A religious experience at Prague Spring

By Frank Kuznik, 18 May 2018

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“the string section... was like King Midas – everything it touched to gold”

Reviewed at Rudolfinum: Dvořák Hall, Prague on 17 May 2018

Bach, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen - Cantata, BWV12

Bach, Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! - Cantata, BWV70a

Bach, Jesus schlaeft, was soll ich hoffen? - Cantata, BWV81

Bach, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme - Cantata, BWV140

Mary Bevan, Soprano

Reginald Mobley, Countertenor

Sarah Denbee, Mezzo-soprano

Ruairi Bowen, Tenor

Graham Neal, Tenor

Gareth Treseder, Tenor

Alexander Ashworth, Baritone

Matthew Brook, Bass-baritone

Monteverdi Choir

English Baroque Soloists

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

A rare Handel pastoral ode at Carnegie Hall

Edward Sava-Segal, 26th October

Dinis Sousa conducts the combined forces of the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir in L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato.

****1

Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists roll back the centuries

Roy Westbrook, 13th January

Refined if sometimes raucous pleasures from Haydn and Mozart as the EBS continues its European tour.

****1

Semele crashes and burns, but Louise Alder soars up at Ally Pally

Mark Pullinger, 2nd May

Rising like a phoenix, the Alexandra Palace Theatre stages its first opera since its reopening after eighty years of slumber.

****1

Gardiner steps into his Ring of Cantatas in Leipzig

Stephen Pritchard, 8th June

A taste of the opening weekend in Leipzig’s marathon Bach Festival.

****1

Evil triumphs beautifully in Monteverdi 450 Poppea

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 29th July

The final opera in Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi 450 trilogy features an excellent cast and inspires deep emotion.

****1

An emotional L'Orfeo for Monteverdi 450

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 26th July

Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi 450 trilogy began its Salzburg run with a tear-jerking concert performance of L'Orfeo.

*****

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.

The Monteverdi Choir: A religious experience at Prague Spring