Steffani's Niobe at Covent Garden

Agostino Steffani was born some 30 years before Handel. A native of Italy but with a career based in Germany, he wrote a body of operas for the courts of Munich and Hanover before devoting his life to diplomacy and the church. Handel knew him and admired his music; Steffani may have helped get Handel his first job in Hanover.

Steffani's operas mix Italian and French styles. His training took him to Italy but he spent time in France absorbing the local musical mores; so that many of his arias utilise French dance forms. Covent Garden's production of Steffani's Niobe (written 1688) was designed by Raimund Bauer and Andrea Schmidt-Futterer, directed by Lukas Hemleb; it was originally seen at the Schwetzingen Festival and is being seen in a revised version at Covent Garden and Luxembourg. Thomas Hengelbrock directed his own period instrument ensemble the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble in the pit.

The problem with Niobe was simply its length. Act 1 lasted 85 minutes. Acts 2 and 3 had been cut so that combined they lasted 95 minutes. But, as far as I could tell, the cuts almost rendered the drama incoherent and reminded me of some of the drastic, drama inhibiting pruning that happened to some of Handel's later librettos. In the event, the evening started at 6.30pm, and finished at 9.4pm, so Covent Garden should have had the courage of their convictions and given us a 2nd interval and 20 minutes more music.

Steffani's arias are generally short and frequent (around 60 in a typical opera). His orchestration is lively and interesting, keeping the textures varied and moving. His operas need display, but his music matches this in inspiration so I was constantly being surprised and charmed.

A contributing factor to the opera's length was the sheer number of characters. They divided into three distinct groups, whose interactions fluctuated during the evening.

First there was Anfione, King of Thebes (Jacek Lazsczkowski) and his wife Niobe (Veronique Gens). Anfione has decided to retire from ruling and brings in Clearte (Tim Mead) to help Niobe rule. Clearte has been hiding in the wilds trying to forget his love for Niobe. Niobe's nurse Nerea (Delphine Galou) was the only comic character, injecting wry comments into the proceedings.

Then there was Tiberino (Lothar Odinius), son of the King of Alba and general he-man and warrior, who intends to attack Thebes. He kills a monster thus saving the life of Manto (Amanda Forsythe), priestess of Latona and daughter of Tiresia (Bruna Taddia), blind seer and high priest of Latona.

Finally there is the magician Poliferno (Alastair Miles), whose sister and brother-in-law were the previous King and Queen of Thebes and were killed by Anfione. Poliferno wants to be revenged on Anfione so he uses his black arts on Creonte, Prince of Thessaly (Iestyn Davies) so that Creonte desires Niobe and will do anything to get her.

Tiberino and Manto spent the entire opera havering before declaring their love. After Niobe and Anfione, Tiberino and Manto got the other significant share of air time and, frankly, we rather got tired of them and longed for them to get on with it. Similarly Clearte never does tell Niobe of his love for her.

In one astonishing scene, Anfione in retreat in the Palace of Harmony sings hauntingly of the music of the spheres, here Lazsczkowski's high counter-tenor, Steffani's gorgeous music and Bauer's designs combined into something special. Then, when Tiberino attacks Thebes, Anfione's singing raises Thebes walls.

In Act 2 Poliferno's arts create an artificial heaven (more stage spectacular) and he disguises Creonte as Mars so he can seduce Niobe - cue for more lovely music combining with spectacular stage pictures.

When order is restored, Tiberino and Manto give thanks to the goddess Latone (no, given that Tiberino was attacking Thebes, I've no idea how he comes to be celebrating his marriage in Thebes). In a fit of amazing hubris, Niobe declares that Latone's shrine should be pulled down and that people should revere her and Anfione as gods on earth. In retribution the Gods bring down fire and kill Niobe's children, Anfione commits suicide as a result. Niobe's tears flow and she turns to stone. Cleonte banishes Poliferno and becomes king of Thebes.

So, are you still with me?

Veronique Gens was a wonderful Niobe, definitely worth the visit just for her. Initially she seemed the heroine, in love with her husband and children. But we gradually detect other aspects to the character including her hubris and pride. Furious as being duped by Poliferno's magic, Gens conveyed the myriad facets of the character, though never made her likeable.

As her husband, Anfione, Lazsczkowski sang with a voice which went up beyond the stave. A remarkable voice, the very upper register was clear, pure and rather alarming, but the middle was cloudy and rather hollow and badly integrated to his chesty lower voice. In the high, lyrical passages you could be entrance, but in the lower lying dialogues and the faster bravura sections, he was less than impressive. Typically such high lying flasetto voices are not large and it was to Lazsczkowski's credit that, at his best, he filled the hall with such beauty.

Tim Mead's Clearte was a semi-comic role, as his character had to spend the opera never quite daring to tell Niobe that he loved her. Odinius's Tiberino was presented as a simple strong man (and he seemed to have no visible army). He and Amanda Forsythe were charming and lovely at first, but frankly I got a bit fed up with them. Taddia's playing of the blind Tiresia was impressive, combining a fine passionately focussed voice with an impressive ability to walk into furniture.

I did wonder whether Nerea should have been played by a man; if this had been a Venetian opera then she would have been. Anyway Delphine Galou was suitably acerbic and amusingly pert in the role, puncturing posturing nicely.

Alistair Miles and Iestyn Davies seemed to suffer rather in the costume department and Poliverno's magic seemed to consist of a giant amorphous blob which followed him about. Still, Davies got to sing a beautiful scene with Gens and he came out on top at the end.

Steffani's operas call for lots of stage effects. Hemleb and Bauer created some brilliant ones in a modern idiom. Good use was made of a mirrored back-drop which created some beautiful effects. This was a staging which was a feast for the eyes but you never felt that Hemleb was struggling to find another trick in order to keep us entertained. The production flowed nicely and Hemleb wasn't afraid of doing nothing. Moments like Anfione's moving scene when he thinks he has lost Niobe were played on a bare open stage.

After the unimpressive Tamerlano earlier this year, it was good to see and hear a baroque opera done well at Covent Garden. Crucially Hemleb kept his singers well forward at all important moments, there was not question here of the set swallowing sound. My only real complaint about the production (cutting apart) was that Hemleb seemed to have ignored the French influence in the piece. There were many moments when Steffani's music seemed to call for dance, real formal dancing, and this was not provided. Instead we had a couple of quasi-comic dance interludes which seemed entirely wrong in tone.

I can't say I found Niobe a forgotten masterpiece. But it was certainly a fascinating and important work, one I would love to encounter again.

The Makropoulos Case at the London Coliseum

I was less than completely taken with Christopher Alden's production of Janaceck's The Makropoulos Case at the London Coliseum when it was new in 2006. Alden was on hand to rehearse this first revival of the production (seen 24/09/2010) and I don't think any major changes had been made. But a different cast combined with my own familiartiy with the staging seemed to combine to form a rather stronger, positive impression.

Amanda Roocroft was astonishing as Emilia Marty. Wearing a bobbed wig and dark glasses for her first entry she was almost unrecognisable. Her E.M. was at times closer to Lulu, brightly toned, accurately sung and sexily amoral. No ageless beauty, but a chic, sexy and entirely selfish and thoughtless creation. Musically Roocroft's E.M. seemed far more accurate and controlled than Cheryl Barker (who sang the role when the production was new). The moment when she first says her real name, Elina Makropoulos, was ravishing and the closing section had real beauty and power.

As Albert Gregor, Peter Hoare looked rather non-descript but sang with power, accuracy and clarity; conveying Gregor's obsession with E.M. without sounding demented from the outset. The remaining cast were equally strong, forming a fine ensemble Andrew Shore was a bluff Kolenaty, bringing a touch of warmth to the lawyer's dry asperity. Ashley Holland's strong stage presence gave suitable gravitas to Prus, even when he was stripped down to his underwear at the opening of Act 2.

Characters like Janek (Christopher Turner), Vitek (Alasdair Elliott) and Kristina (Laura Mitchell) have only a few short moments to make their mark, but this they did. Veteran tenor Ryland Davies gave a superb cameo as the elderly Hauk-Sendorf, rembering his youthful fling with E.M.

The Makropoulos Case is a strange and wonderful opera, highly compressed (each act lasting only 30 minutes) and very conversational, until the closing scene. But with an unusal and fascinating heroine whose lovely exterior conceils a heart of ice. Roocroft and Alden created for us an E.M. who did excercise this fascination, not as a cool icy character, but one who is tantalisingly amoral and heedless of others.

This performance did begin to match the performances I witnessed in the 1970's with Catherine Wilson and Elisabeth Söderström in the title role. For me these 1970's performances remain a touchstone in this opera.

Sir Richard Armstrong was in the pit. He and the ENO orchestra gave a dashing account of the score.

It is strange the way that this opera has been relatively neglected in London in the last few decades. ENO's production was welcome when it was new and more than welcome on its return. I must confess that I still find the production too cool and expressionist but I am coming to warm to it.

SERAFIN STRING QUARTET

The Serafin String Quartet are making their London debut tonight, at St. Johns Smith Square with an interesting programme which includes William Grant Still's "Danzas de Panama", the London premiere of Jennifer Higdon's "Amazing Grace" as well as Barber's Adagio and Dvorak's American Quartet

Music from the Genome

Tonight at 10.30pm, BBC Radio 3 will be broadcasting a recording of a concert by the New London Chamber Choir. The choir will be performing Tallis's 40 part motet Spem in Alium alongside other contemporary 40 part motets by Gabriel Jackson and Michael Zev Gordon. Zev Gordon's piece Allele is inspired by the human genome - sounds fascinating

Kings Head to opera house

Adam Spreadbury-Maher, who has presented a chamber version of La Boheme at the Cock Tavern, where he is artistic director, became artistic director of the Kings Head in Islington earlier this year. He has announced that the Kings Head will be become a Little Opera House, producing small scale fringe productions of opera, opera up close. Plans for the new season include versions of Madam Butterfly and The Barber of Seville plus opera by Philip Glass. Playwright, Mark Ravenhill is associate artistic director; Ravenhill's first venture into opera was heard his summer at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival

Emmanuel Despax

On Sunday we were at the Wigmore Hall for a recital by Emmanuel Despax. In a generous and wide-ranging programme, Despax gave us and exciting and technically demanding programme. He started with a pair of Bach transcriptions, Busoni's Chorale prelude: Ich ruf'zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ and Myra Hess's Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring. These were followed by a stirring performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Despax is one of those pianists who has an ability to play loudly whilst retaining subtlety, his performance had this quality in spades. It lacked the raw power and earthiness that can be brought to the piece; Despax's Pictures were highly sophisticated, but powerful nonetheless.

The second half started with a beautifully modulated account of Chopin's Barcarolle in F sharp minor. This was followed by the same composers 12 Etudes Opus 10. I must confess that I have never heard all 12 Etudes played continuously as a concert piece and in Despax's hands this worked well. His technical facility was admirable, though one or two of the early studies remained firmly rooted in the technical study. But gradually, the poetic nature of Chopin's inspiration took hold till we concluded with a bravura performance of the Revolutionary Study.

Anniversaries

BBC Radio 3 are celebrating the anniversaries of Rutland Boughton and Cecil Armstrong Gibbs next week. Paul Brough and the BBC Singers have recorded a series of items by the two composers which are being broadcast on Afternoon on 3 during the week. Rather tempting items include Boughton's Burglar Bill (!) and his cantata The City, which is evidently rather in post-Gerontius mode. For those, like me, who can't tune in live the programmes will be available on the web as well.

The Magi

London Concord Singers, conductor Malcolm Cottle will be premiering my cantata The Magi at their concert
on Thursday December 16th 2010 at the Grosvenor Chapel, London W1. Written for unaccompanied 8 part choir, the piece sets extracts from a sermon
preached by Lancelot Andrewes in 1622 (You can read the full sermon here). The sermon is perhaps best known as the inspiration behind T.S. Eliot's poem The Journey of the Magi, the opening lines of which are a direct quotation from Andrewes ('A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, just the worst time of the year to take a journey, and specially a long journey.'). Andrewes uses a lot of Latin tags in his sermon and this makes for a very rich (and at times diffuse) text. The work is divided into three movement, in each of which Andrewes considers a different aspect of the Magi's journey, so that in the 2nd movement it is the difficulty of the journey and the danger of the lands they are crossing and in the last it is the weather and the cold.

New Gabriel Jackson

Gabriel Jackson has a new piece being premiered by Red Note to open the 6th sound Festival in Aberdeen. Jackson's new work for strings is a joint commission from the Scottish contemporary music ensemble Red Note and sound festival. Jackson's piece is being given in a fascinating programme which includes Adams Shaker Loops and Gavin Bryars' Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet. The programme debuts in Aberdeen and then tours to Glasgow and Edinburgh. For those people living in the area, it will be a fascinating pairing of iconic pieces along with a welcome chance to hear Jackson in non-vocal mode.

Jigsaws

Following the performances of my opera this summer, I've ended up with a score covered in pencil marks, reflecting the ideas/changes/corrections which cropped up during the rehearsal period, plus musical clarifications from conductor David Roblou. Also Ian Caddy, the director of the staging (which premieres 31st March 2011), was present at the August performance and has come up with a number of ideas. These are designed to keep the drama flowing and correct the problems where tension sags. The trick is now to apply these cuts and changes to the score without losing the original structure. There are two sections based on a ground bass, which rather leaves little room for manoeuvre if you want to cut bars. Similarly there are other places where the accompaniment has musical and thematic reminiscences, so changes have to be clever. The other thing is, of course, that any change should feel like an improvement (or a movement in a particular direction) rather than change for changes sake. As we are staging the work for the first time, having just done it in concert, the revised version will be slightly less oratorio like in places, giving more scope for a fast paced, realistic drama. The revised score is still a work in progress but by the end of this month we should have something on which to base our staging.

Monteverdi Vespers at the Proms

On Friday we went to our final Prom to see John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, a work which Gardiner first conducted in 1964 and conducted it a the Proms in 1968. Gardiner performed the work as a concert piece, pretty much as printed, with no attempt at liturgical reconstruction, without transposing movements down and with quite large scale forces. The Monteverdi Choir numbered some 35 singers and they were joined by the London Oratorio Junior Choir and the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School.

Gardiner's speeds were quite spacious, so that the music had time to tell in the spaces of the Albert Hall. But the Vespers isn't all large scale music, a great deal of it is written for small forces, soloists accompanied by continuo, or choir and these worked well also. Gardiner used the space available, so that the echo effects came from the balcony, and the children's choir sang much of its contribution from there as well.

In fact, Gardiner's way with the music was positively Romantic at times, as he shaped paragraphs both in terms of speed and dynamics. But Gardiner has lived with the work a long time and the whole worked as one superb structure. It helped of course that he had the fine support of the Monteverdi choir producing some finely shaded singing. Generally I veer to the one voice per part school of thought in this style of music, but when the performance is as fine, and as well considered as then, then resistance crumbles. Solos were taken by members of the choir with some outstanding contributions from tenors Andrew Tortise and Peter Davorem and sopranos Emanuela Galli and Lenneke Ruiten.

Academically there is a strong case for performing the Magnificat transposed down. But, just like the Allegri Miserere, where I miss the top C in correct performances, even though I know it to be a modern creation; so with Monteverdi I love performances like this one, at high pitch with the bass duet rising to top F and the cornet soloists going to ultimate of their range.

Gardiner and his forces gave us a finely crafted and beautifully worked out performance which made the most of the venue, in terms of spacial placing and acoustics. Unlike some of the other period performances at the Proms, where I didn't feel the performances worked with the venue, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists gave us a stunning performance which was finely tailored to the venue. A very memorable last visit to this years Proms.

Talking Music

BBC Scotland have produced a rather interesting new series called Talking Music. Its a 4-part series which goes behind the scenes at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, which is celebrating its 75th birthday in December this year. It features interviews with conductors composers, players and visiting soloists plus rehearsal footage, giving an interesting inside view into the process of how concerts are made.

There are 4 episodes each one devoted to a particular theme: Conductors, Players, Composers, Soloists. People interviewed include Donald Runnicles, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan, Nicola Benedetti and Lisa Milne, along with the orchestras principle trumpet, 1st and 2nd violins plus a cello player who has been with the orchestra for 41 years.

The first episode is broadcast on BBC2 Scotland on Tuesday 14th September at 11.20pm, repeated 15th December 2.00pm, with subsequent episodes at the same time the following weeks. It is NOT being broadcast on UK BBC2 alas, so if you don't live in Scotland you will have to use BBC Iplayer to see the programme, or hope that the BBC see sense and broadcast the show on BB2 (or perhaps BBC4)

Prom 70

To the Albert Hall on Monday for the late night Prom, when French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky and Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux gave a programme of baroque arias, accompanied by Ensemble Matheus directed by Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Spinosi and his ensemble were making their Proms debut and when it came to the Albert Hall acoustic, Spinosi took no prisoners. He and Jaroussky opened with Empiro, diro, tu sei, from Handel's Giulio Cesare, taken at an alarming pace. Jaroussky has proved in the past that he can sing this type of music very fast and with great bravura, but there was a feeling that the notes from him and the ensemble somehow came so fast they just skated off the tricky acoustic. This was followed by an aria from Vivaldi's opera La fida ninfa, sung by Lemieux; in this Spinosi and his ensemble spun a magically fine web of notes that was, at times, barely audible.

After these two acoustic shocks, my ears gradually attuned and I came to enjoy the performances, though I still felt as if I was listening at the wrong of the telescope so to speak.

The full programme consisted of just the one Handel aria, one aria by Porpora, four arias by Vivaldi from both La fida ninfa and Orlando Furioso, including Orlando's mad scene. The evening concluded with a pair of duets by Vivaldi. Interpolated into this was Telemann's concerto in E minor for recorder and flute, and Vivaldi's Concerto in D major for two violins.

Though there were many good things in the concert, somehow it did not quite hang together as an event. Perhaps we should have had all Vivaldi arias, or a rather better balance between composers. And I couldn't help feeling that if Lemieux sang Orlando's mad scene from Vivaldi's opera, then Jaroussky should have given us Handel's version of the same event. The cohesiveness of the evening was not helped by the yawning gaps between pairs of arias, there seemed a lot of going on and off for the soloists. Groups could learn a lot from William Christie's programmes of baroque excerpts where all the singers stay on stage and items pass seamlessly from one to another.

The group's performing style is highly coloured, with Spinosi a hyperactive stage presence, this led to many moments when I found his technique over invasive and simply wanted him to let the music alone. This was particularly true in the recitative opening Orlando's mad scene where the double bass player providing the continuo seemed to be encouraged to play in as highly coloured and stylised manner.

The evening finished with a pair of duets by Vivaldi which were delightful musically, but Jaroussky and Lemieux were encouraged to camp things up. This was much enjoyed by the small-ish audience, but I kept feeling that less would have been more. Or perhaps it was just the late hour getting to me.

New Opera

New operas seem to be in the air, especially in smaller opera companies. All are coming to fruition whilst going through testing performances and workshops. Next month English Touring Opera kicks off its Autumn tour which includes the premiere of Promised End, Alexander Goehr's opera based on King Lear. The company workshopped the piece at Dartington early this year.

And Opera Circus have started a project called Naciketa, this is a work in progress and will lead to an opera by Nigel Osborne and Ariel Dorfman. They are giving 4 work in progress performances, starting on Sept 29th at Opera North in Leeds.
The child Naciketa poses death three questions about love, reconciliation and mortality, in a musical journey of hope.

Then Opera East are preparing the premier of Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness which they will be performing at the Linbury Theatre at Covent Garden in 2011. The opera, a chamber piece in 1 act, is based on Joseph Conrad's novel of the same name and the libretto is by Tom Phillips

Concert free for all?

If you read Jane Austen's novels or Mozart's letters it becomes clear that audiences at concerts were more animated than is allowed today. Austen talks of comings and goings, people explaining the music etc., and Mozart makes it clear that when they heard a passage they enjoyed, the audience felt free to applaud. Also, Haydn's symphonies with their commanding openings, were calls to attention for inattentive audiences.

Some of these attitudes survive today in the theatre. Ballet audiences feel free to applaud whenever they see something they like, whether the music stops or no. Similarly in Italy the practice of applauding (or booing arias), and repeating them as necessary, seems to have survived. The English habit of sitting on their hands throughout a symphony is gradually being eroded by American (I think?) habit of applauding each movement.

There is, of course, the world of a difference between interrupting a performance to show genuine appreciation and simply talking or fidgeting through inattention or boredom. To a certain extent, audience behaviour is conditioned by the location of the concert; venues like the Royal Festival Hall do not encourage people to wander about or stretch their legs. Whereas if you are in the Albert Hall during the Proms, a limited amount of movement is acceptable, and if you have a box all to yourself, then you can get away with all sorts of shenanigans.

Performing groups are worried that the constraints of a classical concert are preventing young people from coming. So groups experiment with other formats; concerts at the Round House, late night events at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The problem is mixing the two, as old fogies like me get rather comfortable with existing norms.

All this has popped into mind, because Jonathan Harvey has rather sparked a debate, but I'm rather with Fiona Maddocks in her comment in yesterday's Observer.

Coming in April

We now have a full complement of singers and band for the staging of my opera When a Man knows at the Bridewell Theatre in April 2011. Dario Dugandzic, Sarah Barham and John Beaumont will be repeating their roles and the Woman will be sung by soprano Zoe South. So I am now busy revising the score ready for the new performances.

Proms Saturday Matinee 5

To the Cadogan Hall on Saturday afternoon for the final Proms Saturday Matinee, given by the BBC Singers, the Arditti String Quartet and Endymion, conducted by David Hill. The concert had an old/new theme, in may ways similar to the Chapelle du Roi's concert at St. Johns Smith Square in December. BBC Singers and Endymion started with Judith Weir's All the Ends of the Earth, a wonderful piece which Weir bases on Perotin's Viderunt Omnes. Tenors and basses sing bits of Perotin, supported by harp and percussion, whilst sopranos and altos sing Weir's new composed music. I have heard the work before, when Hill and the BBC Singers did it at St. Giles Cripplegate and was pleased to renew acquaintance, though felt it a shame that we could not have heard the Perotin as well!

This was followed by the premiere of Thea Musgrave's Ithaca, a setting of an English translation of Cavafy's poem. Here the old/new reference was to the classical past and Musgrave created a wonderfully dramatic and quite dense piece, for unaccompanied chorus. One that I would want to hear again soon.

Bayan Northcott's Hymn to Cybele dated from the 1980's but was receiving its first performance at the Proms. Set for chorus, soloists, double bass and percussion, the text was based on Catullus and referred to a rather grisly episode where a young man, Attis, is drawn to the cult of Cybele and under the goddess's influence emasculates himself. Northcott's music rather reflected this, being quite dense and difficult.

Density continued to increase, with Brian Ferneyhough's Dum transisset I-IV for string quartet, played with devastating aplomb and accuracy by the Arditti String Quartet.

We then had John Taverner's Dum transisset sabbatum followed by Jonathan Holloway's setting of the same text. Both were written for a traditional cathedral choir, Holloway's piece for St. Paul's Cathedral Choir. In fact, the Holloway sounded quite challenging given its origins. I didn't quite feel that the BBC Singers had the purity of tone necessary to bring the music off, the sopranos and altos were certainly some way from boys and male altos.

This vocal difference was still noticeable in the Benedictus from Taverner's Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas. The passage In Nomine Domini from this gave rise to numerous English imitations and Gabriel Jackson's In Nomine Domini emulated this. It was commissioned to conclude this concert, so that Jackson (who is the new Associate composer of the BBC Singers), was obliged to use the full forces of the concert, BBC Singers, Arditti String Quartet, Harp and percussion. Jackson set a poem by John Bradburne and interpolated In Nomine movements for the string quartet. The result was created with Jackson's usual facility and there were some luminous moments, but it had a rather contrived feel.

Recent CD Review

My review of the disc of Tippett choral works from Christ Church Cathedral Choir is here, on MusicWeb International.
An interesting side-slant on this music

Gut Immling

Whilst we were on holiday in Bavaria we visited the Gut Immling opera festival, to see Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, my review of the performance is here, on Music and Vision (subscription site)

Harriet Cohen's Bach Book

I first came across A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen in the late 1970's when Ronald Stevenson included a couple of items from it in his fascinating lecture recital on Bach transcriptions. I remember Ronald playing RVW's Bach piece from Harriet Cohen's book and I think one other. It was an evening which concluded with Ronald giving a towering performance of the Bach/Busoni Chaconne, having covered a great deal of ground in between, including Grainger's Sheep may safely graze and, if memory serves me correctly, Chopin's Revolutionary Etude. I was rather tantalised by the idea of the other pieces in the book and I even managed to acquire the book myself and played through a few items. An odd few pieces from the book have occasionally cropped up. But now Jonathan Plowright has recorded the entire book, which sounds fascinating.

In his Guardian Review, Andrew Clements is a little more guarded in his welcome suggesting that the standard of the pieces is a little variable. But as a fascinating side-light on English musical history in the 1930's, this is invaluable. It would, of course, be interesting to learn how many of the contributors Cohen had had affairs with!

Last night we heard a private recital by the young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu, where she gave a programme mainly devoted to Chopin - two Nocturnes, the Ballade no 4 and the Sonata No 3. Also in the programme were Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse and Constantin Sivestri's Bacchanale as encore. Her Chopin was poetic and robust, totally involving, with the Sonata giving due weight to both the romantic impulses and the classical form of the sonata. Alexandra will be giving a recital at the Wigmore Hall on 5th April next year.

Recent CD Review

My review of Jonathan Dove's opera Tobias and the Angel is here, on MusicWeb International.
I took up the disc prepared to admire but in fact I was charmed and entranced. I hope you will be too.

Theatre visit

The production of When a Man Knows took a step further last week when the director, Ian Caddy, and I visited the Bridewell Theatre for the first time. I have seen productions there, but some years ago; in 2001 I saw Tete a Tete there, giving one of their evenings of short 1-act operas. An evening memorable, partly because in the cast was Damian Thantrey, the baritone who went on to play the title role in my opera Garrett (in fact we were there to hear him for this reason).

Remarkably, Bridewell Theatre is in an old swimming pool, it is a sort of rectangular space and there is a balcony all around the playing area. It will make an admirable abandoned ware-house. There isn't a pit, of course, the band (4 instruments including piano) will be to one side of the stage. The balcony is held up with cast iron pillars, which gives the possibility of actually being able to chain up the male protagonist which is something the libretto calls for.

The dust having settled after 21st August's performance, I have now started the process of revising the opera. This process should taughten in dramatically, but also make some passages clearer for the singers. At least that's the idea at the moment!

When a Man Knows

Saturday saw the successful second performance of my opera When a Man Knows as part of Tete a Tete:The Opera Festival at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. We had the same cast as last time, still a concert performance, but doing it in a theatre, with proper lighting made a great deal of difference. Also, performing the work for a second time was a great help. Present in the audience was Ian Caddy, who is directing the work when we stage it next year.

The opera received an enthusiastic response from the audience. We got some very positive feedback there and then, but the opera festival encourages feedback in a variety of ways so I look forward to receiving it.

Now that this second performance is over I can go back to my score, which is covered in notes from the rehearsals. These will feed back into the revisions which I plan in September.

And on Thursday we will be visiting the Bridewell Theatre, to start planning the staging!

Review of The Flying Dutchman

Whilst we were on holiday we visited the opera festival at Gut Immling in Bavaria, seeing The Flying Dutchman. My review is here, on Music and Vision.

1 Day to Go - Salutary experience

At last night's rehearsal for my opera, When a Man Knows we had that problem which everyone who works with singers has, at some time or other: one of the singers was ill. So I stood in a sketched in the part. It was a salutary experience. It is one thing sitting at your computer or piano and deciding on some rather tricky ideas, time signatures etc. But it is entirely another thing to actually try to sing them!

I am planning on revising When a Man Knows next month, ready for the staged performances next year. My score of the work is now marked up with verious scribbles where I am questioning the necessity for some of the complicated bits, or flagging that I ought to work harder to make the singers life a little less problematic.

We have our final rehearsal on Saturday morning, in the theatre at the Riverside Studios when we will actually be able to try out some proper lighting. I can't wait.

St. John Passion

To the Albert Hall last night to hear the late-night Prom, the BBC Singers and Endymion under conductor David Hill doing Arvo Pärt's St. John Passion. The Proms marketing has consistently called last night's work the St. John Passion so I was a little unclear as to whether we were going to hear another work by Pärt that I didn't know. Of course, it was the familiar one which I know under the name Passio, which is of course a shortening of the work's full Latin title Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem.

Surprisingly the hall was by no means full. Despite the composer's popularity the work does have a somewhat uncompromising austereness and some of the people around us seemed to find the work a little too much (in fact there was quite a stream of promenaders leaving).

Brindley Sherratt sang Jesus with admirable firmness, authority and restraint. Andrew Kennedy as Pilate seem to want to be taking part in a slightly more operatic version of the score, which as I understand it goes against the composer's wish to create a more ritual atmosphere.

The four Evangelists were Micaela Haslam, David Allsopp, Stephen Jeffes and Stephen Charlesworth. All four were admirably accurate and musical, each turning in beautifully focussed and crafted vocal lines and blending nicely. My only complaint was that Haslam seemed rather quiet. Having heard him at the London Handel Festival, I was again very impressed with David Allsopp's beautiful high counter-tenor voice.

But...

I must confess that there were times that I had a certain sympathy with the fidgeters. The performance seemed to plod somewhat. Was it that the requirements of doing the piece in the cavernous Albert Hall was too much (though the work has been performed at the Proms before). Or was it simply that David Hill was too content to let things happen and not imbue the piece with more intensity. The BBC Singers were admirable in their effectiveness and dynamism in the the short choral interjections.

I can't help feeling that Passio is a relatively small scale work which would benefit from performance in a smaller venue.

Three Days to GO!

We are rehearsing tomorrow night in our church hall and then on Saturday morning we actually get into a theatre. So far my opera, When a Man knows has been both rehearsed and performed in churches. But on Saturday we will be presenting it at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, as part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival. This weekend is the last of the festival, so if you haven't been yet. GO!

We are, of course, doing the opera in concert. But doing it in a theatre makes a great deal of difference and it will be a great help having some atmospheric lighting. One of the striking things about the premiere in June was the disjoint between the bright airy nature of the church and the rather dark, abstract feel of the opera itself.

We are on at 3pm. See you there.

Apologies for the sparse postings. Last weekend we were in Boppard, a charming small town on the Rhine where London Concord Singers sang a concert a the Evangelische Kirche on the Saturday evening, followed by Mass at the Church of St. Severus on Sunday morning.

Recent CD review

My review of Marc Antoine Charpentier's David et Jonathans from Pinchgut Opera is here.

An appealing record of what sounds like a fascinating performance

Previews

Previews of the opera festival are out, though no mention of When a Man knows yet!

Recent CD Review

My review of another of Christ Church Cathedral Choir's recordings from the Nimbus catalogue, this time the Frank Martin and Francis Poulenc masses. The review is here, on MusicWeb International.

An attractive combination of works, strongly characterised and intelligently sung

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.