Classical Women SJSS Review
La Nuova Musica/David Bates at St John’s Smith Square – Classical Women – Lucy Crowe sings Mozart and Handel heroines
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 St John’s Smith Square, London
Reviewed by Amanda-Jane Doran from Classical Source
David Bates and Lucy Crowe have a long acquaintance with each other and the fiendish and charismatic heroines of Handel and Mozart. They brought their considerable talents to bear on a stunningly composed programme of operatic arias and serenades at St John’s Smith Square in London on this cold November night…….
La Nuova Musica set the scene with the dramatic Overture from the opera, electrifyingly pacy, but never losing subtle detail, dynamics or shape. Crowe was channelling Cleopatra in more ways than one: a golden dress and an even more lustrous tone. Provocative, flirtatious, desperate, every aspect of the Egyptian queen’s psyche was on display. Her performance was astonishing……..
Sobs and laughter were musically conveyed within Handel’s intention. The audience responded equally wildly to every piece, with rapturous ‘bravos’…….
Crowe and La Nuova Musica made music as one, a moving and vital presence and a musical relationship to be treasured and developed even further……….
