Valletta International Baroque Festival: Italian sacred polyphony in 17th-century Malta

By Anthony Hart, 21 January 2013

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Reviewed at St Nicholas (All Souls) Church, Valletta on 16 January 2013

Foggia, Vanitas

Foggia, Missa in Die Laetitiae

Asola, Lapidaverunt Stephanum

Asola, Te gloriosus Apostolorum

Works by Bassani

Leonarda, Ave Regina Coelorum

Rubino, O quam suavis est

Monteverdi, Salve Regina

Cappella Sanctae Catherinae

Concertos – for violin and for orchestra – from the Hallé

Peter Connors, 22nd March

Viktoria Mullova is a superb soloist in Brahms' Violin Concerto, while an orchestra full of soloists play Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra with Kahchun Wong presiding.

*****

Guitars, electronics and ancient treatises: the JACK Quartet at 92NY

Kurt Gottschalk, 20th March

At 92NY, the JACK Quartet performs four new works developed in their JACK Studio, including a commissioned premiere from the electrifying Tristan Perich.

****1

Kristiina Poska makes an exciting return to conduct the RSNO

Simon Thompson, 20th March

Kristiina Poska directs the RSNO in gripping Tchaikovsky and Pärt, but words and music only occasionally match in Elena Langer's new song cycle.

***11

Chopin and Franck reframed with elegance and insight in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 20th March

In Dublin, Jean-Luc Tingaud and Louis Lortie bring clarity and purpose to two composers often ill at ease with the orchestra.

****1

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic’s measured Mahler 6

SangKwon Lee, 19th March

That last movement proves the evening’s true point of reckoning in the Seoul Philharmonic's performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony at Lotte Concert Hall.

****1

Shared language and living history: Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Phil

Chanda VanderHart, 19th March

Zubin Mehta, Pinchas Zukerman and the Vienna Philharmonic meet in repertoire they know intimately, illuminating it through mutual understanding.

*****

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Anthony Hart

Anthony Hart, born in the UK, now lives in Malta. He was presented papers for Società Italiana di Musicologia and the International Musicological Society. He a Licentiate of the London College of Music. He has had papers published in Early Music, Studi Musicali and Fonti Musicali Italiane.