Too much Handel

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

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

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

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

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

New photos

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

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

Recent CD Review

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

Covent Garden new season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recent CD Review

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

From this month's Opera

Gleanings from the April edition of Opera magazine.

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

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

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

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

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

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


Some tit-bits:-

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

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

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

Opera around the world:-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Review of Can-Can

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recent CD Review

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

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

Lost Musicals

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

LLGFF

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

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

Thursday saw London Concord Singers giving their Easter concert at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Cadogan Street, Chelsea; Lassus's Missa Bell' Amfitrit' Altera and Rachmaninov's Vespers. A quite long and tiring programme, but ultimately very satisfying. The performances went very well, mind you I've not heard the recording yet but we got very good feedback from the audience.

I have just upgraded my version of Finale on my new PC, so I'm running Finale 2007 under Vista. At first glance there seem to be numerous small problems which almost make me want to return to my old version. I'll have to see what their technical support comes up with.

Recent CD review

My review of Ferrandini's Cantate per la Passione is here, on MusicWeb International.
Music which is gracefully poised and attractively melodic. This attractive programme provides a good way to get to know his music. ...

The art of criticism

In the latest issue of The Gay and Lesbian Review, there is an interview with Gore Vidal. He includes some comments on book reviews and reviewers but I think that they are equally valid for the humble music critic.

One of his complaints is that the people who write such reviews are nobodies, which for him seems to mean that they have no right to publicise their feelings and opinions. Not sure about this one, perhaps I should simply say discuss? Though he does go on to say that the worst newspaper in England has better book reviewers than The New York Times.

But his most useful comment is one that I'd like to quote in full: Now, what do you do if you have to review a book? The most difficult thing on earth, and most people don't know how difficult it is, because most people can't do it: describe what it was that you read. If you do that properly you don't have to throw adjectives around and make cute noises. Just describe it. The words that you use for the description will lead the criticism. Now if you can plow that in to some heads, you will have done great work. (Gore Vidal quoted in The Gay and Lesbian Review, Volume XIV, Number 2.

I'm certainly going to have to bear that in mind when writing my next CD or opera review.

Disappearing casts

The Barbican Centre has generated a niche for itself by bringing over the casts of various French operatic productions to delight their audiences. William Christie is, inevitably, often involved but others also. This procedure, though, is fraught with difficulties; what is actually delivered is sometimes a bit different to what is promised.

There were probably sighs of relief when, a few years ago, Handel's Serse was done in concert with Anne Sofie von Otter, after first night reviews of the production came out. But when Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea came over from Paris there were notable absences in the cast so that the sense of ensemble coming from an established team, was marred. The newcomers were noticeably wedded to their scores.

Now something similar is happening to tonight's Ariodante at the Barbican. Also hailing from Paris, where performances were staged. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Sandrine Piau have dropped out, to be replaced by singers who have actually appeared in the Paris production, so at least the sense of ensemble will not be marred (at least one hopes not). Now, Angelika Kirschlager, in the title role, has dropped out through illness - something that cannot be legislated for.

The problem is that the Barbican's Great Performers season is in danger of getting a reputation for not delivering the casts that are promised.

Review of Poro, Re dell'Indie

My review of the London Handel Festival production of Handel's Poro is here, on Music and Vision.

The Tempest

Last night we were at Thomas Ades's The Tempest at the Royal Opera House. We saw the opera (from the stalls) when it was premièred and it was interesting seeing it again, this time from the Amphitheatre. I understand that Ades has not made any significant changes to the piece since its première. But it was completed at the very last minute and the most obvious difference in last night's performance was the way the the piece seemed to flow better,to be more of a piece.

It is still a powerful work and Tom Cairns production is astonishing, a real counterpart to Ades's complex, multi-layered text. The ROH Orchestra, directed by Ades himself, were in fine form, making light of the complex orchestra textures. Simon Keenlyside repeated his Prospero, his compelling performance more than compensating for the fact that the role lacks poetry and the vocal line seems to resolutely set in recitative mode. But perhaps this is part of the conception, the poetic elements seem to be assigned to other singers, notably Ian Bostridge as Caliban and perhaps Cyndia Sieden as Ariel. Bostridge's Caliban gets the rather poetic close to the whole opera, his character is never the ugly monster of Shakespeare, but more the outsider. Sieden's portrayal of Ariel is astounding, but she seems to have played it in every performance of the opera anywhere. I still wonder how other singers will cope with the stratospheric part and found that after a while the constant high notes sat uneasily on my ear.

Toby Spence repeated the role of Ferdinand and Kate Royal played Miranda, both were very strong. I still feel that the courtiers and others surrounding the King of Naples are given insufficient time to establish character. Philip Langridge was profoundly moving as the King of Naples, but the others had a struggle to make us understand who they are. The 'comic' servants still seem very un-comic and lack a purpose. The other area that still bothers me is the libretto, I just can't take to Meredith Oakes's rhyming verse, especially when the diction is so good, as it was here.

All in all I was impressed on 2nd hearing. The piece is not perfect, but I think that Ades's conception of what he is trying to achieve is rather different from my perception of what I want out of an opera on the subject of the Tempest. So I'll just have to go on trying.

PS. Mirabile Dictu, I am now back on-line with my new PC. The only downside being that I managed to lose 2 weeks worth of emails whilst installing my new software on the PC!

Poro on Tuesday at the Britten Theatre was superb, a review (with pictures) should appear in due course. We sat in the front row of the upper circle. In theory the view was fine, but it was not designed for short people - you had to sit very upright to see the front of the stage.

Tonight we're off to The Tempest at the Royal Opera House. I gather that Thomas Ades has not made much in the way of changes to the opera since it was premiered, which is a shame. I felt that it would have benefited from some re-shaping and pruning. But I may change my mind, I'll keep you posted.

I'm still having computer meltdown - my new PC has Microsoft Vista installed and I'm having the devils own job finding an ADSL modem to suit it.

Recent CD Reviews

My review of Cesare Ciardi's music for flute and orchestra is here.

No-one would claim great musical significance for Ciardi’s music, but it is undeniably attractive and here the performances are stunningly virtuosic. Sit back and enjoy and admire. ...

And my review of Naxos's new disc of cantatas by Simon Mayr is here. Both are on Music Web International.

Mayr is one of those figures who is only gradually coming back into view. We are in Naxos’s debt for this disc of two of his attractive occasional works. ...

Review of Beatrice di Tenda

My review of Chelsea Opera Group's performance of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda is here, on Music and Vision.