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.

London Handel Festival

Tonight we are off to the first of 2 visits to this year's London Handel Festival. We're off to see Handel's opera Poro at the Britten Theatre in the Royal College of Music, an ideal sized venue in which to see Handel opera staged. Our second visit to the festival will be to see Handel's Solomon at St. George's Church, Hanover Square.

Sunday afternoon was taken up with our concert at All Saints Church, Margaret Street. This went very well, with no major mishaps. We had a good audience and they were very appreciative. I was particularly pleased with the effect of my piece that we premièred, I'll definitely be scheduling that again.

After the concert we dashed over to Chelsea for Chelsea Opera Group's performance of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda; a full review of this will appear in due course.

MacMillan mass at Westminster

To Westminster Cathedral on Sunday for 10.30am mass. The setting was James MacMillan's Mass. The choir sang the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei, but in addition the celebrant included MacMillan's setting of the Ante-Preface, Preface, Prayer of Consecration etc. I have heard these on Westminster Cathedral choir's recording of the entire mass but had never anticipated hearing the sequence live, after all it requires a celebrant who is confident enough to learn MacMillan's new setting for the words. The result was profoundly moving, especially heard in the Cathedral's astounding acoustic.

The choral contributions were highly evocative.. What they lacked in clarity, due to the acoustic, they made up in atmosphere and the choir were in superb form.

The offertory motet was Mozart's Laudate Dominum, with the solo soprano line taken beautifully by a group of trebles.

Mr. Heidegger's House

Last week's Country Life included a feature on No. 4, Maids of Honour Row in Richmond, which has just been sold. In the 18th century the house belonged to the theatrical impressario Heidegger, with whom Handel collaborated on a number of occasions. In the 1740's Heidegger had the hall painted by one of his theatrical scene painters. A fascinating link to the rather ephemeral art of theatrical scene painting.

Busy-Ness

This is promising to be a busy weekend. On Saturday morning a photographer is coming to do some shots of me, with a new CD being recorded next month we decided that it was about time for me to get some new publicity shots done.

Then in the afternoon we are rehearsing in All Saints Church, Margaret Street for our concert there on Sunday. The first time we'll have sung in the venue. We have a brief run through in the church on Sunday and then our concert is at 3.00pm. All Welcome!

Early that day we are planning to go to 10.30am mass at Westminster Cathedral; being as I'm singing in the concert I'm not singing at church. The Cathedral are doing James MacMillan's Mass, the first time I'll have heard the dedicatees performing it live.

Then in the evening, we're off to the Chelsea Opera Group in the Cadogan Hall where they are performing Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda with Nelly Miriociouiou in the title role. This starts at the early hour of 6.00pm because the Cadogan Hall has strict rules about the time concerts are allowed to finish.

Meltdown, again

The computer I've been using, since my own turned flaky, has hit melt-down and lost its hard drive. My backup habits are a bit intermittent, but I am usually pretty good at printing out music in all the relevant stages of composition. Unfortunately, in the last week I have had a spurt of energy on a tone poem that I'd been writing, based on a Sylvia Townsend-Warner story. I'd not yet got around to printing it out so that the conclusion to the first movement and the entire opening of the second have disappeared into the aether (or wherever the bits and bytes from our hard drives go when they die). Very frustrating. As and when I get my new computer (current e.t.a. 10 days) I'm not sure whether I am going to have the stomach to re-construct the missing bits. We'll have to see.

And of course, until then I have to resort to my old, flaky PC. The one which turns itself off without any notice, thus corrupting whatever you were working on at the time. Ho-Hum.

Recent CD Review

My review of the re-issue of the New London Chamber Choir's recording of the Pierre de la Rue Requiem and Josquin's Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae is here on MusicWeb International.
This is an attractive disc and only occasionally do the choir’s very high standards lapse. Fine musicality ...

Review of Handel's Orlando

My review of Orlando at Covent Garden is here, on Music and Vision.

Handel's Orlando at Covent Garden

To Covent Garden last night to see Handel's Orlando. It was a pleasant change to go to see one of his works performed as it should be, with not messing about with intervals. The Royal Opera simply bit the bullet and performed 3 Acts (1 hour each) with 2 intervals: in at 7.00pm out at 10.45pm. Over the years we've had a variety of attempts to perform his long 3-Act works in a different way. Hercules at the Barbican was one of a number of presentations which merged 2 acts, to give 2 very unequal halves and a first 'half' of positively Wagnerian length. The alternative seems to be to put the interval in the 'wrong' place in the middle of Act 2. Which I don't like either, so bravo to Covent Garden.

Francisco Negrin's production uses dancers as Mars, Venus and Cupid, to help make obvious the work's theme of the struggle between love and glory. Cupid wears little beyond draping round his mid-section and Venus has bare breasts. For some reason the audience around me seemed to find the dancers amusing. Even when Dorinda was singing about the trouble and perils of love, almost wrestling with Cupid, the audience sniggered at his every move. This is an example of how a producer and designer can scupper a production by underestimating the audiences reaction to something on stage. Its a nuisance, but nice middle class English people (especially women) find nudity uncomfortable and will react with laughter, no matter how serious the intent. The was particularly true when Dorinda seems to skewer Cupid in the groin with an arrow.

But Mr. Negrin is a southern European so probably does not really understand our Northern hang-ups about sex.

A full review of the opera (rather than this little rant) will appear in due-course

In this month's Opera magazine

Gleanings from this month's Opera magazine.

There is an interview with David Fielding, partly to commemorate the fact that Fielding is doing Strauss's Egyptian Helen at the Met - based on his Garsington production. In the text (by Andrew Clark) both Clark and Fielding give due weight not only to Fielding's work at Garsington but also at Grange Park (where he's doing Prokofiev's The Gambler this summer). But somehow, in the layout of the article, the curse of Opera Magazine happened again (after all they did once describe Grange Park as the most unnecessary of the UK's opera festivals). The pictures include 3 of Fielding's ENO productions, 5 of his Garsington productions but none of his Grange Park one's. Or perhaps I'm being churlish and the Grange Park pictures failed to arrive!

An interesting comment in the Letters, an audience member from the Theatre Royal in Glasgow who sat in the balcony found that the counter tenors in Scottish Opera's Tamerlano were perfectly audible, whilst the critics (sitting in the stalls) found them too quiet. I've always rather liked sitting upstairs and often found the sound quality can be better in some theatres (and I've sat in the Theatre Royal balcony many times).

George Benjamin's new opera, Into the Little Hill was premièred in Paris as part of the Festival d'Automne, along with 2 other Benjamin events. The production is travelling to Amsterdam, New York and Frankfurt, but guess what? There are no solid plans for it to come to London - though it might get to Liverpool. The opera uses just 2 singers and Judith Weir-like, Benjamin conjures a whole cast from them. As one of the singers was the ever wonderful Hilary Summers, I bet the performance was terrific. Though Paul Driver describes her as mannish-sounding.

Another first opera, this time by Bruno Mantovani, premièred in Strasbourg by Opera National du Rhin. (Berlioz Troyens and a première in the same season).

Rodion Shchedrin's new opera Boyarina Morozova uses just chorus, soloists and 3 instrumentalists. The chorus are used instrumentally to accompany the soloists - its very Orthodox Church Music influenced. Sounds fascinating.

It seems that the Berlin Philharmonic has never performed Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel complete. Surprisingly, they got Mark Elder to do it with them and the results sound to have been fabulous. John Allison comments on how Elder reined thing in in the pit (v. necessary in this opera), but its not how I remember him from his Coliseum days when the orchestra frequently were too loud for the singers words to come across. One nice point in the presentation of the opera; the witch (Jane Henschel) sat incognito in the audience through the first scenes and started her performance by cackling from her seat. Startling if you were sitting next to her!

Meanwhile in Turin Luana de Vol sang Turandot at the age of 64 - something of a record. The production was mega-simple. Cost cutting meant that there was no money for sets, but Luca Ronconi seems to have turned up trumps with just people, lighting and the stage machinery. Shows what you can do when pushed. I wish more theatres would consider this.

It was good to see Sally Matthews garnering plaudits for her Amsterdam Cosi (even if the production was not liked).

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia a self-propelling yellow Hoover seems to have been one of the stars of the new production of Cenerentola, updated to the 50's (again). Reviewer David Shengold complains of updating fatigue, having already seen Semele as Marilyn Monroe, Nemorino as James Dean in Giant and Didno as Evita!

But in Seattle, the new Italiana in Algeri also updates, but wittily makes aviatrix Isabella crash land here aeroplane in North Africa.

In London, Rodney Milnes though that Dawn French, as the Duchess of Crackentorp in La Fille du Regiment marginally underplayed her role - really!

Chelsea Festival 2007

Tuesday evening saw the launch party for the 2007 Chelsea Festival. In previous years this has taken place at the historic Royal Hospital (designed by Wren) but this year it was in the ultra-modern top floor restaurant at Peter Jones shop in Sloane Square.

The festival, director Stewart Collins, is an impressively eclectic mix of classical music, jazz, theatre, fashion and all sorts of other things. Notable events, from my point of view, include Sir Andrew Davis conducting the Faure Requiem, with the Joyful Company of Singers; the Southbank Sinfonia doing a programme of English music for voices and Strings with music by Tippett, Berkeley, Leighton, Howells, Finzi and Walton; Mark Padmore and the Schubert Ensemble doing Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge (but you've got to sit through Dvorak's Piano Quintet as well); Purcell's King Arthur, but it has a new book by Kit Hesketh-Harvey; Emma Kirkby and the London Handel Players in a programme of Handel, Telemann, Bach and Vivaldi and, at the closing concert, Mozart's Solemn Vesters and Haydn's lovely Little Organ Mass played in the Royal Hospital Chapel (a lovely venue, despite the uncomfortable seats!).

Technorati tag:classical music