John Eliot Gardiner reviews
Handel: Semele (Gardiner)
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 and Manfred Overture
Monteverdi: Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria
Schubert: Symphony No. 5; Brahms: Serenade No. 2
JS Bach: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2, etc
Monteverdi Choir performs Bach
Recorded straight after the Monteverdi Choir’s European tour in 2016 celebrating Christmas in JS Bach’s Leipzig, this festive programme irons out many of the misgivings commentators had of the live performances. In the acoustics of St Jude’s, Hampstead, Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s step-out soloists are consistently strong, and their varied contributions mirror the alluring array of affects achieved by the ensemble as a whole.
John Eliot Gardiner conducts JS Bach's St Matthew Passion
It is almost 30 years since John Eliot Gardiner made his first commercial recording of Bach’s Great Passion, as his family were accustomed to call it. Gardiner’s approach has not significantly changed over the decades though one discernible difference is a mixed male and female voice texture for the alto strand of the choral numbers as opposed to the all-male countertenor line up of the earlier version. I prefer the mixed sound though some readers may not.