Is composer Eric Whitacre the Messiah of new music? Plus, the truth behind Mozart's Requiem.

Hot on the heels of his Pushkin Romances and Tchaikovsky Romances, both released on the Delos label, Dmitri Hvorostovsky makes his Ondine début by continuing the series, this time with a recital of Rachmaninov. His muscular baritone is broodingly at ease in these songs, which deal predominantly with themes of bitterness, regret and ill-fated love, all of it couched in rich and picturesque verse. Here and there, one might wish for a lighter touch or a silkier tone – Hvorostovsky’s singing is more forceful than beautiful, but his musicality is rock solid, and his dramatic sense as compelling on disc as it is on stage. Indeed, his delivery is so robust, and his voice so sonorous, that many of the songs seem to morph into miniature arias. Such an approach might be the undoing of German or French art songs, but Rachmaninov’s romances, whose poetry and illustrative piano parts (deftly dispatched here by Hvorostovsky’s frequent recital partner Ivari Ilja) are already quite operatic in scope, seem almost to demand it. The desperate agony of It is time!, the desolation of Yesterday We Met, and the pleas of Oh no, I beg you, do not leave! are all brought to compelling……

In the Penal Colony is a minimalist chamber opera taking on big, brave themes.

Not even wet weather fears can dampen the excitement surrounding Opera on Sydney Harbour.

In Victorian Opera’s production, John Bell finds out who’s after your soul these days. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Live Review: The Pearl Fishers Opera in the Park Supreme Court Gardens WA Saturday, February 18 Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Less is more on Mozart’s path to enlightenment. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Savage and unremittently dark, Richard Strauss’ Elektra is a gritty psychological thriller, a tale of revenge, torment, matricide and – yes – love.

Gustavo Dudamel and Joyce DiDonato head up this year's list of distinguished winners.

They played enemies in Alan Curtis’s recording of Ariodante, but French-Canadian Baroque specialists Karina Gauvin and Marie-Nicole Lemieux make a happier pair in this collaboration, a selection of arias and duets from Handel’s English oratorios. Handel ceased composing opera in 1741 and turned his hand instead to sacred vocal music. There’s a transcendent quality to these later works, befitting their pious status, but Handel was a man of the theatre, and never lost his knack for drama. Gauvin and Lemieux are well placed to strike that balance, bringing ravishing beauty and drama to these excerpts.  In duet, Gauvin’s pearly soprano contrasts ecstatically with Lemieux’s billowing contralto: the voices blend gorgeously without being subsumed within one another. Welcome as the dawn of day, a sensual love duet between Solomon and his Queen, is an especial delight. Lemieux can stray towards bluster in a militant role, as in Cyrus’s Destructive war from Belshazzar, but to calmer music – As with rosy steps the morn, for instance – she brings a tremulous and earthy beauty.  Gauvin is even better, singing with luscious tone, silken phrasing and keen emotional instincts. Her solo arias are some of the disc’s finest moments:… Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

A Handel opera from René Jacobs is always an event and this recording is a veritable cracker.

Benedict Andrews’ long-awaited, controversial production is a match made in heaven. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in