Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Matthew Brook

John Butt’s revisitation of the Handel oratorio Samson at the Halle Handel Festival displayed this treasured work in an illuminating and satisfying light.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Baroque specialists continue their crusade to bring Bach's church cantatas to the modern world.

A brooding and melancholy presentation of Bach’s masterpiece from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Mark Padmore. 

In Jussi Wieler and Sergio Morabito’s pugilistic production of Ariodante, the singers needed as much physical and gymnastic dexterity as vocal finesse.

Three concerts over one day at the opening weekend of Bachfest Leipzig combined Bach’s music with that of composers from Rachmaninov to Sibelius, but nothing matches the unrivalled bliss of Bach’s own music performed with total conviction.

A probing, exultant and musically tireless performance from The English COncert.

Music written by Bach for the Collegium Musicum, and also for the first Sunday after Easter, was played with skill and flourish by this exceptional orchestra;  sadly, the singing was not consistently good enough to match. 

An excellent performance of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper receiving its Scottish première, with Roderick Williams and Susan Bickley heading a luxury cast.

The Dunedins venture south to show London how to play and sing Purcell.

Historically informed baroque gestures and ballet additions: Handel's only operetta gets a rare airing and a musical makeover in Sigried T'Hooft's new production for Gottingen's International Handel Festival.

If Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, then Boris Godunov is about five Russian dolls' worth.

Bach's St John Passion thrills the audience at Valletta International Baroque Festival. 

A fine new edition of Mozart's Requiem recieves its UK première, overshadowed by a trenchant Sibelius Fourth from Opera North under Jac van Steen.

Laurence Cummings and Royal Northern Sinfonia round off their week of Bach concerts at Sage Gateshead with joyful orchestral music, and Bach's miniature comic opera.

John Butt and Dunedin Consort delight Dunbar Parish Church with Acis and Galatea

The Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia do battle with Beethoven's monumental and challenging choral masterpiece.

A deeply stirring interpretation of Bach's St John Passion from Pacific Musicworks in Seattle. 

Since reading Stravinsky’s assertion (in Poetics of Music) that “The more constraint one imposes, the more one frees oneself from the chains that shackle the spirit”, this paradox has fascinated me.

Passion is not for the faint-hearted. This performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion weighed in at three hours (excluding interval). However, my attention did not waver, and this seemed true of the rest of enraptured audience.

Handel’s Messiah is a challenge to any conductor, particularly in the English-speaking world. It’s probably the best-loved piece in the classical repertoire, guaranteed to bring people out in great crowds. You can’t mess with Messiah, but at the same time, there’s a danger of sinking into tired tradition.

The motto of the Lammermuir Festival, now in its third year, is “beautiful music in beautiful places”. Few settings are more striking than St Mary’s Parish Church in Haddington.

The Dunedin Consort are, as I write, engaged in recording Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. On the eve of this undertaking, they presented the third and final part of their Brandenburg/Cantata series. The format of paired concerto and cantata in either half contained a novelty: this was the first time I'd heard the consort play a composer other than Bach.

Gustav Leonhardt, who died in January this year, was a great pioneer in the early music movement – as harpsichordist, organist, conductor and teacher – and he influenced all subsequent musicians in the field whether directly or indirectly. Nicolette Moonen, founder of the Bach Players, was one such musician who, while growing up in Amsterdam, took up the baroque violin inspired by his playing.

The overture to Der Freischütz is a familiar concert warm-up, but the opera itself is a rarer find these days. It wasn't always so. With over fifty performances in the eighteen months following its 1821 Berlin debut, Weber's spooky tale of souls traded for magic bullets was an instant hit.

Die vier Bachkantaten verbreiteten in der Dresdner Frauenkirche in den Händen Gardiners und seiner Ensembles befreiende Freude.

In einer konzertanten Aufführung hat sich The English Concert unter der Leitung von Harry Bicket in der Elbphilharmonie der Händeloper gewidmet und bot mit einem Sänger-Ensemble eine rasante und gefühlsbetonte Barockoper der Spitzenklasse.

Mark Padmore est aujourd’hui l’un des Évangélistes les plus renommés et expérimentés de la scène internationale. Pour ce concert qu'il dirige aussi il a choisi un effectif de 16 chanteurs pour l'ensemble des parties vocales.