Bostridge's History Lesson

By Helen Fraser, 27 September 2011

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Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 26 September 2011

Scarlatti, Sinfonia avanti la Serenata "Clori, Dorino e Amore"

Vivaldi, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione: Oboe Concerto in D minor, Op.8 no. 9, RV 454

Scarlatti, L'Orfeo: Dall'oscura magion dell'arsa Dite

Venturini, Sonata No. 9 in G minor

Handel, Silete venti, HWV 242

The English Concert

Harry Bicket, Director

Katharina Spreckelsen, Oboe

Ian Bostridge, Tenor

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

Top Mozart from Kristian Bezuidenhout and The English Concert

Mark Thomas, 7th June

A scintillating account of an all-Mozart programme at St Martin-in-the-Fields with a mighty concerto, a mightier symphony and one of his more unusual overtures.

*****

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Helen Fraser

Helen is an oboist at the Royal College of Music. She is delighted to be based in London and so able to take advantage of the wide variety of concerts the city provides. She also loves to teach and is keen to use this and every other opportunity to interest new people in classical music.