Prom 1 - Mahler's 8th Symphony

Mahler's 8th symphony is a work that would seem to be ideal for the Royal Albert Hall. Mahler uses a huge orchestra, with quadruple wood-wind, a childrens choir plus two adult choruses. At its premiere in Munich it was claimed that 1000 people took park, where on earth did they put them all. At Friday's opening Prom there the members of the adult choruses numbered around 400 with 60 children and they just fitted comfortably into the choir areas behind the stage. Even then, the rear choristers would be a long way from conductor Jiri Belohlavek (I know, I sat there when, as part of the London Philharmonic Choir, I sang in Mahler 8 to open the 1986 Proms).

One of the glories of Friday's prom was the choral singing. The three choirs (BBC Symphony Chorus, Crouch End Festival Chorus and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs) sang with bright, clear brilliance, providing a keen focussed sound, with barely a hint of bawling. The tricky passages at the opening of part 2 were, as far as the foggy Albert Hall acoustic allowed, neatly and accurately placed. And the closing chorus mysticus was ravishing.

They were well supported by the orchestra, though Belohlavek seemed to have rather a no-nonsense, no time for lingering sort of attitude. This meant that the opening choral torrent worked well, but that the middle sections seemed to sag somewhat as they needed more cherishing. That said there was some lovely individual playing from the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Regarding the soloists, I have rather mixed views. I must confess that I have never heard a performance where they seemed ideal, and too often heard live the voices seem to be straining overmuch. Both sopranos Mardi Byers and Twyla Robinson seemed to press their voices too hard, so that one turned rather sharp edged and the other seemed to vibrate over much above the stave. I am sure that, in more relaxed surroundings they would have sounded lovely. Only mezzo Stephanie Blythe seemed to be able to combine beauty of tone with volume. Tenor Stefan Vinke was a last minute replacement but seemed a bit taxed by the part. The other two male soloists Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Tomasz Konieczny contributed some fine, passionate singing.

There was, of course, one other soloists. Malin Cristensson appeared by the organ at the very end, the ravishing embodiment of Mater Gloriosa.

If I found the performance less than engrossing first half of part 2, it was more than made up with the life enhancing conclusion.

ETO Autumn season

Having just put their recent Spring tour to bed, English Touring Opera have released full details of their exciting Autumn season. The most keenly anticipated item is the world premiere of Alexander Goehr's new opera (reputedly to be his last). Based on a text extracted from Shakespeare's King Lear by Sir Frank Kermode, Promised End sets 24 fragments of Shakespeare. Hearing Goehr's response to Shakespeare's tragedy is an excitement to come. ETO are performing the opera with a strong cast including Nigel Robson (Gloucester), Roderick Earle (Lear) and Lina Markeby (Cordelia/Fool), and the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Ryan Wrigglesworth, production by James Conway. The tour starts at the Royal Opera's Linbury Theatre on 9th October and continues to Malvern, Bexhill, Exeter, Crawley, Cambridge and Snape Maltings.

English Touring Opera – Goehr: Promised End – world premiere, operatic version of Shakespeare’s King Lear (edited by Frank Kermode). Ryan Wigglesworth (conductor), James Conway (director), Roderick Earle (Lear), Nigel Robson (Gloucester), Adrian Dwyer (Edgar), Lina Markeby (Cordelia), Julia Sporsen (Regan).

Keeping to the drama theme, the other main work in the tour is The Duenna, Sheridan's comic opera which was first produced with music by Thomas Linley (senior and junior). ETO are using newly discovered manuscripts to re-create the original 1775 version of this highly popular work, first premiered at Covent Garden. Many of the songs were taken from popular ballads of the day and though the music was commissioned from Thomas Linley senior, much of it was actually written by his prodigy son (who died at the age of 22). The performance will be directed by Michael Barker-Caven with Joseph McHardy conducting a period instrument orchestra. The cast is an admirably mixture of experienced hands such as Nuala Willis and Richard Suart, with younger singers like Damien Thantrey and Jonathan Gunthorpe.

Sheridan's text was re-used for operas by Prokofiev and Roberto Gerhard, but this will be a rare outing for the English original. The show previews in Poole before moving to Covent Garden on 13th October with subsequent visits to Bath, Malvern, Bexhill, Exeter, Cambridge, Harrogate and Snape.

English Touring Opera – Sheridan/Linley The Duenna – Directed by Michael Barker-Caven, conducted from the harpsichord by Joseph McHardy, and designed by Adam Wiltshire; Richard Suart (Don Jerome); Olivia Safe (Clara); Charlotte Page (Louisa); Nuala Willis (Margaret); Joe Shovelton (Antonio); Damien Thantry (Ferdinand); Adrian Thompson (Isaac)

Further ahead, they have released preliminary details of their spring 2011 tour, with Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Puccini's Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi, along with Tobias Picker's The Fantastic Mr Fox

When a Man knows - next steps

On the one hand we are gearing up for the next concert performance of When a Man Knows as part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival. When we are performing at 3pm on Saturday August 21st, so if you missed the work's premiere, this is your chance to hear it.

But looking further ahead, plans are now well advanced to stage the opera in April 2011. Ian Caddy, himself a distinguished bass-baritone, will be directing the production which will have substantially the same cast as the concert performances, with Dario Dugandzic as the Man, conducted by David Roblou.

When considering staging the opera I had had fantasies of doing the production in a deserted warehouse, and perhaps we will achieve that one day. But for the work's premiere on stage we will be using a real theatre. More news soon.

Recent CD Review

My review of a disc of Magnificats by Cavalli is here, on MusicWeb International.

You won't quite get the crisp, vibrant music-making which this music deserves…

Review of Manon

My review of Massenet's Manon from Covent Garden, with Anna Netrebko in the title role, is here, at Music and Vision (subscription site).

Semele at the Barbican

On Thursday, Christoph Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques presented Handel's Semele at the Barbican. The performance was based on the staged performances at the Theatre Champs Elysees, directed by David McVicar. The Barbican performance was just in concert, but the singers made entrances and exits and sang without music, addressing each other and reacting. So the result was rather more dramatic than some performances.

Rousset gave us a rather comprehensive version of the opera, including the aria for Cupid from Act 2 and an aria from Act 1 for Athamas which is often cut. This, combined with a rather lax attitude to timing of intervals, plus Rousset's rather moderate tempi, meant that we had rather a long evening. Starting at 6.30pm and finishing nearly 4 hours later. Except that it didn't start at 6.30pm, Rousset finally lifted his baton at 6.40pm. And each interval was extended by a mysterious gap, with audience seated, waiting. There was obviously plenty of space for applause between arias.

What the performance lacked was impetus. Individual moments were lovely, but Rousset seemed too content to allow things to jog along, in a relaxed manner. You can import crispness and dramatic coherence to Semele, by keeping the dramatic flow going and/or cutting discreetly. Neither seemed to happen.

There was plenty to enjoy on the way of course, because the cast was extremely strong. The star should have been Danielle de Niese as Semele. De Niese is a singer who has bags of personality, which reaches both her stage persona and her voice, so that you get a complete package. She is undoubtedly attractive and popular. She worked hard. Too hard in fact. I was frequently too conscious of how much she was pushing her sexy persona, with wide-eyed appeals, sexy pouting, tantrums and contrived sulky behaviour. Her opening aria, The morning lark had a lot of business with her hands imitating a bird. And in Myself I shall adore her antics with a mirror, no matter how amusing, threatened to de-stabilise the aria. By the end of the evening I was having to work hard not to get annoyed

All this would not have mattered if her musical performance had been spot on. But though De Niese is talented and sexy, her coloratura was rather smudgy and no-where near as pin-sharp as that of some of her co-singers. She was best in the more lyrical items. In fact, one of the showpiece arias, Endless Pleasure was sung not by De Niese, but by

Recent CD Review

My review of Rossini's Otello from the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, recorded live on Naxos, is here.

If you are curious about Rossini's version of Otello then you will not go far wrong with this Naxos recording ...

Review of Salome

My review of Salome from Covent Garden, with Angela Denoke in the title role, is here on Music and Vision (subscription site)

On Thursday we went to a private recital given by The English Concert celebrating the end of their season and the launch of their new season. They played Handel's Concerto Grosso Op. 6 no. 6 in G minor, Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor and Vivaldi's Concerto in D, RV208, Il Grosso Mogul. The beautifully expressive soloist in the Marcello was Katharina Spreckelsen. In the Vivaldi, the solo part with its amazing cascades of notes was played with aplomb by Nadja Zwiener.

Hearing such a group in a smaller, private surroundings brought to mind the private nature of much baroque music. Written at a time when public concerts were relatively unknown, concertos, concerti grossi and cantatas were written for private performance in patron's salons. Something that we can only experience rarely today.

The English Concert's new season includes such delights as Alice Coote singing Dowland at the Wigmore Hall, Anna Caterina Antonnacci and Sara Mingardo in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Laurence Cummings directing an evening of contemporary arrangements of Scarlatti keyboard sonatas. The group will also be performing at the Spitalfields Festival, collaborating with I Fagiolini on Purcell's King Arthur

Concert of Music for Life

Tonight Japanese pianist Reiko Fujisawa will be giving a piano recital at St. Michael's church, Highgate. The recital is in support of Music for Life, a project which has pioneered and developed interactive, creative music workshop programmes for people living with dementia. Music for Life was founded in 1993 and is now managed by Wigmore Hall in partnership with Dementia UK. More details can be found on here Reiko Fujisawa's web-site.

The programme includes Bach English Suite BWV 807, Beethoven Waldstein Sonata op. 53, Schubert Impromptus D. 899 and Albeniz Suite Espagnole.

Recent CD Review

My review of the Brabant Ensemble's disc of sacred music by Pierre Moulu is here, on MusicWeb International.

Fascinating and rather enchanting ...

Salomon Concert - 29th June

To St. John's Smith Square last night for a concert by the Salomon Orchestra. Conducted by Neil Ferris they gave a challenging and exciting programme of 20th century music. Malcolm Arnold's Peterloo Overture, Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto and William Walton's First Symphony. Surprisingly perhaps, the Walton was the earliest thing on the programme (1932-35) and the Malcolm Arnold the most recent (1968) with the Shostakovich in between.

Commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the TUC, Arnold's overture graphically depicted the 1819 Peterloo massacre where a peaceful demonstration was attacked by the Yeomanry. Arnold showed this using contrary side drums in a similar manner to Nielsen. The overture is wonderfully loud and Ferris managed to achieve the fine balancing act between loudness and clarity, so that everything in Arnold's scenario was clear.

This was followed by Shostakovich's concerto. Written in 1948 for Oistrakh but not performed until 1955, after Stalin's death. The concerto is a difficult piece, written in symphonic form with 4 movements. The soloist was Jaroslaw Nadrzycki, Polish born but currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music. Nadrzycki is only 25 but already has a substantial CV; he made his debut with the Moscow Conservatoire Orchestra at the age of 12. Not only did he have the technique to give a dazzling account of the concerto, but he had the emotional maturity to deliver a profoundly moving reading. The concerto pulls no emotional punches and in the third movement, Passacaglia: Andante calls upon the soloist to deliver profound grief in a restrained manner. It is moments like this which can show up young virtuosi, but not Nadrzycki whose performance was worthy of someone twice his age.

Ferris's speeds in the concerto were a touch on the fast side, something which seemed to bother neither soloist nor orchestra, much to their credit. The orchestra delivered a crisp, punchy accompaniment with some beautifully profound solo playing.

After the extreme efforts of the first half, Walton's symphony took a little time to settle. This is a work which is full of awkward detail which needs to be carefully placed and in the heat of the concert hall (rendered profoundly stuffy in the warm weather) and following their efforts in the Shostakovich, the orchestra did not quite always deliver. As with the Shostakovich, Ferris's speeds were a little on the brisk side and there were times when I felt a little relaxation would have helped. That notwithstanding the orchestra delivered a strongly characterised account of Walton's fascinating score, making much of the emotional depths of the piece.

Their next London gig is on Saturday 17th July when, under Martyn Brabbins baton, the Salomon Orchestra will play all of Beethoven's symphonies in 1 day at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (with the LSO chorus provising the support in the 9th symphony). Put the date in your diary now!

Recent CD Reviews

My review of Peter Grimes conducted by Haitink, with Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Felicity Lott is here.

Haitink brings special insight ...

And my review of Ian Hominick's disc of piano rarities, Off the Beaten Track is here. Both reviews are on Music Web International.

Charmingly unfamiliar bon-bons … and a few grittier pieces ...

Review of Capriccio

My review of Capriccio at Grange Park Opera is here, on Music and Vision (subscription site).

Review of The Love of Three Oranges

My review of The Love of Three Oranges at Grange Park Opera is here, on Music and Vision (subscription site).

Let's make an opera

Just over a week ago I was fully focussed on the premiere of my new opera When a Man Knows (which took place on June 13th). For some post-premiere relaxation we took ourselves off to Grange Park Opera this weekend to see two of their productions, Love of Three Oranges and Capriccio. Quite unintentionally we found the both operas continued the themes from the previous weekend; what constitutes an opera, what is more important words or music, how do you make a new opera which is relevant to today.

Love of Three Oranges opens with different groups arguing over what type of performance they want and throughout the piece one group actively involve themselves in the creation of the opera and guiding its direction, even so far as to intervene in the plot when the heroine is dying of thirst. Then of course in Capriccio we have the discussion of whether words or music are more important, but played out partly in allegory as the potential love affairs between the Countess and the Composers and the Poet. The piece is made all the more significant by the passage towards the end of Act 2 when the theatre director urges poet and composer to go off an make a new work which is relevant to today!

Whether my new opera is relevant to today I have no idea. We are currently planning our performance in August and I am starting work on gathering a team together to do a staging. Only then will we discover!

Recent CD Review

My review of Handel's Israel in Egypt, a liver recording from Peter Dijkstra and Concerto Köln, is here.
Its heart is in the right place but it doesn’t quite come off ...

And my review of Sing Alleluia from the Choir of Rochester Cathedral is here. Both reviews are on MusicWeb International.
Plenty of interest here and the choir are certainly in good health ...

When a Man Knows

So, we did it! On Sunday evening we premiered my new opera When a Man Knows. Cast (Deborah Stoddart, Dario Dugandzic, Sarah Barham and John Beaumont), instrumental ensemble (Marianne Haynes, James Meldrum, Jonathan Cottle and Richard Black) and conductor David Roblou did a magnificent job. I was much heartened by the enthusiastic reactions of both performers and audience. The piece works very well and the pacing seems just about right, it even lasted just about the length of time predicted - coming in at 80 minutes as opposed to an estimate of 75 minutes. We recorded the performance, so that I can review the work later but I cannot see me making any major changes.

As ever, it is onwards and upwards and we are now planning for the next performance, when we'll be performing as part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival on Saturday 21st August at 3pm at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. The festival's website is now up and running so you can visit us there

Recent CD Reviews

My review of Handel's Judas Maccabeus from French forces, with international soloists, is here.
Allowing for limitations of the sung English this is a vivid and involving performance …

And my review of Meyerbeer's Il Crociato in Egitto, live from La Fenice, is here. Both reviews on MusicWeb International.
Gives a strong flavour of the piece…

Classical Music article

The latest Classical Music magazine has a half page article in the Premiere of the Fortnight column, dedicated to When a Man Knows and its premiere on Sunday.

Review of Tosca

My review of ENO's new production of Tosca is here, on Music and Vision (subscription site).

Pearl Fishers at ENO

To the London Coliseum last night for Penny Woolcock's new production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. It was performed in Brad Cohen's new edition which returns the opera to the state it was in when the composer left it, rather than having Act 3 being the confection it became with tinkering from various hands (including a trio by Benjamin Godard). The problem with the work is that the final act is weak and undoubtedly, if Bizet had lived he would have re-written the work to strengthen it. As it is, I feel that Chandos have the right idea with cutting it down to fit onto 1 CD. You can't help thinking that the piece could be trimmed to 1 act length and paired with some other 1 act piece. It does not help that Bizet puts his best two tunes into Act 1 and nothing he does after this quite matches it.

Usually the piece is performed in productions which make a great deal of the 19th century orientalism, I seem to remember that the previous ENO production was very attractive, with lots of supers in gorgeous costumes. Woolcock and her designers Dick Bird (sets) and Kevin Pollard (costumes) placed the piece in the present day with the villagers living in a waterside shanty-town. But this was a very theatrical kind of realism, the set looked fantastic and was used by Woolcock in all sorts of lovely ways. The production had one visual coup after another.

During the prelude we had what can only be described as a water ballet as divers descended from above in a realistic and magical way. Then during the famous duet in Act 1 (beautifully sung by Quinn Kelsey (Zurga) and Alfie Boe (Nadir)) we got a projection of the goddess, a vision of her face. Later on in that Act we had a stylised but enchanting boat on the sea with divers coming and going whilst Nadir and Leila (Hanan Alattar) sang to each other across the water.

For Act 2 there was a great deal of water effects and whilst Leila thought of Nadir, a back projection of him diving. Video was used a lot, not as a 'look at me' device, but as a very effective way of expanding the horizons of the production.

All this could not quite mask the weakness of the work. And there were moments when the very nature of working in a theatre gave rise to problems. For instance, in Act 1 the shanty town set meant that the chorus had to be rather static and took quite a time to exit. In Act 2 the storm damages the temple in a very hackneyed way.

Newspapers reviews had been a bit mixed on the subject of the singers, particularly Hanan Alatar. In fact, she was announced as suffering from a throat infection. All I can say is that she has an attractive, rather silvery soprano but with slightly to wide a vibrato for my taste. After Act 1, Alfie Boe was also announced as suffering. In fact, he sang much of the opera with ringing tones, though did transpose part of his Act 1 solo down an octave. His voice is developing as an instrument and I would have liked to talk about the way he sang the role and whether or not he approached the French nature of the part. But it would be unfair, and this will have to wait.

Quinn Kelsey is Hawaiian and made a supremely impressive account of the role of Zurga. All three roles are high and Kelsey coped brilliantly with the high lying baritone role and sang with bravura and a beautiful line. I hope to hear much more of him.

Freddie Tong made a strong impression in the small role of Nourabad, looking almost unrecognisable with his long dreadlocks.

Conductor Rory Macdonald gave a strong and passionate account of the score. He's only in his 20's and I do hope that ENO bring him back soon.

Penny Woolcock's fascinating work on this not quite masterpieces meant that we had a wonderfully theatrical evening. I will certainly look forward to its revival.

Review of The Tales of Hoffmann (Paris Opera)

Robert Carsen's production of The Tales of Hoffmann for the Paris Opera dates from 2000 and has, so far, received 44 performances. We saw it on Wednesday 26th May, towards the end of the current run. The production seems to have been designed to show off the technical prowess of the Bastille theatre, something it does brilliantly without impeding the drama. The theatre uses the grand opera version of the piece, with sung recitative rather than spoken dialogue. Something to be expected in an international house, but a disappointment all the same, especially as so many of the cast were French.

The edition used was the basic Choudens one, with the addition of a number of extra pieces. The Venice act was correctly placed at the end. The role of the Muse/Niklausse was the one to benefit most, with a number of additions including numbers for the Muse at the opening and close.

In the programme book, dramaturg Alain Patrick Olivier was dismissive of the more recent attempts at reconstruction of the work. Certainly Tales of Hoffmann does need a firm editorial hand if the performance is not to sprawl. But in one respect the version used in Paris is no more successful than many others; the end of the Venice act remained dramatically unconvincing and musically weak, something of a damp squib. It is here that we might hope that the various sketches that have been discovered might shed light on a more musically satisfying conclusion.

Paris included both Scintille Diamant and the sextet in Act 3. Neither are by Offenbach but both are so well known that it is difficult to omit them.

Carsen and his designer, Michael Levine, opened the prologue on the wide open spaces of the empty stage. Hoffmann (Giuseppe Filianoti) slumped at the front of the stage, was addressed by his Muse (Ekaterina Gubanova). Carsen failed to address the twinning of Niklausse and the Muse, neither at the beginning nor at the end did we see the one transformed into the other.

Then came a coup de theatre, the entire set for an act of Don Giovanni passed before our eyes. Mozart's opera is the one being sung by Stella, Hoffmann's current love. And it is the entire context for Carsen's production, each act took place in and around the theatre playing the production. The remainder of the scene with Lindorf (Franck Ferrari) took place as if in the wings of the opera.

Then, for the entry of the chorus, another coup. A bar (of the drinking variety) rises from the stage, we are behind it with Luther (Alain Vernhes) and his waiters as they serve the chorus crowding to get a drink. A very neat solution to the problem of creating a degree of intimacy in this scene.

The chorus had one or two moments of bad ensemble, there was much stage movement and Jesus Lopez Cobos's conducting was perhaps more relaxed than it could have been.

Each of the subsequent acts was set in different parts of the theatre. For Act 1 we were backstage during a performance of Don Giovanni with the chorus dressed in the requisite Spanish costumes and some of the action played as if part of the opera with Spalanzani (Rudolphe Briand) as a demented back-stage technician.

For Act 2 were were in the orchestral pit with the stage, complete with curtains and set, towering above us. Dr Miracle (Franck Ferrari) was a demented conductor, Crespel (Alain Vernhes) an orchestral violinist and Inva Mula his daughter Antonia. her mother (Cornelia Oncion) appeared as Donna Anna on the upper stage.

For the Venice act we were on the stage looking out over the auditorium, whose seats swayed in time to the music of the barcarolle. Carsen solved the problem of the Barcarolle by having Niklausse and Giulietta (Beatrice Uria-Monzon) sing it as if Niklausse is hearing Giulietta's lines; at least Niklausse has a score and Giulietta does not. The Barcarolle is a problem because having Niklausse sing it is not dramatically coherent, he's trying to get Hoffmann away not hymning the delights of love (or lust). In fact, allocating the part to Niklausse happened simply because it had to go to the important singers!

Here Dapertutto (Franck Ferrari) was a demented director rehearsing his cast. Despite weak dramaturgy of this act, it made it work. Then finally for the epilogue we were back on an empty stage. There was no transformation, the Muse just appeared, which was quite a significant loss.

Franck Ferrari played the 4 villains and played them very creditably. He wasn't always comfortable in the higher passages but he coped well and certainly did not resort to barking. He was not quite mad enough for me in the guise of Dr. Miracle, but his performance had a certain cumulative power.

Leonard Pezzino gave sterling support in the 4 character tenor roles and showed a nice sense of comedy. Rodolphe Brian was the nicely batty professor Spalanzani. With Alain Vernhes doublng Luther (patron of the bar) and Crespel.

The soprano roles were split between 3 singers. Laura Aiken was Olympia, entering into the doll antics with a will (and a great sense of fun) but displaying some rather hard toned coloratura. Inva Mula made an attractive Antonia. This is rather a wet part and the singer needs all her skill to make us care about her. Mulva did, just, though her tone was occasionally less than ravishing. Finally Beatrice Uria-Monzon was a wonderfully glamorous Giulietta. The silent role of Stella was not credited.

Giuseppe Filianoti gave a towering performance as Hoffmann. Granted his tone did not always bloom at the solo moments and he did sound tired towards the end of Act 3. But he gave us a lively, attractive and highly personable Hoffmann, and entered into all the antics required with a will.

Perhaps he needs to learn a little from Alfredo Kraus, another lyric tenor who sang Hoffmann very successfully. Like Kraus, Filianoti should not try to push his voice towards the more fuller tones produced by Domingo. Kraus knew that in some roles, less is more.

Filianoti was charming and lively, but I have kept the best to last. Ekaterina Gubanova was just wonderful as Niklauss. She sang with flexibility and sense, moulding the line and she kept a knowing twinkle in her eye and voice when singing Niklausse. She is coming back to Covent Garden in The Tsar's Bride but on this showing I want to see her in more lyric roles.

Jesus Lopez Cobos's direction was neat and perhaps just a shade to undemonstrative. But he kept everything flowing and, in an opera where things can drag, made the work flow nicely.

When a Man knows

This week, I thought, was going be devoted just to tying up loose end for the first performance of my opera When a Man Knows on June 13th; sorting out the programme and that sort of thing. But there have been more exciting things going on. On Friday I was interviewed by Classical Music Magazine for their premiere of the Fortnight column. So watch out for the next issue due out in 2 weeks time.

Add to this we have been offered a spot at the Tete-a-Tete opera festival at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith in August. So we will be on the road again, performing the opera on August 21st. Watch this space!

Recent CD Review

My review of Caroline Sampson's recital Not Just Dowland on Wigmore Hall Live, is here.
Riches to be found here …

Rutland Boughton

This year is the 50th anniversary of the death of Rutland Boughton. Unlike 2008, which saw an immense resurgence in performances of music by RVW as a result of the 50th anniversary of his death, the response to the Boughton anniversary has been more muted.

The Rutland Boughton Music Trust are organising a number of events, mainly related to song, chamber music and orchestral pieces. But Boughton was a notable opera composer and it is his operas which seem to be missing from the schedules this year. Why no performance of The Immortal Hour at the Proms?

The good news is that there are tentative plans to produce a commercial recording of The Queen of Cornwall, based on a play by Thomas Hardy

Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers

Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers, with its libretto by Auden and Kalman, has not had much exposure recently. A rather puzzling lack which is perhaps explained by the work's slightly awkward hovering between comedy and tragedy. It was admirable of ENO to choose it for their most recent collaboration with the Young Vic (seen on Saturday May 8th, apologies for this late posting). Fiona Shaw's confident production ensured that the performance went far beyond the admirable and turned into something gripping.

The Young Vic is not an ideal space for opera and whilst Shaw's production (in designs by Tom Pye) ensured that best use was made of the space, it left the small orchestra (24 players) tucked away on a corner balcony. Balance and ensemble were adequate, but I came away longing to hear the score again in a more sympathetic acoustic, one which allowed the ravishing textures, warmth and clarity of Henze's score to come over.

The plot concerns a monstrous poet, Gregor Mittenhofer, (Steven Page) who makes an annual pilgrimage to an an alpine Inn where Hilda Mack, the widow of a climber, (Jennifer Rhys-Davies) has visions inspired by the death of her husband 40 years ago. Mittenhofer uses these visions as source material for his work.

All around Mittenhofer subjugate themselves to his genius; his friend, secretary and financial supporter Carolina (Lucy Schaufer), his physician Dr. Reischmann (William Robert Allenby) and his young mistress Elisabeth (Kate Valentine).

What we get is, for the first two acts, something of a comedy of manners as the satellites around Mittenhofer seek to placate him and keep him happy for the sake of his art.

Frau Mack's husband's body is found and, given closure, she comes out of her trance-like state and becomes sensible. Shorn of the source of his inspiration, Mittenhofer needs to find another means of completing his latest poem, Elegy for Young Lovers.

So he allows his mistress to think that he is complaisant about her love for Toni, the Doctor's son (Robert Murray). But a great solo explosion at the end of Act two makes clear to us the amount of pent-up anger and self regard that Mittenhofer has.

In Act three, with the onset of a storm, Mittenhofer lies to the mountain guide and allows Elisabeth and Toni to die on the mountain (where he has sent them to pick Edelweiss). He takes inspiration in their death for the completion of his poem.

Steven Page was terrific as the monstrous poet, successfully negotiating the transition from grotesque comedy to horror. In the final act Henze's lyrical genuis flourished as he allowed us to hear Elisabeth and Toni's final moments (eloquently sung by Murray and Valentine); a real elegy to contrast with Mittenhofer's posturing.

Schaufer gave an impressive performance as Caroline, aware of Mittenhofer's faults but prepared to accept them in the face of his genius. In the last act she is the only person aware of Mittenhofer's lie, that condemns Elisabeth and Toni to death. Shaw's production successfully conveyed the impression that this changed the balance of the relationship between Caroline and Mittenhofer, giving her the upper hand. I am not sure whether this is in the music, but it made a great deal of sense.

Jennifer Rhys-Davies as Frau Mack was allowed to combined her abilities with Donizettian fioriture with her feel for comedy. In the first act she communicated solely by Lucia-like burbling, but is transformed in Act two into the only sensible person in the plot.

Shaw's production used a central acting space, which gradually fissured as cracks appeared in the characters' relationships. Behind, on one wall, was a screen on which videos appeared and through which we caught glimpses of the body of Frau Mack's husband, entombed in the ice. The main access being via a walkway high up across the stage.

Henze was in the audience and receive a terrific (and deserved) ovation at the end.

The virtues of this performance were that the production involved you in the drama and allowed you to be carried away. I came away fascinated and curious and very desirous of hearing the work again.

Recent CD Review

My review of Martin Best's 1982 recording, The Dante Troubadours is here on MusicWeb International.
Best's performances are convincing, vividly communicative. Very seductive. ...

The Tallis Scholars at the Cadogan Hall

For the final of this season's Choral at Cadogan concerts The Tallis Scholars under their conductor Peter Philips made a welcome reappearance on May 11th. Their programme mixed a variety of Italian polychoral motets with Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli. The group numbered just 10 singers, so that sopranos apart, singers were often performing one to a part. In the rather dry Cadogan Hall acoustic this brings admirable clarity to the texture, but at the expense of the lusciousness which a more resonant venue would give.

They opened with Palestrina's early double choir Surge Illuminare. The intention of the programme was to contrast the cori spezzati of the Venetian school with these more complex poly-choral motets from the Roman tradition. Surge Illuminare was followed by Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, which is written for 6-part choir, SATTBB. The rich underlay of the lower 4 parts was rather compromised by the brisk tempi. Though beautifully sung, the mass felt as if the singers were rather keen to get the piece over with, it had a briskness and peremptoriness which was at odds with the lovely textures of the music.

Things could not have been more different after the interval. The choir opened with Giovanni Croce's Laudajs Exsultet Gaudio. A brilliant Venetian double-choir work from the choirmaster at St. Marks. This was followed by two further Venetian works from Andrea Gabrieli, Jubilate Deo and Benedictus Dominus Deus. In these pieces the mood of the group matched the music in a far better manner and created a brilliant effect. The single voices per line and the acoustic brought clarity and the voices brought sparkle and subtlety.

Dominique Phinot was a Franco-Flemish composer whose poly-choral music is some of the earliest. His Lamentations were a revelation, given a beautifully controlled performance with the singers enjoying the different polychoral textures.

They finished with Festa's small but perfectly formed Quam Pulchra Est and Palestrina's Laudate Pueri. The Festa was the only 4-part piece in the programme, but it used 3 upper voices and a tenor rather than SATB.

Palestrina's Laudate Pueir is far from formulaic in its use of multiple voices, as Palestrina combines different voices to achieve a flexible series of textures.

As an encore we were treated to Lassus in poly-choral mode.

The hall was nearly full for what is fast becoming a popular series at the Cadogan Hall. Next year's choral programme has been announced and is well worth investigating. It includes a tribute to the late Tessa Bonner, the Monteverdi Vespers, I Fagiolini as well as music from the Baltic and Estonia.

The press release is out

The press release for the new opera is now out here.

YCAT

I got a leaflet through the post advertising the Final auditions at the Wigmore Hall on May 21st for the Young Concert Artists Trust. 8 Young performers or performing groups will be performing. Interestingly there are two accordion players, so perhaps this instrument is making a come-back. Artists who pass through the auditions go onto the YCAT list for the year, getting showcase concerts and other performance opportunities. Do go along if you are free, to hear some of the names of the future.

Proms

Not being a keen devotee of 19th century symphonic music, I have not found this year's Prom's programme particularly enticing. Still, it is a prime festival if you want to hear Mahler's symphonies. Unfortunately, the only one of them that we really wanted to book for was the 8th, which had sold out before I could get onto the web-site.

Unfortunately, I could not spend Tuesday morning sitting at my computer waiting for my position in the queue to go down from 4000! It was only at lunchtime that I managed to log on.

The presence of WNO's Mastersingers of Nuremberg is notable and rather exciting, though we'll be out of London at the time. I don't find the prospect of Terfel's Hans Sachs that exciting, but the opera is a rare visitor to London at the moment.

Frankly I can't quite see how a programme of Sondheim will work in the Royal Albert Hall, but all credit to Roger Wright for including it.

Mark Anthony Turnage's new piece is being paired with the Barber violin concerto, which should prove for an interesting combination.

For the late night proms, we are looking forward to Pärt's Passion, and if you feel really committed you can hear his Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten earlier in the evening. Also late night is Philippe Jaroussky's recital with contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieu and the Ensemble Malthus, singing Handel, Vivaldi and Porpora.

Proms Chamber music looks good. I Fagiolini and the Britten Sinfonia have a lovely programme mixing contemporary and ancient settings. And the BBC Singers do something similar, mixing Taverner with Ferneyhough and Gabriel Jackson.

Finally, the penultimate night is John Eliot Gardiner conducting Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, guaranteed to be a larger scale performance than the recent one of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Recent CD Review

A couple more reviews from the Nimbus back catalogue, both Christchurch Cathedral Choir under Stephen Darlington.

First off, Palestrina's Missa Dum complerentur is here.
A perfect example of the English Cathedral sound and beautifully performed. …

And a liturgical reconstruction using Taverner's Missa Mater Christi is here. Both reviews are on MusicWeb International.
Excellent performance of Taverner's likeable mass … a disc that everyone should try ...

Monteverdi Vespers from the OAE

On Tuesday we went to the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment's performance of Monteverdi's Vespers of the Blessed Virgin from 1610. OAE could probably attracted a pretty decent audience in the Festival Hall so it was heartening to find that they were performing in the smaller QEH.

Despite the apparent links with Venice, Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers were written whilst he was still at Mantua and would have been created with the smaller Mantuan court chapel in mind rather than St. Mark's in Venice. Conductor Robert Howarth's version of the Vespers was relatively austere, without going the full one singer per part route. He used a chamber choir of 20 (the choir of the Enlightenment) which used 4 women (sopranos and mezzos mixed) on top, then 4 men (altos and high tenors mixed) on the next line down. The soloists were drawn from the choir. The orchestra was also relatively small, 15 players.

The edition used included the plainchant antiphons, opened with an organ intonation and followed the Magnificatwith a violin sonata by Giovanni Fontana which has a thematic reference to the motet Pulchra es. Howarth eschewed any extra instrumental doubling so that the orchestra played mainly in the opening and closing numbers, the psalms being accompanied by the continuo group only.

The result was to make the vespers a more intimate, liturgical work rather than a grand statement - though both points of view are valid and can be supported by the music. After all John Eliot Gardiner's performance at this year's proms will surely be on a far bigger scale.

The soprano soloists, Grace Davidson and Kirsty Hopkins were creditable and involving without bringing that extra something to the music which the Emma Kirkby's of this world can do. The highlight of the evening was the beautiful, thrilling performance of Duo Seraphin from tenors Simon Wall, Nicholas Mulroy and Sam Boden.

The choir were on good form. They had one or two muddy moments early on; I wasn't sure that Howarth's directing from the keyboard was always as clear as it could be. But they rose to the challenge of the great moments.

This wasn't the most thrilling performance of the Vespers, but it was certainly a musical and a thoughtful one.

Stephen Oliver at 60

Amazingly Stephen Oliver would have been 60 this year. He was so prolific, so early, that even though he died young in 1992, he created a great deal and managed to fit so much in; so one feels that he was older.

The Norwich and Norfolk Festival are celebrating Oliver with an event at the Norwich Playhouse on May 9th, which will feature Oliver's music for the RSC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby. Also included will be Oliver's mini opera, A Man of Feeling.

I must confess that I was rather disappointed by Oliver's major opera, Timon of Athens when it was first done by ENO. But would welcome a further chance to hear it, perhaps one of our enterprising young opera companies could put together a performance as ENO seem to be ignoring it. Still, it is heartening that the Norwich and Norfolk festival are celebrating Oliver's work. Further details from the web-site here.

Quiet and Contemplative - Review of Testament of Dr. Cranmer

My cd The Testament of Dr Cranmer has cropped up in the May round-up on MusicWeb International.

MUSICWEB DOWNLOAD ROUNDUP MAY 2010: (Discovery of the Month)
I came across Robert Hugill’s music by accident. It had been brought to my attention that I hadn’t included any Divine Art recordings in my Roundups for a long time, so I was browsing the Naxos Music Library to see and hear what was available. Having listened to the first work on this CD, I was sold. John Quinn called the central work sincere and dramatic – and I’m happy to endorse both that description and his reference to the performances of everything here as expert and committed. JQ’s only reservation was that there was, perhaps, a little too much of the serious side of Hugill’s music. I think I might prefer to describe most of it as quiet and contemplative rather than serious – just the thing for the end of a bad-hair day. I shan’t be listening to this as often as to the Chandos Howells CD (below), but I already knew that I loved Howells’ music.

It was The Testament of Dr Cranmer that first caught my attention – in the event, not the most striking work on the CD. Though I’m from the Catholic end of the Anglican spectrum, Cranmer is as much a hero figure for me as he is for the composer, not least for the wonderful prose which he bequeathed us until the modern shopping-basket language displaced it. Do try this in one form or another – buy the CD if you are unhappy about downloading. Subscribers to the Naxos Music Library can try it there.
Brian Wilson


Original can be found with several other Divine Art discs at
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/May10/May10_DL_Roundup.htm

Recent CD Review

Another couple of reviews of the Nimbus back catalogue. Arias for soprano and trumpet from Helen Field and John Wallace is reviewed here.Interesting and imaginatively programmed ...

And Rachmaninov's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom from Kansas is reviewed here. Both reviews are on MusicWeb International.
Even if you like this account I would recommend getting another which responds more positively to the drama and vigour of Rachmaninov's setting ...

Review of Der Freischütz

My review of Weber's Der Freischütz performed by Midsummer Opera is here on Music and Vision (subscription site).

Recent CD Reviews

My review of the Naxos recording of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda is here.

Nowhere near a library recommendation. ...

A name new to me; a collection of Lita Grier's songs is reviewed here.

If the alternative, tonal pathways of late 20th century music interest you then do try this disc. ...

And a disc devoted to the music of Robert White is review here, performed by an excellent new group called Gallicantus.

Gallicantus make a strong case for performance by a vocal ensemble, with nice balance and well modulated tone. …

Finally, Messiah from New York, reviewed here. All the reviews are on MusicWeb International.
Charming, approachable and likeable …

London Festival of Contemporary Church Music

The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music opens in a couple of weeks time, on May 8th. Based, as usual, at St. Pancras Church, the festival has events in churches such as the Temple, St. Paul's Cathedral and Southward Cathedral. The music covers quite a wide range including Gabriel Jackson, Judith Bingham, Francis Grier, Anthony Pitts, Patric Standford, Simon Brown and many others, with premieres of pieces by Elizabeth Winters, Giles Swayne, Gregory Rose, Graham Ross, Tim Ambler, TAP Bennett and Robert Busiakiewicz But more importantly, much of it is performed in context in services with Choral Evensong and Choral Mattings; plus, a wide scattering of organ recitals and some concerts. Concerts include the choir of Royal Holloway College under Rupert Gough performing contemporary Baltic composers (Pa&aauml;rt, Miskinis, Dubra and Sisask).

Reading this month's Opera magazine, there's a review of Menotti's The Saint of Bleeker Street from Marseille. As usual with performances in English of operas without any native speakers, you are curious (well I am) about how successful the diction was. In this case the reviewer (Joel Kasow) commented favourably on the clarity of the enunciation; which is nice to know.

Also in the magazine, I spotted a comment about Rene Kollo (one of my all time favourite Siegfrieds) making his debut as Aegisth (in Strauss's Elektra). Nothing very startling in this, except that Kollo is over 70. Big dramatic voices are not always known for their longevity so it is heartening to learn that Kollo is still singing.

That said, I understand that Martha Mödl continued performing into old age, a friend was involved in one of her very late performances as Klytemnestra. Evidently the voice left something to be desired, but the dramatic instincts were still superbly in place.

Over in the Opera Magazine Festival's supplement there is an interview with Evans Mirageas, the artistic director of Cincinnati Opera. First of it is heartening to read that he is in a relationship with another man; this is information that people remain astonishingly coy about. Secondly, he tells a lovely anecdote about starting at Decca in 1994, being an American in an English company and starting off volunteering to make the tea.

Review of Il Turco in Italia

Amazingly it is 5 years since the Royal Opera last performed Rossini's Il Turco in Italia and this was the first revival of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's 1950's inspired production. More particularly it is inspired by 1950's Italian films.

Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak has stepped into the Sophia Loren-like role of Fiorilla. She has a very different voice than Cecilia Bartoli who sang the role when the production was new. Kurzak sang Rossini's elaborate lines more naturalistically, her performance didn't have the quotation marks around it that you felt with Bartolli. Kurzak's Fiorilla was pert and sunny, insoucicant and charming. At first I found her performance a little understated, but it grew on me and her final aria was a moving tour de force.

Colin Lee as Don Narciso was also new to the cast. Lee sang with a lightness and freedom in the top range which seemed new in his voice. He seemed relaxed in the role, despite suffering from the after effects of Gastric Flu, and this showed not only in his acting but in the warmth of his voice.

The 3rd new member of the cast was Leah-Marian Jones as Zaide, a relatively small but important role. Jones turned in a performance which was outstanding, both supportive and musical.

The remainder of the principals were returning to their roles. 5 years on Thomas Allen's voice is showing hints of age, but he is still a consumate artist and brought a charming world weariness to the poet Prosdocimo, who opens the show trying to find a subject for his opera libretto and spends the remainder of the opera trying to turn the opera's participants into an opera plot.

As Don Geronio, Fiorella's elderly husband, Alessandro Corbelli gave a masterclass in how to sing Rossini, have fun and be funny. And he formed a superb double act with Allen.

Ildebrando d'Arcangelo was suitably saturnine and dashingly attractive as the Turk Selim. But he didn't just look good, he sounded good as well. D'Arcangelo brought a beautifully focussed bass tone to the role. He displayed little buffo bluff and bluster, instead actually singing Rossini's notes. He seems to be taking care of his voice, his roles centring on Mozart and Italian bel canto and it shows.

Steven Ebel, one of the current Jette Parker young artists, sang Albazar, a small bu important role.

Maurizio Benini conducted. He had the measure of this score and conjured sparkling singing and playing from singers and orchestra. But I felt that he was a little too relaxed and indulgent, particularly in the long first act, and that a little more urgency was needed.

This was definitely a case of the revival being as good as the original. We got some superb music making and above all everyone on stage seemed to be having fun.

ENO New Season

So we have details of ENO's new season as well. As usual, the second half of the season is only sketched in, no fine detail provided. John Berry is pursuing his obsession with film directors and both Mike Figgis and Terry Gilliam are making their operatic debut. There is finally a feeling that ENO have got over their obsessive re-making of the core repertoire, this new season seems to include only 1 new production which replaces a viable existing one. In this case Rufus Norris is doing a new Don Giovanni and whilst I found the Calixto Bieto production unsatisfactory in some ways, it had its moments. The new production stars Ian Paterson, with Katherine Broderick, Rebecca Evans and Sarah Tynan as Giovanni's women. Worth a look.

First on my list is the new production of Handel's Radmisto, from Santa Fe. This is a gorgeous looking production, directed by David Alden, which was originally mounted for David Daniels. ENO are using Lawrence Zazzo, which is all to the good. Zazzo is joined by Christine Rice, Sophie Bevan and Ailish Tynan. Conducted by Lawrence Cummings. Running time is listed as 3 hours 10 minutes, so the opera is going to be quite heavily cut I suspect. Also, no word as to which version of the opera they are doing. When the piece was done by Opera North (with a cast including a young Emma Bell), they used a version which mixed things up.

Next on my list is Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, which will be conducted by Paul Daniel and directed by Mike Figgis. It is good to see Daniel making appearances at his old house and terrific ENO are doing another bel canto piece, FINALLY. Goodness knows that Figgis will make of the opera, it certainly isn't a naturalistic opera. No word as to who will be singing the title role, which will have a very big effect on the desirability of the performance. Lucrezia needs a diva.

A revival next, as Amanda Roocroft is taking the title role in The Makropoulos Case. Christopher Alden's production isn't my favourite, but I love the opera and am a great admirer of Roocroft. Richard Armstrong conducts, hurrah!

Terry Gilliam is directing Berlioz's Damnation of Faust in 2012 conducted by Edward Gardner, with Christine Rice and Christopher Purves. Whatever it looks like, it is good to have Berlioz back on the Coliseum stage with such a strong cast.

In another co-production with the Met in New York, American director Des McAnuff is in charge of a new production of Gounod's Faust with Toby Spence, Melody Moore and Iain Paterson. This goes onto my list mainly because I want to seen Spence in the title role.

Other interesting items:
Christopher Alden's production of Midsummer Night's Dream.
Edward Gardner conducts Simon Boccanegra in a production by Russian enfant terrible Dmitri Tcherniakov.
Parsifal is coming back with Sir John Tomlinson.

But this is a season where the really unusual items are the two new pieces, Alexander Raskatov's A Dog's Heart (directed by Simon McBurney in collaboration with Complicite) and Nico Muhly's new opera (another Met collaboration). Apart from these, there is no really unusual repertoire. Nothing English from the 19th or 20th Centuries, apart from Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream, which was in repertoire relatively recently in Robert Carsen's production. No Strauss. Little in repertoire terms that makes you go wow, instead we have a series of high profile (or high risk) directors taking on main-stream operas. Why not some Tippett. The problem is that directors new to opera are unlikely to be keen on directing pieces of out of the way repertoire. Under John Berry ENO are creating a distinctive personality for themselves, but it is still a long way from what our National opera ought to be doing

On Wednesday we heard a preview the programme for Charles Owen's Wigmore Hall recital which takes place on Wed 21st April. He opened with a strong account of Bach's 4th Partita, following it with three Faure Barcarolles (Nos. 1, 4 and 5) and Debussy's Images, series one (Reflets dans l'eau, Hommage a Rameau, Mouvement. An exuberant account of Brahms's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel concluded a meaty and involving programme.

New season at Covent Garden

The programme for the Royal Opera's 2010/11 season has been announced. The new productions certainly cover an interesting range. Agostino Steffani's Niobe makes its UK debut in a production from the 2008 Schwetzingen Festival. Steffani was an older contemporary of Handel's. Steffani was Kapellmeister at the Hanoverian court and may have been responsible for Handel getting his job there. Niobe was first produced, in Munich, in 1688. The Covent Garden production will include Veronique Gens as Niobe and a Polish high counter-tenor, Jacek Laszczkowski as Anfione.

Receiving its first production at Covent Garden since 1902 is Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. The title role requires a real diva and Covent Garden have engaged the services of the diva du jour, Angela Gheorghiu, with Jonas Kauffman as Maurizio. David McVicar produces and Mark Elder conducts. Certainly an unmissable evening.

Another rarity, Massenet's Cendrillon is receiving its first ever Covent Garden production, with a fabulously enticing cast. Alice Coote as the Prince, Joyce DiDonato as Cendrillon and Eglise Gutierrez as the Fairy Godmother. Betrand de Billy conducts and Laurent Pelly produces.

Just as rare, but in a rather different style is Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride. Mark Elder conducts again and Paul Curran makes his debut as director with the Royal Opera. The cast is mainly Russian and includes Marina Poplavskaya, who made an impression as Elisabeth in Don Carlo.

The final new production is Wagner's Tannhauser with Johan Botha and Eva-Maria Westbroek. Semyon Bychkov conducts with Tim Albery directing. This is the first time the opera has been given at Covent Garden since 1987, when Gwynneth Jones sang Elisabeth. Its not my favourite Wagner opera, but its rarity makes it unmissable.

There is actually one other new production, this time of a new opera. Mark Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole. The libretto is by Richard Thomas, one of the creators of Jerry Springer the Opera. Richard Jones directs, with Eva Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole, Antonio Pappano conducts. Promises to be an interesting evening.

Over in the Linbury there are two further premieres. ETO bring Alexander Goehr's new opera Promised End, based on King Lear. Another unmissable evening. And James MacMillan is developing a new opera for the Linbury in May 2011.

As regards revivals, we have Charles Mackerras conducting Don Pasquale and Hansel and Gretel, with Christine Rice and Ailish Tynan in the title roles. Simon Keenlyside makes his debut as Macbeth, certainly an interesting piece of casting. McVicar's Aida returns with Roberto Alagna as Radames (memories of his Milan walk-out well behind him I hope). Ben Heppner is heading a revival of Peter Grimes (perhaps I'll like the production a little more this time). And Rolando Villazon and Sophie Koch appear in Werther, at least we hope that Villazon will appear. And it will be lovely to hear a native French speaker as Charlotte.

Recent CD Reviews

Two re-issues today.

My review of a disc of Cistercian plainchant from the Heinrich Isaac ensemble is here.
Striking and very attractive ...

And my review of a recital of arias by Donizetti and Bellini from Raul Gimenez is here. Both reviews on MusicWeb International.
Gimenez brings considerable vocal ability, variety and intelligence to these arias ...

Review of the Chapelle du Roi

My review of the Chapelle du Roi's Tenebrae concert from St. John's Smith Square last week is now here, on Music and Vision.

Review of Les Troyen in Amsterdam

To Amsterdam for a rather wet weekend which culminated in the first night of Berlioz's Les Troyens performed by the Netherlands Opera at het muziektheater in Amsterdam on 4th April 2010. We missed Pierre Audi's production when it was new in 2003 and so welcomed the opportunity to see the revival.

The production had sets designed by George Tsypin (with costumes by Andrea Schmidt-Futterer). For the first two acts (the Troy acts) Tsypin's set was based around three horizontal bars across the stage, each made from a different colour of moulded, scupted translucent glass like substance. These formed both backdrops to the action as well as being substantial enough to form platforms for the action. The three platforms moved up and down as well as tilting, moving back and forth. The back drop was an abstract projection. Initially the colour scheme was relatively pale colours, which were off-set by the black worn by the Trojans. The only strong colour was the red on Cassandra's cloak. Eventually the colour red starts to see in, as it became identified with the Greeks. The Trojan horse when it appeared (as a head which descended down from above) was suffused with red and this colour took over the the whole production by the time the Trojan women committed suicide in Act 2.

For the remaining 3 acts the horizontal glass bars became vertical items which punctuated the set. The base colours remained pale, particularly because the Carthiginians wore pale cream/beige outfits.

The opera opened with the chorus of Trojans arrayed on the platforms, providing not a dynamic, vigorous stage image, but a rather stylised static one. The use of the chorus remained very static, providing stylised images which were emphasised by the use of co-ordinated movement and hand gestures.

The first two acts were very much Cassandre's story and she was on-stage for virtually all the time (except for the opening scene of Act 2 when the ghost of Hector appears to Enee). Cassandre was played by the Dutch dramatic soprano Eva Maria Westbroek, making her role debut. Westbroek's Cassandre was a tortured, rather witch doctor-like figure, sung with a beautiful flexible tone. Westbroek wasn't a huge voiced, dominating singer, instead she was more subtle and sympathetic. Though I must admit that there were moments when I would have liked more edge to the tone. She was beautifully partnered by the Chorebe of Jean-Francois Lapointe. Not only was Lapointe a native French speaker, but he sang Chorebe with nicely focussed tone, without the over emphasis on dramatic vibrato which I have found in other recent performances.

This wasn't a performance which was about big dramatic voices. In the pit conductor John Nelson kept things under control and emphasised subtlety rather than bombast. This was particularly noticeable in the casting of Enee, sung by the American lyric tenor Bryan Hymel. Frankly, Hymel seemed to find Enee's opening scenes no easier than other bigger voiced tenors. His lyric flexibility was welcome, but his upper notes rather lacked freedom.

For the processing of the Trojan treasures, we were introduced to the besuited, bald rather odd looking dancers and actors who popped up rather too much in the opera. But it must be admitted that for the dance movements in Act 1, Amir Hosseinpour and Jonathan Lunn's choreography fitter rather well.

By the first interval (end of the Trojan acts) the production had made a strong impression, and we looked forward to how the remaining acts would play out.

For Act 3, Didon (Yvonne Naef) was rather formally dressed with a huge fur coat (strange for North-African Carthage) and her hair up, the chorus seated all expecting to watch to dancing. Unfortunately, the danced parts of the Carthage acts rather let the production down. In Act 3, truncated parts of the horizontal glass bars became bases on which the dancers appeared, their dancing seeming not related to Berlioz's scenario and frankly rather risible.

Things improved with the appearance of the Trojans, which upped the dramatic impetus. One of the big positive things about Audi's production was that he dramatised what Berlioz gave him rather than inventing extra details. This gave the production rather a fine clarity, singers appeared and disappeared according to the requirements of the music rather than Audi inventing extra details. Another big advantage was the way that Audi and Tsypin use the various platforms and the stage's lift, to keep the action moving. Scenes flowed naturally into each other without long waits.

Things went a bit awry again at the opening of Act 4 in the Royal Hunt and Storm. The scenario was not quite that which Berlioz intended, but might have worked had not Audi and Tsypin decided to turn the more dramatic sections into a son et lumiere involving the whole scenery (certainly striking, but lacking dramatic clarity). For the duet between Anna (Charlotte Hellekant) and Narbal (Alistair Miles), we were again back on track.

But then. Audi's intention was obviously to focus attention on Didon, just the way attention focussed on Cassandre in Acts 1 and 2. For the remaining dance movements of Act 4, the drama was refocussed as a dream of Didon's. This might have worked but I found the choreography rather less than enlightening and at times risible. Then with the conclusion of the danced portions, Audi's dramaturgical clarity returned.

In some productions I have found that the directors need to invent extra action rather ruins these closing moments of Act 4. Instead, Audi brought on singers when needed by Berlioz and the results were musically and dramaturgically convincing.

At first Yvonne Naef had seemed a rather stiff Didon, with some problems in her upper voice. But by the end of Act 4 both she and Hymel had warmed up. Audi's staging of the concluding duet wasn't quite magical, but it worked. And allowed Hymel and Naef to give of their musical best.

The dramaturgical strength of the production continued into Act 5 and Audi seemed to completely re-gain the momentum from Acts 1 and 2, with Tsypin's scenery becoming a series of broken spaces in which the action takes place. Hymel seemed to draw strength as the drama progressed and his Enee was ultimately everything you might desire. The lyric nature of Hymel's voice, which had proved limiting at first, was musically a strong feature of the final act.

Similarly Naef's Didon seemed to relax as the acts progressed. Her upper register became more flexible, less stressed and she became a noble and moving Didon. Perhaps not the finest Didon that I have seen, but a very notably one; noble of bearing, and all the more heart-breaking when she collapses at the end.

Charlotte Hellekant was a flirtatious, suitably contrasting Anna. Alistair Miles did not seem entirely comfortable as Narbal, it didn't seem to suit that cut of his voice the way the role works for a bass like Robert Lloyd. Greg Warren, as Iopas, had a rather too high-tension voice for the role, which needs a greater degree of lyric beauty than he could provide. But Sebastien Droy as Hylas provided all the lyric beauty required in his solo.

Conductor John Nelson included the Sinon episode in Act 1, but made no significant changes to Act 5 as John Eliot Gardiner did at the Chatelet in 2003. Nelson's conducting was exemplary, he and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra gave a fine performance and provided strong support to the singers.

This wasn't the best Les Troyens that I've ever seen. But it was certainly the most dramatic and the most brilliantly designed. For most of the production, Audi's personen-regie brought a clarity to the piece which was enviable. Though it has to be admitted that there were moments, especially towards the end, when it was a production about (rather than of) Les Troyens, there were just too many moment which lacked dramaturgical clarity and you wondered what on earth was going on, this applied not so much to the singers as to the actors and dancers. It worked best if you knew the opera well. This wasn't a production for the faint hearted, but it was certainly stunning to look at and highly intelligent.

Recent CD Review

A pair of rather different CD's reviewed. First off contemporary music, by Christopher Roberts, for the ancient Chinese instrument, the Qin. The review is here.

For those inclined to explore - do try this evocative disc …

Then a re-issue of Jordi Savall's 2001 recording of Vivaldi's Farnace; review is here. Both reviews on MusicWeb International.

Three hours of top quality Vivaldi ...

Review of The Cunning Little Vixen

It seems amazing that Covent Garden's production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen is 20 year's old. Bill Bryden's production seemed fresh and charming when it was new and, remarkably, it has still preserved these qualities despite the fact that William Dudley's sets have rather a lot of moving parts.

Dudley's designs are highly mechanistic, but very evocative, and it can be argued that Bryden's production is a little too anthropomorphic (plus it relies a little too much on cute children). For me it contains one of the most memorable scenes in any staging of the opera, when the Spirit of the Vixen appears on a trapeze outlined against the moon and the starry sky.

The interest in this revival wasn't just that fact that it remains one of my all time favourite productions of the opera, but also that Sir Charles Mackerras was at the helm. His first time conducting the opera at Covent Garden. Despite apparent frailty (he stayed in the pit for the whole time and took his bow from there), his account of the opera was masterly, warm, transparent and vibrant.

The Forester was sung by Christopher Maltman with his characteristic charm and frankness. His final scene didn't quite reach the mystical element that I've experienced in other performances, but Maltman's warmth and directness were winning.

As the Vixen, Emma Matthew's displayed a spunky charm and worked very hard, but it cannot be denied that her voice was a size too small for the Covent Garden. There is always a tendency to cast the Vixen as a soprano with a slightly too small voice. But in this case, even Mackerras's sympathetic accompaniment couldn't disguise the problem.

Emma Bell was supposed to sing the Fox but she was ill so her place was gamely taken by Elisabeth Meister who turned in a fine performance, though her costume was hardly flattering. The remainder of the cast were all Covent Garden regulars with Jeremy White as the Badger and the Priest, Elizabeth Sikora as the Innkeeper's wife, Alasdair Elliot as the Innkeeper and Robin Leggate as the Mosquito and the Schoolmaster. Amazingly this was Leggate's 900th performance at Covent Garden. Matthew Rose made a welcome appearance as Harasta the Poacher.

The orchestra played finely under Mackerras's direction, making the orchestral interludes a delight to hear.

Review of Katya Kabanova

My review of Katya Kabanova at the London Coliseum is here, on Music and Vision (subscription site). We saw the opera on Saturday, which was its last night. As the production is a co-production with the Teatr Weikli in Poland, the rear of the London Coliseum Theatre was crowded not by the usual trucks, but by Polish ones waiting to whisk the production off there.

It is something of Janacek occasion at the moment, last night we attended The Cunning Little Vixen at Covent Garden with Sir Charles Mackerras in the pit. Monday's performance represented Robin Leggate's 900th performance at Covent Garden.

PayPal Pain again

We use PayPal on the Spherical Editions web site (which sells my music) to take payments for music. It is very convenient for on-line sales, but every so often there is a blip and the accompanying email either goes astray or gets eaten by my anti-virus software. This means that we get an embarrassing email from someone who has bought music but which has failed to arrive. Ah, the joys of technology!

Bach Arias at the Barbican

On Tuesday we were back at the Barbican for a concert by the Munich Chamber Orchestra under their conductor Alexander Liebreich with soprano Mojca Erdmann (replacing an ill Christine Schäfer), baritone Matthias Goerne and violinist Hilary Hahn. Their concert was based around performances of J.S. Bach's arias for voice with violin obligato, taken from the cantatas, the Mass in B minor and the St Matthew Passion. To these, the orchestra added orchestra movements from suites by J.S. Bach and by his son C.P.E Bach.

The first half started with a sinfonia by C.P.E. Bach, followed by 3 arias from J.S. Bach, then another C.P.E Bach sinfonia and a further 3 J.S. Bach arias. The second half was similar in construction, except that the orchestra items were by J.S. Bach and there were two duets. This probably looked good on paper. But, rather than simply sitting to the side, the soloists were absent from the platform during the orchestral items. This mean that a relatively short concert was padded out rather over much with a great deal of walking to and fro by the soloists (to applause by the audience).

Yet again I was frustrated that an intelligent concert programme was spoiled by the presentation. The whole evening had the aura of a small scale recital for the Wigmore Hall which had been expanded to fit the Barbican. This feeling was intensified by the fact that all the cantata arias, and the two duets, were accompanied by just Hilary Hahn's violin and the continuo group. So that excellent Munich Chamber Orchestra spent quite a lot of time sitting doing nothing.

That said, there was some lovely singing and playing. Goerne was wonderful in the bass ariaJa Ja, Ich Halte Jesum feste from Cantata BWV 157, but elsewhere he seemed restless on stage when not actually singing. His duet with Mojca Erdmann from Cantata BWV 140 was truly ravishing. The evening closed with another duet, from Cantata BWV 158, which meant that the orchestra didn't actually play in the last item!

One curiosity was the soprano version of Erbarme dich from the St. Matthew Passion in Mendelssohn's arrangement.

The orchestra brought on the oboist Claire Sirijacobs in the final duet and the flautist Henrik Wiese in two items including a movement from Bach's Suite No. 2. One fascinating curiosity was that Wiese played in a dog collar and so is, presumably, an ordained clergyman!

Recent CD Review

My review of Dido and Aeneas with Della Jones as Dido is here, on MusicWeb International.

A good, solidly intelligent and musical account ...

Plans

The latest issue of Opera magazine contains initial information about next season's plans from Opera North and Welsh National Opera, plus snippets of info about Covent Garden and ENO's plans.

Opera North are doing a season which includes the traditional favourites of Carmen, The Merry Widow and Fidelio, but also include Janacek's From the House of the Dead and Jonathan Dove's rather wonderful The Adventures of Pinocchio. They start their semi-staged Ring cycle with Das Rheingold. But the great rarity is The Portrait by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, the Polish born composer who spent much of his life in Moscow and was a friend of Shostakovich's. The Portrait was written in 1980 and is based on Gogol.

Over at WNO, the season includes plenty of old favourites: Fidelio, The Magic Flute, Cosi van Tutte, Die Fledermaus and Il Trovatora. But for novelties, we must be content with Ariadne auf Naxos (with Orla Boylan and Sarah Connolly in a production by Neil Armfeld) and Turandot (in a production by Christopher Alden).

Over at Covent Garden, it seems that Tim Albery will be directing a new Tannhäuser conducted by Semyon Bychkov. Its a long time since their last production of the opera so this outing is more than welcome. And Paul Curran will be doing a new production of Rimsky Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride.

More Wagner at the London Coliseum as ENO are reviving their production of Parsifal directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Stuart Skelton (who sang in their recent Peter Grimes) will sing the title role with John Tomlinson as Gurnemanz, and Irene Theorin as Kundry, conducted by Mark Wrigglesworth. I must confess that the production did not much appeal to me last time I saw it, but the cast sounds very promising.

Choir of Trinity College at the Cadogan Hall

On Thursday we were at the Cadogan Hall for a concert by the choir of Trinity College, Cambridge conducted by their director Stephen Layton. The choir is a mixed one, with female sopranos, female and male altos, and numbers some 30 singers, mostly undergraduates at the college (some looking alarmingly young).

The group made a lovely clear, light transparent sound. I wanted a bit more weight in Bach's Komm, Jesu, komm where the light textures and Layton's speeds combined to make the work tell less than usual. But the group of early English motets from Tallis, Parsons and Bird seemed to suit the choir's style better. However, I thought that they seemed most at home in the final item in the first half, Stanford's three Latin motets (Justorum Animae, Beati quorum via and Coelos ascendit hodie). These were actually written for Trinity Choir (presumably when it had boys on the top line) and seemed to find the young singers most at home in Stanford's style.

In the second half we had an interesting and attractive group of 20th century pieces, concentrating on the Baltic and Poland. Arvo Pärt's Bogoroditse Djevo found him in rather lively mood. John Tavener's contemplative Mother of God here I stand comes from his mammoth Veil of the Temple which Layton premiered with the Temple Choir. Then Urmas Sisask's dynamic and lively Benedictio where the choir obviously enjoyed Sisask's jazzy rhythms and they made light of the trickiness of the piece. Pavel Lukaszewski's Ave Maria and Vytautas Miskinis's Angelis suis Deus completed the Baltic/Polish group.

Then followed two movements from Morten Lauridsen's Nocturnes. The choir obviously enjoyed performing the music and it is well crafted, but frankly it sounded just like quite a few other Lauridsen pieces. Gustav Holst's Nunc Dimittis was an austere relief. Finally we had Eric Whitacre's rather lovely Sleep.

Stainer Archive

For most people, if John Stainer's name means anything it is as the composer of the Victorian war-horse The Crucifixion, though that work has had its reputation improved in recent years. Now there is a Stainer Archive at Durham University, donated by his descendants.

If nowadays he is associated with a few hymns and cantatas, Stainer had an enormous influence on Anglican church music and was responsible for the improvement in standards and quality of the music. Durham are planning an exhibition timed to coincide with the 170th anniversary of Stainer's birth in June this year.

Recent CD Reviews

A whole clutch of my CD reviews has appeared this week. My review of Gaspard Corrette's Messe du 8e ton is here, a fascinating reconstruction of mass from an 18th century abbey.
Charm, vividness and vitality ...

And my review of Thomas Tallis's Secret Garden is here.
An interesting experiment, recording Tallis's pieces as if they were vocal chamber music ...

An a modern instrument account of Bach's Christmas Oratorio is here.
This intelligent modern instrument performance has much to recommend it …

And finally a disc of 17th century choral music from Poland, by a composer new to me, Mikolaj Zielinski; reviewed here. All the reviews are on MusicWeb International.
A disc that all lovers of 17th century choral music will want to have …

Review of Don Pasquale

My review of Donizetti's Don Pasquale from English Touring Opera is now on-line here, at Music and Vision Daily (subscription site).

Mahler 10 from the Salomon Orchestra

To St John's Smith Square last night for the Salomon Orchestra's performance of Mahler's 10th Symphony in the completion by Deryck Cooke. The orchestra were directed by Nicholas Collon.

I must confess that Mahler isn't central to my listening and going to hear Mahler symphonies live is quite a rare occurrence. But I find the 10th symphony a fascinating work. To a certain extent this represents interest in Cooke's restoration as much as the music itself. But there is a great deal of Mahler in the symphony (far more Mahler than Cooke thankfully) and it is also interesting to hear the way Mahler is pushing himself in other, harder directions. The symphony seems rather tauter than some of the earlier rather sprawling full evening works and you can't help but wonder where Mahler's genius would have taken him had he lived.

St. John's Smith Square was very full, both with a packed audience and a packed orchestra (quadruple woodwind for a start). Under Collon's apparently relaxed direction the orchestra turned in a strong, mature performance. Along the way there were moments when Mahler's exposed writing rather over exposed the orchestra. But they managed well in the Lewis Carroll moments ('two contradictory things before breakfast'), and in the final movement all came together memorably and movingly. There was some good solo playing and some sterling work from the first trumpet.

Collon directed the orchestra confidently but without over heating and in a space as small as St. John's, every gesture told.

On Wednesday we were privileged to hear a preview of Kathleen Broderick and Sergey Rybin's recital which they will be giving at St. John's Smith Square, on Tuesday 23rd March. The imaginative programme pairs Grieg's opus 48 songs (setting German texts), with a group of Tchaikovsky songs (including the well known 'In the midst of the ball'), and Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with Debussy's Proses Lyriques. Whilst Grieg and Tchaikovsky were friends and admired each other's music, the link between Debussy and Mussorgsky is less obvious. But Debussy was employed by Tchaikovsky's patron, Madame von Meck, to teach her daughters and whilst Debussy and Tchaikovsky never met at the time, it is now thought that Debussy was introduced to Russian music and the music of Mussorgsky and knew the Songs and Dances of Death. Broderick is an ex-Kathleen Ferrier Award winner and made a strong impression as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with British Youth Opera 3 years ago. She is definitely a talent to watch.

MacMillan Passion again

On Sunday we went to the Barbican to hear James MacMillan's St. John Passion, which we first heard at its première 2 years ago. It was performed by the same forces; Christopher Maltman and the LSO conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

On second hearing the piece remains as powerful and as astonishing as on first hearing. What came over was the variety of textures that MacMillan uses in the piece. This variety arises partly because of the decisions MacMillan has taken about the allocation of the text. The Evangelist's part is sung by a semi-chorus, the Narrator choir, which sings unaccompanied or only lightly accompanied, in a generally homophonic style which is highly inflected by Gregorian chant. It is a style which you find in some of MacMillan's sacred music, one both very personal and highly evocative.

Christus is sung by the baritone solo, Christopher Maltman. For Christ's shorter, more gnomic pronouncements, MacMillan gives the baritone long, melismatic lines and uses the capabilities of a dramatic, operatic soloist to enable him to give the part with a strong orchestral accompaniment. MacMillan solves the problem of Christ disappearing from the narrative towards the end, by appending to the text the Good Friday Reproaches, so that the Christ has a satisfyingly substantial solo towards the end of the piece.

The remaining text from the Gospel is sung by the main choir, the LSO Chorus. The size of the choir means that MacMillan can write large scale, dramatic music with strong (loud) orchestral accompaniment in a way that would not be possible if he was using soloists. The result is highly dramatic, non-naturalistic and very loud; especially when as sung as thrillingly as it was here.

At the end of each section of the Gospel narrative, MacMillan appends a Latin text which relates to what has gone before and uses this text to give the large choir a motet which comments on and relates to the narrative. Here the large choir also sing in a style which relates to MacMillan's other sacred music.

Throughout the piece the orchestra are a large component of the action but at the end, in the final movement, they play alone to provide a moving summation to the action. All in all, a powerful and moving piece, one that is profoundly satisfying.

Recent CD Reviews

My review of Anne Schwanewilms recording of Messiaen's Peomes pour Mi is here.

Ideally placed to enable people to experiment and try the repertoire …

And that of Carol Farley singing Milhaud songs is here.

This disc is worth a try but you may long for a different type of performance ...

And my review of Rebel and Francouer's opera-ballet Zelindor is here; all reviews on MusicWeb International.

Successfully evokes the charm and shallowness of Louis XV's Versailles ...

London Handel Festival

On Friday we were at St. George's Hanover Square again for another concert with the London Handel Festival. This time it was Southbank Sinfonia Baroque. The Southbank Sinfonia are a training ensemble of young UK music graduates. The Sinfonia provides an intensive 32 week orchestral apprenticeship. They are based at St. John's Church, Waterloo and do regular rush-hour concerts there. The ensemble is a modern instrument one but the concert on Friday was the result of a week of workshops with Adrian Butterfield; the strings played using gut strings and with baroque bows. The results were creditable and rather stylish. The first half included Corelli's Concerto Grosso Opus 6, No. 11 and a suite from Rameau's Pygmalion, plus an overture by Arne and Vivaldi's Concerto con molti stromenti RV577 which gave many of the string and wind players chance to shine.

In the second half conductor Michael Berman took over. Berman directs the choir Vox Music and they provided the vocal resources for a lively performance of Handel's Dixit Dominus. The soprano solo was sung by Grace Davidson, with the remaining soloists coming from the choir. The choir sopranos seemed to find the upper ranges of the soprano line a little of a strain and the choir's attack wasn't as crisp as it could have been. But all in all it was an enjoyable performance.