Tag Archives: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Les Martyrs: Revelatory Donizetti on disc from Opera Rara

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Mark Pullinger

Donizetti: Les Martyrs  When Donizetti’s rarity Poliuto opened the 2015 Glyndebourne Festival a week ago, the music would already have been familiar to a number of audience members. Only last autumn, those operatic archaeologists Opera Rara had put on a … Continue reading →

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Gut strings and female basses: a Venetian expedition to the Pietà for the OAE

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Mark Pullinger

Vivaldi: The OAE/Debretzeni  St Johns Smith Square, 17th May 2015 Although much-travelled around Europe, Vivaldi is inextricably linked with Venice and the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage and music school in the city. “Women in … Continue reading →

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Unvarnished truth: period instrument Mussorgsky

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Mark Pullinger

Mussorgsky & Tchaikovsky: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/ Jurowski **** Royal Festival Hall, 15th January 2014 The Campaign for Real Mussorgsky has been fighting the good fight for decades. Claudio Abbado was a paid-up member, recording the original version … Continue reading →

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Opera Rara: Donizetti’s Les Martyrs a revelation

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Mark Pullinger

Donizetti: Les Martyrs ***** Opera Rara, Royal Festival Hall, 4th November 2014 There is no shortage of rare Donizetti operas set in exotic locations – Emilia di Liverpool, Zoroaida di Granata, Harrison di Accrington (okay, artistic license exercised on that final one) – so … Continue reading →

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‘The French Beethoven’ unmasked by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Mark Pullinger

Onslow/Beethoven: OAE/Roth *** Royal Festival Hall, 22nd October 2014 The name George Onslow may conjure up images of whippets, pints and rolling Yorkshire dales, but he was in fact born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1784 and was known as ‘the French … Continue reading →

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