Baroque&Before with Candice Agree

Prom 17: Les Arts Florissants/Christie familiar finesse, classy soloists

Royal Albert Hall, London
Rameau's vivid, emotionally immediate Grand Motets brought a flavour of his importance as a composer of sacred music to the anniversary celebrations

The Rameau anniversary celebrations have tended, inevitably perhaps, to focus on his importance as an opera composer. He only began writing for the stage late in his career, however, and for their late-night Prom, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants turned their attention to an earlier period in his life and the three Grand Motets, his important contribution to sacred music.

The pieces are shrouded in mystery. They date from around 1715, though the third of them, In Convertendo Dominus, was revised in 1751. We don't know whether they were intended for church or concert performance. Their style pictorial, vivid and emotionally immediate pre-empts that of his operas, leading to discussion as to whether they are ultimately to be understood as devotional or dramatic.

Prom 16: Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic/Goetzel review

Royal Albert Hall, London
This was a classy, enthusiastic ensemble and Sascha Goetzel the consummate showman at this Middle East-inspired evening

Founded in 1999, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic is the second orchestra to make its Proms debut as part of this year's "global visitors" series, and the impact it made with its flamboyant principal conductor, Sascha Goetzel, was tremendous. The bulk of the programme consisted of western European works inspired by the Middle East, some of them over-the-top, some teetering uncomfortably on the edge of orientalism. But they're a classy, enthusiastic ensemble, and Goetzel is the consummate showman.

The programme allowed them to display their technical security over a wide stylistic range. Mozart's overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail whirred dexterously, while Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, which they played without Goetzel, was all lightness and grace. A group of works from the 19th and early 20th centuries, meanwhile, showcased Goetzel's fine sense of orchestral colour and the virtuosity of the BIPO's playing.

Tannhäuser review dramatic momentum, distinguished performance

Norwich Theatre Royal
Theater Freiberg's production of Wagner's complex opera was impressively sung

Once one of the most popular of Wagner's operas, Tannhäuser is something of a rarity in the UK nowadays, so its appearance as the second work in Theater Freiburg's brief visit to East Anglia was all the more welcome. Perhaps its hero's inner conflict between sexual and spiritual love no longer seems as dangerously compelling as it did in the Victorian era, though Wagner's treatment of the subject is characteristically complex. In any case, Eva-Maria Höckmayr's direction gives it further ambiguity by diminishing the distance between Venus who is here initially dressed as the Virgin Mary and Elisabeth, who in physically resembles and draws close to draws close to the pagan love goddess in the final scene, as opposed to representing her complete antithesis.

As in all Wagner productions these days, there are idiosyncrasies. Venus's acolytes in the Venusberg orgy are religious zealots, including nuns, who extend inviting hands in an attempt to lure Tannhäuser into joining in their pleasurable activities. Later, the singer of the title role is doubled by an actor (Edward Martens) representing "the old Tannhäuser", who is presumably recollecting the action as he mouths the words both he and Elisabeth once sang.

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