This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud David Lee contributed a whooping 43 entries.
On 11 September 2019, we return to the Albert Hall stage for ‘Bach Night’ at the BBC Proms, our first appearance since our Proms debut with Bach’s John Passion back in 2017. This time, it’s a wholly orchestral affair, as we perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s four orchestral suites (BWV 1066-69), alongside four new commissions from […]
Susan Nickalls, The Scotsman★★★★★ To hear Bach played on an instrument from the world-class collection at St Cecilia’s Hall offers a privileged glimpse into how the composer’s music might have sounded at the time.…Suzuki’s hands moved seamlessly between the two manuals adding to the drama of this richly scored work. The accompanying period instruments produced […]
Interview with Chief Executive Jo Buckley in The Scotsman. The ensemble is thinking big according to new chief executive Jo Buckley, who is honest enough to suggest that the 2018 scare “was actually one of the best things that happened to us.” Whereas two years ago Dunedin were playing around 25 concerts a year, there […]
Carol Main, The Scotsman★★★★ Possibly, for a concerto soloist, the only thing worse than breaking your glasses just before heading to the platform, is finding out that the glue used to fix them hasn’t worked. Even in the face of such adversity, the show went on at St Cecilia’s Hall on Tuesday with harpsichordist Richard […]
Ken Walton, The Scotsman★★★★ Is there a venue more perfect for this 5-concert series of Bach’s Keyboard Concertos than the intimate 18th century St Cecila’s Hall?…Required to top it off are musicians and performances of equal calibre, which is what began to emerge as duelling harpsichordists Mahan Esfahani and Aapo Häkkinen, along with with members […]
Ken Walton, The Scotsman★★★★ The “new” material, he added, came from a 1726 cantata bearing the same theme, so the task was to do “what Bach would have done” and “turn it into a harpsichord concerto”. The result was largely convincing, strangely scored (by Bach) for supporting oboe, strings and continuo, but distinctive in this […]
Susan Nickalls, The Scotsman★★★★ The tonal blend of the two instruments was perfect with Schornsheim’s sharper articulation adding brightness in the quicker movements…Schornsheim gave a lively account of the mercurial prelude from the English Suite No 4 in F major followed by the Keyboard Concerto in F minor. This featured a bed of soft pizzicato […]
David Nice, The Arts Desk★★★★ You had to wait for the four to come to the fore – or for one of them, in the case of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, where Egarr eventually went wild in his first-movement cadenza. He also charmingly introduced the arrangement of the Italian Concerto as essentially for two players, […]
Simon Thompson, The Times★★★ This first concert in the series started as they mean to go on: the Dunedin musicians play on instruments from Bach’s time, and the pair of harpsichords, both from 1755, come from St Cecilia’s remarkable collection of historical instruments. What’s not to like? Read the full review here
Ken Walton, The Scotsman★★★★ The Concerto in C for three harpsichords, opened with a sound akin to a swarm of bees. But as the musical texture found flight, soloists John Butt, Richard Egarr and Diego Ares sourced mischievous gamesmanship to indulge in. The solo honours went to Egarr in the Brandenburg Concerto No 5, a […]
Ken Walton, The Scotsman★★★★ The latter was the more persuasive, not just for its uncommonly extravagant orchestration – trumpets, horns and timps crowning the wind and strings with resplendent euphoria – but also the compositional grit that gives rugged theatrical edge to otherwise standard cantata numbers, and which the Dunedin singers engagingly characterised. Read the […]
J.S. Bach – Matthew PassionKristian Bezuidenhout, directorBoston Early Music Festival, 10 June 2019 Early Music America Review The two dozen virtuoso instrumentalists under Bezuidenhout’s continuo direction brought a transparency and dramatic flair to the orchestral music that was always in tune to the spirit of the text. In all, this performance of St. Matthew Passion was a […]
Keith Bruce, The Herald22 April 2019★★★★★ The clarity of the instrumental playing, from continuo in all its manifestations, through the melodic lines of pairs of flutes and oboes, to the entire ensemble and a beautiful solo turn from violinist Huw Daniel, was superb, and – some slightly wayward intonation in the reeds at the start […]
Meet renowned harpsichordist and conductor Trevor Pinnock, who directs Dunedin Consort for the first time next week in our performances of J.S. Bach’s Matthew Passion in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Can you remember your first experience of the Matthew Passion? I well remember my introduction to parts of the Matthew Passion (in English!) as a choirboy at Canterbury Cathedral. I was especially taken by the […]
★★★★Keith Bruce, The Herald8 February 2019 The composer’s plundering of Ovid and Petrach is a musical delight, and had the best balance of the musical forces we heard all night, with Katy Bircher’s flute joining the fine performance by oboist Alexandra Bellamy and eleven strings, led by Huw Daniel. [T]he challenges of the chapel acoustic were overcome by […]
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