My Concert Highlights 2016
Schoenberg’s massive Gurrelieder at the Edinburgh Festival conducted by Donald Runnicles: no wonder he turned to serialism; he couldn’t go any further with tonality Steven Kovacevich‘s piano recital at the Buxton Festival: a profundity, particularly with Schubert’s A Major Sonata,…
My Operatic Highlights 2016
DIRECTORS Johannes von Matuschka: Der Traumgörge, Hanover Christophe Honoré: Cosi Fan Tutte, Edinburgh (Aix) DESIGNERS Daniel Dvořák: Three Wishes, Ostrava Tiziano Santi: Semiramide, Florence CONDUCTORS Patrik Ringborg: Die tote Stadt, Kassel Alain Altinoglu: Le Coq d’Or, Brussels SINGERS Rachel Harnisch:…
Orphée aux Enfers in Liège
What are the enduring qualities of Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers which enables it to be performed so successfully in the 21st century? First, there are familiar mythological characters given an unfamiliar slant, beginning with Orpheus and Eurydice detesting each other….
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel at La Monnaie
I had not appreciated until last night’s performance by the Brussels Opera, how subversive a piece is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel, looking forward to Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita and even Ionesco. And Laurent Pelly’s superb production caught exactly the right balance…
Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne at Manchester RNCM
Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne is a good choice for a student production with its many solo parts and scenes for chorus, and its witty, racy content. And – no surprise – the RNCM did it proud. This was the Opera…
Handel’s Sosarme at Halle
The curtain rose on the performance of Handel’s Sosarme at Halle. The setting was sordid: a backyard behind a decaying building containing trash and other clutter. On the stage came a group of yobs, yelling and hustling. I inwardly groaned….
Les Huguenots at the Deutsche Oper
What today is the appeal of the old warhorse Les Huguenots, an example of the now largely neglected species, French grand opera, and one which was adored by our Victorian forefathers? There is the subject-matter: drawing on momentous events…
The Kosky/Andrade Zauberflöte at the Komische Oper
This was the 100th performance at the Berlin Komsiche Oper of the famous Kosky-Andrade production of Zauberflöte; it has also travelled to other countries. One can understand why it has been so successful. Mozart’s singspiel would seem to be ideal…
Italiana in Algeri in Weimar
You are in Weimar for a performance of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. What would be your reaction if the stage director and conductor, commenting in the programme on their approach to the piece, both describe it as needing strong interpretation?…
Zarzuela in Nordhausen
How much do we know of Spanish zarzuelas in Britain? Almost nothing, and the same is true in Germany. Full marks, then, to the small Nordhausen company for staging Federico Morena Torroba’s Luisa Fernanda, one of the most celebrated examples…
Donizetti’s Maria di Rudenz at Wexford
The Wexford Festival has a fine record for reviving forgotten or neglected Donizetti but the recent performances of Maria de Rudenz will not feature among its successes. The work itself is neither better nor worse than many of its ilk…
Barber’s Vanessa at Wexford
What makes Samuel Barber’s Vanessa such an engaging work? Not just the music which, though to some extent typical of the composer’s melodic, lush romantic style, is also hard-edged. Rather it is the strength of the libretto written by Gian…
Herculanum by Félicien David at Wexford
The Wexford Festival is certainly a venue for curiosities and there can hardly have been an opera for which that expression is more apt than Herculanum composed in the mid-19th century by Félicien David, a name unknown to all but…
Monteverdi’s Ulysses by the ETO
A reviewer of the English Touring Opera’s Ritorno d’Ulisse concluded that it was the best production of the work s(he) had seen. Not far wrong. With its direct, unexaggerated narrative style, and deft movement, James Conway caught the right balance…
Semiramide in Florence
The recent performances of Semiramide at the Florence Opera were dedicated to the memory of Luca Ronconi whose production of the work at Naples was revived here; he died in 2015. It is difficult to imagine a more fitting tribute…
Don Carlo in Parma
Don Carlo, perhaps my favourite Verdi opera, would seem to be an ideal choice for a first visit to the famed Teatro Regio in Parma, his home town. The work needs and, as the event to open the Verdi Festival…
The Aix Cosi at Edinburgh
What was all the fuss about? As a consequence of press reports on Christophe Honoré’s production of Cosi Fan Tutte at Aix, the Edinburgh Festival administration decided to offer refunds to all those wishing to return their tickets. Anyone who…
Harold Pinter and No Man’s Land
Why do theatre-goers flock to see plays by Harold Pinter? The question is prompted by a visit this week to Sheffield’s Lyceum for No Man’s Land. It was a sell-out and I was lucky to get a seat in the…
Beethoven’s Leonore at Buxton
The Buxton staging of Beethoven’s Leonore was my first encounter with the work; how should it be compared with Fidelio? Director Stephen Medcalf in his programme note suggests that it is more discursive but also more dramatic, the additional scenes…
Handel’s Tamerlano at the Buxton Festival
From every perspective, Handel’s Tamerlano at the Buxton Festival is a first-rate affair. Musically it benefits from the presence of Laurence Cummings and The English Concert, highly regarded specialists in this repertory. They forced attention on the orchestral accompaniments not…