thu 28/03/2024

Winter Wassail, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Shakespeare's Globe | reviews, news & interviews

Winter Wassail, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Shakespeare's Globe

Winter Wassail, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Shakespeare's Globe

A damp start to the New Year, with a few livelier numbers later on

The great Globe itself is not enough: McCreesh and company in a convivial settingSimon Kane

Vienna has its New Year's Day concert, conducted this year with some style but not quite enough sensuousness by Franz Welser-Möst. London could do worse for a more modest equivalent than let the Wooden O play host to a well-spiced small package of carols, seasonal songs and readings from Chaucer's times to Thomas Hardy's. But sing and play it lustily, ye Gabrieli ladies and gentlemen, or not at all. And it's sad to report that the proceedings got off to a start as soggy as the winter's afternoon they were supposed to keep at bay.

Vienna has its New Year's Day concert, conducted this year with some style but not quite enough sensuousness by Franz Welser-Möst. London could do worse for a more modest equivalent than let the Wooden O play host to a well-spiced small package of carols, seasonal songs and readings from Chaucer's times to Thomas Hardy's. But sing and play it lustily, ye Gabrieli ladies and gentlemen, or not at all. And it's sad to report that the proceedings got off to a start as soggy as the winter's afternoon they were supposed to keep at bay.

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