REVIEW: OPERA “La Dafne” da Gagliano @ Old Market
REVIEW: OPERA “La Dafne” da Gagliano @ Old Market
Brian Butler previews four further winter outings for the Brighton Early Music Festival.
Folk who I talked to loved it, most had never heard of Hildegard before, my companion adored it and thought it a very interesting night out. I was saved by the quality of the singing and closed my eyes for a lot of the performance, better to focus on the singing.
The Bach Players specialise in this period of music and they delighted us with this opening piece in the hidden gem of St Paul’s Church in West Street Brighton. It’s a minimalist piece with short bright tunes on one instrument then mirrored by one of the others. At times it bounced along like an energetic court dance and at other times its deep, melancholic chords took sudden dramatic turns with unexpected pauses.
Looking more like a Kraftwerk gig than a classical concert this event brought Bach’s eternal music to a seriously diverse Brighton audience. The band is made up of some of the UK’s best harpsichordists and baroque specialists who bring their combined skill and imagination to this thrilling re-colouring of Bach’s masterpieces.
BURYING THE DEAD Ceruleo St George’s Church, 31 October 2019 This rather delightful conceit was an engaging night of music and historical exposition, with Niall Ashdown as a bedbound Purcell slipping in and out of dreams as his fevers take hold and leading us on a merry jaunty around his memories. Musical director of Ceruleo- […]
it was very interesting to see music which would only have perhaps had an academic following two decades ago enjoying such a warm welcomed and presentation to a full audience who appreciated the delicate charms of this very early music.
The programme also features rare gems of renaissance convent music from another Florentine manuscript commissioned by nuns. An atmospheric and informative evening
The 2019 programme for Brighton Early Music Festival is all about change and changing times. With its theme of Metamorphosis, the Festival will present twenty seven events across Brighton & Hove this autumn, exploring transformation in many intriguing ways.
It was highly fitting and poignant that the final concert in the Brighton Early Music Festival was on he centenary of Armistice Day and was entitled Peace in Europe. The spread of sacred music – mostly from the 18th century – was suitably sombre to match the mood of November 11.
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