I first saw Dietrich Fischer Dieskau in 1977 at the Edinburgh Festival. If memory serves me correct he appeared in Mozart operas at the Festival in 1976 and 1977 but I didn't see him in those. However, as 1977 was Peter Diamond's final year as festival director, all sorts of favours seem to have been called in. So besides the amazing Carmen with Berganza and Domingo, I saw Berganza, Ryland Davies and Dieskau in a complete performance of Stravinsky's Pulcinella (rather luxurious casting that!) and Dieskau again in the Brahms Requiem, which a truly memorable performance.
Some years later I caught up with him in lieder in an evening of Richard Strauss lieder, which proved that even Dieskau could not disguise the fact that the songs really worked best on a woman's voice. No amount of intelligence in the world could hide that fact that no baritone should be singing Morgen.
So its mainly missed opportunities. I could have seen him in lieder or in Mozart, but didn't because, at the time, my interest lay elsewhere.
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
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...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
William Boyd and Colin Mathews (Photo: Mark Allan) During his long career the composer Colin Matthews has been associated with several othe...
-
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer - Eleanor Dennis, Paul Carey Jones - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright) Wagner: Der fliegende Hollände...
-
André de Ridder Courtesy of English National Opera © Hugo Glendinning English National Opera's announcement of its 2025/26 season (good...
-
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas - Joshua Saunders as Aeneas with the Witches - Guildhall School (Photo: David Monteith-Hodge) Purcell: Dido and...
-
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra - Roland Wood, Antony Hermus, Vazgen Gazaryan, Opera North (Photo: James Glossop) Verdi: Simon Boccanegra ; Roland ...
-
Apollo's Cabinet at Bachfest Leipzig in 2024 (Photo: Emanuel Mathias) The early music ensemble Apollo's Cabinet is known for its ev...
-
Silhouette of the clarinettist Anton Stadler For whom Mozart wrote the Clarinet Quintet David Gow, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mozart; Peter Ci...
-
Bach: Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen - Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska - Wigmore Hall (taken from live s...
No comments:
Post a Comment