Handel’s Orlando

Harry Bicket and The English Concert perform

Handel’s Orlando

Part of Birmingham International Concert Season 2015/16 Concert Package,

SoundBite, Birmingham International Concert Season 2015/16 and Opera highlights

Friday 26th February, 2016

Town Hall

The English Concert
Harry Bicket conductor
Iestyn Davies Orlando
Erin Morley Angelica
Carolyn Sampson Dorinda
Sasha Cooke Medoro
Kyle Ketelsen Zoroastro

Handel	Orlando	165’

Torn between love and glory, the knight Orlando gives way to madness – and rampages through a world of lovers, sorcerers and all-powerful spirits.Handel’s 1733 opera Orlando is a true extravaganza, performed tonight by Harry Bicket and The English Concert – plus Carolyn Sampson, and Iestyn Davies in the title role.

The proposed finish time for this concert is 9.50pm
(due to the long duration there are two intervals of 20 minutes and 15 minutes)

Please note: the date of this event has now changed
This concert will now take place on Friday 26 February 2016. Existing bookers will be contacted in due course with new details and tickets, should they not be able to attend the new date they will be entitled to a refund. > Posted 17/6/15

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Review by Rebecca Franks, The Times (££):

Click here for full review (££)

…     “Iestyn Davies took the title role with ease and effortless style and his slow Sleep Aria, accompanied by two dusky violas, theorbo and cello, was spellbindingly beautiful. Erin Morley’s velvety soprano and lively expressions made her a warm, complex Queen Angelica, adored by Orlando but in love with Medoro, a role that needs the richness and depth given by mezzo Sasha Cooke. As the powerful magician Zoroastro, Kyle Ketelsen’s burnished bass-baritone was the ideal foundation for this group of well-contrasted voices.

At the emotional heart of this performance was the unlucky-in-love shepherdess Dorinda, sung with fresh, sweet lightness by Carolyn Sampson. Her Act II Nightingale Song, with solo violin as songbird, was a standout moment, only to be topped by her dazzling Amor è qual vento in Act III, in which she sings of the anguish of love.”

*****

 

The Birmingham Beethoven Cycle: Symphonies 4 & 5

Wednesday 9 January 2013 at 7.30pm

Symphony Hall, Birmingham +44 (0)121 345 0603

City of Birmingham Symphony Orhestra

Andris Nelsons conductor
Carolyn Sampson soprano

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 32′ Listen on Spotify
Beethoven: Ah, Perfido! Scene and Aria 15′
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 36′ Listen on Spotify

Everyone knows the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; if that’s all you know, you’re in for a thrilling surprise, as Andris Nelsons’ Beethoven odyssey arrives at the most famous symphony of all time. Prepare to be electrified – and to be delighted by the Fifth’s prettier, funnier sister, the exuberant Fourth Symphony. Plus a chance to hear Britain’s brightest young soprano in Ah, Perfido!: a whole opera crammed into just 15 show-stopping minutes!

To see the full Birmingham Beethoven Cycle, go to www.birminghambeethoven.co.uk.

The Birmingham Beethoven Cycle is being supported by Barclays and through the generosity of Miss Brant, a lifelong supporter of the CBSO who died recently.

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*****  “A fresh look at Beethoven’s Symphonies – Andris Nelsons and the CBSO” – Youtube video here   *****

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Review by Ivan Hewett, Telegraph:

Click here for full review

…     “That quality was equally evident in the other, far less famous symphony by Beethoven on the programme, his Fourth. Often conductors amplify the mysteriousness of the slow introduction by giving it a veiled, brooding colour. Nelsons did it through clever pacing, so that each surprising turn in the harmony registered with the force of a small explosion.

The orchestra responded magnificently to Nelsons’ gestures. Chris Richards was especially eloquent, his solo clarinet lines floating regretfully over the orchestra’s tip-toeing pizzicati in the slow movement. The most affecting moment of the evening came between the symphonies, in Beethoven’s great evocation of female fury, Ah, Perfido! Soprano Carolyn Sampson may not have conjured as splendidly defiant a tone as some sopranos. But she made the change of heart to quiet, broken-hearted pleading seem absolutely real, which is what really counts.”

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Review by Rohan Shotton, BachTrack:

Click here for full review

…     “The third movement opened at a steady tempo with gravelly basses, before the horns’ striking entry (Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s likening of this to the horns crying “Fools!” came to mind). The tense quiet in the lead-in to the finale was held until very late, which made the sudden eruption of the finale all the more triumphant. Nelsons conducted the brassy chords with punches aimed at the top of the hall’s organ, all the while maintaining unfailingly perfect coordination in attack. From there to the end the music surged unstoppably, pouring out joy to the end. The applause began before the last chord had even finished, and richly deserved it was too.

The two symphonies were separated by Beethoven’s scene and aria Ah! perfido, a work of his twenties which shows rather different, more Mozartian vocal writing to his later works. The strings found a lighter sound, well matched by soprano Carolyn Sampson, who sang with beautiful tone. Her heavy vibrato may not have been to all tastes, but she showed excellent control. One had to wonder, though, whether this was more than a palate-freshener, albeit a very pleasant one.

All in all, this was a superb instalment in what is turning out to be an excellent cycle. Nelsons spoke movingly before the concert about how inspiration can be taken from Beethoven’s journeys from dark to light, and tonight was utterly convincing in this respect.”

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Review by Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post:

Click here for full review

…     “Expressive body-language is one of Sampson’s great strengths, allied to vocal delivery now dramatic, now melting, always with delicacy and well-placed golden tones. Nelsons and the CBSO’s collaboration was well-attuned.

Where the Fourth Symphony is modest and diffident, the Fifth is brash, in-your-face, and takes no prisoners. Its famous beginning here was as taut as a whiplash, muscular and business-meaning, and Nelsons’ interpretation reminded us that those four portentous notes never quite go away.”     …    

The Birmingham Mahler Cycle: Andris Nelsons Conducts Symphony No. 8

Thursday 16 September 2010 at 7.30pm

Symphony Hall, Birmingham +44 (0)121-780 3333

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Andris Nelsons  conductor
Marina Shaguch  soprano
Erin Wall  soprano
Carolyn Sampson  soprano
Katerina Karnéus  mezzo-soprano
Mihoko Fujimura  mezzo-soprano
Sergei Semishkur  tenor
Christopher Maltman  baritone
Stephen Gadd  bass
CBSO Chorus & Youth Chorus   
CBSO Children’s Chorus   
Hallé Choir   

Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) 85′

Please note Matthew Best has withdrawn from this concert. We are grateful to Stephen Gadd who has agreed to replace him at short notice.

“Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. These are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.” With its vast orchestra, and even huger chorus, Mahler’s mighty “Symphony of a Thousand” lives up to its nickname. But it’s much more than just the most spectacular symphony ever written; it’s an exultant hymn to the joy of creation itself, and every performance is a special occasion. You’ll be thrilled, you’ll be moved – and you’ll be blown backwards, as Andris Nelsons, the CBSO, three great choruses and a star-studded team of soloists launch Birmingham’s centenary Mahler Cycle in truly epic style.

Sung in Latin & German with English surtitles.

www.cbso.co.uk

Blog Review by Norman Lebrecht:

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2010/09/birmingham_breaks_its_mahler_j.html

“Britain’s second largest city launched its first Mahler cycle last night with a heart-stopping concert of the eighth symphony, shrunk to 600 performers. That was the most the hall could sensibly accommodate but the result was a performance of rare intimacy in which the conductor Andris Nelsons seemed to reach out and almost touch the banks of singers posted at the back of the stage, both sides and the overlooking balconies. It was 100 years to the week since Gustav Mahler gave the world premiere in Munich.”  ….

Review by Andrew Clark, Financial Times:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/136f4974-c276-11df-956e-00144feab49a.html

…..”The soloists were well balanced, with notable contributions from Erin Wall, Sergei Semishkur and the divine Carolyn Sampson. Birmingham’s Mahler cycle could not have made a better start. ()”     Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010

 

Review by Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post:

http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2010/09/19/review-mahler-s-symphony-no-8-cbso-at-symphony-hall-birmingham-65233-27301447/#ixzz101GQx3XX

…”He opened the CBSO’s 90th birthday season with no less a challenge than Mahler’s Symphony no.8, the Symphony of a Thousand (and it seemed to be very nearly that, with choristers ranging halfway round both sides of the upper gallery – what a hall this is to accommodate such grandiloquence), the introduction to a huge MahlerFest marking both the composer’s 150th birthday and the centenary of his death. The result was magnificent.” …

Blog review by Intermezzo:

http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/2010/09/cbso-birmingham-mahler-8.html#more

“Was it worth travelling all the way to Birmingham and back for just 90 minutes of music? You bet.” …

Review by Rian Evans, Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/sep/20/cbso-nelsons-review

… “Conductor Andris Nelsons’s natural command of his forces – not quite the thousand associated with the symphony, but massive nevertheless – allowed him to exploit the potential of Symphony Hall’s phenomenal acoustic to the full. It was not just the sensation of being wrapped around by voices that was spine-tingling, or the ethereal beauty of Carolyn Sampson’s Mater Gloriosa, and then blazing brass from the hall’s highest galleries that made for a remarkable aural experience, but hearing the hundreds of voices at their infinitesimal quietest and feeling the gentle vibrations of sound permeate air.” …

Review by Geoff Read, MusicWeb-International:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2010/Jul-Dec10/mahler_8th_1609.htm

…”In the Scherzo, the emphasis switched between the multiple choral sections – Angels, Cherubs, Younger Angels and More Perfect Angels, each contributing to the journey of Faust’s soul to paradise – with Nelsons at his busiest. The energy he exuded for 90 min never flagged. In Mahler 8 the conductor cannot hope to cue every entry, but Nelsons seemed to give it a damn good try. One delicious moment amidst these invocations, was the break from leader Laurence Jackson that introduces the First Alto contribution from Katarina Karneus. Sergei Semishkur, a Mariinsky soloist as Doctor Marianus (another hermit and reputably based on Anselm the 11^th century Archbishop of Canterbury) handled his high tessitura with ease, including a resounding top B. Interspersed during this solo, the cellos led by Ulrich Heinen added a contrast of pure cream, both in Heinen’s solo and when playing together. At Semishkur’s sublime Jungfrau, rein im schösten Sinn (Virgin of the highest purity) the first violins delicately underlined the feeling of innocence. With presumably only room for two harps on the crowded Birmingham stage, stalwart Robert Johnson introduced another glorious Mahler moment from the first violins, this time backed by the harmonium.” …