 CD Review: Mariinsky Label launches with Shostakovich's Nose and Symphonies 1 and 15 These two new releases represent the birth of what could be the most exciting new record label since the inception of LSO Live – and it's perhaps no surprise that the LSO team is behind it. Mariinsky, as the new label is simply called, is the latest project of Valery Gergiev, who... more> |
 Opera News: Nelly Miricioiu and Angela Gheorghiu take over from Deborah Voigt in The Royal Opera's revival of Tosca with Bryn Terfel The Royal Opera has announced the withdrawal of Deborah Voigt from the high-profile revival of Tosca, opening on 9 July. The American soprano has cancelled all her appearances as the title role of the opera due to 'acute colitis'. In her stead... more> |
 CD Review: Thomas Adès' The Tempest live from Covent Garden I was disappointed when I saw Thomas Adès' much-admired Tempest on its second run at Covent Garden in 2007. A live recording (presumably a portmanteau made of excerpts from various dates on the run) has been released on EMI to more acclaim, yet I remain disappointed, The piece fundamentally.... more> |
 Concert Review: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Waja Young and the LSO There was something oddly lopsided about last night’s LSO concert at the Barbican. It was as though conductor Michael Tilson Thomas had ordered the pieces on the programme according to popularity, starting from the least known: thus Ives' From the Steeples to the Mountains opened the evening, followed by... more> |
 Opera Review: Ramón Vargas in the ROH's Un ballo in maschera Old-fashioned values ran through this revival of Un ballo in maschera at Covent Garden: it's a period staging, it's vigorously played by the orchestra and it's perfectly efficient. But Mario Martone's rather dull production remains a problem. It's difficult to tell from the way he handles the piece that this was Verdi's... more> |
 Opera Review: Fra Diavolo at Stanley Hall Opera This is the third production of Fra Diavolo I have seen and reviewed in the past year, and in many ways it proved to be the most enjoyable. In Munich the piece was played as broad farce and lost much of Auber’s musical refinement, wit and elegance along the way. At the Opéra Comique in Paris it was given in period style, well prepared and finely... more> |
 Concert Review: Week 2 of the Agora Festival in Paris> A noble venture: but unfortunately the realization left quite a lot to be desired. The main problem was the excruciatingly bad libretto. Both plot and characters were wafer thin. A female scientist, seeking to slake her thirst for knowledge, pursues her theories to the point that she somehow enters the 'fifth dimension'... more> |
 Opera Interview: The composer Kaija Saariaho chats about ENO's new production of her opera L'Amour de loin The director for this new production (which impressively will be the opera's seventh in only nine years) is Daniele Finzi Pasca, famed for his work with Cirque du Soleil. Pasca has taken a daring approach to enlivening the intimate narrative by adorning the... more> |
 Concert Review: Paul McCreesh conducts Handel's Jephtha at the Barbican Although librettist Thomas Morrell changed the death sentence of the Old Testament into a permanent state of virginity, the plot of Jephtha - Handel's last oratorio - is still unsettling. Handel was on the verge of loosing his eye-sight, so the resignation of Jephtha's daughter Iphis (to her eternal virginity) might... more> |
 Concert Review: Britten-Pears Orchestra shine in carefully-themed programme For their appearance at this year's Aldeburgh Festival, the Britten-Pears Orchestra put in several days work with the young Italian guest conductor Antonella Manacorda (including a Sunday morning open rehearsal) and then played a stunning concert in a packed Snape Maltings on the Monday night.... more> |
 Opera Review: Opera Holland Park's La boheme Stereotypically, outdoors summer Operas are a bit like summer affairs: pleasant, good fun and unlikely to leave a mark, especially when the bill features such a world-class charmer as La Bohème. But Opera Holland Park’s production of La Bohème was, if not flawless, graced with vocal performances of less-than-stereotypical depth... more> |
 Concert Review: Thomas Hampson, Joseph Calleja and Joyce DiDonato in concert with Pappano at Covent Garden This concert given at the Royal Opera House had a somewhat troubled genesis. Originally announced as a celebrity recital for Rolando Villazon accompanied on the piano by Antonio Pappano, Dmitri Hvorostovsky agreed to step in after Villazon was instructed by his... more> |
 Opera Interview: Ramón Vargas chats about the ROH's Un ballo in maschera The Royal Opera's summer Italian mini-festival continues with a revival of Verdi's mid-period masterpiece, Un ballo in maschera. Heading an interesting cast in Mario Martone's production is Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas in the lead role of Riccardo. Un ballo in maschera is one of the composer's most... more> |
 Musical Theatre Review: Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars at the QEH Lost in the Stars ('49) was the last stage work Kurt Weill was to complete before his untimely death in 1950. Typically for the composer the piece is something of a curio in the context of Broadway musical theatre of the late 1940s. Subtitled 'a musical tragedy', it takes an extremely difficult subject, apartheid in... more> |
 Royal Opera News: Hvorostovsky cancels concert and Keenlyside withdraws from Barber The Royal Opera has announced the withdrawal of Dmitri Hvorostovsky from the recital with Antonio Pappano on Wednesday 24 June and cast changes for Il barbiere di Siviglia.
The Russian baritone cancelled his concert at Covent Garden due to a severe throat infection that he developed... more> |
 Opera Review: Opera at Iford 2009 gets underway with The Barber of Seville Iford Arts' opera summer season has kicked off with a lively take on Rossini's ever-green comic masterpiece.
In the so-called cloisters, tucked away in the manor's Peto gardens, Iford surely boasts one of the festival season's most magical venues, allowing a level of intimate communication... more> |
 CD Review: René Jacobs' new recording of Idomeneo (HM) As an opera seria on a Greek subject, there's a certain unfortunate irony in the fact that a great deal of good work on René Jacobs's new Idomeneo is largely undone by a kind of musical hubris. As several critics have noted – with varying degrees of tolerance – the lively and witty continuo playing that brought so much of the... more> |
 Opera News: Chelsea Opera Group announces 2009/10 season The Chelsea Opera Group has announced its three-opera programme for the forthcoming season, confirming once again its commitment to the rediscovery of rarely performed and yet unmissable works.
The COG plans include concert performances of Gluck's 1776 version of Alceste, Verdi's La traviata and Rossini's Guillaume Tell... more> |
 Concert Review: Colin Davis, Nelson Freire and the LSO celebrate a milestone at the Barbican It might be a measure of Sir Colin Davis's modesty and generosity towards musical colleagues – characteristics praised by several luminaries providing tributes in the programme – that he chose to share the limelight for the bulk of his 50th anniversary concert with the London Symphony... more> |
 Concert Review: Goerne and Eschenbach perform three Schubert cycles at the Wigmore Hall Performed by Matthias Goerne (baritone) and Christoph Eschenbach (piano), Wigmore Hall's Schubert song cycle had been judged by many as a must. Tickets were sold out early on and return tickets were hard to come by. The hall was packed, with several people standing at the back... more> |
 Concert Review: Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra perform in the Meltdown Festival Ornette Coleman's Meltdown has proved to be the most interesting in years, as many had hoped it would. After a run of somewhat safe choices, Coleman's selection as curator of the Southbank Centre's annual music festival came as a shock, but the decision seems to have paid off... more> |
 Opera Review: Renee Fleming returns as Violetta in The Royal Opera's La traviata Rapturous applause greeted the return of Renée Fleming to Covent Garden for a revival of Verdi's La traviata – and with good reason. The cast was unusually consistent from top to bottom, with strong leading performances by Thomas Hampson as Germont and Joseph Calleja as Alfredo, while... more> |
 CD Review: Ricci's Corrado d'Altamura on Opera Rara Anticipation is always great for new Opera Rara releases, because the mixture of excellent studio conditions and superb packaging always makes for a luxury product. On top of that, we get to know interesting works from a fascinating period of music history – ones which have fallen by the wayside, either because of poor... more> |
 Opera Interview: Renée Fleming on singing La traviata with The Royal Opera In a constellation of the world's opera stars, one shines brighter than all the rest. But it's not merely her ravishingly beautiful voice and physical glamour that make Renée Fleming special. In person, she makes an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate interviewee. Fleming hasn't done a... more> |
 Concert Review: Week One of the Agora Festival in Paris The Agora festival is held annually by IRCAM around Paris, this year running for two weeks. The theme of this year's festival is complexity in the arts – the forking paths taken by and thematised by art and science in the contemporary era. This theme has paved the way for two weeks of multidiscplinary activity... more> |
 Concert review: Radius ensemble premiere pieces by Tim Benjamin and Paul Newland at Wigmore Hall Sarah Watts opened proceedings with a performance of Boulez' Domaines in its solo clarinet version. Watts gave a thoughtful, methodical reading that took care to properly service each gesture. The range of expression was secure, with the repeated multiphonics and... more> |
 DVD Review: Tristan und Isolde with Gwyneth Jones Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is relatively well represented on DVD, but this release is notable for being the only commercial account of the Isolde of the legendary dramatic soprano Dame Gwyneth Jones which is currently readily available. Jones first performed Isolde in 1978, but this performance... more> |
 Concert Review: Colin Davis with the LSO and Paul Lewis in Beethoven and Brahms Paul Lewis underlined his status as a discerning Beethovenian at the Barbican this week with a searching account of the Emperor Concerto. With Colin Davis drawing sturdy and responsive playing from the LSO, Lewis and the conductor juggled a stately grandeur with a significant degree of shade in the rhythmic.... more> |
 Musical Review: The King and I opens at the Royal Albert Hall The sixth collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, The King and I marked something of a departure for Broadway's leading composer-lyricist team in dealing with non-American subject matter. By extension it's quite ambitious, because it has to accommodate a kind of 'Otherness' in its score, lyrics... more> |
 Concert Review: Collage-Montage - Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Aldeburgh Festival For his own opening concert at this year's Aldeburgh Festival, the new artistic director Pierre-Laurent Aimard devised a musical entertainment which he entitled Collage-Montage. The idea was simple enough: take some very different composers and juxtapose their music so that we, the audience... more> |
 Opera Review: Birtwistle chamber opera opens the Aldeburgh Festival The 62nd Aldeburgh Festival got off to an initially languorous but ultimately invigorating start with the world premiere of two chamber operas – that could hardly be more different to each other - by Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Semper Dowland semper dolens is a study in plaintive melancholy, with the seven... more> |
 CD Review: Late Chopin piano and cello works with Maria João Pires When the Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires refers to her new two-disc Chopin recording project as 'a stroll through [his] late period', I know she's talking about an exploration of a certain period of his output that does not adhere too academically to the exact order in which they were written, to an exhaustive account of every... more> |
 Opera Review: Werther with Elina Garanca in Baden-Baden Hardly had the waves around the glittering performances of Robert
Wilson's Freischütz settled down, when another great event promised to
fill the Festspielhaus to capacity. Werther by Massenet was to be given in concert performances with
Rolando Villazon and Elīna Garanča, to demonstrate again... more> |
 News: Harry Christophers and The Sixteen are named Classic FM Magazine's Artist of the Year The Sixteen and their conductor and founder Harry Christophers are the subject of some thrilling piece of news in the year of their 30th anniversary. Describing them as an 'Ace chamber choir in pursuit of perfection in everything it does', Classic FM Magazine has nominated.... more> |
 Opera Review: Madam Butterfly returns to ENO Having picked up an Olivier Award and provoked something of a critical witch-hunt since its first outing in 2005, it seems safe to say that Anthony Minghella's Madam Butterfly has divided audiences. Returning once more to ENO by way of homage to its late director, the production is looking – and for the most part sounding – as glossily... more> |
 Review of Reviews: Critical clashes over Loy's new Lulu at Covent Garden Reactions to the Royal Opera House's latest production of Berg's Lulu range from the enthusiasm of The Telegraph and the Evening Standard (who gave the production a rating of four stars), to the lukewarm three stars of The Times and Financial Times, down to the bitter disappointment of The Guardian and The Stage... more> |
 Concert Review: The Staatskapelle Dresden and Daniel Harding shine in Dublin One of the oldest orchestras in the world, and one of Gramophone's top ten world's best orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden reached Dublin on Saturday evening, marking the end of the 2008-09 International Orchestral Series. If the orchestra, along with Daniel Harding and guest soloist Renaud Capuçon... more> |
 CD Review: Hakola's Piano Concerto and Sinfonietta (Ondine) With the new Ondine release of Kimmo Hakola's Piano Concerto and Sinfonietta, we are presented with a puzzling mixed bag. While the Sinfonietta is a modernist single movement whose ambition to raw power is a little stereotypical, though effective in places; the Piano Concerto is the sort of piece that demands attention... more> |
 DVD Review: The first two instalments of a new Ring from Weimar (Arthaus) Home to both Goethe and Liszt – who conducted the premiere of Lohengrin there in 1851 – Weimar has an impressive cultural heritige, yet doesn't occupy the kind of position on the musical map one might expect. However, the Staatskapelle Weimar has recently been gathering an excellent reputation... more> |
 CD Review: A new Chopin recital from Elisabeth Leonskaja (MDG) Having recorded a great deal for Teldec in the 1980s and 90s, Vienna-based pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja is working her way leisurely through more modest selections from of the repertoire for the innovative German label, MDG. This Chopin recital follows solo discs of Schubert and Brahms, as well as a recording of ... more> |
 Opera Review: The Chelsea Opera Group performs the 1857 version of Simon Boccanegra Concert performances can be just as seductive as fully-staged interpretations: this is what the Chelsea Opera Group demonstrated once again with their by no means perfect – but in many ways exemplary - reading of Simon Boccanegra, in their latest London appearance at... more> |
 Opera News: The Royal Opera announces change of cast for Don Carlo The Royal Opera has announced the withdrawal of Italian mezzo-soprano Sonia Ganassi from the role of Princess Eboli in Don Carlo, opening in the next season at Covent Garden on 15 September 2009. Ganassi decided to cancel her engagement due to her pregnancy. The role will be now interpreted... more> |
 News: The BBC Philharmonic announces 2009-10 season The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra's 2009-10 season will be an extended and exciting celebration of Gustav Mahler's 150th anniversary. The BBC Philharmonic opens and closes the season with its Mahler tribute (16 January to 5 June) and performs five of the symphonies, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda... more> |
 Opera Review: The Royal Opera's new Lulu conducted by Antonio Pappano The Royal Opera's new production of Lulu, their first in 26 years, provides an incredibly unbalanced evening of entertainment. At the premiere the orchestra and conductor were on fine form, whilst the singing and acting were generally quite strong, even if some of the characterisations were not entirely....more> |
 Concert Review: The King's Singers impress in Oxford Returning to Oxford for the first time in over a decade, Thursday night's concert was a celebration of the Romance du Soir, with music exploring those perennially associated themes of love and the night. Wending its way from the madrigals of Weelkes to the part-songs of Elgar and Sullivan via a healthy dose of Saint-Saens (not to mention... more> |
 CD Review: A new Messiah from Stuttgart with Carolyn Sampson (Carus) Handel's anniversary year is proving to offer many a rich feast on his larger-scale works with his oratorios and operas featuring in many of the major festivals around the world. Of course Messiah has always been famous for its enduring appeal, but even performances of this work seem to have increased as a ... more> |
 Opera Review: Grange Park Opera premieres Cavalli's Eliogabalo Grange Park Opera have shown courage. To mount the UK premiere of an opera written by Francesco Cavalli for the 1668 Venice carnival season, but never actually performed then, is brave at the best of times: to do so in the middle of a credit crunch is pushing box office loyalty to the limit. All the more heartening therefore... more> |
 Opera Review: Opera Holland Park's successful Hänsel und Gretel Opera Holland Park's production of Hänsel und Gretel is stunning with its simplicity and musicality. After the first night I instructed all my students to go to see it and I urge everybody else to try to catch a performance during the current run. In spite of a very small stage and probable financial restrictions, the production... more> |
 Musical Theatre Review: From The Light in the Piazza to A Little Night Music The West End is undergoing a time of change at the moment, with various musicals closing either due to the economic climate or simply because they've run their course. Yet the variety of shows on offer in Britain at the moment is as diverse as ever. During the past couple of weeks, I've seen five different musicals... more> |
 Opera Review: Opera Holland Park's period-setting Roberto Devereux Opera Holland Park's hotly-anticipated 2009 season got off to a strong start with an entertaining Hänsel und Gretel and this valuable rare revival of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux. One of the composer's Tudor-period operas – along with Maria Stuarda and Il castello di Kenilworth – Roberto Devereux describes... more> |
 Concert Review: Broschi Ensemble and Cenk Karaferya perform Handel and Vivaldi Cenk Karaferya is a young London-based countertenor of Turkish descent more in keeping with the American branch of the countertenor tree than what the conductor and musicologist Denis Stevens once dubbed the 'Cambridge Coo.' In some circles these higher, richer falsettists are know as... more> |
 CD Review: Ensemble Intercontemporain shine in Philippe Manoury In this case the focus is on the music of French composer Philippe Manoury (b.52). Manoury is a figure who takes gestural and poetic elements from the German tradition, particularly from Wagner and Stockhausen, and unites them with computer music technologies and with inimitable touches of... more> |
 Opera Review: Don Carlos shines at Opera North with Julian Gavin and Janice Watson Whilst there are a few small flaws in both the singing and Tim Albery's staging, this revival of Verdi's Don Carlos by Opera North is an unquestionable triumph for the company. Their performance at The Lowry in Salford was absorbing as only Don Carlos can, and indeed should, be. The sense of collective... more> |
 Preview: Highlights of the classical calendar in June 2009 While browsing The Telegraph's website the other day, I was surprised to read an article by Rupert Christiansen in which he demands that we should 'stop forcing opera on reluctant teenagers'. This extraordinary assertion – considering it comes from a leading and usually insightful opera critic – is a response to statistics... more> |
 Concert Review: Endymion Ensemble celebrate British music The concert was both part of the week-long celebration of Endymion (many of the works by professional composers had been written for the occasion) and the crowning of a day of workshops for young composers doing their A-levels. Two pieces among the many workshopped throughout the day were... more> |
CD Review: A new Messiah from Stuttgart with Carolyn Sampson (Carus) Handel's anniversary year is proving to offer many a rich feast on his larger-scale works with his oratorios and operas featuring in many of the major festivals around the world. Of course Messiah has always been famous for its enduring appeal, but even performances of this work seem to have increased as a ... more> |
 Concert Review: Endymion Ensemble celebrate thirty years of music The weekly theme at King's Place is a celebration of the 30th anniversary since the formation of the much acclaimed Endymion ensemble. The celebration takes the shape of a performance marathon by the Endymion ensemble themselves, with music ranging from Mozart to world premieres... more> |
 Opera Review: A reconstructed Mitridate from Mozart specialist The Classical Opera Company It was not only an incoherent production, but also problematic vocal interpretation that fatally affected this latest Classical Opera Company project, which has its roots in a large-scale and significant philological project. This staging of Mitridate, re di Ponto was the first attempt ever... more> |
 CD Review: I fagiolini's Monteverdi continues with Sweet Torment (Chaconne) This is I Fagiolini's third release in their Monteverdi Series and, as always, the album is cleverly devised, well recorded and beautifully presented.
The programme opens with two madrigals from book five, the first of which, Questi vaghi concenti uses almost the whole I fagiolini ensemble in conjunction with... more> |
 CD Review: Gerald Finley's new recital of Ravel Songs (Hyperion) Having already tackled Ives, Barber and Schumann for Hyperion – to great acclaim – Gerald Finley now puts his burnished baritone to the service of Ravel and his enigmatic song output. If anything, the stylistic and emotional range of Ravel's songs brings him close to Ives, but for all their beauty and mastery, Ravel still ... more> |
 Opera Review: Robert Wilson's production of Der Freischütz opens at Baden-Baden In feverish anticipation of the glittering premiere of Weber's masterpiece, the first truly romantic opera opening the twin floodgates for this genre in the hands of Wagner and Berlioz held this normally so placid spa in its grip for weeks. The popularity of and love for this work largely contributed to... more> |
 Review of Reviews: Abbas Kiarostami's controversial simplicity in his Così fan tutte When a famous film director from Iran is in charge of the new production of Mozart's Così fan tutte at the ENO, you can be forgiven for expecting the extraordinary. The constellation of Iran, film, Mozart, is surely the stuff of a thought provoking, striking take on the enigmatic Così fan tutte. If we add... more> |
 Opera Review: McVicar's production of Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne Festival Opera That this is the third outing for David McVicar's Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne in just five seasons is emphatic testimony to the charm of this all-singing all-dancing fantasy of a production, proving once and for all that it is oh so much more than the sparkling sum of its novelty parts... more> |
 Interview: Antonio Pappano on the Royal Opera's new Lulu and plans for Covent Garden It is now seven years since Antonio Pappano took the reins at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. A recent press conference announcing the 2009/10 season reflected a house in rude health, both artistically and, in the face of globally difficult times, financially. Having Pappano as Music Director... more> |
 Opera Review: New production of Così fan tutte opens at the ENO A lack of communication between stage and pit affected this new co-production of Così fan tutte at the London Coliseum. But if the musical performance suffered from some crucial uncertainties, other characteristics of Mozart's opera were beautifully delivered. Pushing the boundaries of theatrical fiction... more> |
 Concert Review: Semyon Bychkov conducts the COE In my opinion Semyon Bychkov's innate musicality, knowledge of music and conducting technique place him among the greatest conductors, past and present. I first heard him when he conducted Boris Godunov at the Royal Opera House a few years ago. It was a wonderful performance which made me think... more> |
 Concert Review: Philip Glass performs chamber works at the Barbican So it is in Glass' Songs and Poems for Cello, an extended, non-programmatic (as far as I could tell) solo suite rich in contrapuntal dexterity, rhythmic alacrity, and through-composed movement. Repetition is used, but it often comes in the way it does in early post-romantic works, as a straining against ordinal... more> |
 CD Review: Al Ayre Español and Eduardo López Banzo play Handel's Rodrigo (Sony) Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittoria or Rodrigo was Handel's first opera written in and for Italy. Given its first performance sometime in the autumn of 1707, Rodrigo predates the great operas of 1724 (Tamerlano, Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda) by almost two decades, and in all honesty it's not quite... more> |
 CD Review: Jack Liebeck plays Dvorák (Sony) Highly-touted young British violinist Jack Liebeck has already made quite a splash on the classical music scene. He has had numerous collaborations with musicians and ensembles of international repute, and his Oxford May Music Festival, in only its second year, attracted such acclaimed artists as pianist Yevgeny Sudbin and violist Lawrence... more> |
 Preview: Robert Wilson presents Weber's Der Freischütz at Baden-Baden on stage and online Rehearsals and feverish preparations are proceeding in a glare of publicity - often accompanying Robert Wilson's excursions in reforming our concepts of how opera should be presented on the stage - for the premiere of Weber's Der Freischütz at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden... more> |
 News Feature: Stefano Secco takes up role of Werther at Baden-Baden Massenet's Werther will be presented at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus on 7 and 10 June, in what was meant to be a star-studded performance including Ludovic Tézier, Elina Garanca and Rolando Villazón, all very much at home in Baden-Baden. Unfortunately, the Mexican tenor.... more> |
 Concert Review: Phantasm perform English viol consort music On the penultimate day of the 2009 Lufhansa Festival of Baroque Music, Phantasm – an award-winning consort of viols – presented what their founder director Laurence Dreyfus described in his pre-performance talk as 'the glories of English viol consort music.' To be more precise... more> |
 Concert Review: Mitsuko Uchida solo recital at the Royal Festival Hall Mozart floated into the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday night under the fingers of Mitsuko Uchida. His Rondo in A minor K 511 is an elegant little piece in its own right, but Uchida made its enigmatic sadness sing to a disquieting degree. Her touch was full of grace, and her expression deeply moving. This was a stunning, even.... more> |
 CD Review: The Sixteen's A New Heaven (Decca) Throughout their first thirty years The Sixteen have remained faithful to a core repertoire of early music with various other explorations along the way and this new album is another one of their delightful excursions, this time focusing on the music of the Anglican church from Victorian times to the present day.
The programme itself is... more> |
 Interview: Vladimir Jurowski discusses Glyndebourne's 75th anniversary There's one more full day to go. On 21 May Glyndebourne kicks off its 75th anniversary season, a very special moment in the operatic calendar, with a new production of Verdi's Falstaff, directed by Richard Jones. 'I don't want to give too much away but I can tell you that it is an updated Falstaff,' he says... more> |
 CD Review: Colin Davis and the LSO's Creation Continuing his series of choral works on LSO Live – which has so far featured Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Requiem, with Verd's Requiem to follow in September – Sir Colin Davis has turned his attention to Haydn's Creation. Surprisingly, it's the octogenarian conductor's first account of the work on record... more> |
 CD Review: Nancarrow from the Calefax Reed Quintet (MDG) Take a look at the track listing on any recording of Conlon Nancarrow's Player Piano Studies and you’ll instantly notice that something's wrong: the order of the tracks seems to have gone awry. Study number 2 plays, say, 10 tracks after study number 3, and study 3b follows study 3c. This may seem like mere pretence, but if you listen.... more> |
 Concert Review: Nelly Miricioiu sings Verdi and Berkeley in a rare London recital To hold an audience rapt for over two hours is no mean feat, but it seemed to be all in a day's work for Nelly Miricioiu at this, her first public recital in London for many years. At the age of 57, the Romanian soprano shows no sign of vocal wear and tear, indeed she continues to grow both artistically and technically... more> |
 CD Review: Messiaen's music for Ondes Martenot (Atma) We often think of lesser-known works by celebrated authors as unloved manuscripts, collecting dust in archives—the province of specialists. All the more so if the work is scored for a now obsolete instrument or—worse—several of them. Messiaen’s haunting Fête des belles eaux, for example... more> |
 Feature News: Pappano receives the Reginald Goodall Award A highlight of the Wagner Society's 14 - 17 May long weekend in Aldeburgh, devoted to discussion and analysis of productions of the Ring cycle in London since the 1960s, was the presentation to Antonio Pappano of the Reginald Goodall Award by Dame Gwyneth Jones, President of the Wagner Society... more> |
 Feature Review: The Met Player experience I have spent the last few days exploring the Met Player, the new opera streaming facility offered to a worldwide home computer audience by the Met, and very exciting it is too. You may have seen a Metropolitan Opera production in a cinema near you over recent months, and now the same experience is available over the internet... more> |
 Review of Reviews: Alden's Peter Grimes opens to great acclaim at ENO Few operatic events are bound to gain as much press attention as a new production of Britten's Peter Grimes. American director David Alden's dark, nightmarish production has elicited many of the the most passionately positive responses the British press has seen in a long time. And while the superb... more> |
 CD Reviews: Brilliant Classics' new Brilliant Opera Collection As we all know, the world of classical music recording is in a state of crisis, with a recent major reorganisation at Decca and Deutsche Grammophon being another sign that things aren't as stable as they should be. But at the budget-priced label Brilliant Classics, business continues to thrive. The latest initiative is... more> |
 Review of Reviews: The ROH's L'elisir d'amore is revived Daniel Dooner's revival of Laurent Pelly's 2007 production of L'Elisir d'Amore has arrived on the stage of the Royal Opera House. Set in the sun-drenched Italian countryside of the 1950s, this sweet, gently amusing production did not quite succeed in charming the critics off their feet, although it has many undeniable assets... more> |
 Concert Review: Early Opera Company at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque MusicFive years after Purcell's death — that is in March 1700 — 'Several Persons of Quality having, for the Encouragement of MUSICK advanced 200 Guineas, to be distributed in 4 Prizes…to such Masters as shall be adjudged to Compose the best…'...more> |
 Concert Review: Handel's Athalia at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music Originally performed in 1733 to an audience of a staggering 3,700 people, Athalia was the composer's first purpose-written oratorio. Both Esther and Deborah – Handel's earliest oratorios – were mere assembly-jobs, refashioned and pieced together... more> |
 Competition: Win Gerald Finley's new Ravel CD on Hyperion Following on from widely acclaimed discs of Barber, Ives and Schumann, Finley's newest release on Hyperion sees him enter the world of Ravel's mélodies, songs which are by turns humerous, moving and delicate. Ravel's meticulously detailed and nuanced writing seems ideally suited to a baritone renowned for the beauty of his voice... more> |
Opera Interview: Nelly Miricioiu chats about a rare solo recital, her career and her recovery from a vocal crisis From Lady Macbeth to Tosca, from Handel to Respighi, from the Met to La Scala, Nelly Miricioiu has been conquering the operatic world for several decades. But a challenge which has long eluded the Romanian-born British soprano is a presence on the recital stage... more> |
 Concert Review: The Sixteen's 30th Anniversary (QEH) The Sixteen gave their London debut concert at St John's Smith Square on May 12, 1979. In the pre-concert talk at London's Southbank Centre exactly 30 years later three of the original singers from that debut shared their memories with Harry Christophers and three newer members of his ensemble. It was impressive to note... more> |
 Concert Review: Beyond the Wall: The Afterlife of Li Jiantong (LSO St. Luke's) The pipa specialist Wu Man, and Theatre of Voices under Paul Hillier, appeared this week at LSO St. Luke's as part of the Barbican's ongoing Beyond the Wall festival of Chinese music, the first solo, the second in reduced capacity for a performance of Liu Sola's new chamber opera The Afterlife of Li Jiantong... more> |
 Concert Review: New concert spaces open at Snape Maltings The Hoffmann Building at Snape opened its doors to the public for a housewarming party over the weekend of 9/10 May, and the new performance spaces resounded with an eclectic range of music that will undoubtedly become a hallmark of the venue. From a range of 'Faster than sound' audiovisual installations... more> |
 Opera Review: Stuart Skelton stars in ENO's new Peter Grimes Practically everyone is deranged in David Alden's new production of Britten's Peter Grimes for English National Opera. While it's hardly original to suggest that Grimes isn't quite there, mentally speaking, the weird behaviour of the rest of the Borough is something new, and here taken to an absolute extreme.... more> |
 Opera Review: Diana Damrau returns in L'elisir d'amore at Covent Garden This first Covent Garden revival of Laurent Pelly's production of L'elisir d'amore highlighted some of the weaknesses of this specific reading of Donizetti's fine melodramma giocoso. On the other hand, discrepancies in the invasive stage direction were compensated for by first class performances... more> |
 News: Hvorostovsky to replace Villazon in ROH recital with Pappano The Royal Opera House has announced that Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky has agreed to sing in concert with Music Director Antonio Pappano.
The recital will take place on Wednesday 24 June and will replace that which was to be given by Rolando Villazón. The Mexican tenor recently announced... more> |
 Opera Review: Mark Elder conducts the Hallé Orchestra in Wagner's Götterdämmerung Although it was largely a musical triumph from start to finish, the Hallé’s concert performance of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung was perhaps more significant as a statement about the role of the orchestra in Manchester. The fifteen-minute standing ovation that greeted the conclusion... more> |
 Opera Broadcast Review: La Cenerentola from the Met with Garanca Following their established and successful tradition of live broadcasts, the Met offered the last production of the 2008-09 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola, to a million-wide public, in the process underlining the fact that very concept of a 'live' stage event has over the few last years been notably stretched by.... more> |
 Competition: Win one of five copies of the 'Pierre-Laurent Aimard Collection' The latest in a series of artist-based Collections from Warner Classics & Jazz sees the company compile some of the best moments from their catalogue of recordings by the great French pianist, Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
The 'Pierre-Laurent Aimard Collection' gives music lovers a unique opportunity to... more> |
 Opera Interview: Diana Damrau returns to Covent Garden for L'elisir d'amore Amongst the most popular singers of her generation, Diana Damrau continues to fascinate opera lovers. Continuing her broad repertoire, Damrau is back in London next week as Adina in a revival of L'elisir d'amore. It's a role as charming as the soprano herself, who is down-to-earth as we chat about her... more> |
 CD Review: Steven Osborne plays Rachmaninov Preludes (Hyperion) Rachmaninov still has his detractors and one might easily imagine admirers of some of the composers which Steven Osborne has so brilliantly championed in his recording career so far – Messiaen, Tippett and Britten, for example – are exactly the doubters who Osborne addresses in his... more> |
 Concert Review: Purcell's King Arthur at the Barbican Purcell wrote his King Arthur, a five-act 'dramatick opera', in collaboration with the former poet laureate John Dryden in 1690. The work depicts King Arthur's final struggles against the Saxon leader Oswald, before ending in a masque where all things British are celebrated. A skewed, various, fantastical sense of jubilation fills up the finale... more> |
 CD Review: Sir Mark Elder's Fidelio with Anja Kampe and Torsten Kerl (Glyndebourne) The fourth release on Glyndebourne's in-house label, this performance of Fidelio dates from 2006. Deborah Warner's production was praised at the time but in this aural record, all we have are a few production shots to illustrate it. There's no description of Warner's concept or her staging... more> |
 Opera News: Abbas Kiarostami is unable to attend his production of Così fan tutte at ENO Abbas Kiarostami, director of the forthcoming Così fan tutte at ENO, will not be able to participate in the performances of his production. This is due to complex issues related to his visa application at the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Associate Director Elaine Tyler-Hall, who worked with... more> |
 Preview: An exciting line-up in 2009-10 for the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden just announced its programme for the 2009-10 season. Among those giving either Lieder Evenings or featuring in operas, there are Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Elina Garanca, Joyce di Donato, Katarina Dalayman, Roberto Alagna, Jonas Kaufmann, Ramón Vargas, René Kollo, Ben Heppner... more> |
 Concert Review: Katie Mitchell's Winterreise at Snape Maltings When is a concert not a concert? That is what I found myself pondering as I emerged from the musical/theatrical 'happening' at Snape Maltings on 1 May, devised for Aldeburgh Music and co-presented with the HighTide Festival by Katie Mitchell. How to describe it? Take the 24 songs in Schubert's last song cycle... more> |
 Opera News: Sarah Connolly's first Maria Stuarda, Alice Coote in Werther and a Dove premiere for Opera North in 2009-10 There can be no doubt that the Opera North's newly announced operatic season is one of the most elegantly balanced programmes around. The music features has not only been handpicked, but also positioned very expertly in the overall design of the season... more> |
 Book Review: Frank Loesser by Thomas L Riis (Yale Broadway Masters) By far the finest study so far attempted on the subject, Thomas L Riis' new book on Frank Loesser in the Yale Broadway Masters series is a significant contribution to the literature on American musical theatre. Until now, far too little has been written about Frank Loesser (1910-69), the composer of some of the... more> |
 Review of Reviews: Reactions to the Royal Opera's Lohengrin Wagner's Lohengrin is back on the Covent Garden stage in a 1977 production by Elijah Moshinsky with designs by John Napier. If the critics were discordant on different aspects of the performance, it was Semyon Bychkov's take on Wagner's work that found them all unanimous in their praises. Tim Ashley of The Guardian ... more> |
 Concert Review: Ensemble Intercontemporain in works by Aperghis & Xenakis (Paris) On the back cover of a collected edition, Susan Sontag calls Maurice Blanchot 'one of the small number of unimpeachably major, original voices in modern French literature'. It is an epithet that, adapted a little, describes well the composer Georges Aperghis, one of the most inventive composers
... more> |
 Book Reviews: Fred Astaire's Steps in Time and Joseph Epstein's Fred Astaire It's just over seventy-five years since Fred Astaire teamed up with Ginger Rogers to create one of the finest dancing partnerships of all time (if not the greatest). To celebrate, Harper Collins has reissued Astaire's autobiography in paperback, while a new volume devoted to Astaire in Yale University Press'... more> |
 CD Review: Marino Formenti: Kurtag's Ghosts (Kairos) This idiosyncratic double CD release sees the music of György Kurtag performed alongside that of some of the major composers from the past seven centuries. It stems from the fertile imagination of Marino Formenti, a member of Klangforum Vienna who has been drawing comparisons with Glenn Gould in recent years as... more> |
