A moving tribute to Kathleen Ferrier at the Wigmore Hall

Simon Keenlyside and Graham Johnson's concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus featured songs by Schoenberg and his pupil Hanns Eisler, as well as Britten, Wolf, Schubert and Brahms. These consummate artists made a difficult program seem easy to perform and even easier to listen to.

The first part of the Celebrity Recital which brought the Leeds Lieder Festival to a close was entitled “Schubert Looking North”, which included a section on German versions of British poets.

It was hard to choose from the fascinating menu for The Composer’s Echo (the title for this Leeds Lieder Festival), which is described as “a feast of song from the great Western European tradition which fuses poetry and music” by the festival’s director, Jane Anthony.

‘Fêtes Galantes’ is one of those glorious French phrases that sounds so wonderful but is nigh on impossible to translate. Rather than having any concrete meaning, it evokes Watteau-esque imagery of woodland gatherings, where eighteenth-century aristocrats amuse themselves by flirting, dancing and making music.

Unter der Leitung des Dirigenten Leonardo García-Alarcón präsentieren der Chœur de chambre de Namur, das Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra und ein buntes Solistenquintett eine uneinheitliche Deutung von Bachs Sakralwerk.

Im Interview versprach Gardiner Emotionalität und Überraschung. In der Auffühung kam sie mit Assistent Sousa daher, der letztlich den bombastisch grandiosen Berlioz-Höhepunkt von ORR und Monteverdi Choir anerkennend rettete.