Messian @ St John's Smith Square, London
Music OHM
24th December 2015
Katherine Watson is to Handel soprano singing, as Anja Harteros is to Verdi, and here she not only gave finely phrased, elegantly sung interpretations of her arias but explored quite daring variations, especially in ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’ where she removed every layer of the cloying sentimentality so often heard to give a genuinely heart-rending performance. Gwilym Bowen is a very promising young tenor whose singing I’ve praised in Monteverdi, and he gave a forthright, open reading of the tenor’s music, perhaps a little short on showmanship but very strong in terms of directness and freshness.
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Conductor - Stephen Layton
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
CAST
Katherine Watson - soprano
Iestyn Davies - countertenor
Gwilym Bowen - tenor
Neal Davies - bass