14 Sep 2014
Anna Nicole, back with a bang!
It is now three and a half years since Anna Nicole was unleashed on the world at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.
This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below …).
Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.
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.
Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.
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.
Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.
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.
For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.
'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’
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.
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven … that old serpent … Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
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.
There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.
‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.
The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.
With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.
Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.
"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."
It is now three and a half years since Anna Nicole was unleashed on the world at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
My initial impression of the performance on February 17, 2011 was somewhat disappointing. Mark Anthony Turnage's opera is funny, yes, deliberately and ostentatiously rude. It subverts everything traditional opera stands for in its glitzy celebration of the vacuous, but on first acquaintance it seemed disappointing, if only because Turnage's previous output had been so impressive.
Time has been kind, or perhaps it is just that on repeated experience more presents itself to the listener. At the time of its premiere, Anna Nicole garnered far more media attention than your run-of-the-mill contemporary opera generally receives. Proximity in time of the events portrayed played a huge part, of course, and Turnage, , composer of the acclaimed Greek and Three Screaming Popes, had a reputation to live up to.
But the music in Anna Nicole is not all that shocking. Rather, it is slickness in sound, a demonstration of just how talented Turnage is. That slickness was rendered magnificently by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Antonio Pappano, not a conductor one associates with new music or big band sound, jazz and showy choruses, but that just adds to the joy of the experience. Turnage's famous references to jazz and popular music heard within the umbrella of his contemporary style are there, but so are full-scale musical numbers (a memorable chorus on the subject of “tits”, for example - and why not?, They are, after all, central to Anna's story). There are also clear references to Copland, causing the audience's musical instincts to veer Statesward. It is all superbly constructed. Turnage's inspiration seems to flow more freely in the second act, but one can't help but wonder if that impression might be stood on its head by another three-year gap before the Royal Opera House stages it again. Whatever the case, Turnage's orchestration is masterly, with textures, sometimes complex, clear as crystal. He handles his problematic subject matter beautifully - so that it all seems so natural that Anna Nicole giving birth would be on Pay-Per-View. Talk show host Larry King makes an appearance (wonderfully taken here by Peter Hoare).
Many of the roles are reprised with singers from the original production, with one major change: the part of the lawyer, Stern, was originally taken in impressive, confident style by Gerald Finley, here replaced by American baritone Rod Gilfry (Gilfry has also sung the role for New York City Opera). It is not a particularly happy substitution. Gilfry does not have Finley's presence, and while his voice is good, it does not have that special individuality of Finley's.characterization.
The one role which surely could not have been substituted is intact, and for that we must be thankful: Eva-Maria Westbroek returns as the gal herself, telling the story of waitress turned billionairess via marriage to a man vastly older in years than herself and the ensuing wranglings after J. Howard Marshall's demise. Westbroek has effectively made the role her own, so much so that it seems impossible to imagine anyone else in it. Vocally she was in superb form, clearly having a ball and yet conveying all the pathos of the work's final stages. The piece ends with Anna Nicole zipping herself into a bodybag ! . In terms of pure stamina this role is an achievement; Westbroek realizes there is a terrific amount to Anna Nicole, and gives her all.
Almost as important a role as the titular role is Anna Nicole's husband, J. Howard Marshall II. Alan Oke is no stranger to contemporary music (he sang Hiereus for the Royal Opera's staging of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur, for example), and he seems entirely at home in Turnage's writing and on-stage demands. He is absolutely believable as the old man who wants love, yet also wants a stereotype. The parallels between Anna Nicole and Marilyn Monroe are inescapable.
The part of Anna Nicole's mother, Virgie, is once more taken by the supremely experienced Susan Bickley. We feel her pain, and become fascinated by her character, and by what Turnage leaves unspoken. It was wonderful to see the commanding Rebecca Du Pont Davies once more amongst the cast, here as Aunt Kay. All of the smaller roles are taken with aplomb, with Andrew Rees' Doctor Yes as particularly noteworthy. Despite the clear central character, there is also a real feel of ensemble opera about this piece. Perhaps the large-scale choral numbers, impeccably delivered on this occasion, contribute to this.
Richard Jones' production is faultless, as are the sometimes cartoony set designs of Miriam Buether. A gaudy display of tastelessness moves straight through the comedic to the sad, while dancers with television camera for heads remind us about the superficiality of our media-driven society. On one memorable occasion these “cameras” overwhelm us, over-populating the stage. Anna Nicole's life is not her own (again, that Pay-Per-View birth seems so telling). This is a major achievement. Anna Nicole's marriage might have been controversial, but there is a true marriage of minds in Mark-Anthony Turnage and his expert librettist, Richard Thomas. I look forward to the next revival …
Colin Clarke
Cast and production information:
Eva-Maria Westbroek: Anna Nicole; Susan Bickley: Virgie, Anna’s mother; Jeremy White: Daddy Hogan, Anna’s father; Rod Gilfry: Stern; Rebecca De Pont Davies: Aunt Kay; Wynne Evans: Mayor of Mexia; Damian Thantrey: Deputy Mayor of Maxia ; Loré Luxenberg: Shelley; Grant Doyle: Billy; Alan Oke: J. Howard Marshall II; Andrew Rees: Dr Yes; Andrew Gilbert: Young Daniel; Young Daniel: Mungo Reoch; Dominic Rowntree: Teenage Daniel; Peter Hoare: Larry King (A Television Journalist). Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor. Richard Jones, director.