baroque duets break ground

“Baroque Duets” a new CD release, has a lot to say for itself. First and foremost, it is a superb compilation of Baroque vocal music, eminently listenable but away from the beaten track; it is also a historically informed and technically well executed performance by singers and instrumentalists on period instruments; it even contains a…

serious singing from teddy tahu rhodes

“The poem has not been completed until set to music” – Goethe. If Art Song needs to be re-invented to survive and evolve, the new CD “Serious Songs”  from bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes (ABC Classics 476-4383) points in the right direction. The CD takes its title from Brahms’ Four Serious Songs,originally composed for bass and piano,…

Arrebato fuses flameno, jazz and the world in their second CD “Absolucion”

The style is possibly as difficult to define as the English meaning of their name – “Arrebato”, variously translated as “fury”, “something that rises rapidly” or “a wave of emotion”.  It’s fair to say that any and all of these describe the music of this ensemble. Arrebato release their second CD “Absolucion” in June 2011….

New Alden production of “Dream” an abstraction of Britten’s life.

Once in a while in opera, a new production comes along that fits so perfectly with the narrative, history and legend, that you wonder why it took so long for the concept to be realized. Christopher Alden’s new production of Britten’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the ENO, is one such offering. More “Scream” than “Dream”,…

Review: Sydney Chamber Choir – music with a social impact.

The Sydney Chamber Choir is certainly casting its musical net wide under Paul Stanhope, joining forces in its latest programmes not only with oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros, but also with The Marais Project, formed by viola da gamba player Jennifer Eriksson. The second of its Palm Sunday concerts, conceived under the rubric ‘Lamentations’, featured a…