Review: Ghosts, Fools and Seers (Katja Webb, David Wickham)
Entertaining mix of art songs from rising Aussie soprano.
Steve Moffatt’s earliest musical memories are of his father’s dubious tenor accompanying 78s of Gigli and Björling. As a local newspaper reporter in London, he covered Jimi Hendrix’s inquest. Now retired, he reviews concerts for Limelight and NewsLocal newspapers, where he worked as production editor.
Entertaining mix of art songs from rising Aussie soprano.
Another top shelf Pelléas means it's chacun á son goût.
From chopsticks to a Guarneri, this fiddler will amaze you.
Full-blooded accounts of favourites from the master of melody.
Warning: Diva’s crossover debut may just cloy you to death.
Boesch dons Schubert's coat for another winter of much content.
There's nothing like a Dame when it comes to Dowland.
Remembrances of times past: Nicholas Daniel offers a heartfelt homage to his beloved teacher.
Strauss and Tennyson's Odyssey gets the full dramatic sweep.
No gnus is good news as Swann's way sees serious poetry settings.
English star cellist gets Bach to the basics.
Tognetti and his world-class band scale the heights.
The young English soprano Sophie Bevan brings plenty of drama and panache – as well as a yearning tenderness – to a delightful programme of concert arias, including the three written for the Czech diva Josefa Dušek, two by Mozart and the other by a young Beethoven. Over a generous 70 minutes Haydn is well represented by Scena di Berenice and his beautiful Petrach sonnet setting, Solo e pensoso. But it’s the four Mozart pieces and Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido, the album’s closer, which show us why Bevan won the 2010 Critics’ Circle award for Exceptional Young Talent. One of the highlights is the lovely duet with The Mozartists’ oboist Rachel Chaplin in the cavatina from Mozart’s Ah, lo previdi. Bevan is a talent to watch. She’s perfectly suited to this material, admirably backed by the period instruments of The Mozartists. This is the first recording by the offshoot of Ian Page’s acclaimed Classical Opera, with whom Bevan has recorded whole operas as well as appearing with them regularly in concerts. The 34-year-old has also performed at Covent Garden, English and Welsh National Operas and Glyndebourne as well as in Europe. Perfido! was recorded in a church in Kilburn,… Continue reading Get…