Mozart concert arias from Rolando Villazón fail to engage

By Aksel Tollåli, 09 May 2014

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Reviewed at Cadogan Hall, London on 6 May 2014

Mozart, Arias from Opera

Mozart, Lucio Silla, K135: Overture

Mozart, Aria for Tenor, "Per pietà, non ricercate", K420

Mozart, 2 Marches in D major, K335 (K320a)

Mozart, Aria for Tenor, "Si mostra la sorte", K209

Mozart, Recitative and Aria for Tenor, "Misero! O sogno!", K431 (K425b)

Mozart, Symphony no. 38 in D major, "Prague”, K504

Mozart, Aria for Tenor, "Va, dal furor portata", K21 (K19c)

Mozart, Lo sposo deluso, K430 (K424a) (Aria: Dove mai trovar quel ciglio? ((Realisation by F. Beyer, based on fragments of Mozart’s original score))

Mozart, Recitative and Aria for Tenor, "Or che il dover", K36 (K33i)

Rolando Villazón, Tenor

Basel Chamber Orchestra

Schumann v Schumann: a surprise victor in Vienna concerto play-off

Mark Pullinger, 11th February

Alexandra Dovgan plays piano concertos by Clara and Robert Schumann at the Konzerthaus, but it's the Kammerorchester Basel's performance of a forgotten symphony which most impresses.

****1

Handel's somewhat rare oratorio Susanna in the Halle Handel Festival

Sandra Bowdler, 14th June

Handel's oratorio Susanna is often considered to be less than consistently dramatic and this performance in the Halle Handel Festival did little to dispel that view.

***11

Swish playing from a Swiss orchestra

Dominic Lowe, 20th November

Heinz Holliger conducted a fine interpretation of Schubert's Ninth, but it was Stephen Hough's performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 that really made the evening.

****1

Daniel Hope and the Basel Chamber Orchestra

Mark Valencia, 18th April

Hope can spin high-lying musical phrases with a sweetness and suspension that few of his contemporaries can match.

****1

Sol Gabetta a stylish soloist with the Basel CO

David Larkin, 29th November

The final stop on the Basel Chamber Orchestra's Australian tour at the Sydney Opera House saw Sol Gabetta in fine fettle as soloist in Cello Concertos by Saint-Saëns and the Latvian Vasks.

***11

Mozart disappoints, but Rameau and Bizet compensate

David Pinedo, 25th July

It was an evening for showing off. The Basel Chamber Orchestra (being Bartoli and Scholl’s frequent partners) performed Bizet and Rameau, plus a Mozart concerto with conductor Christian Zacharias directing from the piano.

***11

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Aksel Tollåli

Aksel is currently studying towards a degree in musicology at the University of Oslo. At the moment he is an exchange student at Goldsmiths College in London. He is also a choral singer and a trombonist. His musical interests include 20th-cenury French music, Baroque opera and the music of Richard Strauss.