Geneva Camerata: Balkan fire, tepid Baroque

By Mark Pullinger, 20 May 2016

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Reviewed at Kings Place: Hall One, London on 19 May 2016

Vivaldi, L'Olimpiade, RV 725: Overture

Traditional, Balkan Dances from Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey

Bach J.C.F., Symphony in D minor

Traditional, Krivo Sadovsko Horo

Bach, Double Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV1043

Traditional, Çoban Cirto

Telemann, Oboe Concerto in E minor, TWV 51:e1 ((performed on the clarinet))

Traditional, Medley of Balkan Songs and Dances

Geneva Camerata

Gilad Harel, Clarinet

David Greilsammer, Conductor

Vivaldi revived at Sommets Musicaux

David Karlin, 31st January

Let's be brutally honest, concertgoers: Vivaldi's Four Seasons has been played to death - recorded by everybody who's anybody. It's been a wonderful old warhorse over the years, but it has been flogged once too often. Can it really be possible, then, to bring this animal back from the dead and rekindle our enthusiasm?

****1

Sandrine Piau, reine de la nuit genevoise

Thomas Muller, 15th March

Sandrine Piau aura émerveillé la nuit genevoise d’un Art du chant totalement intégré à son sens dramatique. La Geneva Camerata accompagnant avec sensibilité la chanteuse de mille délicatesse… Chapeau bas !

***11

Vivaldi revived at Sommets Musicaux

David Karlin, 31st January

****1

Opera seria brought to life by Zazzo and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra

David Karlin, 8th February

Question: how do you demonstrate to a sceptical audience that baroque opera seria doesn’t have to be boring? To answer this, the organisers of Sommets Musicaux and David Greilsammer, conductor of the Geneva Chamber Orchestra came up with a programme consisting of four Handel arias interspersed with orchestral passages from French baroque opera, these chosen for their variety and dance-based charac

****1

Complots russes à Genève avec le retour de Fedora

Stéphane Lelièvre, 17th December

Le rare opéra de Giordano, inégal mais intéressant, fait son retour dans l'institution genevoise avec un plateau vocal de grande qualité, emmené par le duo Roberto Alagna-Aleksandra Kurzak.

***11

Ciento por ciento Mozart

Maby Muñoz-Hénonin, 3rd June

Con David Greilsammer como invitado doble, director y pianista, la OSN nos ofreció un programa cien por cien Mozart, una interesante propuesta que combinó elementos de la tradición con algunas referencias a la interpretación histórica y un toque contemporáneo.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.