A full house rang in 2026 with Davies joined by the spirited musicians of The English Concert and the Danish harpsichordist and conductor Lars Ulrik Mortensen.
Rachell Ellen Wong’s exuberant violin draped endless decorations around Davies’s simple vocal line. There was also the thrill of hearing the musicians beavering away with such rhythmic panache through the third and sixth Brandenburg Concertos. Wild audience enthusiasm broke out after No 3’s rollicking finale. Quite right too.
An encore was inevitable and it was lovely: the little aria Schlage doch, often attributed to Bach’s contemporary Melchior Hoffmann, with a part for two bells, rung with tender aplomb by Jonathan Byers, one of the ensemble’s cellists, impressively dressed in a trimmed robe and hood. Beat that, new year revellers.
★★★★★
Image: Sisi Burn
