Top Mozart from Kristian Bezuidenhout and The English Concert

By Mark Thomas, 08 June 2023

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“delicate shaping, clean articulation and controlled tension on the fortepiano”

Reviewed at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London on 7 June 2023

Mozart, Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario), K486: Overture

Mozart, Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor, K466

Mozart, Symphony no. 41 in C major, "Jupiter”, K551

The English Concert

Kristian Bezuidenhout, Piano, Director

A radically trad Fidelio at Garsington

Peter Quantrill, 27th June

Simple solutions prove the best in Beethoven's "problem" opera as John Cox's staging is revived at Garsington.

****1

Ravishing Rodelinda: Handel al fresco at Garsington Opera

Roy Westbrook, 13th June

Ruth Knight untangles Handel's Rodelinda, directing a new staging at Garsington which features a feast of fine singing.

****1

Rameau meets The Kardashians: Platée at Garsington

David Karlin, 29th May

A superb orchestral performance from Paul Agnew and The English Concert lights up a breezy and fun staging of Rameau's ballet bouffon.

***11

Handel's Brockes Passion resurrected by The English Concert

Roy Westbrook, 27th March

The London Handel Festival offers a chance to hear rarely performed music for Passiontide, with Harry Bicket conducting the English Concert.

****1

Heavenly Bach from Iestyn Davies at the BBC Proms

Leighton Jones, 25th August

With two cantatas for solo alto bookending the Third Brandenburg Concerto, The English Concert bewitches in this late-night all Bach programme.

****1

Fine cast shines in Garsington's new Mitridate

Stephen Pritchard, 1st June

Robert Murray excels as the eponymous king in the opera seria that cemented the 14-year old Mozart’s position as the next big thing.

***11

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Mark Thomas

A lifelong devotee of classical music, Mark caught the bug after listening to The Planets, The Rite of Spring and Beethoven’s Fifth when he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He has degrees in non-musical subjects and currently works as a Chartered Governance Professional, but these have proved to be mere distractions from the wonders of sonatas, concertos and symphonies. He has been reviewing for Bachtrack since 2016, plays viola and violin (very shakily) and used to sing a bit (even more shakily).