Why Blog?

I recently had an unsolicited email which took me to task for blogging. I quote the email because it made me think, again, why do I write this blog?

WHY, WHY, WHY do bloggers think that anyone is particularly interested in YOUR life or YOUR opinions of whatever arts performances YOU have just seen?? Wow. YOU just fed the cat??? This insane burgeoning of Internet blogsite self-referencing importance is really annoying... and very frightening. It simply endorses egotism and narcissism run amok. Robert, really, you have apparently no end of self-related opinions concerning performing artists who have seemingly STOLEN something from you. You really need to let go of that garbage---and talk to someone.

Regarding the main complaint, my fundamental position is of course that no-one has to read this blog, you can simply ignore it. I have been writing reviews for web sites for quite a number of years. I started the blog as a means of gathering together the links to my various reviews. It expanded because I use it also to additionally review performances which are not covered in my other web-site reviews. Whilst, on the one hand, this can be seen as a form of self indulgence, on the other hand given the preponderance of performances in London it is difficult for any publication (whether print or web) to cover all of them. Take the recent performance of Bach's St. John Passion at the Barbican with Ian Bostridge as the Evangelist. I saw no print reviews or major web reviews of this concert. So web sites such as my own add a layer of critical cover which would otherwise be missing.

This site has, of course, an additional purpose. I am a composer and performer and use the site to record and publicise my compositions and performances. Such sites are useful as a means of promoting my work and also bringing together useful information for anyone seeking to learn more about my compositions. This isn't a personal blog, you won't learn much about my personal opinions, except when they impinge on musical ones; though I do occasionally allow myself the self indulgence of a rant about something in the musical world which annoys me.

If the above quote strikes a chord, please feel free to add a comment, I am always interested in people's opinions. But fundamentally, if this blog is not of interest (and I really hope that it is), you can always not read it!

Recent CD Review

My review of Michael Hoppe's Requiem, is here, on Music and Vision.

National Youth Choir's 25th Anniversary Gala

My article about the National Youth Choirs, arising out of an interview with Mike Brewer last week, is here on Music and Vision. The NYC is 25 this year and celebrating the anniversary with a gala at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on April 13th.

Recent CD Review

My review of the recording of Dufay's Mass of St. Antony of Padua, by the Binchois Consort is here on MusicWeb International.
I defy anyone to listen to this music and not want to tap their toes! ...

Review of St. John Passion

Friday's performance of Bach's Johannes Passion at the Barbican was part of the Homeward Bound series, so that though the passion was conducted by Stephen Layton, tenor Ian Bostridge got top billing. Bostridge sang both the Evangelist and the tenor solos, James Rutherford sang Christus with Carolyn Sampson, Michael Chance and Roderick Williams doing the remaining solos. Layton conducted his own choir, Polyphony, and the Academy of Ancient Music.

Though played on period instruments, the performance fielded far more performances than ever Bach might have been able to; some 28 choristers and a similar number of instrumentalists.

The performance's profoundly serious intentions were signalled from the start by the fact that the passion was being played without an interval and that audience was asked not to applaud until the end. Layton placed significant pauses after each chorale and a long pause at the point where Christ dies. There was also a long pause at the end before the audience could applaud.

Now, unlike Handel's oratorios, Bach's passions are religious works, written for a particular church service. But in giving them in a concert hall, performers surely have to accept that the audience members are there for a musical experience, each brings to the performance a differing set of religious (or non religious) views. Layton's pauses and reverence for the work seemed to be verging on forcing us to consider the concert as a religious experience. In essence, Layton seemed to be saying to us that the best and only way to appreciate the passion was as a religious work. But it is part of Bach's genius that his music transcends this. Layton was apparently supported by Bostridge who, when not singing, mostly seemed to have his eyes closed.

BOstridge was placed at the front, next to Layton, James Rutherford as Christus sat on a high platform to one side. The other soloists sat out of the audience's view and performed their arias on a platform in the centre of the orchestra. In many ways a sensible idea, but it did necessitate some distracting coming and going.

Both Layton and Bostridge are, by temperament, interventionist, so that though the music making was of a very high order, it had a very distinctive character. This was apparent form the opening bars, with Polyphony articulating the words superbly, pointing the music to a degree that was almost mannered with the Academy of Ancient Music playing in a similar manner. In fact this left the AAM sounding uncharacteristically muddy and the choir, though vivid and wonderfully committed, sounded over loud.

This such numbers there was inevitably no attempt to recreate a Lutheran style performance, I did find it worrying that when the choir were singing it was difficult to hear the woodwind.

I have nothing but praise for the choral singers who articulated all of Layton's wishes often at very brisk speeds. But the overall effect was extremely mannered, choruses and turbae were highly articulated, often fast and seemed to be either loud or very soft.

Bostridge seemed to worry at every single word or phrase. The result was often highly dramatic, but by the time we reached the tearing of the veil of the temple, Bach's dramatic writing went for little, as Bostridge's delivery had been over-wrought for most of the evening. Perhaps this style of Evangelist will appeal to some people but for me less is more in this role. Bostridge's delivery of the tenor arias was similarly dramatic, but these would have told more if set off against a less over-wrought Evangelist.

Into this highly charged atmosphere, Carolyn Sampson appeared like a wonderfully cool breeze. Her tone pure and limpid, her technical control superb, you only regretted that she was singing just 2 arias. It is here that you realise having the soloists involved in the choral numbers makes sense as otherwise the soprano and alto are grossly under used.

Sampson's dress was also something of a delight; black, but slit to the thigh, naked flesh covered with an over dress of black voile.

On the other hand Michael Chance, who was standing in for Iestyn Davies, seemed to push the performance closer to the religiose, giving his 2 arias almost with his eyes closed. Chance's voice is not as supple as it once was, but his musicianship is very fine.

Roderick Williams, singing Pilate and the bass arias, performed like Sampson, with aplomb, cool control and enviable technical ability. Williams has a lovely warm voice and brought drama to the role of Pilate without indulging in the over-dramatic interventionist approach.

The Academy of Ancient Music contributed some fine solo playing in the arias. Their overall sound, vivid and highly articulated, matched Layton's vision for the choir.

Overall this was an enthralling and engrossing performance, lasting just 2 hours. The style might not have been ideal for me but the standard of musicianship was very high. And it made me think about what I really want out of a performance of Bach's Johannes Passion

Review of Anna Bolena

My review of ETO's performance of Anna Bolena is here, on Music and Vision.

Alun Hoddinott

Alun Hoddinott died this week, his death was rightly covered extensively in the press, my contribution can be found here on Music Web International.
Less well covered was the death of conductor Noel Davies. The English Touring Opera performance of Anna Bolena was dedicated to his memory, the conductor having worked with ETO a number of times.

Missing intervals

We're off to the Barbican tonight to see Bach's St. John Passion with Ian Bostridge as the Evangelist. They have the admirable facility of being able to view the pdf of the programme in advance. I was glancing at it and noticed that the Passion is being played without an interval - estimated running time 2 hours 15 minutes.

Now you can probably make a very good argument for performing the Passion without an interval. But the Barbican seems to have something of a record for making audiences work hard. In Baroque Opera Seria performances it seems to be norm to have only 1 interval, running the other 2 acts together. This seems very unfair on audiences. I know that one issue is running time. A 3 act baroque opera can have up to 3 hours of music before you include intervals. And the management at the Barbican must feel obliged to have a weather eye on the finishing time. But if you've been at work all day, no matter how uplifting the music, 2 hours without a break can be a bit taxing.

So we will no doubt enjoy the concert, but I think we'd have enjoyed it more if there had been an interval to allow us to return to the second half relaxed and refreshed.

First run through with Horn

Last night we had the first run through with the horn player for my new piece, Do not go gentle into that good night. London Concord Singers are premiering the piece on Saturday at Hampstead Town Hall in concert which features music by John Gardner, Philip Cranmer and Mary Jane Leach.

It is always slightly unnerving having the first run through of a piece. The choir, of course, had had the work in rehearsal since January but last night was might first chance to hear it with a real horn player. The result, I think, works very well and we are all looking forward to the premiere.

Anna Bolena in Hackney

Tonight we are off to Hackney to see Donizetti's Anna Bolena, the start of the spring tour by English Touring Opera. In a highly enterprising programme they are also doing Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and Don Giovanni.

Anna Bolena was Donizetti's first major hit and his earliest opera to keep a hold in the repertoire. Mind you, in the UK if opera companies want a change from Lucia di Lammermoor, they always seem to choose Maria Stuarda. The Royal Opera produced Anna Bolena for Joan Sutherland in the late 1980's, but I don't think it has been seen in the UK since.

Making it large with Handel

Ex Cathedra are celebrating their 40th anniversary with a 3 year project to celebrate Birmingham's musical heritage. The first concert, on Saturday 5th April is a re-creation of the 1784 Messiah performance which launched the Birmingham Triennial Festivals. Ex Cathedra will be assembling a choir of some 100 singers accompanied by an orchestra of 60 provided by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

The Handel commemorative performances are important in the history of performance of Handel's music. The 1784 Birmingham performance used a choir of 100, the London centenary performances used a huge choir and this lead to the transformation of Handel's oratorios from relatively small scale works written for the theatre to large scale choral pieces. What's often forgotten about these early Handel commemorative performances is that the large choir was accompanied by an equally large orchestra.

Recent CD Reviews

My review of Ian Bostridge's disc of Handel arias is here.
Bostridge’s admirers will undoubtedly enjoy this but other listeners might be less convinced by his rather personal take ...

And my review of Rossini'sLa Donna del Lago is here. Both reviews on MusicWeb International.
At Naxos prices you can afford to experiment and this is a good set with which to experiment ...

Virgins and Whores

In much 19th century opera heroines are confined to 2 roles, the virgin and the tart. There are of course variants on these, virgins can be led astray but only by being deceived and tarts can have hearts. But, of course, if a virgin is led astray then the results almost certainly have to lead to tragedy and similarly for tarts with hearts. This is particularly true of 19th century French opera where complex roles for women are limited and strong roles barely exist.

This seems to have become codified in the early part of the 19th century when grand opera based on classical myth gradually made way for the French Grand Opera of the type written by Auber, Meyerbeer and Halevy. Halevy’s La Juive has just 2 major female roles, Princess Eudoxie is the coloratura soprano, she is worldly, flirty and not particularly germane to the plot, Rachel is virginal, led astray, pure but misguided in her love and ultimately sacrifices herself. These roles would almost become codified. The first Rachel, Cornelie Falcon, whose soprano voice had a dark mezzo-soprano quality, would become known for her playing of such soiled virgins such as Rachel or Valentine in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots.

One of the reasons that Bizet’s Carmen caused such a stir was the fact that Carmen failed to conform to the tart with a heart sort of role; Bizet and his soprano, Galli-Marie made Carmen a far more realistic, sympathetic and tragic figure.

Because of the stratified nature of the Paris Opera establishment, the French Grand Opera became almost codified, a librettist like Scribe could almost write librettos to a formula. In Italy there was less codification, but there is still a tendency for heroines to fit the virgin/whore mould.

A quick glance at the heroines of Bellini’s operas confirms this tendency. In La Sonnambula is only a comedy because the heroine is revealed to be sleepwalker and all stain removed, in I Puritani Elvira goes mad when she believes Arturo to be false. But frequently even falsely accused women usually end up in tragic circumstances, Beatrice di Tenda dies even though falsely accused, Romeo and Giulietta die, La Straniera does not die but has to abandon all hope of personal happiness.

A glance at Donizetti’s serious operas reveals a similar count. This is very much a 19th century development, one that seems to go hand in hand with the development of Romantic Opera. After all Rossini’s operas include strong women such as Semiramide, and even Elena (La Donna del Lago), Zelmira and Anna (Maometto II) are no pushover . And even Rosina is hardly a shrinking violet. Some of Rossini’s operatic heroines fit into the fainting violet role, but some don’t; considered as a whole Rossini’s operatic heroines are a pretty varied log.

In the later 19th century Massenet particularly seems to have bought into this view of women, perhaps it was endemic in men who worked in opera. After all, consider Degas images dancers, these seem to be completely realistic and give us a glimpse into the Parisian stage world, but behind these images consider that the many dancers would be expected to give favours to particular important men after the show. To be a woman on the stage in the 19th century was to be just one step from a whore.

Many Massenet’s best heroines seem to come into the tart with a heart category. Manon is considered by many to be his finest opera, but it only works if you are prepared to be charmed and teased by the heroine. If, like me, you find the heroine of the opera simply vapid and stupid then the charm is lost. What is fascinating is that in operas such as Manon, Thais and Sapho, the plot would not work in 19th century terms if the roles were reversed. It is here that we can see how much of 19th century opera is shaped by the attitudes to women of the male creators of the form. Imagine an opera where the plot is that of Manon or Thais but with the roles reversed. A male Manon figure, in love with pleasure, seducing a female Des Grieux figure; interestingly it is Massenet who comes closest to this. In Werther we have a plot where an upright female figure is tempted by the Romantic love of an impulsive man. Of course, Werther is an archetypal Romantic Young Man he is not a dissolute lover of pleasure. And Charlotte can still be seen as the transgressive virgin, she does love Werther but marries her boring husband because of her dying husband’s wishes.

It is only when we look at the operas of Verdi that these archetypes start to break down. There is nothing virginal or whore-ish about Abigaille and Odabella, Lady Macbeth is certainly transgressive but is neither virgin nor whore. These are strong roles, complex roles, in his treatment of women Verdi starts to hark back to the more rounded treatment of Mozart. Verdi does use the archetypes, after all Gilda and Leonora (La Forza del Destino) are examples of the transgressive virgin. Leonora shows enough strength of mind to go off on her own and try and expiate her ‘sin’. Violetta is a fascinating example of the tart with a heart, but Violetta is far stronger than we might expect her to be, she’s definitely stronger than Alfredo and the libretto has to make her ill in order for her to faint and expire in the requisite manner.

Of course, an opera us (usually) greater than the sum of its parts so that a piece like Manon can tell us a lot more than what Massenet’s attitude to women was. But this rather partial representation of women in 19th century opera helps you understand why modern directors such as David Alden have such extreme visions of these operas.

Review of The Adventures of Pinocchio

Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton’s new opera, The Adventure of Pinocchio, is in many ways a follow up to their previous Christmas piece The Enchanted Pig. Like its predecessor, Pinocchio is aimed at a family audience but in such a way as to provide a piece to which both adults and children can respond. The Enchanted Pig was written for a mixed cast of actors and opera singers, but the new piece is a fully fledged opera written for Opera North. The premiered it in Leeds in December last year and are currently touring it, fetching up in London last week (we saw the opera on Friday 29^th Feb. at Sadlers Wells).

Dove and Middleton have gone back to Collodi’s original for the plot rather than the Disney re-working. This means that the piece has a great deal of plot to get through with a large number of characters. The only large role is Pinocchio himself (Victoria Simmonds) who is on stage virtually all the time. All the other characters are on stage a relatively short time. Pinnocchio’s father Geppetto (Jonathan Summers) and the Blue Fairy (Mary Plazas) have the largest supporting roles as their characters crop up in a number of scenes. The rest of the cast double and triple their appearances to cover the 25 named roles.

The opera has to be seen as Pinocchio’s gradual learning process; so that all the characters are really only seen in relation to him, they hardly develop a life of their own. But Dove’s music helps to flesh out the characters, dialogue blossoms out into small arias, so that by the end of the opera we feel we have come to know some of the smaller characters as well, such as Geppetto, the Blue Fair and Lampwick (Allan Clayton). This is also due to the strong playing from the singers, even when they’ve been away from the stage you don’t feel that they have been away, they bring some sort of emotional continuity.

But the whole structure, though it is true to Collodi’s book, is extremely dependent on the singer playing the title role, Victoria Simmonds. Here director Martin Duncan and his team have found a singer who brilliantly incarnates the wooden puppet whilst at the same time making us feel that he is a real person. In the same way that Massenet’s Manon only works if you find Manon charming, attractive and sexy, it is essential that the audience empathise with Pinocchio; the story depends on us finding him a loveable scamp rather than a tiresome child, we have to want him to become a real boy. I must confess that at first I found myself rather resistable to Pinocchio’s charms but well before the end of the opera I found that Simmonds had captured my emotional interest.

Dove’s music is tuneful, with one or two big tunes, though the economy of Middleton’s libretto means that there are not many occasions for Andrew Lloyd Webber moments. Dove has evidently gone to some trouble to produce musical characterisations for the different characters (the Blue Fairy has her own scale); whilst this may not be obvious to the general listener, it is something that their ears can pick up on and help them to differentiate the details of the plot.

For the more up tempo moments, Dove seems to have been channelling John Adams, with the dramatic impetus of his repeated chords and dynamically propelled melody lines. This meant that the big scenes were often exciting and had wonderful propulsion which helped keep the drama going.

Duncan’s production was based in a simple wooden box (designer Francis O’Connor) which was transformed for each of the short scenes (11 in act 1 and 9 in act 2). O’Connor came up with some simple but effective solutions to the transformations required of him. Pinocchio’s nose extending alarmingly when he tells lies to the Blue Fairy and the set was transformed simply but effectively from the sea to the belly of the whale.

One of the great strengths of the production and the opera was that the darker side of the story was not shirked, Pinocchio and his father) really do go through some difficult times. Though the violence and the villains are a little cartoonish, Dove takes the situations seriously and writes some dark music. All this helps make sense of Pinocchio’s final transformation and his becoming a helpful little boy is rendered all the more understandable.

The piece was slightly too long (each act lasted around 75 minutes) and I particularly felt that the ending could be pruned so that we reached the conclusion rather quicker. At a certain point it become obvious what the conclusion is going to be and I think Dove and Middleton do not really gain anything from delaying this.

Dove’s orchestration is, by and large, respecting of the singers and there was little sense of them having to strain over the orchestra. In this they were helped by David Parry, very much a singers conductor. That said, from where we were sitting in the front of the upper circle the diction was very unsatisfactory. The piece was rightly played without surtitles but I often had to strain to apprehend the words, perhaps it would have been different lower down in the theatre.

The Adventures of Pinocchio is a beautifully constructed opera, very much in the traditional mould which means that it fits very well into the schedule of a company like Opera North. The opera also seems to fulfil its roles as a family piece, the performance we went to was full of parents and children all of whom seemed to enjoy the piece and it kept their attention until the end.

If I came out, at the end, charmed rather than overwhelmed by a masterpiece, then that is not necessarily a bad thing. The Adventures of Pinocchio is very much a useful piece and I can forsee it having a long history of Christmas performances.

A little bit of history

Some months ago (and more) I was approached by The Pink Singers with an enquiry as to whether I had any information etc. relating to my time as Musical Director of the group (from 1983 to 1988!). Over Christmas we spent a lot of time re-organising the ever growing pile of files in our attic, sorting out the collection of concert programmes going back to 1976. I came across the Pink Singers box and decided to sort it out. The group now has a selection of archive photos etc.

But I also had a group of scrap books charting the group's history from '83 to '88 and felt that it might have interest to those interested in Gay History. One of the singers in the group at that time was also a volunteer with the Hall Carpenter Archives, these have come to rest at the Archives of the LSE. Yesterday I took my Pink Singers scrap books to the LSE archives where they will be accessioned and become part of the collection. A little bit of history

From this month's Opera

Gleanings from this month's Opera Magazine.

In an inteview with John Treleaven the tenor makes the interesting point that by Act 3 Tristan is meant to be dying, whereas in Act 3 of Siegfried the character is bright and fresh, which makes it harder for the tenor. Amazingly
he is the first British tenor to have tung Siegfried at Covent Garden since Alberto Remedios in 1982. (And I can testify that Remedios and Gwynneth Jones made a knock out combination, especially in Siegfried Act 3). Treleaven seems to be the only Cornish Tristan in operatic history.

Treleaven's musical start in life is slightly curious, he used to sing to himself when swimming in the harbour and was overheard by a teacher who invited him for lessons! Evidently for the last 10 years he's been studying with Jean Cox, a tenor whom I remember standing in for Alberto Remedios when ENO toured their Ring in the 70's. Treleaven is a prime example of the virtues of not starting out in the Wagner repertoire, I can remember him from his days with ENO doing Verdi and all sorts.

In Vienna, Franz Welser-Möst has been doing Die Walkure with the Staatsoper, Christopher Norton-Welsh describes it as 'one of the quietest performances I have heard'. Certainly a performance worth investigating.

Over in Lyon, Laurent Pelly has reached La Vie Parisienne, though the reviewer found the dialogue difficult to understand, despite a Francophone cast; quite a disappointment. Nadja Michael, Covent Garden's current Salome, was singing Marta (Tiefland) in Berlin but her voice was described as developing a wild vibrato, which is worrying; hopefully not a case of too much, too soon.

An interesting pair of viewpoints cropped up when Peter Mussbach's production of Don Giovanni cropped up in Berlin having first appeared at La Scala.
Giorgio Gualerzi dismissed the La Scala version (openly provocative), whereas Carlos Maria Solare simply found the Berlin incarnation boring. Still in Berlin, Dessau's Trial of Lukullus, a work that it would be interesting to hear over here.

In Dublin Opera Ireland gave Turandot in version set in Mao's China, with a chorus half of whom were from the Xinghai Convervatory of Music, and with a Chinese Calaf and a Japanese Turandot. In Amsterdam Strauss's Daphne received its first ever staging. In Madrid they performed Rossini's Tancredi, enterprisingly giving performances of both the endings. I must confess I've always preferred the jolly, upbeat Venice version as this, though less remarkable than the tragic Ferrara ending, seems to fit the rest of the opera better.

Having heard Barry Banks as Edgardo in London, I noted that he has been doing Tonio in La Fille du Regiment in Houston. How about getting the chance of hearing him in the role over here? In New York, another favourite of ours Alice Coote was doing Hansel, with Philip Langridge no less as the Witch. Hansel and Gretel was also on the menu in Hexham, where Opera North's Education Department alighted. Evidently their education is working as the show seems to have attracted mainly family groups. The opera will be returning to Covent Garden next season in a new production by Caurier and Leiser with Anja Silja and Felicity Palmer (as mother and the witch).

New Sussex Opera have been doing Idomeneo; we'd hoped to see it but dates and locations did not work out. It was conducted by the young conductor Nicholas Jenkins and the Idomeneo was his father, tenor Neil Jenkins. Rather appropriate for an opera which hinges on parental relationships. At 62 Neil Jenkins is evidently still 5 years short of Anton Raaff's age when he created the title role.

On DVD, Hartmann's Simpliciu Simplicissimus appears set in Harmann's Munich appartment. But most notable for me was the fact that Marcia Haydee appears in a spoken role. Haydee is forever associated in my mind with Kenneth Macmillan's ballet's, notably Requiem and Song of the Earth. And we have a fascinating book about Sullivan's Ivanhoe, but still no decent recording!

In We hear that.., Bryn Terfel is due do a new Dutchman at Covent Garden next season, directed by Tim Albery; don't hold your breath.

Alfie Boe is returning to La Boheme, this time in a new Jonathan Miller production at ENO (why another new production?).

Danielle de Niese is singing Galatea to Charles Workman's Acis at Covent Garden next season, and Natalie Dessay is doing her first Cleopatra in a new production in Paris of Giulio Cesare directed by Laurent Pelly (hmmm).

Gerald Finley is doing his first Hans Sachs for Glyndebourne in 2011, now that I really want to hear.

ENO is opening 2008/2009 with a new Cav and Pag directed by Richard Jones.

Over at Grange Park, Claire Rutter is doing Norma in 2009.

Saturday's concert

On Saturday we did our second concert at St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square. The programme (Hugill:Annunciation; Haydn:Music for musical clocks; Haydn:Little Organ Mass; Hugill:Choruses from Passion; Andriessen:Theme and Variations for organ; Hugill:Crossing) was very well received by the audience and much enjoyed by the choir as well. Annunciation, a new piece setting the biblical text for soprano, tenor and organ, proved very striking and was a notable success. It was lovely to hear Crossing performed with a large, bold organ as accompaniment. The concert was recorded and we look forward to hearing the results!

Review of "The Testament of Dr. Cranmer"

From the CHURCH MUSIC QUARTERLY:

Robert Hugill is a mainly self-taught composer who has written charming music which is easy on the ear. Much is linked to chant, something that the composer was brought up with during his time with catholic church choirs. This disc comprises 77 minutes of music for vocal octet, tenor and strings, as well as octet and organ. Much has been specifically re-arranged for this recording.

The tenor soloist in The Lord bless thee and What is Man? is Christopher Watson. His beauty of sound appears effortless, yet he brings the impassioned moments directly to our attention with style. The eight voices of the ‘eight:fifteen’ vocal ensemble produce a radiant sound that is full of potential. Octets are notoriously difficult for achieving balanced and blended results, but there are only occasional lapses, which do not come close to distracting us from the many superb things we hear. Brough capably directs the two very different groups of musicians with considerable aplomb.


This is a disc of initial unknowns, but the end result is delightful.
Will Dawes

Review of Tito Manlio

(A slightly late posting I'm afraid, we've been rather busy preparing tomorrow's concert at St. Peter's Eaton Square)

Considering his popularity in other areas, Vivaldi's operas have still not made it into the mainstream of baroque opera going. I can remember the Camden Festival staging one of his works, but that was the oratorio Juditha Triumphans. The Accademia Bizantina's visit to the Barbican on Tuesday 16th February bringing a concert performance of Vivaldi's opera seria Tito Manlio gave us Londoners a rare opportunity to hear one of his major opera serias live.

The Accademia Bizantina, under Ottavio Dantone, have recorded the opera as part of the impressive ongoing Vivaldi edition on the naive label. Tuesday's cast though had only 1 or 2 singers from the recording.

Though Vivaldi did write operas for Venice, he found himself at odds with his audience and accepted a post in Mantua where the Landgrave of Hesse was the Austrian Governor. Vivaldi wrote a series of operas for performance in Mantua under the Landgrave's patronage and Tito Manlio was the 2nd of these.

It was planned as part of the Landgrave's wedding celebrations but when these fell through, the planned staging was shelved. Though the opera might have been given in a simplified form. The libretto, by the Neapolitan writer Matteo Noris, was a pre-existing one which Vivaldi adapted. Based on an episode in Livy it describes the family struggles between the Roman consul Tito Manlio and his son, during the early days of the Roman Republic.

The opera was presented as part of the Barbican's 'Great Performers' series and as such programmes were free. They did contain an excellent article on Vivaldi and the circumstances of the opera's gestation. But there was not plot summary. This was a grave disadvantage in an unfamiliar opera. Luckily there were surtitles, admirably comprehensive; also the performers had taken the precaution of having the female singers who played male characters all wearing trousers.

The plot covers the struggle between Romans and Latins; the opera opens with consul Tito Manlio (Carlo Lepore) proclaiming that every Roman must vow to support Rome and not the Latins. This causes trouble in his own family as his son Manlio (Karina Gauvin) is in love with a Latin, Servilia (Ann Hallenberg), and Tito's daughter Vitellia is in love with another Latin, Servilia's brother Geminio (Mark Milhofer). Another Latin, Lucio (Roberta Invernizzi) is also in love with Vitellia.

For the first act and the opening of the Act 2, Vivaldi manages to fit in an enormous amount of plot, there are numerous familial comings and goings as some family members support the vow and others not. Tito sends his son to treat with the Latins; Manlio meets Servilia's brother Geminio who baits him. Act 2 opens with Manlio's return to Rome and his admission that he has slain Geminio. His sister Vitellia is furious as is his lover Servilia. His father too, insists that Manlio has broken the law, having been instructed not to fight or provoke the Latins.

Manlio is clapped in irons and put into jail. For the remainder of the opera (a further 90 minutes of music) the plot, such as it is, centres around the conflicted reactions of Manlio and his family to his imprisonment.

Writing for a celebratory occasion, Vivaldi uses a wide instrumental palate with trumpets, horns, oboes, recorders and a kettle drum. The arias are all richly and brilliantly orchestrated and many have substantial instrumental obbligatos. The Accademia Bizantina under Ottavio Dantone played the music brilliantly and were a constant pleasure to listen to.

Vivaldi seems to respond to voices in a similar instrumental fashion. His vocal lines are often brilliant, virtuosic and well nigh impossible to sing. Dantone was blessed with a cast who seemed to be able to make light of the virtuoso difficulties.

Karina Gauvin as Manlio was brilliant. In the first half of the opera she seemed under used, but in the 2nd half she had a series of brilliant arias. Gauvin coped superbly with Vivaldi's impossible writing as did Robert Invernizzi as Lucio. The remaining cast members were not quite as impressive but still pretty incredible. Ann Hallenberg, as Servilia, had quite a soft grained voice which came into its own in the long aria Servilia sang to the sleeping Manlio in his prison cell. As the majority of arias in the opera were short, up tempo numbers, it seemed strange for Vivaldi to choose to dwell at such length on an aria not at all germane to the plot.

Marina De Liso, standing in for Sonia Prina, sang Vitellia's arias well enough though she never made me care for the character's suffering. And in the second half Vivaldi seems to lose interest, Vitellia simply comes on periodically and stomps about raging at Manlio, the killer of her lover, but she rages to no effect.

Vitellia's servant, Lindo (Christian Senn) has no significant plot function but gets a series of almost buffo arias which comment wryly on the activities going on around him; rather an old fashioned device by the time Vivaldi wrote the opera. The role was well delivered, in dead pan manner, by Christian Senn.

Carlo Lepore made an impressive tyrant of Tito Manlio, though Vivaldi gave him some remarkably jolly music; Tito Manlio is a character who seems to find great joy in his role in life!

By the end of the opera, some three hours, we had heard some stunning music, and stupendous singing. Many items could be taken out and stand well on their own. The combination of Vivaldi's instrumental vocal writing with his own orchestration was irresistible.

But frankly, I am not sure it quite added up to drama. There were slightly too many jolly up tempo numbers. And the prison scenes, though attractively pathetic, never quite moved me. I kept thinking of what a composer like Handel or Mozart might have made of the situation. By concentrating the 2nd half of the opera on Manlio's imprisonment and the plight of him and his family, Vivaldi would have needed to deliver music of profoundly moving depth and pathos. This he didn't do, seemingly content to charm and please.

Ottavio Dantone, the Accademia Bizantina and his singers coped brilliantly with Vivaldi's taxing music, creating a wonderfully enjoyable evening. Any faults were Vivaldi's, not theirs.

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