Linda Sayce

In the Belly of the Beast 

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

“In the Belly of the Beast“
Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: Cantates Bibliques
Carolyn Sampson, Mariana Rodrigues
Liam Burne, Lynda Sayce, Alice Earll
Metronome London, 27 June 2026


London’s latest record-breaking heatwave, combined with the lack of air conditioning at the previous evening’s venue, turned this into the opening event of this year’s Spitalfields Festival. The air conditioning at this event in Metronome London (a small black-box venue forming part of a new building that seems to house elements of various out-of-London universities) certainly made itself felt, to the bizarre extent that the organisers emailed attendees to warn them to bring additional clothing, something that was apparently easier than anybody actually turning the air conditioning down! The concert featured a staging of three of Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre’s Cantates françoises sur des sujets tirez de l’Écriture à voix seule, et basse-continue, published in two volumes in 1708 and 1711, sometimes referred to as Cantates Bibliques.

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I Fagiolini: Monteverdi Vespers

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
I Fagiolini, English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble
Robert Hollingworth
St Martin in the Fields, 26 September 2025

The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 is one of those enigmatic pieces with a complicated back story and fascinating performance quandaries, not unlike the Bach B minor Mass. Under the title of Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, it is part of a larger publication, Mass for the Most Holy Virgin for six voices, and Vespers for several voices with some sacred songs, suitable for chapels and ducal chambers. It combines music for a Mass and the Vespers together with “a few sacred songs” and a largely instrumental Sonata. It does not fit into either a traditional Mass or Vespers ritual. At the time, Monteverdi was maestro di capella to the Gonzaga Dukes of Mantua, but the score was personally dedicated and presented to the Borghese Pope Paul V in Rome, suggesting that it was a not-so-subtle calling card for preferment, representing as it does the wide scope of his compositional powers. Despite that, within three years, he was appointed maestro di capella at St Mark’s in Venice. It is unlikely that it was ever heard the Vespers in the form that we know it today. Indeed, it might never have been intended to be heard in that form.

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La Serenissima: Vivaldi Double Concertos

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Vivaldi Double Concertos
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler 
St Martin-in-the-Fields. 11 February 2023


In what was described as “a carnival of double concertos from 18th century Venice – music of fantasy, flamboyance and virtuosity to the power of two”, La Serenissima and its “charismatic founder” Adrian Chandler bought its “no-holds-barred flamboyance” to St Martin-in-the-Fields. It was a reminder of St Martin’s endless ‘Vivaldi by Candlelight’ tourist concerts, although their concert promotions are rather more elevated these days. As the publicity blurb enthused: “Baroque Venice was a city of doubles – of shimmering reflections and masked revellers. And since nothing succeeds like excess, when Vivaldi wrote concertos for two soloists, the results were spectacular: a carnival of colour, illusion and sparkling sonic conversation”.

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