A Handelian tour of London with Iestyn Davies at Kings Place

By Mark Pullinger, 24 June 2021

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“Davies sparring with Nadja Zwiener’s solo violin in avian imitation, chirruping and trilling in duet”

Reviewed at Kings Place: Hall One, London on 24 June 2021

Handel, Ottone, HWV15: Concerto (Act I)

Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17: Presti omai l'Egizia terra

Handel, Rodelinda, RWV19: Pompe vane di morte... Dove sei, amato bene?

Handel, Alcina, HWV34: Entrée des songes agréables

Handel, Alcina, HWV34: Entrée des songes funestes

Handel, Alcina, HWV34: Entrée des songes agréables effrayés

Handel, Alcina, HWV34: Le combat des songes funestes et agréables

Handel, Rinaldo, HWV 7: Sorge nel petto

Handel, Partenope, HVW 27: Sinfonia Act 3

Handel, Splenda l'alba in oriente, HWV 166

Handel, Ariodante, HWV33: Sinfonia Act 2

Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17: Se in fiorito ameno prato

Handel, Serse (Xerxes), HWV 40: Sinfonia Act III

Handel, I will magnify thee, HWV 250b

Handel, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, HWV 55: Hide me from day's garish eye

The English Concert

Peter Whelan, Conductor

Iestyn Davies, Countertenor

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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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.