Barbara Hannigan reviews
La Passione
Barbara Hannigan (soprano); Ludwig Orchestra (Alpha Classics)
Benjamin: Lessons in Love and Violence
Stéphane Degout, Barbara Hannigan, Peter Hoare, Samuel Boden, Gyula Orendt; Royal Opera House Orchestra/George Benjamin; dir. Katie Mitchell (Opus Arte, DVD)
Simon Rattle conducts Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring does not dominate here, not because the performance is lame. Rather, it is part of something truly exceptional, joined here by masterpieces from Webern, Berg and Ligeti in performances of outstanding beauty, passion and power. This film captures a concert at the Barbican from January 2015, when the public courtship between the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle was still ongoing and their artistic marriage not yet certain.