Britten Sinfonia and Alice Coote celebrate Britten's birthday in style at Wigmore Hall

By Evan Dickerson, 28 November 2012

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Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 22 November 2012

Purcell, Abdelazer, Z 570: suite (Rondeau)

Purcell, Let the Night Perish "Job's Curse", Z 191 (arr. Muhly)

Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, Z 626: Dido's Lament "When I am laid in earth" (arr. Stokowski)

Tippett, Variations on an Elizabethan Theme "Sellinger's Round": Variation 2 "Lament" (A lament)

Britten, Prelude and Fugue for 18 strings, Op.29

Purcell, Chacony in G minor, Z807 (arr. Britten)

Tippett, Little Music

Handel, Alcina, HWV 34: excerpts

Britten, Phaedra, Op.93

Britten Sinfonia

Jacqueline Shave, Violin, Director

Alice Coote, Mezzo-soprano

Richard Hetherington, Conductor

At Aldeburgh Festival, Nicholas Daniel plays the Pied Piper of Cool

Christopher Woodley, 13th June

For the Aldeburgh Festival's 75th anniversary celebrations, Daniel delivered a great performance of Vaughan Williams's Oboe Concerto, in the company of Gustav and Imogen Holst.

****1

Britten Sinfonia ablaze on the BBC Proms’ hottest night

Nick Boston, 6th September

Inventiveness, joyful performance and intuitive communication from Thomas Gould and the Britten Sinfonia in recompositions from Richter, Auerbach and Tippett.

*****

Donizetti's L’esule di Roma: a Roman triumph for Opera Rara

Dominic Lowe, 11th May

This is the 27th Donizetti opera given the Opera Rara treatment and their ability to spot a hidden gem remains as adroit as ever.

****1

Love and death in Scotland: Mercadante’s Il proscritto

David Karlin, 28th June

A great orchestral performance of an exciting score don't quite mask the dramatic weaknesses of Opera Rara's latest.

***11

Holst's Sāvitri: near-death experience in the Barbican

Roy Westbrook, 4th May

A game of three halves from the Britten Sinfonia, with a late appearance by three star soloists.

****1

Colin Currie conducts Reich/Richter at the Barbican

Benjamin Poore, 23rd October

A new collaboration from Gerhard Richter and Steve Reich tantalises and enthralls in London.

****1

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Evan Dickerson