“This live recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice from the 2018 London Festival of Baroque Music is a must listen… David Bates and La Nuova Musica give the score a highly expressive reading. .. The soloists are marvellous, beginning with countertenor Iestyn Davies’ intensely human Orpheus. Even toned and consistently gorgeous, he balances emotional involvement with classical restraint, heard to greatest effect in his quietly anguished Che farò senza Euridice. As is typical of Davies, every syllable means something, and he brings tremendous dramatic authority to the lengthy recitatives. As Euridice, soprano Sophie Bevan is every bit his match, moving from near catatonia to desperation and finally fury at her Orfeo’s apparent indifference. She ravishes the ear with her plangent, glowing singing, her final duets with Davies pure aural bliss. Rounding out the trio of principals, Rebecca Bottone avoids the cutesy soubrette shtick to present an Amore of unusual gravitas. Her Gli sguardi trattieni is sublime, her final appearance a moment of true divine providence.” ****½

Opera Choice

Performance *****      Recording *****

“… Davies radiates Orfeo’s impassioned tenderness, changing vocal colours as the drama demands. Sophie Beven’s Euridice swings, with blazing bravura and increasing intensity, from anguish to narcissism, lengthening top notes and compressing runs as her thoughts swirl… It is also thanks to the choir, whose moods register as loudly as those of the soloists, that this production is a benchmark. It’s the stuff of Gluck’s dreams.”