The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
The voices of six women composers are celebrated by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and soprano Yunah Lee on this characteristically ambitious and valuable release by Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt).
As Paul Spicer, conductor of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, observes, the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is as ‘old as Christianity itself’, and programmes devoted to settings of texts which venerate the Virgin Mary are commonplace.
Ethel Smyth’s last large-scale work, written in 1930 by the then 72-year-old composer who was increasingly afflicted and depressed by her worsening deafness, was The Prison – a ‘symphony’ for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra.
‘Hamilton Harty is Irish to the core, but he is not a musical nationalist.’
‘After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.’ Aldous Huxley’s words have inspired VOCES8’s new disc, After Silence, a ‘double album in four chapters’ which marks the ensemble’s 15th anniversary.
A song-cycle is a narrative, a journey, not necessarily literal or linear, but one which carries performer and listener through time and across an emotional terrain. Through complement and contrast, poetry and music crystallise diverse sentiments and somehow cohere variability into an aesthetic unity.
One of the nicest things about being lucky enough to enjoy opera, music and theatre, week in week out, in London’s fringe theatres, music conservatoires, and international concert halls and opera houses, is the opportunity to encounter striking performances by young talented musicians and then watch with pleasure as they fulfil those sparks of promise.
“It’s forbidden, and where’s the art in that?”
Dublin-born John F. Larchet (1884-1967) might well be described as the father of post-Independence Irish music, given the immense influenced that he had upon Irish musical life during the first half of the 20th century - as a composer, musician, administrator and teacher.
The English Civil War is raging. The daughter of a Puritan aristocrat has fallen in love with the son of a Royalist supporter of the House of Stuart. Will love triumph over political expediency and religious dogma?
Beethoven Symphony no 9 (the Choral Symphony) in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.
A Louise Brooks look-a-like, in bobbed black wig and floor-sweeping leather trench-coat, cheeks purple-rouged and eyes shadowed in black, Barbara Hannigan issues taut gestures which elicit fire-cracker punch from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freischütz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
Some interesting repertory choices and the participation of some of today's most attractive singers make this particular "gala" evening of "walk on-sing-walk off" entertainment more consistently enjoyable than these affairs often are.
The evening is a fund-raiser for the German AIDS foundation, and after a brief (and strangely awkward) filmed statement in English from soprano Michèle Crider, the show gets underway with an exciting "Entry of the Guests" from Tannhäuser, with Marcus Stenz leading the Opera Cologne orchestra and its excellent chorus (all sporting the familiar red ribbon).
The contribution of the emcee, a "cabaret artist" named Konrad Beikircher, may damage the enjoyment of some viewers. Clearly reading from notes, with an unmotivated chuckle behind much of his spiel, the emcee's palaver should have been separately tracked for easy skipping. Instead, the "fast forward" button will have to be exercised in order to avoid mostly old and tiresome anecdotes and such gratuitous commentary as an unctuous trashing of the Forza libretto. Perhaps in his native environment this gentleman puts on quite a show; here, the cameraman pans the audience anxiously to find the occasional audience member breaking a smile.
The singing, fortunately, makes up for this annoyance. Thomas Quastoff appears first, with a "Lied an den Abendstern" of rare handsomeness and sensitivity. Much later in the show he comes back with a delightful rarity, "O sancta justitia" from Lortzing's Zar und Zimmerman. After Quastoff's Wagner, the show then shifts to bel canto, with young tenor Saimur Pirgu delivering an able "Una Furtiva Lagrima," his tone only lacking that mysterious charismatic quality that tenors such as Rolando Villazon and Juan-Diego Florez possess. But Pirgu may yet attain that status; towards show's end he sings a very sweet "Non ti scordar di me."
Vivica Genaux appears after Pirgu's Donizetti to give a demonstration of impeccable technique in "Nacqui all'affanno" from Cenerentola, which Isabel Bayrakdarian has to follow. She imparts a sense of drama into Semiramide's "Bel raggio lusinghier," though she is not in Genaux's class as a Rossinian. Genaux is just as exciting later with a surprising choice, a zarzuela number about a tarantula from Jerónimo Giménez.
Upstaging the females in the "hair" department, Carlos Alvarez's wild black lion's mane impresses just as much as his forceful "Leonore, viens" from La Favorite. The vibrato will either appeal or come across as a touch too heavy, depending on taste. Tamar Iveri's healthy soprano may be a touch too strong to deliver a truly tender "Dove sono." Later in the program, however, she does very well by the exquisite "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from Puccini's Rondine. Ms. Crider, a reliable if unexciting singer, works earnestly through "Pace pace mio Dio." Her "Summertime" (which also serves as the inexplicable "theme" of the gala) finds her approach much too overbearing for a lullaby.
Neil Shicoff sings the two big Tosca tenor arias, with distractingly strenuous facial exertions. The "Recondita armonia" doesn't quite come off, but "E lucevan le stelle" earns him one of the evening's most lively audience responses. The tenor also seems to have found his way to Pavarotti's hair colorist.
In the middle of the program Edda Moser and two young singers, Claudia Rohrbach and Regina Richter, perform the Rosenkavalier trio. Unfortunately, Ms. Moser's experienced (to put it kindly) voice doesn't blend well with the freshness of the two others. Once again, to put it kindly.
The last solo appearance has Carlos Alvarez reappear for the rarest of the evening's repertory choices, "Bless your beautiful hide" from the Gene de Paul score for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Without necessarily forgoing his operatic training, Alvarez imbues the song with easy masculine charm, making for a delightful performance.
Then most of the singers (Shicoff noticeably absent) trot on to perform "Tonight" from West Side Story as an ensemble piece. Odd, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The disc also offers as bonus items a speech thankfully cut from the main DVD program, a short documentary of some of the work the German AIDS foundation has done in South Africa, and a bizarre trailer for this very gala. All in all, the ratio of fine performances to those less so and some innovative repertory choices make this one of the better gala DVDs, if one can tolerate the host.
Chris Mullins