Wednesday 12 April 2006
Review of Solomon
My review of Handels' Solomon at the Barbican with Rene Jacobs conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is here on Music and Vision.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana ; Katherine Broderick, Oliver Johnston, Janis Kelly, Michel de Souza, Idunnu Münch, director: Harry Fehr, con...
-
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Kullervo Sets Off for War (Mural, 1901, in the Old Student House, Helsinki University) Sigfúsdóttir: Oceans , Grieg: ...
-
Puccini: Il tabarro - Yvonne Howard, Natalya Romaniw - Welsh National Opera (Photo: Craig Fuller) Puccini: Il trittico , Dario Solari, Nata...
-
What about blowing the box to pieces: composer Eímear Noone on writing for video games, films and TVEímear Noone (Photo: Andy Paradise) Dublin and LA-based composer Eímear Noone is known for her scores for video games, films and TV. She re...
-
Judith Weir: Blond Eckbert - English Touring Opera Do not take my story for a fairytale , Judith Weir: Blond Eckbert ; Abigail Kelly, Amy J...
-
Wagner: Die Walküre - The London Opera Company, November 2023 London Opera Company presented a full-scale performance of Wagner's Die ...
-
Bernstein: A Quiet Place - Henry Neill, Elgan Llyr Thomas - Royal Ballet & Opera (Photo: Marc Brenner/ROH) Bernstein: Trouble in Tahiti...
-
Reinis Zariņš (Photo: Andris Sprogis) Latvian pianist Reinis Zariņš will be performing Olivier Messiaen ’s Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-...
-
Title page of the "Bassus Generalis" for one of the partbooks in which the Vespers were published in 1610 Monteverdi: Vespers of 1...
-
Jake Heggie (Photo: James Niebuhr) Jake Heggie 's song cycle for soprano, violin and string quartet, Intonations : Songs from the Violin...
I was interested to read your review of Solomon. How many times do I come across reviewers such as yourself doing write-ups of a countertenor's performance and using the age-old, worn-out and frankly tedious and unfair comparison with either Scholl or Daniels. I don;t even think I have heard of Daniels singing the role of Solomon in BRitain or certainly on record!? Scholl's rendition IS mostly heard on record for that matter. You simply can't be this narrow minded! If these two respectable artists had their say I'm sure they would comment that one should NOT compare, but be a bit more creative in describing a young singer's voice; by comparing people to recordings is to do a huge injustice to a) live performance and b) to be completely fooled by the studio microphone. Believe it or not there are a whole host of countertenors of ALL ages not just "up and coming" as is so often read that don't regard Scholl and Daniels as some sort of vocal nirvana duo. Yes, they have made a significant impact on the listening and buying public, but in the end music and live performace especially are creative arenas not environs for mimicry. (If David Hansen did exactly what Scholl does on his record, would you be happy?) And furthermore, why don't you write out a list of your favourite (or famous) sopranos and do the same unbalanced comparisons with the Queen and Queen of Sheba? You should review the performance in question not judge the singer against somebody who didn't even show or had hours of retakes in the studio - or else why go to the performance in the first place, the CD always sounds as perfect as the first time?
ReplyDelete