Who will be Limelight’s Artists of the Year? You decide
Vote here for who you'd like to see honoured in our Australian and International Artists of the Year Awards.
Vote here for who you'd like to see honoured in our Australian and International Artists of the Year Awards.
Liszt has always struck me as a latter-day John Donne: passionate, creative and a ladies’ man in his youth; turning more inwards and closer to God later in life; yet ultimately leading a conflicted life, since both states coexisted in one form or another from the start. That’s what makes Hyperion’s non-chronological complete survey of Liszt’s songs such a fascinating listening experience – apart, of course, from the quality of the songs themselves and the superlative nature of the performances. One gets the whole man, rather than just a slice. Previous volumes from Julius Drake with tenor Matthew Polenzani, mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager and bass-baritone Gerald Finley have already set the bar high. But Grammy Award-winning American mezzo Sasha Cooke is right up there, with a voice as rich and responsive as her musicality. The majority of the songs here, drawn from across a 37-year period, tend towards the introspective and one has only to listen to the lush repose of the opening Des Tages laute Stimmen Schweigen Cooke evokes as the day draws to an end. Or the tastefully characterised romantic drama of Il m’aimait tant! Or the delicate rendering of Liszt’s marvelous setting of Blume und Duft, or the…
At first glance, you may wonder whether we need yet another disc of some of the Counter-Reformation’s greatest hits. Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli, Tu Es Petrus and Sicut Cervus as well as Victoria’s Missa O Quam Gloriosum have been recorded countless times and surely there are many interesting and lesser-known pieces to explore? After all, Palestrina did write at least 104 masses and how many of those do we get to hear? These are quite legitimate questions, but New York Polyphony makes a plausible case for saying there’s always room for one more account of core repertory. The group’s main point of difference from previous recordings is that they perform the music one voice to a part and at a pitch to accommodate their four male voices (countertenor, tenor, baritone and bass). The fine quartet of main singers (Geoffrey Williams, Steven Caldicott Wilson, Christopher Dylan Herbert and Craig Phillips) are joined by countertenor Tim Keeler; tenor Andrew Fuchs and bass-baritone Jonathan Woody for the Palestrina mass and motet, and for some chant propers for Easter that are interwoven with the mass. Singing the Missa Papae Marcelli a fourth below its regular pitch creates quite a different sound world, particularly requiring…
One maestro pays tribute to another, recalling a friend, a mentor and one of the true giants of the Australian music scene. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Vaughan Williams at his earthiest, and masterpieces by Bach, Elgar and Mendelssohn are on the bill for 2017. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★½ Tognetti’s crack band backs classy Russian mistress of the roulades.
The great British accompanist aims to score 10 out of 10 travelling through Vivat’s new Decades series. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Margaret Throsby indulges her curiosity about musical questions from improvisation to why we get musical tingles.
In an eclectic issue, Richard Tognetti’s ACO turns out to be just one of her many musical passions.
Accompanist to Frederick the Great, the second son of JS Bach was also a composer of rare inventiveness and beauty.
★★★★½ Edwards’ Mass of the Dreaming and Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ Mass made a moving pairing. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Limelight talks to the operatic icon about life, music, the value of community, reality TV... oh, and Hillary vs Donald.
Simon Lobelson is the latest singer required to summon the five octaves required for Maxwell Davies’ ‘mad’ King George. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in