Fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout’s traversal of Mozart’s complete keyboard music is fast becoming one of the most significant recording projects of the 21st century, combining as it does the best contemporary thinking on historical performance practice with an individual and refined musical sensibility. No stranger to Australian audiences, Bezuidenhout is equally at home in an orchestral or solo instrumental context; he is also as much at home with the improvisatory aspects of historical performance as other fortepianists such as Robert Levin and the great Malcolm Bilson. These factors combine to enliven Bezuidenhout’s interpretations in both a colouristic and decorative sense. Even non-specialists will be left utterly convinced of his total fluency in the musical language of the 18th century. And how lovely to open with the deceptively simple C Major Sonata, K545, so familiar to generations of piano students and yet so elegant and ingenious in its writing. Here, Bezuidenhout’s delicate phrasing, subtle balancing of voices and charming embellishments prepare the listener for what is to come, not only in other familiar works such as the piano sonatas K280, K279 and K576, but some preludes, a neo-baroque dance suite, a… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe…

Mozart’s two-act serenata Il Re Pastore was written in 1775 in response to a commission by the Archbishop of Salzburg. Metastasio’s libretto, based on a Torquato Tasso play, tells the story of Alexander the Great’s attempts at diplomatic matchmaking after his defeat of Strato, tyrant of the Phoenician city of Sidon. Alessandro (John Mark Ainsley) finds the true heir to the throne of Sidon in lowly shepherd Aminta (Sarah Fox), brought up in ignorance of his royal lineage. He and Elisa (Ailish Tynan) are in love, but Alessandro is unaware of this and tries to marry Aminta to Strato’s daughter, Tamiri (Anna Devin), who in turn is in love with nobleman Agenore (Benjamin Hulett). Confusion ensues, after which Alessandro cuts this particular Gordian Knot by making Aminta and Elisa rulers of Sidon and giving Agenore and Tamiri another kingdom to rule over. This fourth volume in Classical Opera’s planned complete survey of Mozart’s operas is every bit as terrific as the first three, with dramatically fulsome singing from all five soloists. Aminta’s famous arias Aer Tranquillo and L’Amerò are of course particular highlights, while Ainsley’s Si Spande al Sole in Faccia shows he’s lost none of the… Continue reading Get…

Fisch's first Mahler Two is more than worth the wait.

In the war against superficiality, guitarist Miloš Karadaglić had two handicaps to overcome: he was too handsome and made things look too easy.

Asher Fisch returns for 2016 with a knockout Teutonic Trio. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Pianist, composer and arranger Joe Chindamo and violinist Zoë Black are more than capable of transcending their specialities of jazz and classical.

★★★★☆ A violinist’s soloistic fireworks and a grand symphony open WASO’s 2016 season in fine style. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

A handful of Limelight critics are spoiled for choice picking their favourite recordings.

A highly detailed and sympathetically recorded account with astonishingly brilliant orchestral playing.

Editor’s Choice, Jan/Feb 2016 – Vocal & Choral “Those who find everything beautiful are now in danger of finding nothing beautiful.” So wrote Theodor Adorno in Minima Moralia. And yet according to composer Cary Ratcliff, the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda “wrote four volumes of odes to ordinary objects”. Of course that’s not all he wrote; Neruda was after all one of the greatest love poets of all time, and the other two composers featured on this recording of choral settings of Neruda’s poetry have availed themselves of some of his most moving love poems. Texas-based vocal ensemble Conspirare’s director Craig Hella Johnson writes in a booklet note that he hopes these settings “can serve as a conduit for an ever deepening experience with this sublime and powerful poetry.” And indeed they may, so convincingly do they translate Neruda’s delicate emotional chiaroscuro into accessible music of great lyrical potency. In Ratcliff’s Ode to Common Things, it is clear that the poet “loves all things” because of their connections with humanity: whether a bed, a guitar, a loaf of bread or a pair of scissors, they are for the… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

Agostino Steffani (1654-1728) set words to music as only a master linguist and singer could. His beautiful chamber duets were influential on Handel’s essays in that genre, while Steffani’s sacred music and French-influenced operas seem to grow out of the duet as a fundamental unit of composition. Steffani spent two decades working in Munich and Niobe, Regina di Tebe, composed in 1687, was his final opera for that city. Based on an episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Luigi Orlandi’s libretto tells the story of Queen Niobe’s downfall after being handed the regency by her husband Anfione, King of Thebes. Assailed by love and hate in equal measure – Tiberino, son of the King of Alba, wants Thebes for himself; the vengeful magician Poliferno assists lovestruck Creonte in his own ambitions for queen and kingdom – Niobe ultimately succumbs to pride and is duly punished by the gods. The music is glorious, Steffani’s adroit handling of recitative and aria matched by his generous orchestrations utilising strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Captured live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, this performance conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock and featuring Véronique Gens as Niobe, Jacek… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

Purcell’s Revenge is based on a live gig, and Concerto Caledonia again teams up with folk musicians.