Dunedin Consort and John Butt

Queen’s Hall, 21/8/25

Dunedin Consort, John Butt director, Julie Roset soprano, Nardus Williams soprano, Reginald Mobley countertenor

Halfway through Handel’s 1707 comic cantata ‘Clori, Tirsi e Fileno’, the packed Queen’s Hall is treated to twenty minutes of exceptional music-making. Julie Roset, as flirtatious shepherdess Clori, fends off accusation of infidelity by her suitor Tirsi, sung by Nardus Williams, in a dramatic duet. The short phrases spark between them, sometimes echoing sometimes overlapping. As Clori leaves, Nardus Williams has an equally explosive coloratura aria with imagery of snakes and wild beasts. Splendid breath control assists the extended runs in her higher register, surpassed only by the more decorated version in the repeat. Clori, still also spitting blood, follows with the complex aria ‘Barbero, tu non credi’ in which the frantic pace of her initial outburst, accompanied by rapid strings, alternates with more reflective passages accompanied by Toby Carr on theorbo and solo violin. Remarkable writing from the twenty-two year-old composer.

Such compelling listening explains why the Dunedin Consort is an indispensable part of this and many Festivals and of UK musical life throughout the year. Nine musicians - strings, woodwinds (recorders and oboes) and theorbo plus John Butt on harpsichord and three terrific singers – countertenor Reginald Mobley joins the two sopranos - provide the comic opera missing from the EIF’s programming this year. Although in early Handel fashion, much of the first half seems short on drama, with one da capo aria following another, the differences in voices, pace and accompaniment present many pleasures. For example, Reginald Mobley’s recitative with Julie Roset has a virtuosic harpsichord accompaniment from John Butt, while his succeeding aria about a sailor reaching harbour features an obbligato on wind instruments. The first half concludes with a duet from Mobley and  Roset – Clori and Fileno seem to have plighted their troth - in which the singers alternate and sometimes share lines, with the soprano and countertenor voice blending well.

By the middle of the second half, Clori is well on the way to being caught out by both men with miserable lives in prospect for all. However, successive arias by Tirsi and Fileno suggest that other possibilities remain. Reginald Mobley’s delightful gentle aria about swallows returning home, with its ornate theorbo solos and violin accompaniment sets the tone. While online synopses take the stern view that nobody wins, here the twinkle in the eyes of all performers, suggests that maybe compromises can be reached, even by an 18th century  shepherdess and her suitors… I think Handel might have approved.

photo of rehearsal with Nardus Williams, soprano, from Dunedin Facebook