As the Proms end, the Wigmore season begins, and the opening concert in the refurbished hall – work, primarily on the backstage areas, was finished over the summer – was given by countertenor Iestyn Davies with the English Concert under Harry Bicket. Arias from Handel’s operas together with instrumental music by his contemporaries Francesco Maria Veracini and Nicola Porpora formed the programme. Davies is a superb Handelian, one of today’s finest, and there was a real sense of occasion throughout.
It took a few moments for his voice to warm up fully – there was an edge in the tone at the start of his first aria, Sento Amor from Partenope – but he was on wonderful form thereafter. His technique is immaculate, enabling him to deliver bravura arias Venti Turbini, from Rinaldo, with almost understated ease. In some respects, he is even more remarkable in slower numbers, where his evenness of line and exceptional dynamic control invest Handel’s long melodies with subtle shifts of meaning and intensity. You’re aware of the character and the emotional history behind each individual aria: his outstanding Arsace, in Partenope, masked duplicity beneath lofty hauteur, while Orlando, driven mad for love, gradually descended into a vivid psychological hell.
Bicket, also an impeccable Handelian, directed the English Concert from the harpsichord. There was finely focused playing, with bags of energy and an admirable sensuousness of tone from string and woodwind players. Placing Veracini and Porpora beside Handel reminds us that they’re not quite in his league. A focused, bravura performance of Veracini’s Overture No 2 in F couldn’t disguise the unvarying quality of its instrumentation. Porpora’s leaner Sinfonia da Camera in G, prefacing the big mad scene from Orlando, was more effective in its austere grace.
