2024: A year in concert reviews, astonishing youth, late-romantic rarities, riveting symphonic theatre

Janine Jansen, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky – Le Piano Symphonique, Lucerne (Photo: Philipp Schmidli, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester)

Baroque music featured highly this year, Lawrence Cummings and the AAM used just eight singers for their moving version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion and equally life-enhancing was Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos from the OAE. We heard Handel’s original version of Esther from Solomon’s Knot, who also popped up in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, one of a pair of contrasting performances of this work, the other by from the ever admirable Sixteen. There was more Handel at the Wimbledon Festival with Benjamin Hulett and Helen Charlston in Jephtha.  I Fagiolini took us to 17th century Venice for glorious multi-choir music by Benevoli.

Thanks to baritone Florian Störtz and pianist Aleksandra Myslek I finally got to hear a goodly selection of songs by Robert Kahn, whose music was forbidden by the Nazis and who was forced to flee to England in his 70s, whilst tenor Laurence Kilsby and pianist Ella O’Neill took us on a journey of remarkable emotional depth.

At Le Piano Symphonique in Lucerne, Martha Argerich and two friends created a little bit of magic in an evening that moved through from large-scale Liszt and Grieg to poetic intimacy.

There were rarities. At the Proms, Benjamin Grosvenor, Edward Gardner and the LPO turned Busoni’s Piano Concerto into riveting symphonic theatre whilst Andras Schiff and the OAE brought their Mendelssohn festival to a close with his rarely performed symphony-cantata Lobesgesang. And a real rarity, impressively tackled by the North London Chorus was Ethel Smyth’s late work, The Prison. And on a different scale, pianist Simon Callaghan tackled Cyril Scott’s unjustly neglected Piano Sonata.

In contemporary music, the National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Brass Band combined forces for Gavin Higgins’s epic Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra, whilst horn player Ben Goldscheider joined forces with Britten Sinfonia for the premiere of Huw Watkins’ Horn Concerto.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 – Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Queen Elizabeth Hall

• The Dunedin Consort at Wigmore Hall: Caroline Shaw premiered alongside rare Stradella and Christmas Corelli
• The premiere of a fascinating new Caroline Shaw piece that explodes Thomas Hardy’s Darkling Thrush at the centre of a concert that placed the Shepherds and Winter at the centre of a wonderfully engaging and imaginative programme. 
• The songs of Robert Kahn: Florian Störtz and Aleksandra Myslek reveal some of the gems to be found in the output of a relatively forgotten composer forced into exile by the Nazis
• Forbidden by the Nazis and forced to feel to England in his 70s, the music of Robert Kahn has remained somewhat undervalued and here we were treated to a rich exploration of his song output alongside music of his contemporaries and influences
• Life enhancing: the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
• The Brandenburg Concertos complete, vivid, vibrant and sometimes a little raw, the sheer energy, enthusiasm and technical nous really carrying you away
• Powerful intensity and youthful vigour: Benjamin Hulett and Helen Charlston in Handel’s Jephtha at Wimbledon International Music Festival
• A finely satisfying performance from a strong young cast who really lifted Handel and Morell’s tragedy off the page
• Intimate and communicative: Solomon’s Knot brings its distinctive approach to Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at Wigmore Hall
• A chance to hear Monteverdi’s vespers in an acoustic bringing out the more intimate qualities, with the highly communicative singers enjoying the more madrigalian elements of the music
• Everyone clearly enjoyed themselves and brought the house down: Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at Temple Church
• Technically assured and finely expressive performance that filled the Temple Church with extraordinary richness from bravura moments to intimate magic 
• A glorious noise: from one to eight choirs in I Fagiolini‘s evening of music from 17th-century Venice and Rome
• Musico-spatial magic as I Fagiolini revive a rare 17th-century mass by Benevoli for four choirs written for St Peter’s Basilica in Rome
• A journey of remarkable emotional depth: Laurence Kilsby and Ella O’Neill at Wigmore Hall
• With a a remarkable combination of confidence and style, the young duo filled the hall with great presence in a thoughtful programme 
• Prom 23: riveting symphonic theatre from Benjamin Grosvenor, Edward Gardner & London Philharmonic Orchestra in Busoni’s Piano Concerto
• Problem, what problem. Busoni’s mammoth concerto turned into riveting symphonic theatre in what was only the work’s second Prom performance after a gap of 36 years!
• Telling a story: Solomon’s Knot in stylishly vivid form for the Canon’s version of Handel’s Esther
• Solomon’s Knot on vibrant and vivid form in a dramatic account of the earliest version of Handel’s first oratorio
• Lobesgesang: Mendelssohn’s rarely performed symphony-cantata is a fine climax to Sir Andras Schiff and the OAE’s exploration of the composer’s symphonic music
• A near ideal performance of the violin concerto followed by an account of Mendelssohn’s great symphony-cantata that never compromised the work’s idiosyncrasy yet brought out its rich detail and emotionalism
• Energy, discipline, control and sheer love of music-making: National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Brass Band in Gavin Higgins, Dani Howard, Prokofiev, Julius Eastman and more
• From Julius Eastman’s creative provocation in the Clore Ballroom to the stupendous combined brass band and orchestra in Higgins new piece, an astonishing day of music making full of energy, discipline, control and sheer love of music-making
• Dramatic Britten, athletic Watkins and high-energy Mozart: Britten Sinfonia, Ben Goldscheider and Nicky Spence at Milton Court
• An imaginative and appealing programme centred on Ben Goldscheider’s peerless horn-playing with Nicky Spence in fine, story-telling form
• Moving intimacy and sense of communication: Bach’s St Matthew Passion from the Academy of Ancient Music, music director Laurence Cummings and just eight singers
• Just eight soloists and 28 instrumentalists create a sense of intimacy yet profound communication, filling the hall in a way that made the whole a moving experience
• Quite an achievement: the North London Chorus’ ambition rewarded in a performance of Ethel Smyth’s The Prison that intrigued and engaged
• A welcome opportunity to hear Ethel Smyth’s late work live, in a fine performance which rewarded the choir for its daring in programming The Prison
• Something a little bit special: David Butt Philip & friends gala for St Paul’s Opera in Clapham
• David Butt Philip as Florestan, David Stout as Posa, Rainelle Krause as the Queen of the Night, Alison Langer as Mozart’s Countess in vivid gala evening for St Paul’s Opera in Clapham
• Late romantic at Wigmore Hall: Simon Callaghan in Cyril Scott’s sonata
• Viewed as ground-breaking by contemporaries, Scott’s style languished in the later 20th-century but Simon Callaghan revived the piano sonata in a masterly performance
• From poetic Liszt and Grieg concertos to a little bit of magic from Martha Argerich and friends at Le Piano Symphonique in Lucerne 
• From the poetry of the young Yoav Levanon in Liszt’s symphonic concerto and Elisabeth Leonskaya making Grieg her own to sheer magic from just three performers led by Martha Argerich in piano trios by Haydn and Mendelssohn

Gavin Higgins: Concerto for Brass Band and Orchestra – National Youth Orchestra & National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (Photo: Chris Chris Christodoulou)