Benjamin Bruns reviews
JS Bach: St Matthew Passion
Benjamin Bruns, Carolyn Sampson, Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki (BIS)
Haydn: Missa Cellensis
RIAS Kammerchor; Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin/Justin Doyle, et al (Harmonia Mundi)
A dazzling presentation of Haydn’s hidden gem
'Justin Doyle with his team of talented soloists do this work proud'
Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts Strauss's Salome
Some claim that Richard Strauss’s Salome is a symphonic poem with voices added. That’s how Andrés Orozco-Estrada interprets it, missing the essential drive of the operatic narrative. True, many of the motifs are orchestrally led, but quite a few fit the words (‘Er ist schreklich’ – ‘he is horrible’, as Salome sings of John the Baptist; or ‘Gib mir den Kopf des Jokanaan’ – ‘give me the head of Jokanaan’).