The Also-Ran Who Outran Fate: Daniel Purcell's Judgement of Paris

By Charlotte Valori, 07 March 2014

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Reviewed at Smith Square Hall, London on 5 March 2014

Purcell, The Judgement of Paris

Julian Perkins, Director

Rodolfus Choir

Spiritato

Ashley Riches, Bass

Ciara Hendrick, Mezzo-soprano

Amy Freston, Soprano

Anna Dennis, Soprano

A thrilling evening of music from Bach's Bohemian Cousin

Jack Johnson, 20th October

Unlike his better-known contemporaries, Czech composer Zelenka has faded into obscurity, Spirato! and Barts Chamber Choir made an extremely persuasive case for this highly original music.

****1

Baroque rarities by the GSMD

Nahoko Gotoh, 11th June

The two works in Guildhall School’s Baroque opera double bill, Thomas Arne’s The Cooper and Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista had little in common except that both are rarely performed, yet somehow made quite good bedfellows.

***11

Rossini's Cenerentola proves great fun in Adelaide

Sandra Bowdler, 7th May

Neil Armfield's production for State Opera South Australia combines a sparkling night of entertainment with first class musical values.

****1

Werther oozes quiet despair in new Canadian Opera Company staging

John Gilks, 7th May

Excellent performances cannot turn a conventional production of Massenet’s Werther into a dramatic experience for the 21st century.

***11

Peter Grimes drops anchor again at The Royal Opera

Christopher Woodley, 5th May

Allan Clayton and Sir Bryn Terfel lead a strong cast in a revival of Deborah Warner's dark staging of Britten's signature work at Covent Garden.

****1

The early flowering of opera: a fragrant L’Orfeo at Schwetzingen

Mengguang Huang, 3rd May

Markus Bothe’s Botticelli-inspired production fuses tableau vivant aesthetics with Jörg Halubek’s surgical musical precision, offering a peerless, vivid tribute to the fragrant dawn of opera.

****1

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.