Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle in Greenwich

By David Karlin, 07 August 2016

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“confronted with such bel canto delights, how could God possibly resist?”

Reviewed at Old Royal Naval College: Chapel, London on 6 August 2016

Rossini, Petite messe solennelle

Elizabeth Watts, Soprano

Kathryn Rudge, Mezzo-soprano

Peter Auty, Tenor

James Platt, Bass

Richard Pearce, Harmonium

Iain Farrington, Piano

BBC Singers

David Hill, Conductor

The BBC Singers at full throttle at Milton Court

Nick Boston, 26th February

Powerful Herbert Howells, together with affecting Shaw and engaging MacMillan from the BBC Singers, with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Sofi Jeannin.

****1

UK premiere of Julia Wolfe’s unEarth impresses on scale, not substance

Susannah Moody, 23rd January

Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.

**111

Ermonela Jaho gives a tragic twist to Puccini's La rondine

Peter Quantrill, 5th December

A new edition of Puccini's score springs to life in a meticulously prepared Opera Rara concert performance at the Barbican.

****1

ENO, BBC join forces in stunning Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Mark Valencia, 1st September

David Pountney's vernacular translation and Ruth Knight's vivid staging lent a thrilling immediacy to Shostakovich's chilling opera.

*****

BBC Symphony and Josep Pons at the Proms: a dextrous dance

Dominic Lowe, 8th August

A programme heavily skewed to the balletic saw the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Josep Pons dispatch difficult passages with ease.

****1

Yunchan Lim plays a starring role in the CBSO’s Prom

Leighton Jones, 1st August

Adams, Rachmaninov and Berio are not three easy bedfellows, however Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra pull these strands together remarkably.

****1

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David Karlin

David is a co-founder of Bachtrack. He is a musical omnivore interested in almost all types of music, but with a particular love of Italian opera. You can contact him from this link.

Neither small nor solemn: Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle at the Proms in Greenwich