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Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists

Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Thursday, one night only

Forty years after its founding, one of the world's great choirs and its renowned  conductor finally made their Hong Kong debut this week.

The  recital by the Monteverdi Choir and its founder  Sir John Eliot Gardiner - performing with sister  instrumental group the English Baroque Soloists - was perhaps not the best that these musicians could offer, but was nevertheless a well-oiled presentation of  wonderful English Baroque music.

There were only two works: Henry Purcell's only opera, Dido and Aeneas, and incidental music from The Tempest by Purcell's student John Weldon.

The Tempest was performed first, with smooth, billowy string sound and unobtrusive but lively continuo from the  Soloists. When the choir entered, its clear articulation, purity of tone, natural phrasing and blending of voices were immediately appreciable. Some of the tapering dynamic changes were well-nigh perfect.

But Dido and Aeneas was the  highlight. Apart from Croatian mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupi?'s Dido, the rest of the cast were  choir members. Pokupi?'s assertive, operatic style was clearly different from the other soloists', who sang more with  an ensemble in mind.   She sometimes overacted but could not give  enough pathos in the last act, while her colleagues  occasionally lacked expressiveness.

Otherwise, the singing was  very fluent and accomplished, especially Pokupi?, Ben Davies' Aeneas, Katharine Fuge's silvery-toned Belinda, and France Bourne's catty Sorceress. Throughout, Sir John held the performance together with dramatic precision.



Baroque feast that was well worth the wait