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Posts Tagged ‘The Unthanks’

The Rest of May

Posted in Art, Classical Music, Contemporary Music, Dance, Film, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Contemporary Music

It was a breath of fresh air to see The Unthanks (well, three of them) stripped back to unaccompanied vocals. The purity of their singing in the gorgeous acoustic of Union Chapel made for a surprisingly varied and joyful evening. There was good support from Lau’s Aiden O’Rourke & Kit Downes with their fiddle & harmonium instrumentals inspired by a book of short stories.

Classical Music

It takes a big imagination to see a 425-year-old accapella vocal cycle as suitable for staging, but Peter Sellers has one, and I have to say it worked. Los Angeles Master Chorale, dressed in shades of grey, moving around the stage as they sang, made Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro at Barbican Hall so much more emotional and captivating, even for a non-believer!

The month ended on a real high with Il Pomo d’Oro‘s concert performance of Handel’s Agrippina at the Barbican with a cast to die for led by Joyce DiDonato. They brought out all the humour and Joyce in the titular role was every inch the manipulative Empress. For once the attempts at characterisation worked brilliantly. In a lifetime of Handel opera-going, this was a highlight.

Dance

There was some stunning visual imagery in Yang Liping – Rite of Spring at Sadler’s Wells, but it was more posing than dancing, very episodic and difficult if not impossible to follow the narrative. The best of Stravinsky’s suite was left out (the last movement) and the false endings became tiresome, as did the milking of bows!

Film

I was worried the combination of biography and fantasy wouldn’t work, but Rocketman proved me wrong. Seven or eight years ago I was impressed by Taron Egerton in the Stephen Sondheim Student Performer of the Year competition. He didn’t win, but he got my vote, and here he is as Elton John. Definitely a film I’d recommend.

Art

The Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum is a fascinating collection of scripts, props, costumes, storyboards, cameras, posters and film clips covering his long but not particularly prolific career. Attention to detail and quality were clearly more important than quantity of output. A genius who made just ten major films but left an enduring legacy.

London is full of blockbusters at the moment and this month, as well as Kubrick, it was Leonardo da Vinci: A life in Drawings at the Queen’s Gallery. There were a lot of them – portraits, anatomical subjects, buildings, plants, some sketches and some maps; little fully finished, but they added up to paint a picture of an extraordinarily talented man.

Swinging London: A Style Revolution at the Fashion Museum trod similar ground to Mary Quant at the V&A but a bit broader, and if anything I preferred it. The Chelsea Set, let by Terence Conran and Mary Quant, certainly had an impact, but I was surprised to see painter John Minton, sculptor Edward Paolozzi and Bernard & Laura Ashley amongst them. All very nostalgic.

Two small exhibitions of modern abstract art at White Cube Bermondsey proved colourful and rather cheery, though you wouldn’t say they were that original. Sarah Morris: Machines do not make us into Machines was very geometric and loud whilst Zhou Li’s Original State of Mind was softer, more organic and impressionistic. I found them both uplifting, though.

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The Rest of August

Posted in Art, Classical Music, Contemporary Music, Film, Opera, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Contemporary Music

In recent years, the Proms have been embracing non-classical musical genres, and this year it was the turn of folk music, with five folk acts joining the BBC Concert Orchestra in what was a largely successful crossover. The highlights were favourites The Unthanks and Julie Fowlis, but it was good to be introduced to Welsh group ALAW and to sample the music of Jarlath Henderson and Sam Lee.

You rarely hear a musical score played as well as the John Wilson Orchestra played West Side Story at the Proms; you could hear every nuance, every note, every instrument. It moved you and thrilled you in equal measure. Add to that a fine set of young soloists, a chorus drawn from two drama schools specialising in musical theatre and a rapt full house and you have a very special evening indeed. So good, I even forgave them the ticket & programme price hikes, the unnecessary interval and the failure to televise it!

My second and last Cadogan Hall Chamber Prom combined some rare Bernstein works with pieces by his friends and contemporaries, plus a new commission, and it was a funny, quirky delight with a fine performances by American mezzo Wallis Giunta. It included songs set to recipes, one a world premiere, a UK premiere of an early ballet which contained the seeds of West Side Story and six pieces new to the Proms.

Opera

Grimeborn gave us more treats with an inventive adaptation of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman – A Fantastic Bohemian – which moved between three locations in the building. The quality of singing and playing was stunning, and at such close quarters there’s no hiding place. It was hard to follow, particularly on the same day, and as much I enjoyed my first outing of Donizetti’s Rita and renewing my acquaintance with Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole, they struggled to live up to the afternoon. Same day double-dips do have their downside, as we found with this and in Chichester two days before, on both occasions the highlight coming first. Six days later it ended (for me) with a revival of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek. It’s hard to believe it was premiered thirty years ago; it’s still original, visceral and edgy and in this production was very well sung, with the Kantanti Ensemble on fire. This has been a great Grimeborn, now fully established as an annual event in my diary.

The live cinema relay of Glyndebourne’s production of Vanessa, Samuel Barber’s 60-year-old opera getting its fully-staged UK premiere, was simply extraordinary. The design was superb, the singing stunning and the London Phil sounded sensational. It has the feel of a Hitchcock film, very mysterious and suspenseful. Wonderful stuff, probably better than being there with non-opera lovers and a 90-min interval to destroy the dramatic flow!

Classical Music

My first Cadogan Hall Chamber Prom saw Dame Sarah Connolly give a recital of English song which included four world premieres, including two by Benjamin Britten written 70 years ago! It was lovely, though somewhat melancholic, which made me feel it might be more of an evening programme.

I appear to be picking well this year, as my next Prom was a sometimes challenging, but fascinating and rewarding 20th century Anglo-American programme with the BBC Philharmonic playing Barber, Britten, Copeland and Walton. Two of the five pieces were new to me, and indeed to the Proms, including two arias from Barber’s opera of Anthony & Cleopatra which made me want to see a production.

Film

Apostasy is a quiet but defiant rage against fundamentalism in all its guises, in this case Jehovah’s Witnesses. Siobahn Finneran is stunning, but above all it’s a hugely impressive debut from writer / director Dan Kokotajlo, an ex-witness himself. Harrowing but brilliant.

Art

James Cook; The Voyages at the British Library was one of the best exhibitions of its type I’ve ever visited. Superbly curated and thoroughly objective, it contained journals, specimens, paintings & drawings and testimonials from experts and indigenous peoples. Illuminating.

London 1938: Defending ‘Degenerate’ German Art at the Weiner Gallery was a huge disappointment, consisting as it does of glass cases showing letters, flyers, catalogues and photos, plus copies of pictures. Only one actual painting and a couple of drawings!

Collier Schorr is a new photographer to me, but her exhibition at Modern Art did nothing for me, I’m afraid. All a bit too pretentious in my book.

A theatrical visit to Chichester was extended to visit the lovely Palant House Gallery which had three exhibitions. Virginia Woolf: an exhibition inspired by her writings had some great 20th century works, particularly those by Vanessa Bell and Laura Knight, but though I liked the idea of including contemporary works, there were too many, and the quality was very variable. It was another of those exhibition whose raison d’etre was a bit dubious. Dance: Movement & Modernism was a one room curate’s egg, but again it had some nice works. However, I loved Sussex Days: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm, a little known Lithuanian British photographer who captured people in the county in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s brilliantly.

It was worth the detour to Tate Britain for Lisa Brice’s one-room exhibition of mostly blue paintings of women. Very striking and very original.

At Proud Central, the photos of the Observer’s late photographer Jane Bown were like a review of people in my lifetime; stunning B&W pictures, some now iconic. Downstairs a multi-photographer selection focused on pop and rock stars; this too was outstanding.

The Frieze Art Fair consisted of thirty or so sculptures placed in a corner of Regent’s Park. It was more miss than hit, but made for a pleasant wander en route to the Open Air Theatre in the same park.

Great British Seaside at the National Maritime Museum brought together the work of four photographers using the seaside as their subject over the last fifty years. I identify the seaside with my youth, so there was something very nostalgic about it, and some terrific pictures too!

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The Rest of April

Posted in Architecture, Art, Cabaret, Classical Music, Contemporary Music, Dance, Film, Photography, World Music, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Contemporary Music

Camille O’Sullivan really is a one-off. I adore the edginess, anarchy, unpredictability and eccentricity, but above all her unique interpretation of songs; she inhabits them. The Union Chapel was the perfect venue for her and I was captivated.

I was a bit nervous that Show of Hands’ could pull off the challenge of having their 25th Anniversary concert in the vast Royal Albert Hall given that the only other time I’ve seen them was at the tiny candlelit Sam Wannamaker Playhouse, but somehow they turned it into an intimate folk club (with raffle and birthday announcements!). The duo expanded to a trio and then an ensemble of up to eleven with a 26-piece choir, but it all worked brilliantly.

The Unthanks latest ‘Diversions’ project involves the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of singer-songwriter Nick Drake and actress Gabrielle Drake, whose recorded voice reads the poems. They are nice songs but 90 minutes of them was maybe a bit too much, though there was enough to enjoy to make the evening at Cambridge Corn Exchange worthwhile, with a Nick Drake song as an encore a terrific bonus.

Classical Music

I’m not familiar with Dvorak’s Requiem so it was good to hear it in the Barbican Hall, and the BBC SO & SC made a great job of it, with three excellent well-matched soloists. I’m a bit puzzled why it isn’t done more often as it’s as good as many others that are.

Global Voices at the Royal Festival Hall was a bit of a punt that turned into a major treat. In the first half, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain did a musical world tour with innovative pieces from or influenced by Italian, Indian, Latvian, Chinese, Swedish, Aboriginal and British music. In the second they were joined by seven other guest youth choirs from the US, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Africa, Latvia and Israel to form a 350-piece choir accompanied by the Southbank Sinfonia and two excellent young British soloists for Jonathan Dove’s superb oratorio There Was a Child, written to celebrate the life of the son of two musicians who died aged 19. I can’t begin to describe how inspirational, captivating and uplifting it all was.

The big classical event of the month was Sounds Unbound 2017 : Barbican Classical Weekender which was so good, it got its own blog https://garethjames.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/sound-unbound-2017-barbican-clasical-weekender

Dance

I enjoyed the New Adventures 30th anniversary mixed bill at Sadler’s Wells, but it came as a bit of a shock after all those large-scale shows. It was a good reminder of where it all started though, and a charming and funny show.

Film

It’s been a lean period, but I did catch Their Finest which I loved. A fascinating true story with a cast of British actors that reads like a Who’s-Who. Gemma Arterton continues to impress on screen as well as stage – even playing Welsh!

Art

I really enjoyed the Vanessa Bell exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery. I didn’t really know a lot about her, hadn’t seen much of her work before and I was very impressed. I do love going to Dulwich, where the exhibitions are always the right size, with brunch in the café to follow!

The David Hockney exhibition at Tate Britain blew me away. Spanning sixty years, with everything from paintings to photo collages to iPad drawings, it was a huge exhibition and a huge treat. From there, via the brilliant new Cerith Wyn Evans light installation in the Duveen Gallery, downstairs to Queer British Art, an odd exhibition in that not everything seemed connected to its theme, but there were some great individual works, including more of the Sussex Modernists I’d seen three and five days before in Dulwich and at Two Temple Place.

The American Dream, the British Museum’s review of Pop Art through prints, was very comprehensive and fascinating. It included the usual suspects like Andy Warhol but had a lot more I’d never heard of. The puzzle was, though, what is it doing in the British Museum?

The Eduardo Paolozzi retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery was just as comprehensive, and much more diverse than I was expecting. I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but it was good to see the entire career of an important British artist like this.

The Barbican Art Gallery’s exhibitions are often surprising and fascinating and The Japanese House was one of those. It examines domestic architecture in Japan since the Second World War and they’ve recreated ten units of an actual house on the ground floor! Downstairs in the Curve Gallery, Richard Moss’ Incoming projects giant images of refugees and their camps taken with long-distance thermographic cameras normally used in warfare to create something oddly voyeuristic but deeply moving.

Tate Modern has a giant Wolfgang Tillmans photography exhibition. As usual, Tillmans mounts his photographs, sometimes with narrative, to create room installations. It’s a bit hit-and-miss in my view, but worth a mooch.

The annual Wildlife Photography Exhibition at the Natural History Museum now seems to start as soon as the last one finishes; we were even wondering if we were going to one we’d already seen! There’s something new each year – a category or theme perhaps – and it’s always hugely impressive.

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The Rest of November

Posted in Art, Contemporary Music, Film, Opera, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Contemporary Music

I couldn’t resist the two seventy-something Celtic Knights as part of BluesFest. Van the Man and Jones the Voice at the O2 Arena both proved to be at the top of their vocal game. They each played great one-hour sets with their respective bands and seven songs together, three at the end of Van’s set and four at the end of Tom’s. These collaborations were under-rehearsed, rather random and disorganised affairs but they came out charming. The contrast between Tom’s extrovert showmanship and Van’s introverted cool was extraordinary. A real one-off treat we’re unlikely to see again.

Blood & Roses: The Songs of Ewan MacColl at the Barbican was another of those themed compilation shows which proved to be a delightful evening featuring his wife Peggy Seeger, folk royalty like the Carthy’s, Unthanks and Seth Lakeman and a whole load of MacColl’s. I have to confess I knew few of his songs, so much of it was a bit of a revelation, particularly The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face. When his son read out the names of those who’d covered this, you realised the family was probably still living off the royalties!

Billy Bragg’s concert at Union Chapel was by and large a return to the solo electric style of his early years, with much of the material coming from this period, though there was a pedal steel guitarist for part of the show. It was lovely, helped by being in my favourite concert venue and the attentive audience. He included his anti-Sun protest song which made me realise he’s about the only protest songster left!

I’m not sure what I was expecting of Lulu – Murder Ballad at the Linbury Studio, but what I got was a Tiger Lillies concert; a song cycle with superb projections and a dancer, but it didn’t add up to good storytelling and was actually rather dull, so much so that I left at the interval.

Opera

A concert performance of Handel’s opera Tamerlano at the Barbican by new (and young!) kids on the block Il Pomo d’Oro got off to a tentative start but soon found it’s form. Just twenty-five singers and musicians making a beautiful noise.

Morgen und Abend was more of a soundscape than an opera. A very impressionistic piece with an entirely off-white design and an off-the-wall sound. I’m not sure it sustained its 90 minute length and I think I’ll probably forget it fairly quickly, but is was original and something refreshingly less conservative at Covent Garden.

The first act of Opera Rara’s Zaza was a bit of a mess. There was so much going on and the comedy sat uncomfotrably with the love story. The remaining three acts were musically glorious, with a stupendous performance from Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho in the title role and terrific turns from Riccardo Massi and Stephen Gaertnern as her love interest. An impulsive outing to the Barbican which turned into a treat.

Art

The World Goes Pop at Tate Modern was rather a disappointment. It set out to show Pop Art wasn’t just a US / UK phenomenon. The trouble is, most it was second or third rate stuff and made you feel it probably was a US / UK phenomenon!

The Ai Wei Wei exhibition at the Royal Academy is one of the best contemporary art exhibitions I have ever visited. The combination of imagination, craftsmanship and the political statements being made is simply overwhelming. Wonderful.

Eddie Peake’s The Forever Loop was one of the most pointless and dull installations to grace Barbican’s Curve Gallery. Not even two naked dancers could liven it up!

Film

The transition of Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van from stage to screen is a huge success. Maggie Smith is sensational, Alex Jennings is superb as Alan Bennett and it’s great to see almost the entire History Boys cast in supporting roles.

Spectre was generic Bond, though with a return to the tongue-in-cheek humour that has been lost in the last couple. The set pieces were superb and it sustained its 2.5 hour length. It’s also a Who’s Who of great British actors, with Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear and Ben Wishaw in supporting roles.

I was surprised that Steve Jobs only covered 14 years or so, but I learnt so much about what made him tick and I was captivated by it. Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet were both superb.

Brooklyn was a gorgeous piece of film-making. I loved everything about this tale of Irish emigration to New York set in the year I was born, and I blubbed!

Carol was a beautifully made film, the 50s again looking gorgeous, and the performances superb, though it was a bit slow for me, particularly in the first 30 minutes or so.

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The Rest of March

Posted in Art, Classical Music, Contemporary Music, Opera, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Opera

A bumper month, with no less than five operas (well, six if you count a double-bill as 2!).

First up, another excellent double-bill at GSMD, this time an unusual pairing of Donizetti’s one-act operatic farce I Pazzi per Progetto, set in a psychiatric institute (!) and a rare and underrated but less manic Malcolm Arnold comic one-acter The Dancing Master. Production and performance standards were, as always, sky high with a stunning performance from Alison Langer and great contributions from Alison Rose, Szymon Wach and Lawrence Thackeray.

Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s opera of Alice in Wonderland was a real treat. Brilliantly staged by Netia jones behind and around the BBC SO on the Barbican Hall stage, with terrific projections, including Ralph Steadman’s caricatures, and excellent costumes, the adaptation darkened and deepened the work and the music was very imaginative and surprisingly accessible (for modern opera!). Rachele Gilmore was a magnificent Alice with outstanding support from Andrew Watts, Marie Arnet and Jane Henschel amongst others.

The Indian Queen is an unfinished semi-opera by Purcell set in pre-colonial and colonial Central America which director Peter Sellers has played with by adding music, dancing and dialogue to make it a rather overlong 3.5 hours. It has its moments (mostly musical) but he pushed it too far, particularly adding five ‘Mayan creation’ dances before it even starts. They’ve programmed eight performances at ENO and judging by the empty seats on the night we went, that’s 3 or 4 too many

Handel’s ‘opera’ Giove in Argo is actually a ‘mash-up’ of stuff from other operas, called a ‘pasticcio’. I didn’t enjoy the first act of the London Handel Festival production at the RCM’s Britten Theatre because the singing seemed tentative and the production dark and dull, but it picked up considerable in the following two acts. Overlong at 3h15m, but with some lovely music and some stunning singing by Galina Averina and Timothy Nelson and a spectacularly good chorus.

The Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Covent Garden may never have been, or will ever again be, sung and played as well, but somehow Brecht & Weill’s ‘opera’ doesn’t really belong there. The whole enterprise seems at odds with their ethos. It’s a satire that for me didn’t have enough bite in this production, though it’s fair to say that the rest of the audience seemed to be lapping it up. That said, the quality of the singers, chorus and orchestra under Mark Wigglesworth blew me away.

Classical Music

An evening of French music at the Barbican introduced me to two unheard pieces by Debussy and Faure and renewed my acquaintance with Durufle’s beautiful Requiem, which I haven’t heard in ages. Stand-in conductor Dave Hill did a grand job, with the LSO and LSC on fine form.

Contemporary Music

The Unthanks at the Roundhouse was short(ish) but sweet. I liked the line-up, which included string quartet and trumpet. The songs from the new album sounded great, if a bit samey (as they do on record), and a selection of old material responded well to new arrangements. In the end though, it’s the heavenly voices of the sisters which make them so unique. Gorgeous.

Art

Magnificent Obsessions at the Barbican Art Gallery was a fascinating exhibition built around the personal collections of 14 artists. You can see how their collectibles influenced their art, some of which is also showcased. My favourites included Martin Parr’s collection of old postcards and Andy Warhol’s kitsch cookie jars. Fascinating.

I tagged the Paris Pinacotheque Vienna Secession exhibition to a business trip and it was a superb review of the movement, though a bit cramped in their space. Lots of Klimt, but others I was less familiar with. A real treat.

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The Rest of October

Posted in Art, Contemporary Music, Opera, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Contemporary Music

After 13 evenings without live culture I might have enjoyed almost anything, but there’s little doubt that the Carolina Chocolate Drops concert was simply brilliant. They just get better and better and this first time (for me) with the new line-up continued this progression. The musicianship is extraordinary, the enthusiasm infectious and the sound gloriously uplifting. There was fine support from the unfortunately named but original and entertaining David Wax Museum and their blend of American folk with Mexican! Quirky and fun.

John Cale is still cool at 70. Silver haired with matching goatee, pink jacket, blue jeans and expensive leather shoes. His new young band is fearsome, they play the stuff off the new album brilliantly and the sound is great. In fact the first hour was a huge treat. Then it outstays its welcome because at two hours the sound becomes monotonous and relentless; there just isn’t enough light and shade. More is less. I almost always turn up in time for support acts and boy did that pay off on this occasion. Lucy Rose was simply brilliant and I’ve already bought her debut album.

The Unthanks third ‘diversion’ project is the soundtrack to a film of archive footage of shipbuilding (remember that? making ships in the UK?) and they performed it live at the Purcell Room. It was surprisingly contemporary (Alex Glasgow and John Tams rather than traditional folk) and it benefitted from that. The screening was a bit bitty, with gaps and silences, but it was often moving and always beautifully played and sung.

Opera

Finding Butterfly was a ‘re-imagining’ of Puccini’s opera set in a Nagasaki mental hospital in 1948 where Pinkerton junior has come to find out about his past, with the opera itself in flashback. It’s staged in the near derelict but atmospheric Limehouse Town Hall, where the same company The Wedding Collective staged Menotti’s The Consul. It supposes that Butterfly never died but was incarcerated whilst her son was in an orphanage rather than with her from birth to leaving with his father. What makes the evening is some simply stunning singing, particularly from young Chinese soprano Can Xie as Butterfy, Joe Morgan as Pinkerton, Latansa Phoung as Suzuki and Xiaoran Wang as The Bonze. As he did at the Cock Tavern’s Olivier Award winning La Boheme, Andrew Charity plays the entire score heroically on an electric piano. A wonderful evening.

Art

I adored the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain. It was the most I’ve seen in one place and it proved my theory that Millais and Burne-Jones were the stars. It was good to see tapestries, furniture, books etc. as well as paintings so that the connections with people like William Morris could be explored. I might have to go back. I won’t be going back to the Turner Prize shortlist, only one of whom was worthy of the space – Paul Noble’s technically stunning though somewhat obsessive drawings of imaginary worlds. Yawn.

The Barbican Gallery has put together a fascinating exhibition called everything was moving of 12 photographers from 10 countries who worked in the 60’s and 70’s. Their subjects are diverse and there’s a lot to take in, but it is a veritable feast if you’re interested in photography. One of their better ideas!

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The Rest of May

Posted in Archaeology, Architecture, Art, Classical Music, Contemporary Music, Dance, Design, Film, Opera, World Music, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

DANCE

Well, you wouldn’t call The Merchants of Bollywood subtle! The story is rather banal and in some ways a bit pointless, because what the show really represents is energy, enthusiasm, colour, glitter and sequins; in short, a lot of fun! The sets and costumes are great though the music is relentlessly monotonous, but the show doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s quite refreshing to go to something that has no pretensions, just entertainment.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Susan Bickley’s Sunday afternoon recital at the Wigmore Hall was an eclectic collection of 20th century English songs which included a lovely selection by Ivor Gurney, four gorgeous settings of Walter de la Mare by Richard Rodney Bennett and some funny cabaret songs by someone new to me, William Bolcom. There were also five from the NMC Songbook, which included one setting words from the National Trust Handbook and another listing the kings and queens of England! It was rather empty, which may be the reason why her voice sometimes sounded harsh in the resulting acoustic.

Rolando Villazon only managed a three-quarters full Festival Hall – take note, concert promoters, prices are deterring people (this one was £75 top price, though I didn’t pay that). I love his album of Handel arias, but I’m afraid the concert rarely took off for me. His enthusiasm is infectious and his empathy with the audience is terrific, but he insists on ‘acting’ the music, sometimes at the expense of the vocals. The decision to end with Bajazet’s death scene from Tamerlano was bizarre, though the two encores lifted the mood before we went home. Lucy Crowe got the biggest cheers for her two Cleopatra arias from Giulio Cesare and the Gabrieli Players (over 80% ladies!) under Paul McCreesh sounded lovely.

Handel’s La Resurrezione was only the third of his twenty-six oratorios. The Gabrieli Consort (again!) gave a lovely performance as part of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music in St John’s Smith Square. Somewhat ironically, the two substitute soloists – Gillian Webster and Jeremy Ovenden – were the stars.

Vivaldi isn’t known for his operas; Ottone in Villa was his first, and based on this excellent concert performance by Il Giardino Armonico, it seems to me they may well deserve the resurgence Handel operas have had in the last 20 years or so. There’s some gorgeous music here, with one Act II aria an absolute gem. I loved the visible enthusiasm of the players and singers and a young Russian soprano, Julia Lezhneva, made a most auspicious professional British debut – you’ll hear a lot lot more about her; remember you heard it here first!

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

Cesaria Evora, the barefooted Cape Verde godmother of world music, and her terrific band gave a masterclass in their unique Latin blues at the Barbican. The 68-year old spoke just one word to the audience (obrigado!) and smiled only occasionally, but she was the centre of attention and the reason why a full house cheered and stood in appreciation. I could have done with a little more light and shade – those rhythms can be exhausting! – but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I’m not a huge Randy Newman fan, but I admire his song-writing and couldn’t resist the rare opportunity to see him in concert. The RFH is a vast space for a man and a piano and I’m not sure he really filled it. The voice has weakened and the piano playing is far from perfect, but he’s an original and refreshingly cynical songwriter with a great sense of humour and his personality won the day.

This was the first time I’d seen the new line-up of what was once Rachel Unthank and the Winterset and is now The Unthanks. Not being able to make the London Union Chapel gig, I headed to St Georges Church Brighton (if anything an even better venue) and boy was I glad I did. The new ten-piece line-up, playing 16 instruments between them, really opens up the sound and both the new material written for it and the older stuff worked wonderfully. There was very good support from Hannah Peel, one of The Unthanks, who makes punchtape for her tiny music box and a quirky local duo called Rayon Breed – cello mostly played pizzicato and a range of percussion including stapler! Local promoters Melting Vinyl are to be congratulated for value for money, excellent organisation and a lovely venue.

FILM

Chris Morris’ Four Lions is brave, hilarious but ultimately chilling. The story of incompetent British jihadists at first just seems like farce – very very funny farce – but in the end it does make you think about the motivations of people like this. Brilliant!

ART

The Concise Dictionary of Dress is one of those unique experiences you’ll be talking about for a long time. Turning up at a pre-booked time at the huge Victorian building which houses the reserve collection store and archive of the V&A (the building shared with the British Museum and Science Museum), the three of us were taken on a walking tour to see eleven ‘installations’, each with a (somewhat obtuse) reference to something in the collection. I enjoyed the experience of seeing the building as much, if not more, that the art! From the roof to the coal bunkers via the vast textile room, a room of sliding archive shelving, the sword store and much more. Artangel does it again!

The British Museum has a brilliant pairing with Renaissance drawings and from the same period, West African sculpture from Ife. The former, the 5th (?) exhibition in the wonderful Reading Room, works on so many levels, covering the materials and craftsmanship as well as the art itself, taking in preparatory drawings and finished pieces. In one room, there are giant projections of the interior of Santa Maria Novella in Florence which zoom to reveal detail corresponding to drawings on the walls of the same room; this is terrific 21st century curating. I knew nothing about the kingdom of Ife, now in Nigeria, and was blown away by the beauty of the 600 year old bronze sculptures. The terra cottas were fascinating, if less aesthetically appealing, and the whole exhibition was again curated really well.

Smother is another, less successful, Artangel commission. This time you are taken in a small group to a tiny five-story house where the issues facing young single parents are presented through video, sound, installation and a few real people. There’s a fine line between overly staging and a failure to lead the audience and in this case the latter means you don’t get as much out of the experience as I suspect you could and should.

In the coal holes of Somerset House, Bill Fontana has created River Soundings – soundscapes recorded at various points along the Thames (which once flowed under this building) from Teddington Lock to the Thames Estuary, combined with video of locations such as Tower and Millennium Bridges. Hugely atmospheric and great fun

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