⚫ Finding his way: Opera Rara's revival of Donizetti's relatively early L'esule di Roma showed a composer finding his own voice ⚫ No ordinary evening: Christof Loy directs Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Sara Jakubiak & Jonathan Tetelman ⚫ Style, imagination & not a little daring: a new staging of Handel's Saul at Berlin's Komische Oper ⚫ Reduced forces, but heightened drama: An intimate, chamber production of Wagner's Die Walküre from Regents Opera But this was invigorating stuff and an eloquent evening s entertainment. I like my passion a little rougher around the edges and wished that they had loosened their stays as they did to such effect in the comic interludes Iro’s “O dolor” and “Chi va li” when Poppea’s guards gossip about their master’s affairs.

With sensuous voices of milk and honey Anders Dahlin and Emiliano Gonzalez Toro were at times achingly beautiful.

It all seemed a little too restrained and poised. I was less convinced by “Zefiro Torna”, from the ninth book of madrigals, an ode to Zephyr that ushers in the spring and it’s concomitant joys. In the opera excerpts from Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea we saw a move towards a more flexible and realistic theatrical style, dramma per musica the vivid word painting a far cry from dry declamation. The cry of “mai” (never) in “O sia tranquillo il mare” made my hair stand on end. The delicate madrigals “Chiome d’oro and “O come sei gentile” from book seven are pictures of beauty and restraint whilst in contrast those from book eight “Guerrieri e amorosi “ are agitated and intense. This is a style far removed from the formalism and artifice that preceded it. This beguiling and illuminating concert illustrated just how innovative Monteverdi could be. John’s Smith Square featured Les Talens Lyriques, conductor Christophe Rousse and tenors Anders J Dahlin and Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, in a diverse programme of madrigals and excerpts from Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea highlighting Monteverdi’s contribution to a less formal and naturalistic musical language using an expanded musical vocabulary reflecting character and emotion 'to affect the soul'. Wednesday night’s concert (7 June 2017), Zefiro torna, at St. Zefiro torna, Monteverdi madrigals & opera excerpts Les Talens Lyriques St John's Smith SquareĪ beguiling and illuminating concert illustrating the innovative nature of Monteverdi's music Anders J Dahlin and Emiliano Gonzalez Toro

Eloquent evenings ryan