A Winter Journey with John Chest

By Mark Valencia, 14 March 2018

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“It was scarcely possible to breathe during his encore... so ineffably did it touch the sublime”

Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 13 March 2018

Finzi, Let Us Garlands Bring, Op.18: O Mistress Mine, no.4

Schubert, An mein Herz (Schulze), D.860

Wolf, Eichendorff-Lieder, no. 3: Verschwiegene Liebe

Strauss R., Winternacht, Op.15 no.2

Brahms, Verzagen (Despondency), Op.72 no.4

Roussel, Quatre poèmes Op.3 no. 3: Le jardin mouillé

Schubert, Der Winterabend (Leitner), D.938

Finzi, Before and After Summer, Op.16: Childhood among the Ferns

Duparc, Chanson triste, Op.2 no.4

Schumann, Wehmut, Op.39 no.9

Wolf, Mörike-Lieder, no. 12: Verborgenheit

Britten, Winter Words for soprano or tenor and piano, Op.52

Mahler, Rückert-Lieder: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

Duparc, Extase

Wolf, Mörike-Lieder, no. 13: Im Fruhling

Gurney, Sleep

Schubert, Nacht und Träume (M. v. Collin), D.827

John Chest, Baritone

Marcelo Amaral, Piano

Implacable Werther at Opéra-Comique from Pichon and Huffman

Romain Daroles, 19th January

Tight orchestral playing, minimalist stage design: the conductor and director are perfectly in tune with each other, transforming Massenet's work into an intimate and timeless drama.

****1

A dark, delicious take on Elizabeth Cree at Glimmerglass Festival

Cameron Kelsall, 28th July

Mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught anchors a fluid and appealingly staged new production of Kevin Puts' penny dreadful.

****1

Carry on up the Nile: Handel's Berenice by the Seine

Sandra Bowdler, 21st May

One of Handel's lesser operas receives a deluxe concert performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, with Il Pomo d'Oro and a fine array of singers.

****1

A starry cast for Handel's Theodora in Paris

Kevin W Ng, 22nd November

It’s hard to imagine more glorious vocalism from such a starry cast, but this Theodora at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées falls short of the sublime.

***11

Glyndebourne's baffling Pélleas et Mélisande at the Proms

Dominic Lowe, 17th July

The annual transfer of a production from Glyndebourne to the Proms this year saw Herheim's baffling production of Debussy's masterpiece.

****1

An enigmatic Pelléas et Mélisande at Glyndebourne

Mark Pullinger, 30th June

Stefan Herheim's dreamlike production of Debussy's opera sets it squarely in the Sussex manor house that gave birth to Glyndebourne's festival.

***11

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Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

A Winter Journey with John Chest and Marcelo Amaral at Wigmore Hall