Quigley’s “infectious momentum"; Rood “was the vocal hero”

“Quigley gave the work an infectious momentum, and the three vocal soloists – soprano Margot Rood, tenor Steven Soph and bass Steven Eddy – wove their overlapping vocal lines dexterously.

“This frozen sufferer, together with his attendant Chorus of Cold People, find themselves thawed by the warmth of love, and the teeth-chattering music Purcell wrote for them is a marvel – as were the effervescent blandishments of Cupid, delivered by Rood with lovely clarity and grace. (If Quigley intended this wintry landscape as a piece of seasonal programming, as his notes suggest, it’s a choice that works anywhere but the Bay Area.)

What these selections had to do with Bach was less than clear, but both cantatas emerged with stately urgency. Rood was the vocal hero throughout, giving a proud, fine-grained rendition of the final soprano aria in “Nun komm,” and joining with Eddy and violinist Noah Strick to bring tender poignancy to the duets in ‘Wachet auf.’ Here Bach came into his own at last.”