David Bednall's Stabat Mater

David Bednall Stabat Mater, Ave Maria, Marian Suite; Benenden Chapel Choir, Jennifer Pike, David Bednall, Edward Whiting; Regent Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 05 2016
Star rating: 4.0
A new Stabat Mater for the unusual combination of upper voices, violin and organ

David Bednall's new Stabat Mater is written for the relatively unusual combination of upper voiced choir, violin and organ. On this disc from Regent Records the work gets its first recording by the group which commissioned it, Edward Whiting and Benenden Chapel Choir, and they are joined by David Bednall, organ, and Jennifer Pike, violin. David Bednall and Jennifer Pike also perform Bednall's Marian Suite and all performers come together for his Ave Maria.

The Stabat Mater is substantial, nearly an hour long. It is the second major work which Bednall has written for Edward Whiting and his choir, Bednall's Requiem was written for them in 2008. In his article in the CD booklet, David Bednall cites Herbert Howells' Stabat Mater as one of his influences (along with the settings by Palestrina, Pergolesi and Szymanowski). The music of Ernst Bloch and James MacMillan was also an influence, and MacMillan's own Stabat Mater will be premiered by The Sixteen this autumn.

A debut in the land of enchantment: I chat to Rhian Lois about performing Zerlina in Santa Fe

Rhian Lois and ensemble - Don Giovanni - Santa Fe Opera

Whilst I was in Santa Fe, the Welsh soprano Rhian Lois was also there making her American debut at Santa Fe Opera as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni. I recently caught up with her to talk about how she had enjoyed singing at Santa Fe, to find out about her future plans and, as it turns out, chat about what its like to sing when you are pregnant!

Rhian Lois - Credit: Alecsandra Raluca Dragoi

Asked to sum up her three months in Santa Fe, Rhian comes up with two words, incredible, spectacular, calling it a most special experience in a land of enchantment. On her first day of rehearsal she describes seeing the house in its spectacular surroundings for the first time, and for the rehearsals and performances she found the incredible views so inspirational. And as a Welsh singer, it was special to follow in the footsteps of Bryn Terfel and Rebecca Evans, both of whom made their American debuts at Santa Fe Opera; Terfel as Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 1991 and Evans as Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 1995.

Rhian was there for three months, performing ten performances of Don Giovanni in all. The fact that there was sometimes a gap of 10 days between performances meant there was a lack of continuity, but also meant that the excitement built before each performance in a way which does not happen with a close run. She found the cast a joy to work with, and she refers to them as all 'quality singers': Daniel Okulitch was Don Giovanni, Kyle Ketelsen was Leporello, Leah Crocetto was Donna Anna, Keri Alkema was Donna Elivra, Edgaras Montvidas was Don Ottavio, Soloman Howard was the Commendatore, and Jarrett Ott was Masetto, with Ron Daniels as director and John Nelson as conductor. Riccardo Hernandez's designs for the opera were clearly a hit, Rhian calls the set gorgeous and was pleased that the luxurious costumes were beautiful to wear.

All in all she says that she cannot wait to get back. In his review for Opera Today, James Sohre said 'Ms. Lois’ flawlessly produced soprano and her highly musical singing was a fine complement to the other ladies, and she even made the balance of power far more interesting.'

Testament to a friendship: Truro Cathedral Choir in music by Gabriel Jackson

Vox Clara, music by Gabriel Jackson including Missa Triueriensis; Truro Cathedral Choir, Joel Garthwaite, Luke Bond, Christopher Gray; Regent Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Aug 30 2016
Star rating: 4.0
Truro Cathedral Choir performs music written for it, creating an attractive programme of Gabriel Jackson's sacred music

The centrepiece of this new disc of Gabriel Jackson's music on Regent Records is his Missa Triueriensis which was written for Truro Cathedral Choir. Here Truro Cathedral Choir and conductor Christopher Gray have put together an attractive selection of Jackson's sacred music, five of the pieces were written specifically for the choir,  including the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Truro Service) and two pieces designed to show off the trebles, That wind blowing and that tide and Cantate Domino. As such the disc very much documents the composer's long-term friendship with the choir. On some of the items the choir is joined by saxophonist Joel Garthwaite and by organist Luke Bond.

We open with Vox clara ecce intonat, which was written for Andrew Nethsingha and the choir of St John's College, Cambridge, and uses Joel Garthwaite's saxophone, with Jackson's programme note referring to the instrument's shofar-like qualities. After a dramatic statement, the work is attractively lyric and clearly by Jackson, with an appealing intertwining of saxophone and choir.

Jackson contributed a setting of one of the Advent O Anthems to the set of seven, each by a different composer, which Merton College, Oxford commissioned in 2012. Two years later, Jackson wrote his own full set using the existing anthem as a starting point. The complete work was premiered by Truro Cathedral Choir in December 2014. After an attractively polyphonic O Sapientia, there is a pairing of first low and then high voices. The low voices in O Adonai are quite and intense, whilst the high voices bring an intimacy and clarity to O Radix Jesse. O Claves David is the existing one, brilliant and vivid with a quietly contrasting middle section. O Oriens opens with another highly brilliant passage with the choristers almost ulullating, and Jackson contrasts this with quieter, more unison passages. O Rex Gentium is far more intense, with a lyrical solo from treble Harry Flint. Finally O Emmanuel brings things to conclusion, with a lyrical unison decorated chant-like melody which develops into a radiant conclusion. Throughout the seven pieces, Jackson creates a sense of balance and harmony between the variety of textures, all linked by his own highly appealing harmonic sense.

Showcase for a wide array of talent: Music Futures Festival

AyşeDeniz Gökçin at the Music Futures Festival

Asia House at 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP is the venue for second Music Futures Festival, four day festival running from 26 to 29 September 2016 which showcases young performers. The festival is co-organised by Talent Unlimited, a charity which supports young musicians. This year's festival opens with a recital by Turkish classical pianist AyşeDeniz Gökçin whose performance will include her own arrangements of songs by Coldplay.

The following three days have two concerts per day (lunchtime and evening), with three recital slots in each concert which means that there is a chance to hear a remarkably large number of artists, from a wide variety of countries: violinists Laure Chan and Yume Fujise, pianists Mandakhtuya Dorj, Tolga Atalay Ün, Bo Lyu, Samson Tsoy, Luka Okros, Amrian Zenaishvili, Salih Can Gevrek, Ke Ma and Gerard Aimontche, clarinettist Őzlem Çelik, sopranos Irina Loskova, Nazan Fikret, Waimay Yau and Oksana Sliubyk, counter-tenor Cenk Karaferya, and baritone Jacob Bettinelli,

Baroque pearls: Rachel Podger & Marcin Swiatkiewicz

Rachel Podger - credit: Jonas Sacks

Fontana, Castello, Frescobaldi, Leonarda, Corelli, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Veracini; Rachel Podger, Marcin Swiatkiewicz; Kings Place
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 16 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Vividly engaging survey of the first century of Italian violin sonatas

Under the title Perla Barocca, the recital by Rachel Podger & Marcin Swiatkiewicz at Kings Place last night (15 September 2016) explored the Italian violin sonata taking us on a journey from Dario Castello's Sonata Seconda of 1621, to Francesco Maria Veracini's Sonata No. 12 in D minor for violin and continuo Op.2 No. 12 from 1744. This century or so saw the rapid development of the sonata and the concept of writing both for publication (for amateurs) and for professional violinists. 

The sequence of sonatas chosen by Rachel Podger showed how the improvisatory freedom of the early sonatas was gradually replaced by a greater formality. We started with Giovanni Battista Fontana's Sonata Seconda, followed by Castello's sonata, Girolamo Frescobaldi's Toccata per spinettina e violino, Isabella Leonarda's Sonata Duodecima in D minor, Arcangelo Corelli's Sonata Op. 5 No. 12 in D minor La Follia, Antonio Vivaldi's Sonata for violin and basso continuo in A, Op.2, No. 2 (RV31) and Francesco Geminiani's Violin Sonata in D minor Op.4 No. 8 (H92), concluding with the Veracini sonata. We also heard two of Geminiani's harpsichord pieces from Pieces de clavecin which were in fact simplified versions of movements from his solo violin pieces.

All the music in the programme was published, which means that though much of it was extremely technically demanding, it was more widely available to players of all abilities than works which remained in manuscript. A further fascinating factor in the music was the way that it showed how the musical centre of gravity in Europe moved around. Though Italy remained the hot-house of talent during the period, both Geminiani and Veracini ended up in Georgian London. As a pupil of Corelli, the former was very popular in London but Veracini was less so, his music being seen as too 'wild and flighty'.

The sonatas also moved from the less structured to the highly structured.

Purcell and Teleman: two Don Quixotes from the English Concert

Harry Bicket and the English Concert

Purcell, Telemann Don Quixote; Anna Devin, Matthew Brook, Danann McAleer, The English Concert, Harry Bicket; the Wigmore Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 14 2016
Star rating: 4.0
Two charmingly different musical takes on the Don Quixote story

Cervantes' Don Quixote (currently celebrating the 400th anniversary of the author's death) has inspired a variety of musical incarnations, and at the Wigmore Hall on Wednesday 14 September 2016, Harry Bicket and the English Concert explored music by Purcell and by Telemann inspired by Cervantes' character. We heard music from Purcell's incidental music to Tom Durfey's play based on the novel, with soprano Anna Devin and bass-baritone Matthew Brook, plus Purcell's music from The Married Beau and the orchestra was joined by actor Danann McAleer for Telemann's suite Don Quixote Suite.

Neither Purcell's music for Tom Durfey's dramatisation of Don Quixote nor his music for The Married Beau survives complete, we have to rely on collections produced after Purcell's death. As both plays date from 1694, the English Concert created a suite by interpolating the surviving vocal numbers from Don Quixote into the instrumental numbers from The Married Beau. The result was an entertaining and lively sequence, full of the variety and character that we expect from Purcell's theatre music.

Airborne delights: rare Gluck and Arne comic double bill

The Judgement of Paris - Robert Anthony Gardiner, Christopher Turner
Photo Anthony Hall, Bampton Classical Opera

Divine Comedies: Gluck Philemon & Baucis, Arne The Judgment of Paris; Catherine Backhouse, Barbara Cole Walton, Christopher Turner, Robert Anthony Gardiner, Aoife O'Sullivan, dir: Jeremy Gray, Chroma, cond: Paul Wingfield; Bampton Classical Opera at St John's Smith Square
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on Sep 13 2016
Star rating: 4.0
Divine Comedies: a mythological double-bill

Bampton Classical Opera is known for its country-house performances of eighteenth-century rarities in Oxfordshire. This was the London outing (13 September 2016) of this summer’s offering and a rare chance to see a staged performance at St John’s Smith Square.

This evening paired two short works: first was Gluck’s Philemon and Baucis of 1767, set to a "somewhat undramatic" (according to the programme note) text by scholar Giuseppe Maria Pagnini, adapted and translated by Gilly French. For the second half we had Arne’s The Judgement of Paris, written around 1745 and set to a lively text by William Congreve. Performed by Catherine Backhouse, Barbara Cole Walton, Christopher Turner, Robert Anthony Gardiner, and Aoife O'Sullivan in productions directed by Jeremy Gray. Paul Wingfield conducted the instrumental ensemble Chroma.

The Judgement of Paris Aoife Sullivan, Catherine Backhouse, Barbara Cole Walton
Photo Bampton Classical Opera

We were given a great deal of background in the programme booklet and in Jeremy Gray’s talk. It reminded us just how much energy and thought – and goodwill – goes into any opera performance. We also got a printed copy of the libretto – but in print too small to be read in good lighting, let alone in the dark at St John’s. Nevertheless the performance spoke for itself.

Both works are characterised by mythological settings and earthly dilemmas. Gray set them around a theme of air travel, which conveniently solved the problem of the deus ex machina. Where magical effects can’t be flown from above, we had a multi-faith chapel and a tiny plane loo. The set consisted of a series of flats on the diagonal: a local airport for the Gluck and the inside of a plane for the Arne. The 21-piece band, CHROMA, were behind, almost out of sight, and depended on a large monitor halfway down the audience seating (which I must say felt quite risky, though it worked out mostly OK).

The setting also gave a context for the dances and extended arias. Both works are somewhat slim plot-wise, but in both cases the music provides for rich characterisation: Gluck packs so much of what was to come later in his writing into his short piece, while very little of Arne’s work survives so we have no real way of knowing how it fits into the rest of his output.

Philemon and Baucis are living a simple life in Phrygia, working contentedly at the airport (ARNE AIR!), when in flies the spoilt god Jupiter. Grateful that the lovers were nice to him, he offers all sorts of riches that they turn down in favour of the status quo. Catherine Backhouse’s Philemon had some of the best lines – including rhyming “chocolate biscuit” with “I wouldn’t risk it” and diction generally was excellent (at least from the front seats). Barbara Cole Walton as Baucis had the show-stopping aria “You are my shepherd and lover” complete with spectacular top G’s (G in alt!) that seemed to cost her nothing. Jupiter was a far-flung role with high coloratura and going down into a baritone register. As well as the small chorus, there were some non-singing parts for push & pull, dances with wheeled suitcases as partners, and providing a sweet flower-girl charade in the final wedding scene.

A witty take on a classic programme: the Faust Chamber Orchestra at Kings Place

Katie Bray

Conductor Mark Austin and his Faust Chamber Orchestra make their debut at Kings Place on Sunday 25 September 2017 with a witty take on a classic programme. Mezzo-soprano Katie Bray joins the orchestra for Cherubino's two arias from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and under the title of Classicism according to Cherubino the orchestra will be presenting Schubert's youthful Symphony No. 3, Mozart's Oboe Concerto and Prokofiev's Classical Symphony in the guise of works from Cherubino's pen, as reflections of the character's joy, energy and mischief. The soloist in the Mozart will be Olivier Stankiewicz, who is principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra and YCAT artist.

Mark Austin and the Faust Chamber Orchestra gave a performance of Louis Spohr's rarely performed oratorio Die letzten Dinge (The Last Judgement) (see Ruth's review on this blog).

Full details of the Faust Chamber Orchestra's forthcoming concert from the Kings Place website.

In case you missed it: August on Planet Hugill - Santa Fe, Iceland, Tallinn & Grimeborn

Welcome to August on Planet Hugill, a month which has seen us visiting Santa Fe (New Mexico), Iceland and Tallinn (Estonia), and managing to incorporate operas and concerts in each visit, of which more below.

Santa Fe Opera

The operas of Richard Strauss have always held a special place at Santa Fe and we saw Tim Albery's striking new production of Capriccio, whilst former husband and wife, Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez made a passionate pairing in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in a production which channelled Gone with the Wind. We were lucky enough to be able to see the new production of Samuel Barber's Vanessa, an opera we had never seen staged before, and here given in a handsome Hollywood Noir production by James Robinson with Leonard Slatkin conducting.

Birgitta Festival in Tallinn

The Birgitta Festival takes place each Summer in the ruins of the Pirita Convent in Tallinn, Estonia. I was lucky enough to attend this year and amongst the visiting companies I heard the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet of Belarus in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and the festival's own production, Joel Lauwers' Requiem... and life before, based on Mozart's Requiem.

Music@Malling: music in historic venues in a Kent market town

St Leonard's Tower, West Malling
photo Thomas Beilby (Wikimedia Commons)

Music@Malling, the festival in the Kent town of West Malling, opens on 23 September for the sixth edition of the festival. Founded by conductor Thomas Kemp (who grew up in the area), the festival combines classical music with contemporary, jazz and world music performed in historic venues around the town. This year the festival not only commemorates the First World War and Shakespeare anniversaries, but that of Frank Sinatra too, plus a series of concerts devoted to the music of Bach.

Performers include Kemp's ensemble Chamber Domaine, vocal ensemble Stile Antico, organist Matthew Owens and the Callum Au Band. Harpsichordist Steven Devine accompanies cellist Richard Harwood in Bach's viola da gamba sonatas, and accompanies violinist Mathew Truscott in Bach's violin sonatas.

There is a major education project based around Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, whilst both Stile Antico and James Pearson (artistic director of Ronnie Scott's) will be offering mentoring sessions. Go Compose! offers a chance for young composers to be mentored by Simon Speare (from the Royal College of Music) and members of Chamber Domaine.

Full information from the Music@Malling website.

Youth and experience: Benjamin Appl and Graham Johnson in Schubert

Schubert songs; Benjamin Appl, Graham Johnson; Wigmore Hall Live
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Aug 28 2016
Star rating: 4.0
The young German baritone in a highly appealing of Schubert song

In January 2016 the young German baritone Benjamin Appl stood in at the last minute for a Wigmore Hall recital with an all Schubert programme, our reviewer Ruth was there and was impressed (see her review). This wasn't Appl's first Schubert recital at the Wigmore Hall, and this new disc from Wigmore Hall Live gives us a chance to eavesdrop on Appl's recital, with pianist Graham Johnson, from 27 March 2015. The programme consists of Am Bach im Frühling, Der Wanderer an den Mond, Im Freien, Geheimes, Das Lied im Grünen, Fischerweise, Verklärung, An den Tod, Der Zwerg, An die Leier, Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, Memnon, Alinde, Der Kampf, Die Gebüsche and Im Abendrot, with two encores.

The booklet includes admirable notes on the individual songs by Richard Stokes, but we are given little hint about how and why the selection of songs was made. Still, we can see at first glance that we start in the open air and continue there for some time, before death and things otherworldly take over.

Storytelling without consonants: Gwyneth Herbert at Kings Place

Gwyneth Herbert

MIX: Herbert, Takemitsu, Lutosławski; Gwyneth Herbert, London Sinfonietta; Kings Place Festival
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on Sep 9 2016
Star rating: 3.5
Eclectic and ultimately frustrating programme as singer/songwriter Gwyneth Herbert teams up with London Sinfonietta

The multi-talented Gwyneth Herbert teamed up with members of the amazingly versatile London Sinfonietta for an hour-long exploration of the sea in Hall Two at Kings Place on Friday 9 September 2016 as part of the Kings Place Festival.

This was a continuous programme interspersing pieces from Herbert's 2013 song cycle Sea Cabinet with Lutosławski's Three Fragments and miniatures from Takemitsu's Toward the Sea and Air. Herbert introduced it as an 'experiment', giving the song cycle a 'radical makeover' and, as well as exploiting the eclectic range of percussion on stage, she also invited the audience to help with sound effects.

The songs (as I found out later thanks to Google, having failed to pick any of this up from what I heard) described different aspects of the sea, and the titles "Lorelei", "Alderney", "Drip" (you can hear "Drip" on YouTube), "Drink" certainly had watery resonances. Sadly, though, from the back of the hall all we had to go on were the titles and the choruses (plus the bit she sang in French, strangely).

Endellion String Quartet in London and Cambridge

Endellion String Quartet

The Endellion String Quartet's season at the Wigmore Hall opens on 23 September 2016 with Haydn's String Quartet in F Op.77 Op.2 (‘Lobkowitz’), his last completed string quartet, Beethoven's String Quartet in F Op.59 No.1 (‘Razumovsky’) and Bartok's String Quartet No.3 in C sharp BB93.The season continues on 8 March 2017 with Haydn, Mendelssohn and Sibelius's String Quartet in D minor Op.56 (‘Voces Intimae’), and then on Tuesday 23 May 2017 there is Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Webern. Full information from the Wigmore Hall website.

The quartet also has a regular series at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge, and this continues on 19 October 2017 with Mozart's Hunt Quartet,Tippett's second quartet and Beethoven's Op. 131, followed by Haydn Op.54 No.1, Bartok No. 5 and Beethoven Op.127 on 16 November 2016. Full information and booking for the Cambridge series from Cambridge Live Tickets.

Roller-coaster rides: Brodsky Quartet at the Kings Place Festival

The Brodsky Quartet

Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Beethoven; Brodsky Quartet; Kings Place Festival
Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on Sept 9 2016
Star rating: 5.0
A concert with everything in it

The Brodsky Quartet have been around since 1972, with some personnel changes. Their work with Elvis Costello and Björk earned them a reputation for crossing over boundaries. For tonight’s Kings Place concert (Friday 9 September), though, we were treated to a wonderfully intense hour of core classical repertoire, including a Shostakovich quartet (No. 4) from the complete set they have just recorded live in Amsterdam for Chandos, Mendelssohn's Fugue in E flat, Op. 81 and Beethoven Große Fuge (Great Fugue).

The Brodskys stood up to play, slightly offset to stage left, presumably in the knowledge that the acoustic 'centre of gravity' in Hall One is not central. There is no showbiz in their delivery, rather a sense that they were there to serve the music. I have had a summer of country-house and open-air opera and the Proms – all wonderful – but the clarity and intimacy of this performance were something very special.

Religious fervour: La Fura dels Baus dramatic interpretation of Bellini's Norma at Covent Garden

Sonya Yoncheva - Norma - Royal Opera - (c) ROH, photographer Bill Cooper

Bellini Norma; Sonya Yoncheva, Joseph Calleja, Sonia Ganassi, Brindley Sherratt, dir: Alex Ollé, cond: Antonio Pappano; Royal Opera House Covent Garden
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 13 2016
Star rating: 4.0
Covent Garden's first new Norma for nearly 30 years, with a setting of particularly Iberian religious intensity

Joseph Calleja, Sonya Yoncheva
Norma - Royal Opera - (c) ROH, photographer Bill Cooper

I have had the dubious honour of seeing the Covent Garden's two previous productions of Bellini's Norma, the rather indifferent 1979 revival of Sandro Sequi's traditional if stylised production with Grace Bumbry in the title role sounding as if she thought Bellini was early Verdi, and John Copley's new production of 1987 with Margaret Price in the title role, notable perhaps for the amount of bare flesh shown both by the men (actors I presume) and for the unflattering nature of Price's costume (I have little remembrance of the singing!). My happiest memories of a production of Norma date from 1993 at Scottish Opera when Ian Judge's Henry and Hornel inspired production with Jane Eaglen in the title role seemed to combined musicality, imagination and drama in the right combination.

More recently there have been productions at Grange Park Opera (in 2009 with Claire Rutter), Opera Holland Park (in 2014 with Yvonne Howard, see my review), and English National Opera (in 2016 with Marjorie Owens, see my review). I missed the performances by Cecilia Bartoli in Edinburgh but read the reports with interest (see my article).

Sonia Ganassi - Norma
(c) ROH, photographer Bill Cooper

Covent Garden's new production of Norma has been through some permutations before the production debuted on Monday 12 September. Soprano Anna Netrebko had withdrawn, to be replaced by the young Bulgarian lyric coloratura Soniya Yoncheva, a move away from a big dramatic voice to a more lyric one which reflects the variety of casting which is possible in the role. The production was created by the team from La Fura dels Baus which was responsible for the recent production of Enescu's Oedipe (see my review), director by Alex Ollé, associate director Valentina Carrasco, set designer Alfons Flores and costume designer Lluc Castells with lighting by Marco Filibeck. Sonya Yoncheva sang Norma, with Joseph Calleja as Pollione, Sonia Ganassi as Adalgisa, Brindley Sherratt as Oroveso, Vlada Borovko as Clotilde and David Junghoon Kim as Flavio. Antonio Pappano conducted the Royal Opera House orchestra.

Ollé's production emphasised the religious background of the piece, he comments in an article in the programme booklet that Norma's 'biggest sin may be that of trying to be happy in a society drugged by a religion which believes happiness is only to be found in the arms of a God capable of fanatically demanding destruction and warfare.' The production's response to the opera was a specifically Iberian one, depicting the religion of the Druids as a form of intense, extreme Catholicism (albeit with female priests) with iconography and ceremonies clearly based on the intense form of religion in the Iberian peninsuala with its confraternities, costumes including the cloaks and hoods (capirote) worn during holy week and even a giant swinging thurible during 'Casta diva'.

The set was a basic forest, except this forest was made up of crucifixes to create a flexible and very striking acting space. For the opening scenes of Act One this space was gradually filled with all the detritus of a large-scale religious space, whilst for the opening of Act Two, Norma's dwelling was a modernist interior strewn with toys and games (and including a large-screen TV).

Antonio Pappano and the Royal Opera House Orchestra produced a big boned, highly dramatic, very traditional account of the overture which seemed to suggest the style of performance Pappano might have given with a more dramatic soprano in the title role. Thankfully things calmed down somewhat afterwards.

Lively charm: Duo Praxedis in operatic arrangements

Gioacchino Rossini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Maria von Weber, Otto Nicolai, Richard Eilenberg, Franz Lehár, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Emil Sauer; Duo Praxedis; Paladino Music
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Aug 31 2016
Star rating: 4.0
Delightful disc of mainly operatic arrangements from the Swiss piano-harp duo

The Swiss mother and daughter Duo Praxedis (Praxedis Hug-Rütti - harp, Praxedis Genevieve Hug - piano) explore music for harp and piano duo. Their previous disc on Paladino Music gave us early classical pieces written for this particular combination. The later 19th century is less fruitful for this repertoire, even though both instruments were popular individually. So on this new disc From Praxedis with Love we have the duos own arrangements of overtures and encore items by Gioacchino Rossini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Maria von Weber, Otto Nicolai, Richard Eilenberg, Franz Lehár, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Emil Sauer.

This is the duo's seventh disc (and pianist Praxedis Hug has her own solo discs including an impressive Liszt set on Sony, see my review). The problem with the previous disc was that the music, though extremely charming, rather lacked substance. But here, they have chosen a group of substantial works, of the type which were commonly arranged for domestic consumption in the 19th century.

New season, new challenge

My choir, London Concord Singers starts rehearsals again this week, with musical director Jessica Norton. The choir will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a concert on 8 December 2016 at the Priory Church of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell. The programme includes pieces from past programmes which have a special resonance with the choir, many of them old favourites or favourites of our founder, the late Malcolm Cottle. The programme includes Poulenc's Mass in G and music by Josquin, Palestrina, Byrd, Redford, Mendelssohn & Britten, plus my own Dominus Illuminatio Mea and the winning work in the choir's Anniversary Composition Competition, Alison Willis's Thou has made me endless.

As ever the choir is always keen to welcome new members, so if anyone fancies the challenge then please contact us on info@londonconcordsingers.org.uk. Rehearsals are on Monday evenings in Clerkenwell..

St John's Smith Square goes 24 hours with music marathon

St John's Smith Square

This weekend (17/18 September 2016) is London Open House Weekend, and St John's Smith Square is helping celebrate by opening its doors. But visitors will not only be able to appreciate the stunning baroque architecture, but will be able to hear music performed as the concert hall is running a 24 hour music marathon. From 10am on Saturday 17 September to 10am on Sunday 18, there will be a continuous programme of performances, open rehearsals and workshops. All the events are free and people are encouraged to drop in at any time.

There will be a wide variety of performers, including pianist Cyril Ibrahim, and pianist Frances Wilson (who runs the Cross-eyed Pianist Blog) performing Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Toru Takemitsu, and Leonard Bernstein. Ensembles include the Coldlight Jazz Ensemble performing new works inspired by visual art by the trio’s pianist James Woodhall, the Wallbrook String Quartet in Beethoven and Shostakovich, the Mila Trio in Schumann, the Ligeti Quartet, Joo Yeon Sir, Palisander, Matthew Scott of Ensemble Mirage, North Downs Community Orchestra in a selection of film scores, and The Iken Scholars of Victoria’s Requiem Mass. Singer/songwriter Katherine Christie Evans performs her unique blend of classic rock 'n' roll, medieval troubadour song, folk ballads, and original material, Sam Cave performs guitar works by George Holloway and Tristan Murail, and Mimi Doulton tackles the challenge of Judith Weir’s King Harald’s Saga.

Alongside the marathon, St John's is also running a Pay-per-Note: The People's Piece challenge. This gives members of the public the opportunity to purchase as many of the notes in the 12 note scale as they like, to be included in a piece composed by St John's Director, Richard Heason. The sale of the notes will be open before the marathon but Heason will only start composing at midnight on Sunday 18th September using the exact number of each note that has been purchased. This piece will then performed at the end of the marathon by Palisander with every contributor credited and receiving a copy of the score as a thank you for their generous donation. All money raised through this challenge will go towards supporting music outreach projects delivered by the St John’s Smith Square Young Artists.

Further information and a full schedule of events on the St John's Smith Square website.

Lively mix: we dip into the Kings Place Festival

Kings Place Festival; Artea String Trio, Sansara, Duo Bayanello; Kings Place
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 10 2016
Star rating: 4.0
Bach on string trio, unaccompanied choral music and a cello & accordion duo, our two visits to Kings Place's lively festival

This weekend (9-11 September 2016) the annual Kings Place Festival filled Kings Place with all manner of events from classical to jazz, world music, beer tastings and canal trips. We made two visits to sample what was on offer. On Saturday 10 September we caught Duo Bayanello, Cecilia Bignall (cello) and Iosif Purits (accordion), on the free Box Office Stage and then heard the Artea String Trio, Thomas Gould (violin), Benjamin Roskams (viola) and Ashok Klouda (cello) performing Dmitry Sitkovetsky's string trio arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations, whilst on Sunday 11 September we heard the choir Sansara in a mixed programme of Taverner, Tallis, White, Byrd, Stenhammer, Chesnokov, Rutter, Esenvalds, MacMillan, Raberg, Ben Parry and Galviani.

Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he published in 1741, was written for two-manual harpsichord and consists of an aria and 30 variations, and was transcribed for string trio by Dmitry Sitkovetsky in 1984, inspired by Glenn Gould's performance of the work. It might seem unlikely to reduce the complexities of Bach's contrapuntal writing to just three instruments, and though Sitkovetsky goes some way from the original (and reduces the length to around 50 minutes by omitting repeats), the result is remarkably appealing. Particularly so, as the Artea String Trio's brought elegance and vitality to the music, giving a clear sense of engagement.

Youth has it: Verdi Requiem at the Proms

Tamara Wilson, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenement - photo BBC Proms

Verdi Requiem; Tamara Wilson, Alisa Kolosova, Dimitri Pittas, Morris Robinson, BBC Youth Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Marin Alsop; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 09 2016
Star rating: 4.5
Musical, well-modulated performance showcasing the wonderful youth chorus

For the penultimate BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 9 September 2016, Marin Alsop conducted the BBC Youth Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Verdi's Requiem with soloists Tamara Wilson, Alisa Kolosova, Dimitri Pittas, and Morris Robinson.

Verdi himself conducted the UK premiere of the Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall in 1875 when the choir was huge (numbering as many as 1000 I have heard). On Friday we had nearly 300 young singers from Berkshire Youth Choir, Finchley Children's Music Group, Hampshire County Youth Choir, Hertfordshire County Youth Choir, CBSO Youth Chorus, National Youth Choir of Wales, University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir, and University of Birmingham Voices.

The BBC Youth Choir was one of the highlights of the evening, the young singers opening the work with a wonderful hushed 'Requiem' sung from memory, all eyes on Marin Alsop. They sang with a finely clear, transparent tone, certainly bringing youthful verve to the performance but sophistication too. Whilst the tone was often soft-grained, they were finely ardent not to say powerful in the 'Dies Irae' which recurs throughout the work. The 'Sanctus' was rightly a choral showpiece, with crisp dancing rhythms and energising transparent textures, and their concluding 'Libera me' fugue was really vehement.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment filled the platform, fielding some 60 strings, yet the sound had a transparency and openness of texture with much less of the uniform string-dominated sound of a modern orchestra. This meant that there was greater space between the notes for the singers to take advantage of, but also gave a lovely feeling of multi-levelled detail in moments like the 'Sanctus', and the bleached string tone in the 'Offertorium' on soprano Tamara Wilson's entry was simply magical.

The soloists clearly took great advantage of the space given them, and this certainly was not a performance which was over sung. Each of the soloists brought a fine sense of control to their performance, and a well modulated sense of phrasing.