Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Matthew Long

Well defined performances of Monteverdi madrigals are sung with I Fagiolini’s customary ease and involvement. 

I Fagiolini and the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble give a very special performance at Kings Place. 

On the night of 29 December, 1940, after a brief respite over Christmas, German bombers roared back over Britain. They dropped numerous incendiary bombs on the City of London, causing massive destruction, loss of life, and uncontrollable fires that raged for days. Miraculously, St Paul’s Cathedral survived the onslaught intact, even as much of the surrounding neighbourhood was reduced to rubble.

The scene is 1612 in Venice: a great battle has been won against the dreaded Ottoman Empire, and in celebration, evening prayers are ordered to be set to music specially composed by the great Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi and others.