All the pleasures: Dunedin Consort honours St Cecilia

By Roy Westbrook, 23 November 2016

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“a fugal chorus of great brilliance, the singing and playing wonderfully precise and alert”

Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 22 November 2016

Purcell, Welcome to all the Pleasures, Ode for St Cecilia's Day (1683), Z 339

Purcell, The Tempest, Z.631 (Selection)

Locke, The Tempest (Selection)

Purcell, Hail, Bright Cecilia, Z.328

Dunedin Consort

John Butt, Director

Joanne Lunn, Soprano

Tim Mead, Countertenor

Nicholas Mulroy, Tenor

Matthew Brook, Bass-baritone

The Dunedin Consort Messiah remains a welcome seasonal speciality

David Smythe, 18th December

The Dunedin Messiah, a speciality with Baroque instruments, is given with soloists Nardus Williams, Lotte Betts-Dean, Joshua Ellicott and Dingle Yandell in Perth, directed by John Butt.

****1

Leipzig 300: Dunedin Consort explores the Thomaskantor shortlist

David Smythe, 7th February

The Dunedin Consort explores the 1723 Thomaskantor shortlist: Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner and Johann Sebastian Bach in a programme directed by John Butt.

****1

Troubled times reflected in Songs of War I Have Seen

David Smythe, 13th October

Composed for Baroque and modern players with Gertrude Stein’s spoken text, Heiner Goebbels Songs of War I Have Seen in an intriguing performance conducted by Ellie Slorach.

***11

An especially memorable Messiah from the Dunedin Consort

David Smythe, 14th December

John Butt directs the Dunedin Consort and a top team of soloists in St Mary's Cathedral for Handel's seasonal favourite.

*****

Authenticity and enjoyment in Dunedin Consort's Acis and Galatea

David Smythe, 22nd June

Rachel Redmond is a sweet voiced Galatea in the Dunedin Consort's performance of the Cannons version of Acis and Galatea in Perth.

****1

Evangelical fervour: Dunedin Consort's St Matthew Passion

Roy Westbrook, 12th April

Tenor Nicholas Mulroy directs a one-voice-to-a-part account of Bach's St Matthew Passion, featuring some splendid singing.

***11

More reviews...

Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.

All the pleasures: Dunedin Consort honours St Cecilia's Day at Wigmore Hall