Orpheus Britannicus

Dowland lute songs and Purcell favourites sung to an archlute, played most delicately by Paula Chateauneuf, made for a splendid first half. However, Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s ‘Orpheus Elegies’, musical ‘postcards’ (!), was the show-stopper. Twenty-six brief elegies inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’ were delivered beautifully by Melinda Maxwell (oboe) and Helen Tunstall (harp) with extraordinary skill. Like exquisite ‘bonnes bouches’, each different and tantalising, they’ll never be heard again because the element of improvisation makes every performance unique. Andrew Watts’s strong counter-tenor added words and a passionate texture while the voice of Orpheus itself inhabited the oboe.

Music Room, Royal Pavilion, 11 May 2014

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