Review of Into the Woods

The cast for the Royal opera's new production (in the Linbury Studio) of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" was a cunning mix of young opera singers and singing actors;a cast whose musical experience spanned the gamut of the musical stage. Directed by choreographer Will Tuckett, the results were surprisingly coherent and uniform. There was little of the feeling of disparated elements coupled unsatisfactorily.

Tuckett's direction was fluent and fluid. He shed no new light on the work, but simply and imaginatively told the story. Vastly helped by Lez Brotherston's flexible and beautiful set. The wood, as created by Tuckett and Brotherston was a thing of both terror and beauty. But of course, being a Sondheim show, the terror was laced with humour.

Clive Rowe and Anna Francolini were superb as the Baker and his wife, chasing after their dream of conceiving a child. At times Francolini reminded me of Imelda Staunton in the same role in Richard Jones's West End production of the musical. And Francolini's performance was nearly as impressive. Rowe brought a charming wide-eyed naivety to the role of the Baker. Plus, of course, his fine singing voice.

Suzanne Toase's Little Red Riding Hood was deliciously awful. Strong minded and knowing, her dialogue with Nicholas Garrett's Wolf redolent of sexual exploration and discovery. As Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Peter Caulfield did not have the strongest singing voice, but he put his songs over well and engaged our sympathy for Jack's hapless character - after all he spends most of Act 1 regarding his cow, Milky White, as his best friend. Jack's mother was played by Anne Reid, an actress not usually known for her singing roles, but she too put her songs over well.

As Cinderella, Gillian Kirkpatrick showed remarkable resource underneath the pretty exterior, as the character must. Kirkpatrick has an attractive voice which helped reveal Cinderella's depths. Christina Raphaelle Haldane's Rapunzel (in this version she is the Baker's long lost sister), gets to sing one thing only, but she did so beautifully. the 2 princes, Nicholas Garrett and Nic Greenshields looked and sounded the part. Their duet, "Agony" was one of the highlights, as it should be.

In every production of "Into the Woods" that I have seen, the witch has to struggle in my mind with the memory of Julia Mackenzie, who the part fitted like a glove. Beverly Klein very nearly succeeded. In her opening 'song' (actually a pitcheless number, spoken rhythmically) she established herself brilliantly. Though in her other Act 1 numbers she seemed not entirely at ease. But once transformed into a her glamorous self in Act 2, her musical performance strengthened and she gave a strong account of "The Last Midnight".

One interesting fact. Cinderella's step mother, Elizabeth Brice, played one of Cinderella's step-sisters in the original West End run.

The whole was well controlled by conductor James Holmes, who seemed to be able to operate well even though hidden behind the scenes.

Being directed by a choreographer, the stage pictures were fluid and fluent. Characters broke out into little moments of choreography, but there was not sense that this was a dance piece manqué. It was a fine piece of musico-dramatic theatre. Tuckett seems to be developing into a fine director with a nice eye/ear for character.

By the end of act 2, when the Giantess has killed many of the cast and the rest have fled, we are reduced to the Baker, his infant son, Cinderella, Jack and Red Riding Hood. They discover that they must work together to succeed against the Giantess and ultimately, make their own non-traditional family group. This is movingly conveyed in the haunting ballad "No-one is alone", which was beautifully sung and staged. Though Sondheim and Lapine do not preach, this 2nd Act is very strongly redolent of the gay community's early struggles against AIDS, which was happening around the time the work was being written.

But Sondheim and Lapine do not allow the work to end on a dying fall, but bring the mmostly dead cast back for a glorious finale.

This was a hugely enjoyable production. the cast was well balanced and all put words over very well, a strong requirement in Sondheim. I hope this is not the last time Tuckett investigates musical theatre.

Review of La Clemenza di Tito

On Saturday we went to see the revival of La Clemenza di Tito at ENO. Emma Bell (Vitellia) and Paul Nilon (Tito) reappeared from the original cast and were joined by Alice Coote as Sesto.

If anything Bell's Vitellia seemed to be more neurotic and on edge than last time, it was difficult at times to see how Sesto could have loved her. Initially Bell tended to rather gabble her recitative but she settled down and her final great aria was wonderful as ever. Paul Nilon seemed to be in his element as Tito, I have rarely heard him sing as well and he brought a strong streak of sympathetic humanity to the role.

But of course, we had really gone to hear Alice Coote as Sesto. Coote is a very vivid actor but by the side of Bell's Vitellia, Coote's Sesto seemed understated and dignified. Her arias were beautifully sung, but she and conductor Edward Gardner did seem rather inclined to pull them about too much so that the 2nd halves of her arias had a little too much rubato for my inclination. She was well supported by the notable Annio of Anne Marie Gibbons. With Sarah Jane Davies as an attractive Servilia and Andrew Foster Williams as a strong Publio.

On revisting the production I still feel that it is a weakness to take the chorus off stage and put them in the pit. At the end of Act one they were back-stage which meant that the balance was not ideal in the closing ensemble. But more than this, it just feels wrong not having courtiers around Tito. Instead of taking place at a Western Roman court, McVicar seems to have in mind a more oriental court, where the Emperor is just surrounded by intimates and his guards. It works, more or less, but does not feel like the opera that Mozart wrote.

The guards, with their endless routines with long poles, were not as slick in their choreography as last time, which did not help. The recent McVicar productions that I have seen (2 Handel operas) have had a corps of dancers to take your mind of things at the boring moments. I realised that in this production the tai-chi style guards form this role.

BMS News

The British Music Society's quarterly newsletter popped through my letter box the other week and has a number of rather interesting events in it. Top of the list is the performance on Rememberance Sunday, at the Albert Hall, of John Foulds's mammoth A World Requiem, a work which was performed at the Rememberance day commemorations in the 1920's, but has not been heard since 1926.

Also on a large scale, Granville Bantock's Omar Khayam has finally been recorded by Chandos. The ever growing Bantock edition on Chandos has been circling round this mammoth work for some years and finally it has been recorded, with Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Toby Spence and Roderick Williams, BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra under Vernon Handley. I can't wait.

Colin Scott Sutherland's review of the new Francis George Scott disc caught my eye. Partly through his use of the word kenspeckle and partly because he gives the song recital, by Lisa Milne and Roderick Williams on Signum, such a thumbs up. Another disc for the wish list I think.

Finally, an interesting foot-note to the 1st World War. In 1914 a group of English musicians set out for the Bayreuth Festival. When war was declared they were interned as enemy aliens. Among them were Benjamin Dale and Edgar Bainton, director of the conservatoire in Newcastle. Bainton organised the camp into a hive a musical activity. And back in England, his wife was just as active in keeping the conservatoire going so that on his return Bainton could resume his activities as if nothing had happened.

Recent CD Review

My review of Rossini's early opera Ciro in Babilonia is here, on MusicWeb International.
Neither vintage Rossini nor a vintage performance. But strong, bravura performances make this well worth investigating ...

Gurney Poetry again

I've finally gotten around to digging out the text of the Ivor Gurney poem that I'm setting. It is one of four in fact, but this one seems to have the most profound homo-erotic context.

TO HIS LOVE

He's gone, and all our plans
Are useless indeed.
We'll walk no more on Cotswolds
Where the sheep feed
Quietly and take no heed.
His body that was so quick
Is not as you
Knew it, on Severn River
Under the blue
Driving our small boat through.
You would not know him now…
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With violets of pride
Purple from Severn side.
Cover him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of memoried flowers-
Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forget.


The poem was evidently written in 1917 but it deals with the death of a comrade in a remarkably lover like way

The Boatswains Mate

An enterprising theatre company called Primavera are doing a production of Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswains Mate on a number of dates in June and July at the Finborough Theatre. It is part of a rediscoveries season at the Finborough Theatre. Smyth's entertaining comedy will be played without decor and the cast will include Sian Jones as Mrs. Waters. It will be directed by Tom Littler (recently assistant to James Conway on Eugene Onegin for English Touring Opera). Tom is directing three rediscoveries at the Finborough Theatre, including the first London production for over fifty years of Edwardian comedy The Mollusc and T.S. Eliot's The Confidential Clerk.

Recent CD Review

My review of the new disc of Bryan Ferneyhough's choral music is here,
on MusicWeb International.
In a world where contemporary classical music seems to be increasingly minimal or post-Modern, Ferneyhough’s brand of maximal modernism acts as a beacon to us all. ...

Recording news

We'll things are proceeding apace with the recording. We spent the day in the studio yesterday doing what I hope is something close to the final edit. D. and I had listened to the first edit obsessively and played it to a couple of friends. The results of our listening went into the mix when we created this new edit.

Work has also started on the CD cover, booklet design and text. We're using a picture by a painter friend as the CD cover, this has musical links as well as she has sung in quite a number of performances of my works. The first drafts are finished and the results look very promising.

Review of Death in Venice

Over 30 years since its premiere, Britten’s Death in Venice is still inextricably linked to the voice and personality of Sir Peter Pears. Pears's voice and performance style are embedded within the vocal part of Aschenbach. even more than such roles as Peter Grimes, with Aschenbach each performer needs to get over this hurdle and re-shape the part in his own mould.

One of the fascinations for Saturday's performance (9th June 2007) of Death in Venice at the London Coliseum was being able to see how Ian Bostridge approached the part. Bostridge is signficantly younger than many interpreters of the role. But, like Pears, Bostridge is an experienced lieder singer and fine singer of baroque and early music.

I heard Pears in the role at Covent Garden in the late 1970's (I think). Allowing for the gap of some 30 years, the biggest difference between Bostridge and Pears seemed to be Bostridge's emphasis on the music and his reliance on the beauty of his voice. Not that Pears's voice was not beautiful, even in the 1970's. But he tended to start from the words and his impeccable diction, with the music and beauty of voice coming second. Pears's Aschenbach engaged you partly because he was talking directly to you.

Bostridge's Aschenbach was more artful. The text seemed to come second and, sitting in the upper circle, at times his diction was a little occluded. Bostridge's Aschenbach was a stage cretion and did not, as yet, confide directly in us.

But that said, Bostridge's Aschenbach was a superbly impressive creation. Not a copy of Pears but his own inimitable version. One that was younger, more volatile but just as troubled by the pull between Apollo and Dionysius. Ultimately, though I found Bostridge estimable and impressive but not quite touching and moving. Perhaps I should say not quite yet, for I am sure that he will grow far further into the role and his first foray was indeed a tour de force.

It was helped by Deborah Warner's understated and stunningly beautiful production. Using just a series of sliding screens, floating curtains, a floor which could reflect light like water and a stunning lighting plot, Warner along with designer Tom Pye and lighting designer Jean Kalman created a production notable for its light, sheer beauty and simplicity.

Venice was evoked by the occasional pole, distant views of the city and above all, by the constant presence of water and its reflections of light. Aschenbach's confidences to the audience generally took place on a darkened stage wth a plethora of text projected onto it.

As Aschenbach's baritone antagonist, Peter Coleman-Wright displayed wonderful versatility. Each different role was beautifully delineated from the elderly fop to the obsequious hotel manager. Coleman-Wright's diction was excellent and each role came over with complete clarity, at times it was difficult to believe it was to same singer.

The problem was that Rose never seemed to be the least bit sinister. In fact good natured bonhomie seemed a prevalent characteristic. For me, the dynamics of the opera do not work if the baritone cannot be seen as sinisterly manipulative. But this smoothing of the baritone's discreetly underlying malevolence seems to have been on a par with Warner's production, which rather under played the Apollo/Dionysius dichotomy.

Aschenbach's dilemma came over as personal, never a pull between the influence of two deities. In their dialogue Coleman-Wright and Iestyn Davies could have been simply the embodiment of voices in Aschenbach's head. I want much more the feeling that Iestyn Davies was Apollo and not just some bloke in a white shirt and cream trousers.

This was particularly true of the games which conclude Act 1, where Kim Brandstrup's choreography kept the action well within the confines of teenage high spirits rather than games.

Ultimately the production worked as a whole because of the skill and beauty with which Warner and Pye conjured up their images.

The myriad smaller roles were taken by a mixture of ENO chorus members, members of their Young Singers programme and other young Singers. This generally worked well, though one or two of the chorus solo roles seemed to be slightly under cast. Anna Dennis as the Strawberry Seller and Jonathan Gunthorpe as the English Clerk stand out in the memory; Gunthorpe in particular made me with that his role had been longer.

All in all this was a memorable and enchanting production. I would hope that ENO will revive it soon so that we can see it when it has become further bedded in.

Royal Ballet Triple bill

Friday's triple bill at the Royal Ballet included 3 works that I am particularly fond of. First off was Dame Ninette de Valois's Checkmate. The only one of her ballets to be regularly in the Royal Ballet repertory. It is a strong dramatic work and one that works well if there are strong performances from the Black Queen and the Red Knight. The Black Queen was danced by Zenaida Yanowsky and she gave a wonderfully icy, sexy performance. Benet Gartside was a last minute replacement as the Red Knight. He did not seem quite as bravura as some dancers in the role but conveyed well the characters conflicted nature when he fails to kill the Black Queen.

The performance of Ashton's Symphonic Variations was simply the best that I have seen at Covent Garden in a long time. Despite a number of replacements in the cast all 6 dancers succeeded in creating a classical unity with all of them managing to be uniform in their style of dancing. Something that you can't take for granted nowadays at the Royal Ballet when their dancers come from such wide backgrounds.

Then finally, Song of the Earth with Catherine Wyn Rogers and David Rendall singing the vocal solos. The singers were placed on the stage, at the very edge at the front. This was, I think, an innovation and a welcome one; it was good to see the singers properly. The performance was simply magical; Darcy Bussell, Gary Avis and Carlos Acosta danced the 3 lead roles. The evening might have been memorable for the reception Bussell received at the end, but it will also stay in the memory for the quality of the dancing and the performance.

Opera review - The Gambler

My review of Grange Park Opera's production of Prokofiev's The Gambler is here, on Music and Vision.

Recent CD Review

My review of the 2nd volume of Naxos's Jewish Operas series is here, on MusicWeb International.
A fascinating disc. One well worth exploring if you are interested in 20th century opera. My only real complaint was that it was too short and could have been twice as long. ...

More Gurney

I thought I'd print the Ivor Gurney poem that I'm currently setting. I've no idea what it's background, but it strikes me as being homo-erotic at least.

To His Love

He's gone, and all our plans
are useless indeed.
We'll walk no more on Cotswold
where the sheep feed
quietlsy and take no heed.

His body that was so quick
is not as you
knew it, on Severn river
under the blue
driving our small boat through.

You would not know him now...
but still he died
nobly, so cover him over
with violets of pride
purple from Severn side.

Cover him, cover him soon!
and with thick-set
masses of memoried flowers -
hide that red wet
thing I must forget.

Music at the Ballet

If I said that last night we'd been to a performance in London of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Catherine Wyn Rogers and David Rendall, coupled with Franck's Symphonic Variations and Bliss's Checkmate you might exclaim and then ask where the concert had taken place and why had you missed it? But, of course, the last item in my list, the Bliss, gives the game away. In fact, if you read yesterday's post you'll know, we were at the Royal Ballet last night.

But it is an interesting fact of life that sometimes the requirements of choreographers can give us performances of works which we'd not otherwise hear (the Bliss) or which would be satisfying in the concert hall (the Mahler). Bliss is not common in the concert hall so it was lovely to hear such a major score, especially when so well played and when coupled with Ninette de Valois's choreography.

I can remember some years ago (15?) the Anthony Tudor ballet Les Bandar-Log was being performed by the Royal Ballet (with Wayne Eagling as the boy with matted hair). The score uses the Koechlin tone poem and other works. It was probably virtually the only performance of a major Koechlin score in London by a major orchestra for a generation! (The ballet was good as well).

Of course, it does not always work. Tudor's ballet Voluntaries uses the Poulenc organ concerto and I was uncomfortable with the speeds slow used, coupled with the distressing sound of the electronic organ. But a companion who also loved the concert work enjoyed the ballet as well, so perhaps it was me. After all, I found that Macmillan's Gloria which uses the same composer's Gloria works very well for me. More distressing in the past have been performances of MacMillan's Requiem where the extreme vibrato used by the Royal Opera House chorus was not suitable for the Faure; but this has been addressed now and the last performance we heard of the ballet used another, more suitable choir.

More interestingly, when the BBC did a recording of the Royal Ballet's production of Les Noces they did so in the studio with Bernstein conducting. The dancers said afterwards that they had found it a challenge as Bernstein's speeds were far different (faster?) than what they were used to.

This use of concert works in ballet goes back a long way. When the Royal Birmingham Ballet revived Vaughan Williams/Ninette de Valois Job they coupled it with a Massine ballet to one of Brahms symphonies. A complex work, it had been amongst the works Massine had had notate quite late in his life. I remember it as being rather wonderful and would love to see it again.

Gurney songs

I have now finished the first of the Ivor Gurney songs which I am planning. The first one sets a poem called Requiem and I am rather pleased with it. Though, as usual, I'm worried about the music as I feel it all sounds like sub-Vaughan Williams. (We were listening to Pilgrims Progress in the car the other day - D. had never heard it before - and some of it has rather stuck). I've now started on the next song, which seems to have a remarkably homo-erotic text. More on this as the song progresses.

The entire group of songs is going to be gloomy I'm afraid as they are all about loss. But Gurney's poetry is never too navel gazingly angst ridden, so I find it rather comforting and very moving.

Theatre Plans

Tomorrow we're off to see the Royal Ballet doing the last performance of their current triple bill. I'm not quite sure why we chose this particular date, but it does mean that we are going to see Darcy Bussell's final ballet performance. She's dancing in Song of the Earth, Kenneth MacMillan's ballet to the Mahler song cycle. It is a wonderful piece and I look forward to seeing it. Rather bizarrely, though the ROH web-site gives details of the ballet casting, there is no information about the singers! I'll report back.

Then on Saturday its Death in Venice at ENO, with Ian Bostridge. Having seen Peter Pears in this role in some of his last appearances at Covent Garden, I've found that no other performance seems to live up to the memory. Lets hope this time. Some friends went to see the first performance, neither having seen it before. One loved it, the other couldn't see what all the fuss was about and thought that Aschenbach should get his act together and have a quick shag with Tadzio.

Review of Magic Flute at Grange Park

My review of Grange Park Opera's Magic Flute is here, complete with a couple of pictures, on Music and Vision.

Recent CD Review

My review of the oratorio attributed to Buxtehude, Wacht! Euch zum Streit gefasset macht , is here on MusicWeb International.
Can be highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the music of this period. ...

Grange Park Opera

We've just come back from a trip out to Hampshire where we saw 2 productions at Grange Park Opera. This is their 10th season, so everyone is celebrating. We saw The Magic Flute and Prokofiev's The Gambler. Reviews will appear in due course.

On Saturday, though, it began to look as if we might never get there. D's sports car started playing up so we had to turn round and go back home and swap cars back to my ordinary one. Then we got stuck in traffic going through Wandsworth. Finally, when we got to the hotel, I discovered I'd left my dress trousers behind, so had to attend performances wearing a pair of terracotta pink chinos! Still the music was fabulous as was the weather

From this Month's Opera

Some gleanings from this month's Opera magazine.

In his editorial John Allison comments on the amount of contemporary work planned for performance in the UK next year (including WNO's The Sacrifice, from James MacMillan, that we plan to see). But of course its not all good news, Jonathan Harvey's new opera, Wagner Dream looks unlikely to come to the UK soon and George Benjamin's Into the Little Hill (premièred in Paris) is planned for Liverpool only!

The interview with Anna Netrebko makes one, again, question the effect that the press can have in creating a media character. The Netrebko of in this interview seems to be worlds away from the figure created by the media; she also seems to be firmly in control of her career, with admirably strong views on what does and does not suit her voice.

In another interview, Will Crutchfield talks about the Caramoor Festival. It is interesting, and fascinating to hear of Trovatore being sung as bel canto and I'd love to hear Crutchfield's promised (but not yet planned) ur-Barbiere with correct final cadences and no unwritten high notes.

Glyndebourne seems to have unearthed the original 1938 Caspar Neher backcloth for Macbeth. Now that we don't have a theatre museum, such finds in archives like Glyndebourne's become even more important.

Two major obituaries, that of Edmund Tracey and Colin Graham. Neither mentions much about their private life and both left one trying, vainly, to read between the lines and guess the nature of the personal relationships. How hum, I thought we got beyond the era when obit. writers had a series of stock, coy, phrases to indicate to those in the know that the articles subject was gay. I liked David Cairns's story of how Edmund Tracey faced down Lord Goodman and the Arts Council to get the ENO Ring going.

The Opera National du Rhin have just done Das Rheingold in their projected David McVicar Ring. Rodney Milnes gives it a very good write up and I think we might have to try catching the next instalment. Also in France, they did the complete Le Roi d'Ys in Saint Etienne. Having heard just the overture in concert (given by the Salomon Orchestra) I'd love to hear the complete work.

Over in Germany, the Komsiche Oper's new Le Contes d'Hoffman sounds fascinating, but they use the Oeser edition which includes everything including the kitchen sink.

A lovely article by Max Loppert on Research Opera. In fact it was a review of Meyerbeer's Crociato in Egitto from Venice, but Loppert coined the very apt term Research Opera to cover "The sort of work the public may never have heard of but a small section of the critics and a large section of the opera-loonies ... have been waiting to hear all their lives". I know just what he means, being a fully paid up opera looney myself.

Moniusko's Halka being performed in Sarasota might have seemed to come into this category, but in fact Sarasota has a large Polish population.

I'll pass over the reviews of the UK operas which I attended. Its always fascinating to read other people's opinions, but equally puzzling at how widely differing opinions can come about when everyone was watching the same work. David Cairns contributes a fascinating review of the Roger Norrington recording of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, one that uses the Weimar version. I must confess that I was rather puzzled as to why that version had been chosen when I heard Norrington and his Stuttgart forces perform it a the proms the other year.

There is also a review of The Opera of Meyerbeer by Robert Ignatius Letellier, notable because Father Letellier was once a curate at a church where I used to sing.

The We Hear that column has its usual selection of tantalising glimpses of the future. John Mark Ainsley as Captain Vere at Glyndebourne in 2010; Sarah Connolly and Sarah Tynan as Romeo and Juliet (Bellini) for Opera North in 2008; Natalie Dessay doing her first Melisande in Vienna in 2009; Richard Jones directing Falstaff at Glyndebourne in 2009. Also at Glyndebourne, a new Meistersinger (!!!), their first I think, to be directed by Christoph Loy. Also on the subject of Meistersinger, Richard Jones is doing the work for WNO in 2009-10 with Bryn Terfel singing his first Hans Sachs. Rossini's Matilde de Shabran is coming to Covent Garden in 2008, with Vesselina Ksarove and Juan Diego Florez - I can't wait! (See I really am an opera looney).

Can someone tell my why Julian Joseph's new opera for the City of London Festival is a jazz based one, even though its subject is a black guy who played the violin with Beethoven!

ROH has acquired Opus Arte

The Royal Opera house has acquire the DVD production and distribution company Opus Arte UK Ltd, which seems to be something of a first. The company will be run at arms length, but it will be interesting to see how the relationship develops. There are some 40 ROH productions which can be added to the back catalogue and the hope that some of the better new ones will find their way to DVD.

It's arrived!

The CD of the first Edit of my new recording has arrived. We had a quick listen to it all last night - quick is a relative term as it comes to over 75 minutes of music. Now all I have to do is work out whether the music sounds as I imagined and whether the recording engineer can do any improvements.

Berlioz's orchestral layout

I have had confirmation that the layout of the orchestra for the Salomon Orchestra concert on Tuesday was based on that recommended by Berlioz. They got as close as they could within the limits placed by the performing space. Nice to see people experimenting in this way rather than simply playing everything in the same standard layout.

Recent CD Review

My review of Alan Curtis's new recording of Handel's Floridante is here, on MusicWeb International.
For anyone wanting a fresh look at one of Handel’s stronger mid-period operas then you need look no further. Whilst neither the opera nor the recording are in the top flight, both have very much to recommend them. ...

Rugby and Opera in Cardiff

Its not often that I have to take account of the sporting calendar, apart from checking if Chelsea are playing at home before traversing that part of London. But we decided to go to Cardiff to see James MacMillan's new opera The Sacrifice at the new opera house there. The fact that they were doing a performance on 6th October, D's birthday, was an added incentive. We booked tickets without any problem (top price £35!), the cast looks fabulous (Lisa Milne, Christopher Purves, Sarah Tynan, directed by Katie Mitchell), the story is based on one from the Mabinogion. What could go wrong.

Well, we ran into difficulties when trying to book accommodation. After doing a quite web search I discovered that there is a pretty serious Rugby match on that afternoon at the Millennium Stadium. Humph! After much research I did manage to find rooms, at the special event price of £390 per night - thanks but no thanks. So we are staying in Bristol instead. Luckily the opera is not too long (3 hours). Next time, perhaps I'll remember to check the sporting calendar.

If you are in the Stamford area on Sunday

The choir of St. Mary's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire are performing my Missa Veni Sancte Spiritus at Sung Eucharist on Sunday 27th May (Whit Sunday). They are doing the work twice, first at the 9.30am service at St. Martins and then at the 11.0am service at St. Mary's.

Junket

To HQS Wellington last night for a reception to celebrate Naxos's 20th birthday. I was part of the contingent from MusicWeb International , the web site that I review CD's for. Klaus Heymann spoke for a few minutes and was presented with a medal by the UK Strauss society, but the main activity was of course the socialising and meeting up with like-minded colleagues.

Last night's concert

Last night's Salomon Orchestra concert was up to their usual high standard. They were conducted by Nicholas Collon, a talented young man who has only just graduated but seems to have got a significant amount of experience under his belt already.

Lalo's overture to Le Roi d'Ys was a wonderfully full blooded way to start the evening and the work's climax was such that you longed to find out how the opera continued. Fiona McNaught was an equally young soloist in Prokofiev's 1st Violin concerto. A surprisingly lyrical piece, it was certainly a contrast to the bombastic Lalo. Though it took a little time to settle, the performance was expressive and nicely judged.

Finally, of course, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Frankly my favourite bits were the final 2 movements, partly because the climaxes were so shattering in the relatively small auditorium at St. Johns, Smith Square. Also, it was fun watching all the percussion players mobilising for their various tasks - including the multi-player percussion bits.

But, of course, the orchestra does not just do loud and the earlier movements were equally entrancing with some fine cor anglais playing in the 3rd movement.

Collon used a slightly unusual orchestral layout, with 1st violins to the left, 2nd violins to the right, violas in between them and cellos strung out across the back. The 2 harps were placed one either side. I know that Berlioz had distinct ideas about the layout of the orchestra for this piece, so I need to do some research to find out if this layout relates to Berlioz's.

The orchestra's next concert is on Tuesday 9th October when they do another orchestral showpiece, Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

English Touring Opera Autumn tour

ETO have announced their autumn tour, a delectable pairing of Handel's Teseo with Haydn's L'Infedelta Delusa (done in English as Country Matters). The Handel opera is headlined by distinguished American counter-tenor Derek Lee Ragin, with sopranos Jeni Bern and Gail Pearson. Though Teseo is the title role, the opera is dominated by the sorceress Medea. I last saw it at Covent Garden in a performance given by Lina Lalandi's English Bach Festival with Sarah Walker as a coruscating Medea.

Salomon Tonight

Tonight we're off to see the Salomon Orchestra at their regular venue, St. Johns Smith Square. The programme consists Lalo's Overture to Le Roi d'Ys, Prokofiev's 1st Violin Concerto and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. This latter should make a fantastique effect at St. John's as it is rather a large scale work for the venue.

The conductor is Nicholas Collon and the violin soloist in the Prokofiev is Fiona McNaught.

Review of Amadigi di Gaula

Handel's early operas for London (Rinaldo, Teseo, Amadigi) mined a vein of magical themes combined with spectacular productions which must have harked back to the 17th century English semi-operas. Teseo was based on Quinault's libretto for Lully's opera, even keeping the 5-act structure. For Amadigi Handel returned to a French source, this time DestouchesAmadis de Grece, setting a libretto by De La Motte, itself based on Quinault's libretto for Lully. In both Teseo and Amadigi this French source meant that the libretto dispenses with the exit aria convention. In Amadigi the hero himself was present on stage for much of the first half of the opera. On Friday 18th May, Amadigi was sung by Lawrence Zazzo at a concert performance presented at the Barbican by the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood.

Though the libretto called for some spectacular effects its cast is remarkably small. There are just 4 characters, the Princess Oriana(Klara Ek, soprano) in love with Amadigi (Lawrence Zazzo, counter-tenor), the sorceress Melissa (Simone Kermes, soprano) also in love with Amadigi and Dardano (Patricia Bardon, mezzo-soprano) also in love with Oriana. Dardano dies at the end of Act 2 and his shade has to be resurrected to witness the denoument at the end of Act 3.

Few modern stagings are up to the full technical requirements of the libretto. So the Academy of Ancient Music's concert performance enabled us to hear a fine performance which left the spectacular setting to our imaginations. But this was no dull score-bound performance. Granted the cast did sing from scores, but they made entrances and exits, addressed each other, reacted to each other, created strong characters and communicated with us vividly. Someone had obviously thought about the opera's presentation.

Zazzo is a very dramatic performer. His performance was very involving and you rarely felt the lack of a staging. Recordings do not always seem to capture his voice ideally, but heard live he gave a vivid performance. Perhaps his fioriture were not always completely ideal, but when used to such fine, dramatic ends as they were here, I was entranced.

In operas such as Amadigi and Teseo, it is easy for the performer singing the sorceress to dominate. I have seen this happen in performances of Teseo when Medea overwhelms all the other performers. At the Barbican, Simone Kermes proved to be a wonderfully dramatic and vivid Melissa, but the other members of the cast were more than equal to her so she never overwhelmed the performance. Her outstandingly dramatic dress meant that she was visually dominating. She did, perhaps, overdo the lip curling and there were moments when her tendency to over-do the dramatics led her musical performance astray. But all in all this was a magnificent portrayal.

The role of Dardano is not really properly developed in the opera, his main function seems to be to facilitate the mechanics of the plot. But, that said, he does get one of the operas most beautiful arias, Pena tiranna. Patricia Bardon sang it quite, quite beautifully, displaying a lovely firm, dark voice which seems to be hardly touched by her singing of Wagnerian roles such as Erda.

Klara Ek as Oriana was a less vivid performer but then Oriana is not a particularly dynamic character, she seems to mainly react to events. Ek won us over by the sheer musicality of her performance and her winning demeanour. She is definitely someone to watch.

It was nice to hear Handel played straight in the AAM's best manner, rather the slightly mannered performances we have been getting from some foreign bands. Under Hogwood the orchestra played well and gave a fine performance, only let down by the oboes who were evidently having a slightly off day.

This is the first of 3 Handel operas being performed by AAM over the next few years. We are due to get Flavio in 2008 and Arianna in Creta in 2009. Judging by the performance of Amadigi, we should be in for a treat. It was a shame that such a fine performance did not attract a capacity audience in the way that some more showy performers can.

New Season at the RFH

The Royal Festival Hall opens again in June, duly refurbished, and the South Bank Centre's 2007/08 Classical Music season is set out in a brochure which has just popped through my letter box. There are 5 resident ensembles, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Sinfonietta and the Sixteen.

So inevitably, a significant part of the classical programme is made up of performances by these groups, whereas at the Barbican there is more of a feel of buying in 'events'. This means that the Barbican seems to favour the one off, big event and has quite a lot of baroque opera etc., whereas the South Bank can put together very long running series. The new season includes a long sequence of concerts devoted to music by Messiaen and a series called Luigi Nono:Fragments of Venice which explores Nono's music in the context of Venetian music.

The result is that I find less to exclaim about in the Festival Hall programme, admirable though it is. There are just slightly too many tri-partite symphony concerts for my taste even though they are admirably constructed. Just one example, Sir Charles Mackerras is conducting Janacek's Sinfonietta, but to her it we must also listen to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 with Mitsuko Uchida. In the 30 years since leaving university I have gradually learned to appreciate, even love, many areas of music which I then despised (at the time my main interests were late Romanticism and Baroque, with nothing in between). But I am afraid that I am still rather blind to the beauties of Mozart's piano concertos.

A quick dash through the programme though, gives the following personal highlights.

• Catherine Bott singing her programme Convivencia; anything Bott does is wonderful


• Dido and Aeneas from the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment, directed by Tim Carroll, with bits of Marlowe and puppets woven in!!!


• The OAE again, this time doing an all Vivaldi programme with Lucy Crowe and the all women Scuola Pietatis Antonio Vivaldi


• The LPO, under David Parry, doing Bellini's La Straniera, in collaboration with Opera Rara


• The LPO, again, doing Korngold's Der Wunder des Heliane, under Vladimir Jurowski


• The OAE doing Schumann's Der Paradies und die Peri


• The Sixteen in a programme which mixes Britten (including the Ceremony of Carols), with Durufle and Poulenc
.

• Zurich Opera doing Der Rosenkavalier with Nina Stemme as the Marschallin.


• Vladimir Jurowski doing Verdi's Requiem with the LPO and soloists including Barbara Frittoli and Ildiko Komlosi


• The Philharmonia, under Richard Hickox, doing Vaughan Williams Symphonies Nos. 1, 7, and 8, as well as Job in a pair of delectable concerts

I'm sure I've missed things, but this gives a flavour of the things that appeal to me. Elsewhere John Eliot Gardiner is doing a pair of Brahms programmes with his Orchestra Revolutionaire et Romantique, including Symphony No. 1 and the Requiem, might be worth a look/

Nice Things

I've been compiling a selection of the nice things which Roderick Dunnett said about us in his review of our March 18th concert. Most of the quotes concern the performances but the last one, which I quote at length, relates to my piece which was premièred that day.

the FifteenB Consort, a versatile and committed small ensemble directed by the composer Robert Hugill,


The sopranos and altos (here, just four voices) sang with just the kind of tender restraint and fine-honed ensemble this masterly example of word-setting calls for.


In [...] Pelham Humfrey's rarely heard Lord, Teach us to Number our Days, it was the choir's impassioned tutti sections and forceful imitations that registered most strongly;


Ward's Come, sable night, [...] was sung lucidly, if perhaps a little too retiringly.

one passage for four voices -- two upper, then two lower, came over with attractive assurance;


Gibbons' Almighty and Everlasting God [...] received a beautifully measured and nuanced delivery by all four voices.


an appealing baritone solo and some incisive singing from the alto line especially. Perhaps one looked for a little more vitality and stronger projection in some of these pieces: at times the singers seemed to hide their talents under a bushel. Yet just the opportunity to hear some of these rarer works in live performances was immensely satisfying. This was a most handsome piece of singing, nicely matched by support from the rest of the choir.

The other [contemporary piece] was a work by the conductor himself, who also furnished the tenor line in this concert: Robert Hugill's appealing anthem My Eyes are ever Turned unto the Lord is indeed a modern contribution to the tradition of the verse anthem; …. The deft alternation of solo and tutti sections revealed real inspiration, the style -- while not untouched by such modern masters as Pärt or Gorecki -- seemed to be neither a hybrid nor a borrowing, but fresh and original, arguably with its own identifiable voice, and Hugill's work in no way paled in comparison with the Tudor pieces surrounding it. Originally composed for a wedding, this 21st century anthem is a beautifully turned, enticing piece of music which skilfully embraced a range of contrasting moods and contrived to say a good deal in a short space. This attractive, well-crafted piece certainly, in my book, deserves to be known more widely.

Corsham Festival

I have just receive the programme for the Corsham Festival. I doubt that we will be able to make any of the events, which is a shame, as they have put together a remarkable group of musical events with an emphasis on contemporary music. Quite an achievement for a small festival.

Highlights include:

The orchestra of the Swan performing Bach (Cello Suite), Britten (Cello Suit) and Paul Patterson (Cello Suite and Allusions)
Errollyn Wallen performing a selection of songs from her new song book.

The CoMA London Ensemble giving a full day workshop followed by a concert at which people are invited to join in and perform with the group. They are performing music by Michael Nyman and Stephen Montague; Montague's piece being inspired by a visit to Auschwitz.

String Fever, 3 brothers and a cousin who play electric stringed instruments

Cellist Fran Bartlett and dancer Ana Eulate collaborating on a programme which includes Petyer Sculthorpe's Requiem for Cello Alone.

Opera Minima doing their piece Rainforest

And last but not least, Sarah Leonard (soprano) and Robin Michael (cello) doing a programme including music by Elena Firsova, Harrison Birtwistle and John Tavener.

This is a wonderfully varied and challenging programme which shows the excitement and innovation are not dead. More power to their elbow

Missa Veni Sancte Spiritus in South Lincolnshire

My Missa Veni Sancte Spiritus will be performed as part of services at St. Mary's Church and St. Martin's Church Stamford on May 27th. The choir, under the direction of Fergus Black, will be singing the mass at the 9.30am Service at St. Martin's Church and at the 11.00am Service at St. Mary's Church, Stamford.

Probably the first time that any of my music as been performed in my home county of Lincolnshire.

Plans (What I'm up to)

As a result of a couple of comments during the recording sessions, I am fiddling around with more music for strings (well, actually strings and bassoon). The comments sort of swirled around in my head and coalesced with the idea I'd been having of taking some of the best bits from my Duino Elegy setting for baritone and orchestra (premiered at St. James's Piccadilly last year). There were parts of the piece which I felt were hampered by the sheer number of words I had to set. Obviously, in the long term, a new version of the full baritone and orchestra version is needed.

But in the mean time, I'm rather pleased at the way my new piece for bassoon and strings is shaping up. I'm able to dip in and out of the vocal line when I like and add extra bits without worrying about words, underlay or sense.

I have also had the first couple of pages of a proposed new opera libretto - yes, I seem to have managed to hitch myself up with a real librettist, which is a boon. I hope to spend some time in the next week fiddling around with trial settings of the text. I only seem to be able to think about words when attempting to set them. Simply reading a proposed text through will not reveal the full repercussions of setting it. I just need to do the thing properly and see how I find the words. I'll report back later.

Finally, I've been thinking about entering this year's English Poetry and Song society competition, which is to set and Ivor Gurney poem. To that end, I have acquired a book of his collected poems and must leaf through until I find something which calls out to me. One problem is that I sometimes rather pull the text around, which is not good when setting an English poet for a competition run by a poetry society! One good thing is that Gurney did not set many of his own poems, so competitors will not face competition from the poet/composer himself.

All Saints Concert

Tonight we are off to a concert at All Saints Church, Margaret Street given by the church choir, conductor Paul Brough. The concert is in aid of the church's restoration fund and includes a lovely mix of music by Durufle (2 movements from the Requiem), Mozart, Brahms, Bach, Durufle, Poulenc, Alain, Howells, Byrd and Tallis plus a celebration of composers associated with All Saints: Rachmaninov/Arnold, Vale, Lloyd Webber, Fleming, Bramma and Caplin.

The keen eyed amongst you will notice that Paul Brough also conducted at the recent recording sessions for my forthcoming CD. Also a number of the eight:fifteen vocal ensemble sing in All Saints Church choir. So we have double the reasons for attending!

Recent CD Reviews

My review of the excellent new Judith Bingham disc from Naxos is here, on MusicWeb International.
Judith Bingham has not always been well represented on disc and it is good to hear such a generous selection of her choral music in these fine performances. ...

And my review of Alan Curtis's reconstruction of Handel's Fernando, Re di Castiglia, (the original version of Sosarme) is here, also on MusicWeb International.
If you are looking for a disc of perfect Handel singing, then look elsewhere, but if you want a highly dramatic presentation of one of Handel's more underrated operas then look no further. ...

Edington Festival

The programme for this year's Edington Festival has been published, it is here. As ever Julian Thomas has organised a tempting array of music ranging from Palestrina's Missa Tu Es Petrus to Arvo Part's Magnificat. The more contemporary side is ranges from Part and MacMillan to Colin Mawby, Matthew Martin, Grayston Ives and Sigurbjornsson. This latter is an Icelandic composer and I have a treasured recording of his Skalholt Mass. Late Romantics get a good look-in with music by Bairstow, Stanford, Villette and Howells.

I'm not sure if we are going this year, logistics, holidays and a performance of St. Matthew Passion at Glyndebourne mean that it is difficult. But you never know, the programme is very tempting.

Review of Tridentine mass

This is a rather belated post. Here is an amusing review of last August's Tridentine Mass at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church where I sing in the Latin Mass Choir. I should point out that the review is under the misapprehension that the mass was organised by the Latin Mass Society when it was actually organised by congregation members of St. Mary.

Recent CD Review

My review of the pasticcio oratorio Tobit, by Handel and Smith is here, on MusicWeb International.
Think of this as a recital disc. Just put it on and enjoy some of Handel’s finest music in attractive performances. ...

Rostropovitch

I sang under Rostropovitch a couple of times in the 1980's, most notably when he conducted Britten's War Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall. I was in the London Philharmonic Choir at the time and it was interesting how different conductors dealt with the amateur chorus. Some virtually ignored us, Rostropovitch told funny stories, especially notable ones were relating incidents in his early tours of the West during the height of the cold war. His choral rehearsals seemed to have a lot of talking in them but he enthused the choir and got a good performance out of them.

He had a very good ear. I remember one passage in the brass which simply sounded like a vague flourish. Rostropovich insisted on taking it apart, player by player and when re-assembled it was no longer vague, but a precise fanfare emerged; quite remarkable. Whether it endeared him to the brass players or not, I don't know.

The soprano at the performance was, of course, Vishnevskaya, then getting towards the end of her career. Before the first rehearsal she was sitting at the piano, amidst all the chaos of chorus and orchestra assembling, playing odd notes and doing vocalises to some remarkable Russian sounding vowels - nothing Italianate there!

For the performance, Rostropovich had a copy of Singer Sargent's Gassed. I'm not sure how many of the audience could really make out the picture, but it was a remarkable attempt to bring visual imagery to the work.

Recent CD Review

My review of the Somm disc of Beecham conducting Wagner, with Kirsten Flagstad, is here on MusicWeb International.
SOMM give us, in the best possible condition, some of Sir Thomas Beecham’s last Wagner performances. ...

Recent CD Review

My review of the new Bach St. Matthew Passion from Naxos is here on MusicWeb International.
A well modulated and mellifluous but dramatically involving Evangelist but a performance overall that takes few risks. ...

Review!

I'm actually on holiday - normal posts resume next week. In the meanwhile, the FifteenB consort concert at All Saints Margaret St. in March, has just been reviewed by Roderick Dunnett, the review is here on Music and Vision.

Ballet Triple Bill

Last night we went to the new triple bill at the Royal Ballet. The opening work was Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins with new choreography by Will Tuckett. The singing role of Anna was performed by Martha Wainwright; she was miked and sang the Auden/Kalman translation. Her diction was pretty good so we could follow things clearly (no surtitles!). The dancing Anna was Zenaida Yanowsky.

Tuckett and his designer Lez Brotherston set the piece in the sixties (beehive hair do's for the women). Tuckett presents the story quite straightforwardly, creating an involving narrative. There were moments when his use of standard ballet language seemed a little at odds with the music. There were some fine, sexy performances from some of the men.

The quartet of singers stood on a walkway above the stage, viewing the proceedings and adding their comments. The singers were Roderick Earle, Paul Goodwin-Groen, Philip O'Brien, Christopher Steele. They sounded good but their diction was a little occluded at times, perhaps because of their placing. Either Goodwin-Groen was chosen partly for his extreme height, or he was on stilts, but Mother was by far the tallest person on stage!

This was followed by Glen Tetley's Pierrot Lunaire, with Linda Hurst performing the solo vocal line. This was the first time I'd seen the ballet and heard the music live. I found Tetley's dance work entertaining and involving and rather poignant, with superb performances from Alexander Zaitsev (Pierrot), Mara Galeazzi (Columbine) and Edward Watson (Brighella). The costumes, by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, included some superb ones for Columbine.

For some strange, but presumably logical reason, Martin Yates conducted the Seven Deadly Sins, and Richard Bernas conducted the remaining works. It cannot be easy doing concert works like the Schoenberg and the Ravel as ballet scores, but Bernas did very well.

Then finally, La Fin du Jour, MacMillan's ballet to Ravel's Piano Concerto in G (with beteran Royal Ballet pianist Philip Gammon giving a superb account of the solo role). MacMillan's quirkly 30's inspired ballet has some difficult choreography and in the first 2 movements the dancers, particularly the soloists, were unable to make light of it. Thus instead of the piece being free, light and jazzy, it had moments which were too careful and studied. Let us hope that this performance heralds its return to the repertoire so that the dancers can bed it in properly. The final, Fred and Ginger type dance seemed to fit the dancers better and had the requisite fun and lightness.

The final

Review of Solomon

The closing concert of this year's London Handel Festival was a performance of Solomon. Written in 1748, Solomon is the first in the final sequence of great oratorios Solomon, Susanna, Theodora, Jephtha.

Solomon and Susanna were written almost simultaneously and probably had the same, unknown, librettist. Rather than any sort of dramatic plot, the oratorio presents a series of episodes from Solomon's reign. The work is quite expansive in the forces used, many of the choruses are for double choir, and the orchestra includes oboes and flutes at times playing simultaneously, bassoons, horns, trumpets and timpani. This expansiveness is not just a result of some sort of economic ease, Susanna uses smaller forces; thus implying that Handel wanted the work to be expansive.

The festival performs in St. George's Church, Hanover Square which was Handel's parish church. But, of course, the oratorios were not written for church performance, but for Handel's theatre. And the playing space at St. Georges is highly restrictive. The performance used a choir of 18 hard-working singers and an orchestra with a mere 13 strings. The singers and musicians in the London Handel Chorus and Orchestra are both extremely hard-working and very talented. So, some moments of raw, exposed string tone apart, the results were extremely creditable. But there is no doubt that we were hearing a performance with slightly too few forces.

Space also meant that the soloists were rather crammed in. Though the decision to place Nathan Vale (singing the High Priest, Zadok) in the pulpit was an imaginative one.

Solomon was written for a female contralto. Though Handel had written a number of major tenor parts in his oratorios, he seems to have though of Solomon as a young, romantic hero in operatic terms and so wrote for him in the vocal range associated with this type of role in Italian opera.

The role seems to suit the counter-tenor voice, but this is one area where I have usually preferred female contraltos. The planned singer, Iestyn Davies, was ill so we were lucky to have Christopher Ainslie stand in for him. Ainslie sang the title role in Poro which was presented earlier in the festival at the Britten Theatre. He had also just gained second place in the Handel Singing Competition held in the church 3 days earlier.

Ainslie's Solomon was beautifully toned, well supported and nicely phrased. Ainslie is a very musical singer. I would have like more of a sense of drama and more of a feeling of letting go at the crucial moments, but given the last-minute nature of his substitution we must wait for a further opportunity to hear what he can do in this role. But there is no sense of short change, Ainslie's was a highly effective and affecting performance.

In Act 1, his Queen was Mona Julsrud. Julsrud is a stylish Handelian singer, but I did find that there were moments of hardness of tone in her voice. More worryingly, I did not find here contributions to the end of Act 1 either sexy or erotic. Solomon was a theatre piece and the close of the first act is about the joys of married love; the libretto makes it perfectly clear what Solomon and his Queen get up to. Unfortunately Ainslie and Julsrud sounded a little to chaste.

They were well supported by the choir who turned in a beautiful account of the nightingale chorus, complete with antiphonal flute players in the balcony.

In Act 2, Julsrud and soprano Elisabeth Atherton were the 2 Harlots. This seems to be the new orthodoxy with regard to casting this piece, using just 2 sopranos and having the 2nd soprano play the Queen of Sheba and the mezzo-soprano Harlot. Julsrud and Atherton were superb as the Harlots and here we got some real drama. Ainslie's understated performance worked well as Solomon's reserve when in judgement. Atherton was also a lovely Queen of Sheba in Act 3.

Nathan Vale was a fine Zadok, producing some lovely tone and very fine passage work. Zadok's contributions are not strictly dramatic, but they are very fine arias so it was lovely to hear them all.

The part of the Levite is rather less involving; Njal Sparbo did what he could and contributed some very imaginative and elaborate ornaments, but he did have a tendency to bluster.

The choir worked overtime and sang superbly. Inevitably there were moments when one would have liked more singers, but the results were always focussed and clear. The tone rarely felt pressed in the bigger choruses and the smaller numbers brought a fine sense of crisp ensemble.

The orchestra were similarly impressive. Director Lawrence Cummings balanced his forces well and the great orchestral moments came over as expected.

All in all, a highly involving performance that more than made up for the uncomfortable seats and bad sight-lines that St. George's provides.

Gleanings from this month's Opera magazine:

There is an interview with Ian Bostridge, centred on his Britten roles because he's doing Aschenbach with ENO. Its curious that interviews rarely mention, or skate round, the fact that Bostridge's distinctive physique (very tall and very thin) combined with his perceived physical fragility (a reputation for cancelling due to illness) mean that there is an otherworldliness about his persona which works well in some roles. I imagine Aschenbach will be one of them, but frankly I can't imagine him as Essex and Bostridge says in the interview that regarding Peter Grimes 'I go on and off that one'.

There's also an interesting interview with Harry Bickett, one of those big-house friendly Baroque conductors who crop up in all sorts of place - though of course there is a lot more to him than that. He evidently got his big break at Munich when Mackerras famously objected to the production, I think it was one of the wackier Richard Jones ones.

I'm going to skip over the review of Norman Lebrecht's obituary to the classical record industry. But don't miss the obituary to Julian Budden, even though it leaves you doing a lot of reading between the lines.

Meanwhile in Italy, they've been doing Candide in Naples, the production looks fabulous but I'm still suffering the aftershock of the Carsen version from Paris. And in Savona, Anna Caterina Antonacci was doing her first Charlotte, at the Teatro Chiabrera. An institution which gives young artists important opportunities and manages to retain them as they get more well known.

Erica Jeal was in Kazan (!) for a new production of Il Trovatore which is shortly going to be touring (the Netherlands). It definitely sounds something worth seeking out and may be a cut above the usual Eastern European touring production.

Barcelona saw the premiere of Peter Konwitschny's Don Carlos in French - now I definitely do wish I'd been there for that. Robert Carsen's Carmelites has made it to Chicago. We saw the production in Amsterdam, with Susan Chilcott; I found it shattering, particularly the ending though D. was less convinced.

Transferring David Fielding's distinctive view of Strauss Egyptian Helen from Garsington to the Met does not seem to have worked very well. Fielding's ironic whimsy does not seem to have transferred to the larger stage. Also in New York, the Basil Hood/Arthur Sullivan Rose of Persia made a very rare outing; Martin Yates was sufficiently impressed as to hope for a UK production some time - he suggested that the ENO's Kismet sets could perhaps do double duty. Now there's an idea.

Back in the UK, Hugh Canning found Francisco Negrin's production of Orlando at Covent Garden an essentially facetious, patronizing response to the magic of Handel's theatre. Amazing how different people can have such varied responses to the same piece of theatre, but than that's the magic of it I suppose. Still, we both agree on the amazing Sir Charles Mackerras.

The London Sinfonietta have been touring Benedict Mason's ChaplinOperas, amazing short theatre pieces which play as accompaniment to Chaplin Films. Annoyingly I managed to miss it. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment have just done Donizetti's Imelda di Lambertazzi, which was recorded for Opera Rara - their first such collaboration. And the review of Opera Rara's latest offering, Donizetti's Dom Sebastian makes me want to dash out and buy it.

Recent CD Review

My review of the new disc of Stephen Goss's music is here, on Music Web International.
Contemporary music which manages to be approachable but does not talk down to its listeners. Supported by a fine group of performers. ...

What I've been listening to

My most recent reviewer's log has been posted on Music Web International, here.

Review of Ravel/Puccini double bill

My review of the Royal Opera's Ravel/Puccini double bill is here, on Music and Vision.

Catch-up

I've spent the last 2 days at All Saints Church, East Finchley, doing recording sessions for a new disc of my music. In 4 sessions over 2 days we managed to record The Testament of Dr. Cranmer, a group of motets plus some works for tenor and string orchestra including by Blake setting What is Man?. So naturally, I've not had time to devote attention to many other things.

On Sunday we went to Sadlers Wells to see Akram Khan and Sylvie Guillem's programme. I found much of it disappointing and not a little pretentious. I could have done without the pseudo ad-libs where Guillem and Khan talked to the audience. And some of the early choreography was a little un-inspiring. It was only towards the end, when Khan and Guillem did a series of duets that things took off. I enjoyed the music, but can't comment much on it as there was no actual music list so I have no idea what I was listening to at any one time. The programme lasted 75 minutes and was frankly quite long enough.

Tomorrow we are off to hear Solomon at the London Handel Festival and then on Friday its the new triple bill by the Royal Ballet with Will Tuckett's Seven Deadly Sins, with Martha Wainwright singing - can't wait.

Review of Ravel/Puccini double bill

My review of the Ravel/Puccini double bill at Covent Garden is here, on Music and Vision.

Recent CD Review

My review of Veronika Winter's disc of Handel cantatas is http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Apr07/Handel_71083.htmon MusicWeb International.
In many ways an interesting disc, well programmed and performed with a soloist possessed of a lovely voice but rather understated and lacking the necessary bravura and drama. ...

Plans

Tonight is the orchestral rehearsal for the Recording Session on Monday, the first time I get to hear my Blake settings - very scary. So, of course, I have a bag weighed down with string parts and other emergency supplies.

Then on Saturday we're off to Covent Garden to see the Ravel/Puccini double bill - the first time I've managed to see L'Heure Espagnole. And on Sunday its the Akhram Khan/Sylvie Guillem programme at Sadlers Wells.

Quite a busy weekend, all in all.

In case you were wondering..

The Houston Chronicle has recently posted a review of the Zandra Rhodes designed Aida, the review is here.

The Opera Critic has pictures, but you have to be a member to see them; worth it though!

Recent CD Review

My review of Lotti's Vesper Psalms is here, on MusicWeb International.

Not quite up to the sophistication of the top-flight early music groups but an attractive programme given with charm, poise and a lively immediacy. ...

ENO New Season

ENO's new season is remarkably accomplished considering the odium and bad press that the company has been garnering lately. The new artistic directors seem to have decided that the way forward, in the current economic climate, is collaboration so that the new season consists of 11 new productions and only 3 revivals. The new productions are all done in association with others, either as equal partners or simply being bought in.

That said, the season does seem to keep faith with some of the ideas in the previous season. British opera is represented by Britten's Turn of the Screw and Birtwistle's Punch and Judy. The season is also strongly cast, featuring some of the best singers from ENO's previous seasons. Amanda Roocroft returns as Hanna Glawari, perhaps a strange follow-up to Jenufa. Clare Rutter takes the title role in the new Aida, with John Hudson as Radames, Ann Murray is Mrs Grose in the new Turn of the Screw, Barry Banks is Edgardo in the new Lucia di Lammermoor, Alice Coote and Julian Gavin take the leads in the new Carmen; Janice Watson, Sarah Connolly, John Tomlinson and Sarah Tynan take the leads in the new Rosenkavalier.

The notable feature of this casting is showing people in the repertoire that they do best. It is good to be able to see Barry Banks in the bel canto repertoire that he excels at, and both Hudson and Gavin are welcome returns in the standard repertoire.

David McVicar seems to be turning into the house producer, his Maryinsky production of Turn of the Screw and his Scottish Opera Rosenkavalier both make an appearance. I am very excited about the Rosenkavalier, especially as Sarah Connolly is doing Octavian as she did in Scotland.

I'm less excited about Sally Potter's Carmen, though can't wait to hear Alice Coote in the title role. But ENO will obviously be hoping that Potter will managed to work the same box-office magic as Antony Minghella. The director of Aida, Jo Davies, is rather overshadowed by her designer, Zandra Rhodes. Whether they can make this difficult opera work in the Coliseum remains to be seen. In an interview Rhodes commented that she had borrowed 4 DVD's of the work. In 3, the costumes were white night dresses and the 4th a riot of colour. She figured that she had not been engaged to design white nightdresses.

ChenShi-Zheng's Monteverdi cycle continues with The Coronation of Poppea with Christine Rice as Nero.

Bel canto is something of a rarity at the Coliseum and the management obviously felt that if they were going to do Lucia di Lamermoor they had to give it some street cred, so the producer is David Alden, with Paul Daniel conducting. The set will be designed by Charles Edwards who designed Jenufa so don't expect a gorgeous 17th century setting! The title role is being sung by Anna Christy, who sang Cunegonde in Robert Carsen's Candide when it was premiered at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris.

The new Merry Widow seems to have no director attached to it yet, rather an ominous sign. And they are definitely doing the Robert Carsen Candide which premiered at the Chatelet Theatre. I saw this on TV and it was frankly a mess. ENO's version is going to be re-worked but I think the main draw will be Toby Spence as Candide, no word on the Cunegonde yet.

The new chief conductor, Edward Gardner, is conducting Aida, Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier and Punch and Judy. It will be interesting to see, and hear, how he shapes up in this challenging mix of repertoire.

The full season PDF is here.

More surtitles

There's an interesting quote from Edward Gardner, the new Chief Conductor at ENO, in an interview in the Guardian about their 2007/08 season. He was asked about surtitles. His reply:

"I am pretty pro surtitles," he says. "I am pro people from non- operatic backgrounds coming to opera - as I did growing up - and knowing what's going on. The interesting thing about the surtitles argument is that it is always conducted by people who sit in row A of the dress circle, where things are basically fine. But I saw my first 30 operas here in row ZZ of the balcony, and, you sometimes just can't hear the words. For people up there, surtitles are great."

I rather agree with that. Like Gardner I started listening to opera in English at the back of the Gods (in Manchester) and found the words inaudible.

I'll be posting more on the ENO new season announcement later today.

Less than a week to go

It is now less than a week to go to my recording, so life has been full of last minute flurries and tasks. I still have to sit down and create a whole set of string parts for Friday's rehearsal - tomorrow evening is allocated to the task of printing and sticking together - a great delight!

Last week there was a flurry over the organ and we are now using a one that is being brought in, so there's the logistics of getting that in (and out) without disturbing the recording sessions. Then we've had a few personnel movements, so I've had to re-arrange some of the vocal pieces. I did this last night and we are now recording my motet Nunc Dimittis with the melody line set at its original Alto pitch which will be rather nice. I always associate the melody with the sound of Rupert Damerell's voice (he premièred the piece when it as just for alto and organ), even though it has spent the last few years as a motet for SATB and organ. In fact we are going to record it in its ATB+organ incarnation.

There have also been the usual flurry of emails trying to ensure that everyone knows where and when we are doing things. Given that these are recording sessions its useful to have choir, conductor, recording engineer and record producer in the same place at the same time. Oh, and perhaps the humble composer as well, to answer questions and make tea, if nothing else.

Church Latin

A fascinating post from Westminster Cathedral about vagaries of church Latin, Italianate Latin and Latin as she is spoke by Academics. Essential reading for those of us choristers whose latin is minimal.

We have not been to see Philip Glass's Satyagraha at the London Coliseum. Not because of lack of interest, but lack of time. Both this and Koanga (at Sadlers Wells) have fallen foul of the fact that we simply have too much going on this month. (Notably, of course, my own recording, but much else besides).

Still, I have been following avidly the critical response to Satyagraha in the press, partly because I have a love/hate relationship to Glass's music; I must confess that the last full length work of his I heard live was Akhnaten at ENO many years ago.

Generally the critical response to the new production has been positive. But Rupert Christiansen writing in the Telegraph,most definitely did not like it: it contains some of the most mind-numbing, brain-rotting and soul-destroying noise that has ever passed for music, and I would sooner sit through 10 uncut performances of an obscure Handel epic than hear a note of it again.

Whereas for John Allison in The Sunday Telegraph, you should do anything (legal) to get a ticket. Take your pick on who to believe.

Mayerling

On Friday we went to seen Kenneth MacMillan's ballet Mayerling at the Royal Opera House. Its a work I've been fond of (if that's the right word, given the subject matter) since seeing it during its first run, with David Wall as Prince Rudolph. Since then I've seen artists as varied as Irek Mukhamedov and Adam Cooper in the role. On Friday it was the turn of Carlos Acosta, with Leanne Benjamin as his mistress with whom he commits suicide in a powerful final pas de deux.

Much was written in the press about how the role did not really suite Acosta's personality. And that neither he nor Benjamin were ideally cast. Perhaps so, but I think that we will not see their final pas de deux danced so supremely well. They way she flung herself at him in those amazing flying leaps was astounding. MacMillan's choreography can often seem overly contrived, if the participants do not have it in their bones (or muscles). Here it seemed perfectly aposite.

Now, I want to see Edward Watson in the role, having read the reviews of his debut last week.

Regarding the music to the ballet, John Lanchberry's assemblage of Liszt pieces is masterly, but there are times when I feel that Liszt just does not create the right decadent atmosphere for the Austro-Hungarian court. An Lanchberry seems to have been very sparing with the sweeping melodies, though perhaps that was what MacMillan wanted.

Boring or what

I've just been doing a new arrangement of a piece of string orchestra, based on one of my solo motets. I'm very happy with it, though I expect there will be a little tinkering over the next few days. The problem is that the viola part is truly boring; I have this weakness for static harmony in the middle with a vocal line on top and a moving (generally descending) bass. That's the way it is with this piece; the result is exactly what I want but leaves the violas with acres of the same note.

I've had this problem before and each time I come to the same conclusion, the music as written is exactly what I want. Sometimes I worry that its sheer laziness, that just sticking the same few chords under the melody is the easiest way out. But no amount of tinkering every really comes up with a replacement, too often the more interesting versions simply sound contrived.

So for the moment, my new string piece is sitting on the piano waiting for tinkering. In a few days I'll return to it and see whether I can tweak the viola part to be more fun. But I suspect that I will stay as it is.

Recording news

Things are gearing up to our recording sessions in just over a week. I have produced a specimen set of string parts for the two pieces which use string orchestra and these are being marked up; we will then have to produce all the string parts ready for next Friday's orchestral rehearsal. This will be the first time that the Blake setting has been performed, always a nerve-wracking time. I am looking forward to hearing how the piece works with voice and strings, its a setting of a chunk of Blake's Jerusalem and is in the form of a sequence of recitatives and arias.

The choral music on the disc is less nerve-making as most of it has been performed before. This also meant that I had far less work to do generating the vocal scores, as these already existed for many of the pieces - thanks goodness.

A minor challenge has been the organ, we've discovered that building work has prevented the tuning of the organ at the recording venue so we are having to bring in an organ. One of those last minute hitches that you can never legislate for!

Recent Book review

My review of the Dorling Kindersly Eyewitness Guide to Opera is here, on Music and Visition.

Too much Handel

A recent article in The Guardian has postulated that we are getting too much Handel at the moment. There have been productions of Handel operas at Covent Garden and ENO besides concert performances at the Barbican. But ENO has only 3 Handel operas and 1 oratorio in its repertoire and rarely gives us more than 1 per year and sometimes less. Covent Garden's production of Orlando is their first viable Handel staging in living memory.

Glyndebourne also have 3 stagings which come out periodically. The thing that all these operas have in common is that they all come from the magical 12 Handel operas that everyone does. It is left to people like the London Handel Festival, who staged Poro, to explore the remaining 24 Handel operas.

The concert performances of Handel operas at the Barbican (of which there are a few this year) also tend to explore the more well known operas. If you glance at the Web-Site for the Theatre du Champs Elysee you will see that they have quite a number of Handel operas in concert, all well known ones. Alan Curtiss and his group Il Complesso Barocco have been exploring lesser known operas (Faramondo and Sosarme/Fernando have both been issued on disc) but when the group came to the Barbican they brought Rodelinda.

So the issue is not that there is too much Handel but that there are too many performances of the same operas. This reluctance to explore means that we don't hear anything of his contemporaries; how nice it would have been to have heard a concert performance of Hasse's Cleofide to compliment Handel's Poro, after all they both use the same libretto.

As regards the French baroque and its complete absence from the opera house in the UK, this can be partly attributed to the lack of desire to explore they by-ways. But might also be attributable to a nervousness about how to treat the extensive dance episodes in the operas. Too often, I've found that UK productions react to significant dance episodes with simple embarassment.

New photos

I've just had some new publicity photos taken by Johnny Bourchier. Here's one.

Family commitments mean that, as usual, I will miss most of the Easter services at church but I sang in the Maundy Thursday service yesterday evening. Lots of plainchant, antiphons for the washing of the feet and the Pange Lingua for the end of the service when the host is translated from the high altar to a side altar. The setting was Lotti's Missa Brevis, but we also included Durufle's Ubi Caritas. As I was the alto, this meant that I got to enjoy the lovely alto line all on my own.

Recent CD Review

My review of the BBC Singers' disc of Tippett's choral music is here, on MusicWeb International.
The BBC Singers go far beyond mere technical competency, creating a series of varied but dazzlingly vibrant performances. If you love good choral music, then buy it. ...

Covent Garden new season

The Royal Opera Covent Garden have announced their new season. The big news is, of course, the Ring cycle; they are doing 3 complete cycles in October. Unusually, this is not the first opera of the season, that is Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride with a delectable cast that includes Susan Graham, Simon Keenlyside and Paul Groves. There must be something in the air, because this is a co-production with Chicago and San Francisco, and the Met is also doing a new production (with Placido Domingo in the baritone role). Quite a delectable start to the season.

Other highlights include a new L'Elisir d'Amore from Laurent Pelly, with Rolando Villazon as Nemorino. This ones not too near the top of my must see list, but anything Pelly does is interesting.

Parsifal is coming back with Haitink conducting. The cast includes John Tomlinson, Willard White and Gwynne Howell - a remarkably confluence of distinguished basses. Christopher Ventris is doing the title role. Also coming back is La Cenerentola with Mrs. Rattle (Magdalene Kozena) in the title role and Toby Spence as Don Ramiro. I'm very tempted if only to see Toby Spence. Regarding the title role, I prefer my voices a little heavier and darker than Kozena's. French baritone Stephane Degout is Dandini. Its his Royal Opera debut, couldn't they have found something French for him to sing?

Anna Netrebko is doing Violetta, at last we can get a chance to see what all the fuss is about, if we're bothered. But Jonas Kauffman, who made quite a stir in the new Carmen is Don Jose.

Olivia Fuchs's A Midsummer Nights Dream is returning to the Linbury with a good young cast (William Towers, Gillian Keith, Katie van Kooten, Matthew Rose). And David McVicar's Magic Flute comes back with a varied double cast.

McVicar is also in charge of the new production of Salome with Nadja Michael in the title role and Thomas Moser as Herod, Michaela Schuster as Herodias. Names that are mostly new to me, people I've read about and not heard. So it should be interesting, and with McVicar in charge its bound to be entertaining.

Another chance to see the late Steven Pimlott's Eugene Onegin, with Gerard Finley and Marin Poplavskaya - definitely worth crossing the road for, even if the production got mixed reviews on its first outing.

Carmen gets another outing, this time with a Spanish mezzo - Nancy Fabiola-Herrera (how about a French one?).

And now for the biggie. The premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur, with John Tomlinson in the title role and a cast that includes Christine Rice, Christopher Ainslie, Tim Mead and Philip Langridge. Stephen Langridge directs.

Ian Judge's production of the 1857 Simon Boccanegra is back but this time using the better known 1881 version. The production travelled to Washington where they added the sets for the 1881 council scene. John Eliot Gardiner is conducting, which makes it rather interesting and the cast includes Lucio Gallo and Nina Stemme.

The big disappointment of the season is the new Don Carlo. Nicholas Hyntner is directing, but using the 5-act Italian version rather than the French one. Rolando Villazon is singing Don Carlo, rather a big step up for him in terms of the vocal heft required though he's already done the 4-act version evidently. Marina Poplavskaya is Elisabetta, Angela Georghiou having dropped out. Veteran bass Ferruccio Furlanetto is Philip II and Simon Keenlyside is Posa. So, of course, we're going to be there even if we regret the passing of the French version.

Thomas Ades's Powder her face gets a full production in the Linbury and Ades crops up again, conducting Stravinsky's The Rakes Progress with Charles Castronovo, Sally Matthews (nice to see her in bigger roles) and John Relyea.

Deborah Voight finally gets to wear the little black dress in Ariadne auf Naxos. The composer is the Latvian mezzo, Elina Garanca and Gillian Keith is Zerbinetta. Le Nozze di Figaro comes back with the ever wonderful Charles Mackerras in charge. Notable performers include Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Barbara Frittoli and Sophie Koch.

Over at the Royal Ballet its pretty much the mixture as before. We get new on-acters from Christopher Weeldon and Kim Brandstrup. New resident choreographer Wayne McGregor only does a shortie for a gala, but his Chroma comes back in a bill with Kenneth MacMillan's late, and rather weird, Distant Drummer - the one about Wozzeck.

The other new piece is a complete staging of Balanchine's Jewels. The Royal Ballet have not always got the Balanchine style, so it will be interesting to see how this goes.

Recent CD Review

My review of a disc of Schumann's secular choral music from Carus is here, on MusicWeb International.
A highly attractive introduction to Schumann’s choral music, including a fine performance of one of Schumann’s greatest choral pieces. ...

From this month's Opera

Gleanings from the April edition of Opera magazine.

More on the European Opera Day’s conference in Paris. One of the centre pieces was Pierre Audi’s new production of Halevy’s La Juive at the Paris Opera Bastille. But its first night was blighted by a technician’s strike. Bizarrely, Audi only found out about the problems via a Dutch language newspaper and no announcement was made on the night; so the audience was left with a rather dim lighting plot and no explanation.

The conference itself sounds a little mixed. Erica Jeal comments that in the session on attracting young adults to opera, ‘half the talking was done by music professionals anxious to talk up their own initiatives’. There was also a young delegates only session which mulled over similar problems. In Europe there is a popular group, Juvenilia, which acts as a young opera goers social network. Oddly, it does not seem to be thriving in the UK.

Potentially, the most interesting session must have been The Future of Opera. It is heartening to read Jeal’s comment that the session "brought a few speakers into play who had done their homework but didn’t seem to be concerned above all with making the right impression".

And in another session Stefan Herheim, actually spoke up for the positive stimuli that an opera house’s inherent limitations brings to the director.

Elsewhere in the magazine, the interview is with veteran singer Robert Tear. In the late 1970’s I saw him in one or two roles with Scottish Opera in repertoire with which he is not always associated. I don’t think I saw his Alfredo but I definitely did see him as Belmonte and I think there were other roles, a Tamino I think. I must did out the programmes. I definitely did see him as Loge in the first Gotz Friedrich Ring at Covent Garden in the 1980’s, a production which made a very big impression.

Tear has always been one of those singers who I’ve admired for their versatility. The interview mentions his recording Handel’s Acis and Galatea whilst singing Matteo (Arabella) at Covent Garden as well as singing the Verdi Requiem for Bernstein at short notice. He’s going to be doing Monsieur Taupe (Capriccio) in Paris; he describes it as a lovely role. I remember hearing the very (very) aged Hugues Cuenod doing it at Glyndebourne (in the old theatre).


Some tit-bits:-

Many papers and mags have picked up on the fact that Gerard Mortier is going to New York City Opera. Despite much speculation about what might happen, all we can really do is say watch this space.

Fragments of recording of the Dream of Gerontius, made in 1936 with Heddle Nash in the title role, have surfaced on a CD which accompanies Alan Blyth’s new book on Nash – can’t wait!

A clutch of obituaries – Gian Carlo Menotti (aged 95) and Steven Pimlott (aged 55). I remember Pimlott’s memorable Boheme for ENO as well as his Sunday in the Park with George for the National Theatre.

Opera around the world:-

Australia’s Pinchgut Opera are a group that I know about from reading reviews and listening to their CD’s. Usually they do something baroque and supremely unusually interesting; this year’s Idomeneo does not seem to have quite hit the mark, judging by Deborah Jones’s review but in December this year they come back with Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans.

Lyons saw a concert performance of La Sonnambula, using a new critical edition; like many back-basics editions of traditional coloratura works, the keys have changed. There are arguments for doing Lucia in higher keys so that the role is more spinto (lowering the pitch enables more high notes from the soprano), but the new Sonnambula is doing the reverse and lowering some of the pitch. At least it makes the tenor’s job easier.

Handel’s Orlando has surfaced in Munich in a production by David Alden. Munich has had a wonderful succession of Handel operas in recent years, but I’ve usually been put off travelling to them by their rather challenging productions. For Orlando, Alden depicts Zoroastro as a mad nuclear scientist with Orlando as his love-lorn sidekick. But seems to leave the more bucolic characters, Dorinda and Medoro, rather out of place. David Daniels sang Orlando, which Hugh Canning thought lay a little low for him. I do wish casting directors would pay attention to the differing castrato and counter-tenor tessituras. Orlando was written for Senesino who had a pretty low register and is definitely not ideal for everyone – Alice Coote found it a bit low for her at Covent Garden. Evidently Daniels had to resort to using his natural baritone register.

Over in Ireland, Opera Ireland have been emulating the work of Pimlico Opera. They did not actually stage their new Boheme in a prison, but the inmates of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin collaborated with Maiano Prison, Spoleto, in designing and building the sets and making the costumes. The result was described by Ian Fox as ‘realistic and dramatically intelligent’.

Geneva’s new Meistersinger set the work in the 1930’s and ended with Pogner and his non-Aryan looking daughter leaving Nuremberg – an interesting take on a problematic ending.

In Los Angeles, tenors seem to be taking over. Kurt Streit played Nerone in Monteverdi’s Poppea – surely they could have found a soprano to do it. And Graham Clark played the witch in Hansel and Gretel.

Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino was revived in Manhatten; when last played there, at the Met in 1932, it formed a double bill with Elektra – very bizarre. It reminds me of Andre Previn’s story about being taken to the theatre as a child and seeing a double bill of Salome and the ballet Coppelia, and for ever afterwards he tended to get the 2 works mixed up!

In the UK, Carl Rosa did a single performance of Patience in an original 1879 theatre. Its in Teddington and used to be part of a sanotorium and comes complete with the original painted backdrops and the original portraits used for Ruddigore. Sounds like a gem, hope their fund-raising campaign goes well. More information here - http://www.langdondowncentre.org.uk/


In Leeds, Martin Dreyer’s review of Christopher Alden’s new Orfeo seems to miss out the essential point that Alden tried to set the work in Warhol's Factory. Mind you, why he should want to I don’t know.

Review of Can-Can

Cole Porter's musical Can-Can was written with a book by Abe Burrows (author of the books for Guys and Dolls and Silk Stockings). The original intention had been to write a piece about La Goulue, the can-can dancer who was one of Toulouse Lautrec's favourite subjects. But somewhere along the way, things changed. The setting remained 19th century France, but involved a young uptight judge, Aristide Forestier, getting involved with the owner of a can-can establishment, La Mome Pistache. On one level the plot is the expected frothy mix of can-can dancers and struggling artists. But the plot also involves the judge's crusade to get a fair trial for the dancers when prosecuted under obscenity laws. This takes on greater resonance when you learn that the piece was written in the USA at the height of McCarthyism.

La Mome Pistache is a financially savvy figure, who is not without hard edges – she is canny but still appealing. She makes an interesting contrast with the uptight, naïve Aristide. The show concludes with the proper trial which Aristide has been looking for, and the finale is Pistache's girls demonstrating the can-can to the judge. Despite the happy ending we are left wondering what the future holds for Aristide and Pistache.

The show was presented by Ian Marshal Fisher's Lost Musicals. The presentation involved the cast in evening dress, singing from scores, no set and a basic, but imaginative staging (directed by Ian Marshall Fisher).

There was just a piano accompaniment, but the singers are unamplified which is a great advantage. The 14 actors were very hard-working with some playing multiple roles and all participating in the chorus and ensemble scenes.

Aristide and Pistache get the majority of the songs. Pistache was played by Valerie Cutko, a tall elegant figure with a stylish dancer's carriage. She has a low-ish, husky singing voice, it did not always quite fill out Cole Porter's vocal lines but she was undoubtedly expressive and characterful. Her delivery of the show's best known number, “C'est magnifique” was masterly and she spun the vocal line out on a thread.

Christopher Dickens was impressive as the naïve young judge. His singing voice is attractive. The role sounded as if it might have not been in his ideal range, I would have like to have heard more of him. He gets just 2 solos, but one of those is “Its Alright with Me”.

The remaining cast were wonderful, creating a gallery of vivid characters. There was certainly no feeling of being short-changed because this was not fully staged. James Vaughan and Stewart Permutt (both Lost Musicals regulars) were hilarious as the Bulgarian artist, Bruno, and the French art critic, Hilaire. Their feud, leading to a hilarious duel, formed the principal sub-plot.

The score has 4 extremely strong, well-known songs in it (“C'est Magnifique”, “Its Alright with me”, “I love Paris” and “Can-can”) but the remaining ones were rather more variable and a couple of times you thought that Cole Porter might have been on auto-pilot. But the over-all effect was most enjoyable and a little thought-provoking, which is perhaps what was intended.

After listening to this superb performance we came out humming the tunes and longing to see a full staging, complete with can-can.

Recent CD Review

My review of the disc of Laurent Petitgirard's orchestral music is here, on MusicWeb International.

Lush music, attractively orchestrated and evoking the sound-worlds of Honegger or Koechlin ...

Lost Musicals

On Sunday we went to see the ever wonderful Lost Musicals people, doing a performance of Cole Porter's Can Can at the Sadlers Wells Theatre. A full review will appear in due course, but this was a fabulous performance. They do them semi-staged, with piano accompaniment and the results are always entertaining and sometimes a revelation. Of course, for me, one of the advantages is that they use the studio theatre and don't have any amplification, so we get a chance to hear the actors voices properly, something that does not happen very often nowadays.

LLGFF

This weekend we finished seeing our clutch of films at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival; we managed 6 films this year. All of them memorable in their own way and one The Bubble stayed in my mind for days afterwards.

From a musical point of view the most notable event was a film by Peter de Rome, who made classic, art-influenced Gay porn in the 70's. This was without dialogue but set to a Messiaen score - quite a combination