information from the Divas and Scholars website.

Helen Burford in Hampstead tomorrow

Burgh House music room

Pianist Helen Burford will be giving a recital in the warmly intimate wood-paneled Music Room at Burgh House tomorrow (11 May 2014 at 2.15pm). She will be playing a programme which combines Haydn, Scarlatti and Debussy's Estampes with Martin Butler's contemporary evocation of the mechanised modern age, Rumba Machine and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. 

Martin Butler is currently Professor of Music at the University of Sussex; from 2006-8 Butler was the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra's first ever 'Composer in Focus'. The orchestra performed several large scale works during this period, and his tenure culminated in two performances of a major new commission

Burgh House is a lovely Queen Anne house in New End Square, Hampstead. The first floor houses Hampstead Museum and there is a lovely cafe in the basement. Further concert information and tickets from WeGotTickets.com

In case you missed it - April on Planet Hugill

April on Planet Hugill opened with a blast of colour as we saw Novaya Opera performing Borodin's Prince Igor at the London Coliseum, and went to the new Sam Wanamaker Theatre at the Globe for the Royal Opera's magical production of Cavalli's L'Ormindo.

Visits to Venues Various

At the South Bank, Jacques Cohen and his Isis Ensemble premiered his Love Journeys. At Conway Hall, Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd-Webber launched the new Rhinegold Live concert series just weeks before Julian announced his enforced retirement. At the Barnes Festival, Christopher Foster and Audrey Hyland gave their programme A Soldier's Tale.

Coptic epic - Peeter Vähi's Maria Magdalene

The Estonian composer Peeter Vähi has a catalogue of works which encompass Oriental and Western, avant-garde and archaic, acoustic and electroni. He is also artistic director of ERP (Estonian Record Productions). Amongst his works issued on disc by the company is his oratorio Maria Magdalena (Peuangelion Kata Marihamm). Written for soprano, tenor, baritone and bass soloists, narrator, choir and orchestra the work sets part of the Gospel of Maria Magdalene, one of the Gnostic gospels preserved by the Coptic church and surviving in Coptic manuscripts. Rather daringly Vähi sets the work in the original Coptic. On disc the work is performed by Sevara Nazarkhan as Mary Magdalene, Priit Volmer as Jesus, Peeter Volkonski as the narrator, Juris Jekabsons as Andrew, Eduards Fiskovics as Levi and Ugis Mengelis as Peter, with the Mixed Choir Latvia, Riga Cathedral Boys Choir and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Risto Joost.

The work was commissioned by the StateChoir Latvija and Riga International Sacred Music Festival, and premiered in Riga at the festival in 2011. The work is dedicated to Vähi's teacher Eino Tamberg.

Ancient and Modern in Weston-super-Mare

If you are anywhere near Weston-super-Mare on Sunday 11 May 2014, then do try to come to All Saints Church, BS23 2NL, where Peter Leech and Harmonia Sacra will be giving a concert of music by Alessandro Scarlatti, Costanzi, William Harris along with contemporary pieces by Peter Leech and myself. 

The concert is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Manners LRAM, and Leech's piece, Do not stand at my grave and weep is dedicated to him. The choir are performing two of my Latin motets, Rorate Coeli and Ad te levavi from my Tempus per Annum collection, setting the Latin Introits from the Sundays of the year. (To whet your appetite you can hear recordings, not made by Harmonia Sacra, of Rorate Coeli and Ad te levavi on SoundCloud)

Inside Opera: Live

Duncan Rock (Marcello),  Ji-Min Park (Rodolfo)
& Barnaby Rea (Colline)  in rehearsals for La Boheme.
Photo credit: Tom Arber

Seven UK opera companies, English National Opera, English Touring Opera, Northern Ireland Opera, Opera North, The Royal Opera, Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera, are joining forces for Inside Opera: Live. Hosted live on YouTube from 2pm - 6pm on Saturday 10 May and streamed live from Opera North's base at Leeds Grand Theatre. It combines live streamed and filmed footage to give viewers a chance to experience opera across the UK from the inside, with behind the scenes access, live interviews, and insight into opera being created.

On 10 May, Opera North will be preparing for matinee and evening performances of La Boheme, English National Opera will be preparing Julian Anderson's Thebans and at Warwick Arts Centre, English Touring Opera prepare to perform Mozart's The Magic Flute whilst across the UK other operas being performed include Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Puccini’s Tosca and Madama Butterfly, and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. We are promised specially commissioned behind the scenes films from all participating companies, live interviews with singers and directors, and live links to rehearsals, backstage and community-based activities, plus the chance to hear from the performers as they go on-stage.

The event is intended to widen with audience for opera and will be presented Kirsten O'Brien (formerly of children's TV). But regular opera goers are sure to find plenty to fascinate, even if it is to catch up on what other companies are performing, or the chance to see back-stage at their favourite theatre.  Inside Opera:Live can be seen at www.youtube.com/insideopera from 2pm - 6pm on Saturday 10 May 2014.

Two for the price of one - Rosenblatt Recital

Luca Giordano

At Monday (5/5/2014) night's Rosenblatt Recital at the Wigmore Hall, was supposed to be a recital from the veteran tenor Dennis O'Neill. In the event O'Neill was unable to perform and in his place we were treated to two tenors of the younger generation. London-based Portuguese tenor Luis Gomes and Italian tenor Giordano Luca shared the programme, both accompanied by pianist James Baillieu. 

Luis Gomes

Both tenors sang a selection of operatic arias (both Italian and French) and songs. Luca opened with arias from Verdi's Rigoletto, Puccini's La Boheme, Gounod's Faust and Cilea's L'Arlesiana. Then Gomes sang Tosti's Ideale, Mompou's Combat del somni and Turina's La giralda. After the interval Gomes returned with arias from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Gounod's Faust, Donizetti's La favorite and Verdi's Falstaff. Then Luca closed proceedings with songs by Giordani, Leoncavallo, Tosti and Lara. Each artist gave us an encore before giving the audience the item they hoped for, when both tenors joined for a duet (the inevitable O sole mio).

It was fascinating to be able to hear two young tenor voices side by side. Luca (born 1988) is the older. He studied in Milan and Rome, was a finalist and took the Audience Prize in the 2009 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. Gomes started his studies in Lisbon, but all his recent studies have been in London (at the Guildhall School and the National Opera Studio). Currently he is on the Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artist Programme. Both are from Latin countries and have Italianate tenor voices. But Luca's Italian training showed, with its concentration on la voce and the uniform production of a fine open sound; the result is one of the most beautiful, and intelligently used, Italian lyric tenor voices I have heard in a long time. Whereas Gomes' experience in London seems to have armed him with a flexibility of approach and technique, including a willingness to compromise the pure open quality of the tone for the sake of expressivity.

The Power of Love at St John's

Apollo's Fire - photo credit Roger Mastroianni

Apollo's Fire is a baroque orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio (in the USA), directed by Jeanette Sorrell. On Thursday 8 May 2014 they are bringing their programme The Power of Love to St John's Smith Square. Joined by soprano Sandrine Piau, they will be performing Handel, Vivaldi and Rameau including arias from Handel's Ariodante, Giulio Cesare and Alcina, Vivaldi's Tito Manlio and Rameau's Anacreon and Les Indes Galantes plus Vivaldi concertos. The combination of Piau with such a highly individual ensemble certainly promises fireworks. (Catch their video of La Folia after the break)

Founded in 1992 by harpsichordist and conductor Jeanette Sorrell, Apollo's Fire has released 20 commercial CD's, and currently records for the AVIE label. Classical Music Magazine described them as 'The U.S.A.'s hottest baroque band.'

Schubert and Castles - Whittington Music Festival

Church of St John the Baptist, Whittington

If you are anywhere near Shropshire this week, then you should head over to Whittington in North Shropshire where the Whittington International Chamber Music Festival (6 - 9 May 2014), with a series of concerts devoted to Schubert's chamber music. One of an increasing number of small festivals based around a single group of artists, giving you the chance to get to know the players better than a one-off concert might.

The artists in residence are members of the Werther Ensemble: Jamie Campbell (Violin), Hannah Strijbos (Viola), James Barralet (Cello), Simon Callaghan (Piano) and they are joined by guest artists Benjamin Bowman (Violin), Rosanne Philippens (Violin), Karel Bredenhorst (Cello), and Ben Griffiths (Double-Bass), with James Barrelet being the artistic director of the festival.

Concerts take places at the Church of St John the Baptist, Whittington and Holy Trinity Church, Oswestry. Local non-musical attractions include Whittington Castle, the only medieval castle in the UK owned and run by the local community.

Opera North new season - 2014/15

Opera North's new season promises eight operas and a musical, including six new productions with repertoire stretching from Monteverdi to Jonathan Dove. There are new productions of Verdi's La Traviata, Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Jonthan Dove's Swanhunter and Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, plus revivals of Smetana's The Bartered Bride and De Falla's Vida Breve (in a programme with Gianni Schicchi). The musical is Rogers and Hamerstein's Carousel.

La Traviata is directed by Alessandro Talevi (who directed two terrific Donizetti operas for WNO last year) and is double cast with Autumn 2014, and Winter 2015 casts. In Autumn 2014, Gianluca Marciano (a great favourite at Grange Park Opera) conducts Hye-Youn Lee (who sang Blanche in Poulenc's Carmelites for Grange Park) as Violetta, whilst in Winter 2015 Olivier Dohnanyi conducts Polish soprano Anna Jeruc-Kopec, with Jin Min-Park as Alfredo and Roland Wood and Stephen Gadd sharing Germon.

Drama and Passion on Rosalind Plowright's first recital disc

La belle Dame sans merci: Rosalind Plowright, Philip Mountford: Romeo Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 6 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Songs from Stradella to Stanford in mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright's first recital disc

Amazingly, despite her long career and striking back catalogue, mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright has never had a solo recital album. This new disc, La belle Dame sans merci on Romeo Records, fills the gap and judging from Plowright's recent interview with me for this blog, we can't expect another. The selection of items is very much a personal one. Accompanied by pianist Philip Mountford, Plowright sings Alessandro Stradella's Pieta Signore, Manuel de Falla's Siete Canciones Popolares Espanoles, and songs by Brahms, Tchaikovskty, Kurt Weill, Britten, Ernest Kaye, Frank Bridge, Roger Quilter and Charles Villiers Stanford's La belle Dame sans merci.

They open with Alessandro Stradella's Pieta Signore, which in her intro in the CD booklet Plowright links to the arie antiche learned in college days with Frederic Cox. Whilst we should not expect anything significantly historically informed, Plowright sings with a nice expressivity and her richly supported line is finely flexible. Here, and elsewhere, there is sometimes a slight beat in the voice but it is not intrusive and she combines it with a lovely edge to the tone.

Unlike some recital records, repeated listening to this one confirmed my view of how well it has captured her voice. Not in the sense of hi-fi demonstration recording, but that it really does sound like Plowright in the flesh which is quite a significant feat for recording a large dramatic voice. It is perhaps significant that it was recorded in the fine acoustic of the Menuhin Hall, at the Yehudi Menuhin School.

ENO new season - 2014/15

English National Opera's new season is a cunning mixture of exploration and commercialisation. Having finished 2013/14 in financially buoyant mood thanks to a combination of box office sales, co-production partnerships and a judicious one-off donation, their plans released for 2014/15 are clearly aimed at altering the financial base of the company. As has been the case in John Bury's previous seasons, novelty is aimed purely at the 21st century works with other new productions being firmly in the Wagner, Puccini, Tchaikovsky canon. A judicious combination of casting and directors should make individual productions attractive. Peter Sellars work has been patchy of late, and his Indian Queen a bit controversial, but he should prove an interesting breath of fresh air. The selection of cast, directors and conductors seems a little more considered than of late, two female conductors, a strong clutch of British directors and a judicious mix of foreign debutants in amongst a strong home team. The more commercial aspects (see below) offer some interesting possibilities for future developments.

First opera triumph - Julian Anderson's Thebans

Christopher Ainslie and Roland Wood
Thebans, act 3
picture credit Tristan Kenton

Julian Anderson and Frank McGuinness - Thebans: director Pierre Audi, conductor Edward Gardner: ENO at the London Coliseum
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Mar 20 2014
Star rating: 5.0
Triumphant first outing for composer Julian Anderson's first opera

Julian Anderson's much anticipated first opera, Thebans, premiered at the London Coliseum on 3 May 2014, in a production by English National Opera. Anderson and his librettist, playwright Frank McGuinness, have compressed Sophocles' three Theban plays (Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone) into a compactly dramatic two hour opera. Three plays means a lot of characters, and ENO fielded an impressively strong cast with Roland Wood as Oedipus, Peter Hoare as Creon, Matthew Best as Tiresias, Susan Bickley as Jocasta, Julia Sporsen as Antigone, Jonathan McGovern as Polynices, Matt Casey as Eteocles, Paul Sheehan as a Shepherd, and Christopher Ainslie and Anthony Gregory in multiple roles. The production was directed by Pierre Audi (making a very welcome return to the London stage), designed by Tom Pye, with costumes by Christof Hetzer, lighting by Jean Kalman and video designs by Lysander Ashton for 59 Productions. Edward Gardner conducted.

Sophocles three plays were not written as a trilogy, they were not even written in chronological order with Antigone the last play being written first. The middle play Oedipus at Colonus was written shortly before Sophocles' death and is full of conclusions and endings, so that Anderson and McGuinness chose to put this last, finishing the opera with the death of Oedipus. Not only did this make sense in terms of musico-dramatic structure, but operatically it was satisfying to finish with the death of the leading character.

The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage visits Croydon

Croydon Minster
photo credit Randall Morrow

The Voice of the Turtle Dove - music by Sheppard, Davy and Mundy: The Sixteen, Eamonn Dougan: Croydon Minster
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Apr 30 2014
Star rating: 4.0
The Sixteen in fine form in some glorious Tudor polyphony

The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage 2014 (their 14th) returns to the choir's roots by exploring music of composers they were associated with at their founding, John Sheppard (1515 - 1559), William Mundy (1529 - 1591) and Richard Davy (1465 - 1521). The programme consisted of a group of very substantial works by the composers along with smaller ones. They opened the Pilgrimage at St. John's College Chapel, Cambridge and I caught up with the choir on the third date of the tour, on Wednesday 30 April 2014, at Croydon Minster.

The majority of Choral Pilgrimage concerts are conducted by Harry Christophers, but the 30 April concert was one of a few with Eamonn Dougan, the choir's Associate Conductor, in charge (Harry Christophers was in Boston conducting the Handel and Haydn Society). The full programme was Sheppard's Gaude, gaude, gaude Maria, Mundy's Adolescentulus sum ego, Davy's O Domine caeli terraeque creator, Sheppard's Libera nos (both I and II) and his In manuas tuas (both I and II), Davy's Ah, mine heart, remember thee well and finally Mundy's Vox patris caelestis.

An encounter with Rosalind Plowright

Rosalind Plowright's solo recital CD, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, comes out on the Romeo Records label on 6 May 2014. Amazingly it is her first recital disc. I caught up with her last month, on the phone from Lyon where she was rehearsing Mrs Sedley, to talk about the new disc in particular and her long career in general.

It is perhaps not simply the longevity of Rosalind Plowright's career which is remarkable (later in our conversation she talks of John Tomlinson and Ann Murray as contemporaries at college), but that fact that she has had two distinct careers. Initially she came to prominence as a lyrico-spinto soprano whom I can remember seeing at English National Opera as Desdemona in Otello with Charles Craig and Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda with Janet Baker (both captured on disc), and later as Leonora in Il Trovatore at Covent Garden (a role she recorded with Domingo and Giulini). Vocal problems led not to retirement, but to re-training as a mezzo-soprano with a darkly dramatic voice. Her Fricka was very notable in the early performances of Das Rheingold and Die Walkure in Keith Warner's production at Covent Garden. Her lively Twitter feed now pronounces that she specialises in Witched, Bitches, Bags and Hags.

David and Elizabeth Emanuel
evening dresses 1988

During her soprano period there was talk of doing an album of arias but it never happened, and this seems to be the closest that Rosalind got to a recital disc. In fact, she loves giving recitals and finds it very different to singing in opera. She talks of how recitals give an audience insight into who a singer is, and that they should be an important part of every singers repertory. A song recital is another form of singing, different to opera, and has the advantage that the singing is not directed by a director or conductor, they are in control of themselves and all eyes are on them. She gave lots of recitals when she was younger with pianist Geoffrey Parsons and always enjoyed it though never became, as she puts it, famed for it.

And the Snowman came too - piano music by Howard Blake played by Vladimir Ashkenazy

Walking in the Air - piano music by Howard Blake: Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vovka Ashkenazy: Decca
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Apr 24 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Fine survey of Blake's piano music covering his entire career

This new disc of piano music by Howard Blake  on Decca could be seen as a survey of the composer's varied career as it not only includes recent music (his Parting, op.650a from 2013 ) and his opus 1, but also a works from different periods in his career including a group of items based on his film scores and notably, a piano piece based on Blake's most famous piece of music Walking in the Air from The Snowman. Here the music is played by the distinguished pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy (joined by his son Vovka Ashkenazy for the works for two pianists).

Blake trained at the Royal Academy of Music in the 1950's studying with Howard Ferguson and finding his style of composing did not fit with the prevailing modernist ethos. He had great success as a conductor and composer going into films, but in the 1970's he turned his back on this and re-worked his style to develop his pure classical music again. As a composer Blake has never turned his back on any of his music, he has the admirable ability to incorporate the different facets of his career into one seamless whole and this disc reflects that.

May at Kings Place

Wajahat Khan

Having opened with RE:Naissance curated by Matthew Sharp, May at Kings Place continues with the Allegri String Quartet being joined by sarod virtuoso Wajahat Khan for Khan's own Roog Desh for sarod and string quartet (11/5).

Their Chamber Classics Unwrapped continues with a group of concerts exploring major chamber works. The Carducci Quartet is joined by Charles Own and Katharine Gowers for Shostakovich's Piano Quintet and Chausson's wonderful Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet (14/5). The Aronowitz Ensemble performs Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence plus music by Dohnanyi (15/5).and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performs Bach's Musical Offering BWV 1079, plus music by Handel, Marais, Telemann, Rameau and CPE Bach. There is also a study day on French Chamber Music (17/5).  The New London Chamber Ensemble performs a family concerto of musical stories with narration, including Prokofiev's famous Peter and the Wolf in a chamber version, and music in the same genre by Berio, Saint Saens (guess!) and Martin Butler (setting Roald Dahl) (17/5).  James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong perform the Franck Violin Sonata with music by Leclair and Richard Strauss (17/5)

Coffee Concerts continue with Tim Hugh, principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra and actor Edward Fox in a programme which mixes Bach's Cello Suites with readings from TS Eliot, Robert Browning and more in a programme devised by Lucy Parham (25/5). Poet in the City is presenting a tribute to the poet Seamus Heaney who died in 2013 (26/5)

Dennis O'Neill at Rosenblatt Recitals

The Welsh tenor, Dennis O'Neill will be making a recital appearance in London 5 May 2014 at the Wigmore Hall, as part of the Rosenblatt Recitals Series. Accompanied by the pianist Jane Samuel, O'Neill will be performing arias from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, Verdi's Otello, Puccini's Tosca and Cilea's L'Arlesiana along with songs by Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Tosti. It provides a rare opportunity to hear one of our greatest tenors in recital.

O'Neill is known for his performances in Verdi, and has in fact sung over 20 over the composer's roles. I can remember his early appearances at Covent Garden singing the tenor roles in early Verdi (I think Macbeth and Attila) and making such a strong impression. And he has given over 200 performances at Covent Garden. But in fact, O'Neill was one of those singers who have been around for most of my opera-going career. O'Neill joined Scottish Opera in the late 70's and I saw him a number of times in Glasgow in lyric roles, generally Italian but also Purcell's Aeneas and Jacquino in Fidelioperhaps most memorably as the Duke in Rigoletto in David Alden's 1980 production and Edgardo in a revival of John Copley's production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor with Ashley Puttnam as Lucia. A more recent highlight was his performance of Eleazar in Halevy's La Juive in concert with the Royal Opera.