16 Mar 2008
Best of British from the BBC Proms 2007
The BBC Proms webcasts all of its performances, and many are available for extended periods through BBC Radio's archives.
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.
The BBC Proms webcasts all of its performances, and many are available for extended periods through BBC Radio's archives.
Now in the "DG Concerts" series, key works by British composers from the 2007 festival season come packaged in a two-disc set with the title "Best of British."
Disc one certainly provides repertory that meets that definition. In classic programming style, Jiři Bělohlávek opens with a sprightly overture (Walton's "Portsmouth Point"), moves to a concerto (Elgar's for cello, with Paul Watkins), and ends with a major orchestral piece (Britten's "Four Sea Interludes). The Walton bounces and leaps with athletic grace, in sharp sound. For some reason, the acoustic turns dull for the Elgar, although some details of the string support for the opening cello statement poke up out of the murk. The unsentimental performance from both Watkins and the orchestra retains enough of the majesty of the piece, while providing a rigid spine that Elgar might well have appreciated. The Britten pieces never seem to fail, and though some more tang of the sea might be desired, they work well here.
The second disc brings together pieces from four different concerts. Andrew Davis conducts Delius's "A Song of Summer" to open the side, and maybe it should have closed side one. For following Delius's luscious, languid lyricism come three pieces from the last half of the century in modern idiom. Leila Josefowicz plays Oliver Knussen's violin concerto, under the composer's baton. Take all the melodic Hungarian lilt from the second Bartok Concerto, bulk up on eerie string gestures (slides and plucks), squeak out some horn bleeps, thwack a drum or two, and there's the Knussen concerto. Josefowicz plays impressively, but not well enough to convince these ears that the effort is worthwhile.
Sir Michael Tippett's Triple Concerto, from 1978-9, receives similar dedication from Daniel Hope (violin), Philip Dukes (viola), and Christian Poltéra (cello). After obligatory whining and whacking, Tippett introduces a theme (of sorts), and the music jumps nervously from brief flashes of lyrical coherence to spasms of frenzy. The thirty minutes take a long passing. Stephen Jackson conducts. The last selection comes from Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. As the title informs, he sets "Four Poems of Thomas Campion" for chorus. Despite the skills of the BBC Symphony Chrous, words rarely coaslesce into audible statements, but the texts, once read, have been well served by the composer's gift for drama and pacing.
Of course, some listeners may find the late romanticism of the first disc's music dull going, while delighting in the harsher textures of the repertory of the second disc. Others may enjoy it all. All in all, the two-disc set serves as further proof that the BBC Proms maintains its vitality into the 21st century.
Chris Mullins