Stile Antico at Spitalfields Music Summer Festival

Stile Antico
photo Marco Borggreve

Music for Compline, William Byrd, John Sheppard, Thomas Tallis, Robert White, William Mundy, Christopher Tye, John Tavener; Stile Antico; Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, Christ Church, Spitalfields
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Jun 05 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Purity and beauty in English Tudor music for the end of the day

The 2015/16 is the vocal ensemble Stile Antico's 10th anniversary, and is being marked with series of celebratory concerts and a re-issue of the group's debut album, Music for Compline. As a taster of this, the group revisited this repertoire in a concert at Christ Church, Spitalfields on 5 June 2015 as part of Spitalfields Music's Summer Festival. The ensemble sang a variety of works by William Byrd, John Sheppard, Thomas Tallis, Robert White, William Mundy, Christopher Tye and John Tavener. Most were in Latin and set psalms and canticles used in the service of Compline, but some were in English coming from the early years of the Anglican church as the reformers re-purposed the texts for new uses such as the newly created Evensong service. The evening ended with John Taverner's great votive antiphon Ave Dei patris filia.

Stile Antico is a 12 person vocal ensemble (with women on the alto line) which sings without a conductor (Helen Ashby, Kate Ashby, Rebecca Hickey, Emma Ashby, Eleanor Harries, Katie Schofield, Jim Clements, Andrew Griffiths, Benedict Hymas, Will Dawes, Tom Flint, Matthew O'Donnovan). They perform in a half circle, with the voice types mixed up. Their performances are characterised by the evenness and purity of the vocal lines (it helps that two thirds of the soprano line is taken by twin sisters) and the sense of constant watchfulness and non-verbal communication between the singers.

Such is the degree of communication between the singers, performances can sometimes feel that we are eavesdropping on an intense personal event, rather than receiving a performance directed at us. And perhaps the group acknowledges this to a degree, as members of the group always introduce the various items in the concert.

Something for the weekend: London Conchord Ensemble at Rathfinny Wine Estate

London Conchord Ensemble is a chamber ensemble of 12 players. Formed in 2002 the group includes a number of players for major London orchestras. From 12 to 14 June 2015 the ensemble is in residence at the Rathfinny Wine Estate, near Alfriston in Sussex, for the second Conchord at Rathfinny, giving visitors the chance to combine fine music with food, wined and the Sussex landscape. The theme of the weekend is the seas, and there will be music by George Crumb, Smetana, Britten, Sally Beamish and much more.

Events open on Friday 12 June with something rather striking, a wine-tasting and dinner, followed by a performance of George Crumb's 1976 piece Vox Balanenae (Voice of the Whale) performed on amplified flute piano and cello by Daniel Pailthorpe, Julian Milford and Thomas Carroll, and as directed by Crumb the work will be performed under blue lighting to reflect deep water and in masks to represent the "powerful impersonal forces of nature".

Saturday starts with an afternoon piano four-hands recital from Julian Milford and Alasdair Beatson in Mozart, Debussy, Schubert and Smetana's Ma Vlast. The evening concert commences with a new performance piece inspired by Virginia Woolf's The Waves and Britten's Phantasy Op.2 with Action to the Word. The group will also be joined by soprano Felicity Lott for a programme including music by Britten, Schubert, Faure, Trenet, and Sally Beamish's Debussy arrangement, La Mer. Late evening there is a lighter event, with accordionist Paul Hutchinson. Sunday starts with Bach, Marcello and Vivaldi at a coffee concert, and in the afternoon Beethoven's Quintet in E flat major for piano and winds, Op.16, and Schubert's Octet.

Guests are also welcome to explore the Rathfinny Trail, and there will be Rathfinny wine to sample. Sounds delectable doesn't it? Further information from the Rathfinney Estate website.

Handel's Israel in Egypt from La Nuova Music at the Spitalfields Festival

La Nuova Musica - photo Ben Ealovega

Handel Israel in Egypt; La Nuova Musica, David Bates; Spitalfields Music Summer Festival at Christ Church, Spitalfields
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Jun 4, 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Vivid colours in this small scale account of Handel's great choral work

Spitalfields Music's Summer Festival is again in full swing, and one of their artists in residence this year is La Nuova Musica, artistic director David Bates. On Thursday 4 June 2015 at Christ Church, Spitalfields the group performed Handel's dramatic re-telling of the story of Moses and the Exodus, his oratorio Israel in Egypt, at Christ Church, Spitalfields. Unusually for Handel the work has a large number of choruses and for the depiction of the plagues the chorus becomes the narrator. In fact, in its original version the oratorio was even more chorally based, as Handel started it with an adaptation of his Funeral Ode for Queen Caroline. This was not popular, and he soon removed this, adding a selection of Italian arias instead. David Bates and La Nuova Musica followed the modern usage, performing the shorter later version, prefixing it with the overture to the Occasional Oratorio. David Bates also took advantage of having a chorus of young professional singers and the soloists were all members of the choir.

David Bates
photo Ben Ealovega

When writing the work, Handel was clearly interested in exploring what was possible by using the chorus. Not only are there some 20 choruses but many of them are for double chorus. Using just 20 singers, all young adults with mainly men on the alto line, and an orchestra of 26, David Bates took advantage of these smaller forces to get a high degree of control in the music. This ensured that all of Handel's brilliant depictions of the plagues were vividly done.

There was a sense that each vocal or choral timbre, colour or texture was taken to its ultimate. Accented notes were crisply firm, legatos were very smooth, attack was vividly brilliant and the quietly sustained choral passages were very intense. David Bates brought out the contrasts in Handel's writing, so that in many of the choruses melody and counter-melody were strongly diffentiated. Handel used his full armoury of tricks in this work, and David Bates eye for detail ensured that none of them were missed, and all registered brilliantly. This was a highly vivid performance, and there was something of a feel of a child let loose in a box of sweets. Speeds were generally fast, but to say that the performers coped is an understatement, and David Bates wisely allowed some moments to relax. Some moments seemed a little over done, so the timpani and drums were allowed their head a little too much. But oboist Leo Duarte gave a spectacular solo in the overture playing with mellow singing tone, and on numerous occasions he and Gail Hennessy were brought to the fore. it was clear David Bates and all his performers drew intense satisfaction and enjoyment from this attention to detail. The result was very involving, with a superb sense of elan.

Transcriptions for Strings by Jacques Cohen

Jacques Cohen Transcriptions for Strings, music by Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Brahms; Anna Hashimoto, Isis Ensemble, Jacques Cohen; Meridian
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 27 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Imaginative transcriptions for strings of three classic works

The Isis Ensemble, under its founder and music director Jacques Cohen, have a wide repertoire from Bach through to contemporary pieces, including works by Jacques Cohen himself. On this new disc on the Meridian label they combine these to present a group of Jacques Cohen's arrangements of classic pieces, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Rachmaninov's Prelude Op.3 No.2 and Brahms' Clarinet Sonata Op.120 No.1 with clarinettist Anna Hashimoto.

Mussorgsky's bravura piano work Pictures at an Exhibition was written in 1874, inspired by a commemorative exhibition of works by Mussorgky's friend the artist Victor Hartmann (1834-1873). In the work, Mussorgsky depicts 10 of the pictures all linked by a promenade. It is a challenging work for the pianist, Mussorgsky was in fact a fine pianist, though it did not become well known until after his  death. Since then it has undergone a number of transfigurations, Ravel's orchestration being the best known but there are also orchestrations by others like Henry Wood (the Wikipedia page lists over two dozen).

Most orchestrations use the wider orchestral palette to enhance the vividness of Mussorgsky's writing, though of course you lose the sheer wow factor and sheer imagination of the strenuous piano part. There have been more limited instrumental palates used too, I remember one for brass band. On this disc Jacques Cohen restricts himself to just the 20 string players of the Isis Ensemble, and uses a remarkably imaginative touch in his writing, giving the players some fine challenges.

Nicola Benedetti portrait

Nicola Benedetti

The Edinburgh International Festival is gearing up for this year's festival by releasing a series of artist portraits on YouTube. Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti will be performing Glazunov's Violin Concerto with Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Usher Hall on 16 August 2015, in a programme which also includes music by the Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981) and Sibelius's Symphony no. 1 (further information from the festival website).

To complement this, they have issued a Festival Portrait in which Nicola Benedetti talks about her vulnerabilities on stage stage, and artists embracing idiosyncrasy on stage. It lasts 5 minutes, and there is no padding, just Nicola Benedetti talking directly to camera in a rather endearingly candid portrait. You can see it after the break.

Something for the weekend: Lewes Chamber Music Festival

Running from Friday 12 June to Sunday 14 June 2015, the Lewes Chamber Music Festival (festival artistic director Beatrice Phillips) has eight concerts spread over mornings, lunchtimes, evenings and late night, with concerts taking place at the largest church in Lewes, plus a variety of venues in and around the lovely historic town. Lewes is well placed to be reached from London, and is ideal for a visit.

This year's festival is themed around the chamber music of Haydn, set alongside later composers such as Beethoven, Britten and Schoenberg. The programme also includes music by two contemporary composers, Melanie Daiken, who studied with Olivier Messiaen in Paris, and the young British composer Edmund Finnis.

Counter-tenor Iestyn Davies will be joined by lutenist Thomas Dunford for their programme of Elizabethan lute songs, The Art of Melancholy, at a late night concert. The period instrument ensemble, the London Haydn Quartet, will be playing at the festival for the first time. Other newcomers include the young pianist Mishka Momen, and Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg. Returning to the festival are violinists Catherine Manson, Michael Gurevich, Tim Crawford and Tom Hankey, violists James Boyd and Timothy Ridout, cellists Philip Higham and Hannah Sloane and pianist Tom Poster.

Supported by the Cavatina Trust, the festival is able to make most of the concerts free to under 26 year olds. Younger students from Music Works will also be participating in the festival, tutored by musicians featured in the Festival and are performing the demanding Schoenberg Quartet No 1.

Further information from the Lewes Chamber Music Festival website. 

A triumphant evening - Il Trittico at Opera Holland Park

Puccini - Il Tabarro - Opera Holland Park - photo Robert Workman

Puccini Il Trittico; Stephen Gadd, Anne Sophie Duprels, Jeff Gwaltney, Rosalind Plowright, Richard Burkhard, Anna Patalong, James Edwards, Sarah Pring, dir: Martin Lloyd Evans & Oliver Platt, cond: Stuart Stratford; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Jun 02 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Classy ensemble in a strong production of Puccini's underrated operas

Opera Holland Park  launched its 2015 season with bang, with a production of Puccini's Il trittico, a challenging work which is still not as frequently performed as it deserves. With three different operas in contrasting styles and effectively requiring three different casts, Opera Holland Park's production of Il trittico showed the company to be on top form.

Anne Sophie Duprels as Suor Angelica and
Rosalind Plowright as La Zia Principessa
in Suor Angelica. Photo Robert Workman

Based around a revival of Martin Lloyd-Evans' 2012 production of Gianni Schicchi, the directing honours were shared out between two directors. Martin Lloyd-Evans directed Il tabarro whilst Oliver Platt, who was the director of the Christine Collins Young Artists performance of Gianni Schicchi in 2012, revived Gianni Schicchi and directed Suor Angelica. All three were designed by Neil Irish with lighting by Richard Howell.  Stuart Stratford conducted the City of London Sinfonia.

Anne Sophie Duprels sang both Giorgetta in Il tabarro and the title role in Suor Angelica, with Stephen Gadd as Michele, Jeff Gwaltney as Luigi, Sarah Pring as Frugola, Aled Hall as Tinca and Simon Wilding as Talpa in Il tabarro.

In Suor Angelica, Rosalind Plowright was La Zia Principessa, Fiona Mackay was La Badessa, Laura Woods was La Suora Zelatrice and Kathryn Walker was La Maestra delle Novizie, with Johane Ansell as Suor Genovieffa, Kathryn Hannah as Suor Osmina and Rosanne Havel as Suor Dolcina.

In Gianni Schicchi, Richard Burkhard sang the title role with Sarah Pring as Zita, Anna Patalong as Lauretta, James Edwards as Rinuccio, Elin Pritchard as Nella, Simon Wilding as Betto, William Robert Allenby as Simone, Ian Beadle as Marco and Chloe Hinton as La Ciesca.

The 2012 production of Gianni Schicchi had been set in the 1940's and for Il trittico, Martin Lloyd-Evans, Oliver Platt and Neil Irish set all three operas in the same time-period. Also linking the three physically, Neil Irish had designed a facade of arches which formed the flexible backdrop for all three sets and helped to reflect the voices into the auditorium, always a help as there is no pit and Puccini uses a large orchestra.

Building on success - Saffron Hall 2015/16 season announcement

Saffron Hall and Saffron County High School

Saffron Hall, in Saffron Walden, opened for its first full season last year (2014/15). And at the launch for the 2015/16 season, the hall's director Angela Dixon was able to announce that during that season the majority of concerts sold out. The hall is a rather unique public/private partnership in that it is at Saffron County High School and use of the hall is shared between the school and the public concerts (with the latter mainly at the weekend). Angela Dixon was also able to list an impressive group of artists who performed in 2014/15 are returning for 2015/16 along with a whole range of new ones.

Big names include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski with violinist Leonidas Kavakos, in Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Oliver Knussen, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lahav Shani with violinist Nicola Benedetti in Haydn, Szymanowski and Dvorak, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis in Dvorak, Beethoven, Schumann arr. Britten and Brahms.

Saffron Hall

The Britten Sinfonia make three visits, with Bernard Herrmann's music for Psycho accompanying the film, music by jazz based composers with jazz bassist Eddie Gomez and pianist Stephen Osborne, and mezzo-soprano Alice Coote singing Britten's Phaedra, plus music by Britten, Tippett, Purcell and Bach with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.

Other visitors include the Oslo Philharmonic, conductor Vasily Petrenko with pianist Simon Trpceski, trumpeter Alison Balsom, pianist Andras Schiff, the Benedetti Elschenbroich Grynuk Trio, the BBC Singers, the Sixteen, the English Concert and Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan.

It is a strong line-up, indicating the enthusiasm that performers feel for the hall. And this enthusiasm is reflected in the audience, many of whom travel some way to come to concerts, showing how badly needed some concert hall provision was in this part of East Anglia. But there is a strong local audience, and local groups perform there too. The Saffron Walden Symphony Orchestra gives regular concerts, and the enterprising Saffron Opera Group is performing Stravinsky's The Rakes Progress and Wagner's Das Rheingold, which is part of a planned Ring Cycle.

The hall has a strong learning and participation programme, and there will be masterclasses for pupils of Saffron County High School as well as work in local Primary Schools. The Brodsky Quartet will be resident at the school for an immersive cross-arts weekend and Nicola Benedetti will be giving masterclasses to young musicians. The Hall has commissioned a new opera for young people from Philip Sunderland, called The Glass Knight it features a local legend.

Further information on all this is available from the Saffron Hall website. The Hall is two miles from Audley End Station and the hall runs a free mini-bus service to and from the station before and after concerts.

Falling in love with Wolf-Ferrari - an encounter with Friedrich Haider

Wolf-Ferrari's I gioielli della Madonna in Bratislava

Bratislava in Slovakia might seem an unlikely place to come across the opera I gioielli della Madonna (The Jewels of the Madonna) a 1911 rarity written by the Italian/German Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, a composer best known for his one-act opera Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna’s Secret) and his comedies based on Goldoni. But the Slovak National Theatre (SND), based in Bratislava, has as its Music Director and Opera Director the Austrian conductor Friedrich Haider who has spent the last 12 years exploring, conducting and recording Wolf-Ferrari’s music, and the opera company there has the sort of large permanent ensemble which is necessary to bring off I gioielli della Madonna, an opera with around two dozen named roles.

Friedrich Haider

I was in Bratislava to attend the premiere of SND’s I gioielli della Madonna (see my review) and interviewed Friedrich Haider in his office in SND’s modern offices in their new building. Performances of opera are split between the old building (built in 1886 and last renovated in the 1970's) and the new one (designed originally in the 1980's but not completed until 2006), which is shared with the ballet company. The drama theatre uses another auditorium in the same new building and there is also a studio theatre.

In person, Friedrich Haider is lively and affable, eager to communicate his love for the music of Wolf-Ferrari and full of questions, so that our interview was very much a dialogue and we concluded with a discussion of initiatives in the UK to attract younger audiences, something that interests him keenly.

We started with Wolf-Ferrari, a composer about whom Friedrich feels very strongly. He first came across Wolf-Ferrari's work in 2002. In London for a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, he found a score of Wolf-Ferrari's opera Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna's Secret) in a second hand book-shop. Reading the score through for the hour until the shop closed, he fell in love with the work and bought the score. A performance on the radio in Munich followed, with baritone Renato Bruson, and subsequently Friedrich made a recording live recording with the Oviedo Filarmonia. After this first big step with Wolf-Ferrari, he looked at all the composer’s scores that he could find, and was not disappointed. Friedrich regards over 70% of Wolf-Ferrari's music to be good, and certainly above average for many of the composers being discovered today. Wolf-Ferrari was of mixed Italian and German heritage and trained in Munich. Though he loved Wagner's work he was against both Wagnerism and Verismo in his own operatic style. His first comedy Le donne curiose (1903) demonstrated his lighter touch, and made him an overnight success; Mahler heard it and conducted it in Vienna. Though Wolf-Ferrari would write 9 comedies, I gioielli della Madonna which SND is performing, is very different in style, being darker, eclectic and more dramatic (and is often erroneously regarded as an essay in Verismo). Friedrich feels that you must know it to truly appreciate it, but that the work has everything that an Italian opera needs.

Mexico in London

The Orion Orchestra, conductor Toby Purser, is celebrating 2015 the Year of Mexico in the UK with an imaginative audio-visual concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 30 June 2015, when they will be giving the world premiere of Mexican composer Federico Gonzalez Orduña's Piano Concerto with the work's dedicatee, Raul Jimenez, as soloist. Also in the programme will be music from both Mexico and from the UK, by Chávez, Márquez, Moncayo, RVW and Thomas Ades.  

Thomas Adès' Polaris will be performed with video projections specially designed by BAFTA-award winning artist Tal Rosner, and Danzón No. 2 by Arturo Márquez will be accompanied by projections of photography inspired by the music, and taken by visually impaired and blind Mexican artists, with the support of the charity Ojos que Sienten.

The event promises to be a fascinating mix of British and Mexican cultures, with both aural and visual stimulus, all energised by the lively playing from the young players of the Orion Orchestra. Further information and tickets from the South Bank website.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen and OOTS in RVW and Elgar

RVW Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra and The Lark Ascending, Elgar Introduction and Allegro and Serenade for Strings; Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Orchestra of the Swan, David Curtis; Signum Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 26 2015
Star rating: 4.0
RVW's neglected violin concerto springs back to life, alongside more familiar classics

Tamsin Waley-Cohen
photo Riccardo Cavallari

This disc on the Signum Classics label, couples one of RVW's best known works, The Lark Ascending with one of his least known, the Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, with violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and the Orchestra of the Swan (OOTS), conductor David Curtis. The orchestra pairs the RVW with Elgar's Serenade for Strings and Introduction and Allegro.

RVW's Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra was written in 1924/25 and dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Aranyi and it was she who gave the work's premiere. Originally titled Concerto Academico, RVW withdrew the title in the 1950's but the work has remained a little unloved, perhaps because the work's spirit is far less English pastoralism and rather more neo-baroque with rather more emotional detachment than we might expect in RVW.

This performance from Tamsin Waley-Cohen, David Curtis and OOTS benefits from the fact that they have performed the work together (in fact the two RVW works on this disc were the first pieces which Tamsin Waley-Cohen played with David Curtis and OOTS). This shows in the sense of familiarity they show and in the delight they find in the music.

The concerto is in three movements lasting a total of over 12 minutes. The opening Allegro pesante is rugged neo-baroque in style, with the musicians making a very up front sound and the solo violin is not over spotlit. Despite the neo-baroque, this is clearly RVW and there are some contrasts between lyrical moments and the perkier rhythmic ones. The Adagio - Tranquillo is quietly lyrical and rhapsodic, with a sense of RVW the mystic. All perform with beautiful, flexible singing tone. The work finishes with a perky, rhythmic dance performed with wit and delicacy. There is quite a folk-ish feel to the material here. It doesn't end with a bang, instead the solo violin just evaporates!

Wednesdays at the Forge, Banshees by numbers

Eliza McCarthy

Six young performers will be bringing a rich programme of contemporary music to The Forge in Camden on Wednesday 3 June 2015, as part of the Wednesdays at the Forge series. Notus Winds, Charlotte Ashton - flute, Eleanor Tinlin - oboe, Alexei Watkins - horn, Jonathan Davies - bassoon, Jordan Black - clarinet, will be performing a programme based around numbers: Harrison Birtwistle's Five Distances, György Ligeti's Ten Pieces, Arvo Pärt Quintettino, and Anders Hillborg's Six Pieces for Wind Quintet. The group comprises five young players all of whom hold full scholarships to the Royal Academy of Music.

They will be followed by the young pianist Eliza McCarthy who will be performing Henry Cowell's The Banshee (from 1925, but just come and listen to it!), John Adams' Phyrgian Gates (from 1977/78) and new work by Mica Levi. Eliza McCarthy, who won the British Contemporary Piano Competition in 2013, has been working with Mica Levi on a series of piano works and will be premiering some of these at The Forge.

Further information and tickets from The Forge's website.

Vibrant revival of Wolf-Ferrari's 'The Jewels of the Madonna' in Bratislava

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari I gioielli della Madonna (The Jewels of the Madonna); Kyungho Kim, Natalia Ushakova, Denisa Šlepkovská, Daniel Čapkovič, cond: Friedrich Haider, dir: Manfred Schweigkofler; Slovak National Theatre, Bratislava
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 29 2015
Star rating: 5.0
Vibrant and convincing revival of rare Wolf-Ferrari opera

Act 3
Jana Bernáthová (Stella), Daniel Čapkovič (Rafaele),
Mária Rychlová (Concetta),
Michaela Šebestová (Serena)

With 27 named roles and a large orchestra (including instruments such as mandolins), Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's 1911 opera, I gioielli della Madonna (The Jewels of the Madonna) might seem a surprising choice for a relatively small opera house like the Slovak National Theatre / Slovenské národné divadlo (SND) in Bratislava, Slovakia. But the company's music director and opera director is the Austrian conductor Friedrich Haider, who is something of a Wolf-Ferrari expert having recorded Wolf-Ferrari's opera Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna's secret) and the violin concerto, and the house has a large permanent ensemble with a big choir from whom it was possible to cast the large number of important comprimario role (see my interview with Friedrich Haider on this blog)

Kyungho Kim (Gennaro)

Rather impressively the opera was double case and we saw the premiere at SND's New Building on Friday 29 May 2015 with Kyungho Kim as Gennaro, Denisa Šlepkovská as Carmela, Natalia Ushakova as Maliella and Daniel Čapkovič as Rafaele, conducted by Friedrich Haider, directed by Manfred Schweigkofler with sets designed by Michele Olcese and costumes by Concetta Nappi. The SND Orchestra and Chorus, was joined by the Bratislava Boys Choir, and the Pressburg Singers

The plot is relatively straightforward, Gennaro (Kyungho Kim) is a young blacksmith who has three obsessions, his mother Carmela (Denisa Šlepkovská), the Madonna and his foster sister Maliella (Denisa Šlepkovská). This latter is rather wild, wanting to enjoy life but is kept confined by her family. She is being courted by Rafaele (Daniel Čapkovič) the head of the local Camorra.

Act 1
Natalia Ushakova (Maliella)

The first act centres on a celebration for the feast of Our Lady, with a gloriously chaotic series of processions and lots of street characters, including an appearance from the statue of the jewelled Madonna. Act two is in the courtyard of Gennaro's home and is a series of interactions, between Gennaro and Carmela, Gennaro and Maliella, Maliella and Rafaele. we learn that Carmela's protective mothering of Gennaro arose because she nearly lost him as a child, and the fostering of Maliella was the result of a vow to the virgin if Gennaro survived. Gennaro tells Maliella of his obsession and she laughs at him, he vows to steal the jewels of the Madonna for her. Later Rafaele comes courting and the two have a love scene through the grill locking Maliella in. Finally Gennaro reappears with the jewels and the act closes with Gennaro covering Maliella with jewels before claiming her virginity. Act three is Rafaele's gang's hangout; an orgy in progress is interrupted first by the arrival of Maliella, traumatised by Gennaro's taking of her virginity, and then by Gennaro with the jewels themselves. Though the gang have been having an orgy beneath an image of the Madonna, they are shocked by Gennaro's sacrilege. But Wolf-Ferrari knew Jung and was cleaarly interested in the madonna/mother/whore parallels, and it is clear that for Rafaele, Gennaro has stolen the jewels (virginity) of his madonna (Maliella), and Rafaele loses interest in Maliella.

Die schöne Müllerin from Mauro Peter and Helmut Deutsch on Wigmore Hall Live

Schubert Die schöne Müllerin; Mauro Peter, Helmut Deutsch; Wigmore Hall Live
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on May 22 2015
Star rating: 4.0
Young tenor and veteran pianist in performance of sober lyric beauty

Mauro Peter is a young Swiss tenor and this Wigmore Hall Live disc is a record of the recital of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin that Mauro Peter gave with the veteran pianist Helmut Deutsch in January 2014.

Mauro Peter sang in the Luzerner Singknaben and trained at Hochschule für Musik and Theater München with Fenna Kügel-Seifried, In 2012 he was part of the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival, He is currently a member of the Opernhaus Zürich and roles include Tamino and Jacquino. He has a lyric tenor voice of great beauty and a high degree of finish, allied to a feeling for the phrasing and shape of Schubert's music. In this he is finely partnered by the sympathetic yet profoundly acute playing of Helmut Deutsch. The pairing of the two raises this performance to a very high level, and the degree of finish is remarkable for a live performance.

Estonia music showcase

Kaspars Putnins and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
at Hoddinott Hall

As a complement to the lunchtime performance by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at Hoddinott Hall on Friday 24 May 2015 (see my review), the Estonian Embassy organised an event which presented contemporary Estonian music in greater detail with a short performance from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and interviews with its conductor Kaspars Putnins, along with composers Tõnu Kõrvits, Helena Tulve and Märt-Matis Lill all of whom had works performed during the 2015 Vale of Glamorgan Festival. There was also a chance to meet other representatives of the Estonian music industry and peruse scores and recordings from the Estonian Music Information Centre. Having recently been in Tallinn for Estonian Music Days (see my articles), it was a chance for me to catch up with old friends too. (We have more coverage from Tallinn as Hilary is currently there for the Festival Orient).

Tallinn Chamber Orchestra

The event was compered by the Welsh composer Peter Reynolds, and we started with a short film. This was followed by an interview with the managing director of the Tallinn Philharmonic Society, Margit Tohver-Aints, and two members of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. They explained that the idea behind the programme of the orchestra's lunchtime concert (see my review) which we had just heard was to give an overview of Estonian music, with music from two elder statesmen Jaan Rääts and Arvo Pärt, and two subsequent generations Ekki-Sven Tuur, and Tõnu Kõrvits.

New music from Australia

The Australia Piano Quartet will be performing music by Peter Sculthorpe, Faure and Schumann, plus a new commission from Jack Symonds at their concert on Tuesday 2 June 2015 at Milton Court Concert Hall. The concert is part of the group's first European tour. 

The Australia Piano Quartet, Daniel de Borah (piano), Thomas Rann (cello), Rebecca Chan (violin), James Wannan (viola), was formed in 2011 and has recently begun a residency at the University of Technology, Sydney. As part of the residency the group is commissioning seven Australian composers for new works to be performed in the university's Frank Gehry designed auditorium. One of these commissions is Responsorium by Jack Symonds which the quartet will be performing alongside Landscapes II one of the most colourful chamber works by one of the giants of Australian music, the late Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014). Completing the programme at Milton Court will be Schumann's Piano Quartet and Faure's Piano Quartet No. 2. Further information and tickets from the Barbican website.

East of Tallinn: Orient music festival

Hakassian folk music and dance ensemble - Ülger

The Orient music festival in Tallinn, Estonia, began its week long activities with an afternoon ethno-musicology conference, a film premiere and ambassador's reception (25 May 2015). After a welcome address by the festival organiser Peeter Vähi and by the former First Lady of Estonia, Estonian folklorist, and patron of the festival, Ingrid Rüütel, the conference began with a demonstration of quanun (a kind of zither) by Samir Ally Salim and went on to cover ancient empires of Africa, the culture and traditions of the Shona people, the Taarab song tradition in Zanzibar, Hakassian throat singing and Buddhist temple music, finishing with Martin Grauds and Ilze Apsina's film, 'The way home'.

The first session 'Ancient Empires of Africa' by Tiina Jokinen, who was just back from a trip to Papua New Guinea, pointed out that, unlike America, Africa has always been a world centre of migration and trade. Much of the known history comes from written accounts by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Arabs, but there was also trade with China. Even before the arrival by the Portuguese in the 15th century there were European fortune hunters in Africa. The Portuguese were followed by the British in the 16th century, and then the rest of Europe from the 17th century onwards. By the 19th century missionaries appeared, the forerunner to colonisation, wars and decolonisation of modern history.

Global prize for digital performance open for entries - closing date 8 June

Welsh National Opera and the Lumen Prize Exhibition, the competition and global tour for digital art, have combined forces to award a new prize recognising excellence in digital art for theatrical purpose incorporating both sound and movement. The Lumen Prize, which is now in its fourth year, is open to artists anywhere in the world. The Lumen WNO Performance Award will be the first time the organisation has awarded a prize for performance work. This is a new collaboration for WNO who are reaching out to new audiences with increasing digital work on a national stage.

"Digital Art is fast becoming a vital component to the very best operatic performances globally. By using the magic of electronics and the brilliance of original coding, artists can enhance both established and new opera alike. This prize is aiming at finding the best artists working in that space," says Carla Rapoport, Director of the Lumen Prize. "We are honoured to be working with WNO to launch this prize as part of the 2015 Lumen Prize Call for Entries."

In addition to the prize of US$1000, WNO is pleased to be offering a US$1500 commission to the winning artist to develop his or her work in collaboration with the WNO team, with the possibility of its performance by WNO artists. For more information about this prize see the Lumen Prize website. The Call for Entries for the Lumen WNO Performance prize closes on 8 June.

A tea party to celebrate Alice's return to the Yucca Lawn

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Opera Holland Park - 2014,  photo credit Alex Brenner

Will Todd’s opera Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was originally commissioned by Opera Holland Park as a follow up to their previous family opera, which was a production of Tobias Picker’s The Fabulous Mr Fox. Alice was successfully premiered in 2013 and returned for further performances in 2014. Now the production is returning again in 2015, with many of the original cast still in their roles in Martin Duncan’s production. The production is performed out of doors on the Yucca Lawn in Holland Park, but will be heading indoors in November when the production transfers to the Linbury Theatre, at the Royal Opera House. Such is the success of the opera that a studio recording has been made and is being issued on Signum Records.

Opera Holland Park had tea party on Tuesday 26 May 2015 to celebrate both the recording and Alice’s return to the Yucca Lawn for the third year. Chatting to all those involved in the production from producers James Clutton and Sarah Crabtree (from Opera Holland Park) to composer Will Todd, cast members Fflur Wyn (Alice), John Lofthouse (March Hare/White Knight), Keel Watson (Caterpillar) and conductor Matthew Waldren, it was noticeable how enthusiastic all were about the piece and how much it was clear that they cared for it, feeling that it is very much their piece.

New Dots - world premieres and more with Ligeti Quartet

The Ligeti Quartet (last heard in Steve Reich's Three Tales) is performing a programme entitled Enlightenment at Hoxton Basement, 18 Hoxton Street, London N1 6NG on Sunday 31 May 2015. Organised by New Dots, the organisation which aims to provide opportunities for emerging composers and musicians, the concert has George's Crumb's classic Black Angels at its centre, along with premieres of music by Anna Meredith, and Tom Green, plus works by Wadada Leo Smith, William Dougherty, and Ji Sun Yang. Tom Green's new work Gravity Fragments is in fact designed as a response to Black Angels which Crumb wrote during the Vietnam War and which uses electric string instruments as well as using extended techniques, requiring the players to speak and to play a set of percussion instruments as well.

You can read more about the concert at the New Dots website.