Amanda Forsythe | Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews +

1765: Times of Transition
Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings, Amanda Forsythe

Mozart: Symphony No.1in E-flat major
Philidor: Arias from Tom Jones
Haydn: Symphony No.39 in G minor
Telemann: Ino

One year, four composers, with a 76 year age-gap between them. Laurence Cummings and the Acadmeny of Ancient Music (AAM) opened their new season in Milton Court with Mozart, Haydn, Telemann and Philidor representing the year 1765 during a transitional age in music. It was the era of sturm und drang, the dramatic ‘storm and stress’ movement in German music and literature that emphasised deep emotions, individual freedom and love of nature. Along with the works of literature from the likes of Goethe and Schiller, came the musical reaction to the rational approach of the Enlightenment and Baroque and the start of the Classical period, a prelude to the upcoming early Romantic era. Composers such as Haydn, Gluck, and Mozart included elements of this genre, not least in angular themes, rapidly changing musical moods, and dramatic interventions. In opera, the increased use of fully orchestrated accompagnato recitatives took over from the baroque basso continuo genre.

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Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner
Royal Opera House, 24 September 2015

With the Royal Opera House home team playing away in China, the field was open for a take over by the period instrument brigade. Although the house band of the ROH (and other opera venues) have been getting better at adopting suitable ‘period’ performance techniques in recent years, I have suggested many times over the years that they bring in a specialist orchestra for their ‘early music’ productions. On this occasion there was a more-or-less complete take-over by the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, together with the Hofesh Shechter Company of dancers. The directors were Hofesh Shechter and the ROH’s own John Fulljames, and the conductor was John Eliot Gardiner. This was part of the Royal Opera House’s recent focus on the Orpheus myth that started with their Roundhouse production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo last February (reviewed elsewhere on this site). Continue reading →