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.
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.
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.
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.’
‘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.’
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."
The doors at The Metropolitan Opera will not open to live audiences until 2021 at the earliest, and the likelihood of normal operatic life resuming in cities around the world looks but a distant dream at present. But, while we may not be invited from our homes into the opera house for some time yet, with its free daily screenings of past productions and its pay-per-view Met Stars Live in Concert series, the Met continues to bring opera into our homes.
Music-making at this year’s Grange Festival Opera may have fallen silent in June and July, but the country house and extensive grounds of The Grange provided an ideal setting for a weekend of twelve specially conceived ‘promenade’ performances encompassing music and dance.
There’s a “slide of harmony” and “all the bones leave your body at that moment and you collapse to the floor, it’s so extraordinary.”
“Music for a while, shall all your cares beguile.”
The hum of bees rising from myriad scented blooms; gentle strains of birdsong; the cheerful chatter of picnickers beside a still lake; decorous thwacks of leather on willow; song and music floating through the warm evening air.
In Monteverdi’s first Venetian opera, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (1641), Penelope’s patient devotion as she waits for the return of her beloved Ulysses culminates in the triumph of love and faithfulness; in contrast, in L’incoronazione di Poppea it is the eponymous Queen’s lust, passion and ambition that prevail.
The opera was first performed in 1642. Drawn from the annals of Tacitus, Francesco Busenello’s libretto for Monteverdi’s final opera reflects the mid-seventeenth-century Venetian Republic’s rejection of the mores of courtly aristocracy and its taste for earthy, popular themes.
Set in the reign of Nero, it depicts the irresistible power and tragic pathos of human love, as the passion of Nero and Poppea ruthlessly sweeps aside all hindrances and finds ultimate fulfillment in the Queen’s coronation. In the Prologue which precedes the three Acts, Fortuna, Virtù and Amor dispute which of them has most power. In this richly sensory and sensual performance by the Academy of Ancient Music under the musical direction of Robert Howarth, there was no doubt that Amor is justified in claiming victory.
Alexander Oliver and Timothy Nelson directed what was billed as a semi-staged performance: in fact, since there is little stage incident, there really was no need for a fuller staging. The ascending pyramid of chairs, raked behind the small, centrally placed forces of the Academy of Ancient Music, conveyed both the rigid hierarchies of the Roman Empire and the irresistible force of Poppea’s desire to reach the pinnacle of power. Evocative lighting emphasised the highs and lows of human conduct and morality (there were just a few moments when synchronicity of lighting design and dramatic action were less than perfect). The ritual formality of the performers’ first entrance combined with the bright, present-day costumes drew attention both to the historical reality and the astonishingly modern relevance of the drama. And, as characters pondered, plotted and interacted in the spacious forestage area, and moved at times among the audience, we were presented with a convincing, wide array of temperamental aspects of humanity.
The opera begins with the unexpected return of Ottone, Poppea’s husband, whom Nero has despatched to far realms on state business. Iestyn Davies, dressed in a white linen suit which suggested his simple loyalty and also his inherent weakness, was wonderfully expressive in his opening monologue, ‘Ah, perfida Poppea’. Lamenting his wife’s betrayal he swung persuasively between pain and wrath. Fully appreciating the way that Monteverdi’s innovative forms and intensely responsive musical language convey emotion, Davies skilfully communicated the later change in Ottone’s character. Despite recognising his fidelity, Poppea rejects Ottone’s love, in submission to her vaulting ambition, and Davies’ subsequent monologue of murderous intent was intensely dramatic. There were also some fine duets between Ottone and Drusilla, sung with warmth and brightness by soprano Sophie Junker. Junker’s joyful vivacity later gave way to tender reflection when their plot to kill Poppea was uncovered: confessing before Nero, in order to save Ottone from the Emperor’s wrath, Junker was both sensuous and vulnerable. Nero’s command that the plotters be exiled seemed a fair judgement.
Matthew Rose used his capacious bass intelligently as Seneca, the Emperor’s wise advisor, modulating his tone to convey both moral imperiousness and human humility. His warning to Ottavia to maintain her dignity and virtue in the face of Nero’s betrayal was beautifully phrased; in welcoming death, ‘Venga, venga la morte’, Rose inspired both admiration and pity. In a powerful scene with Sarah Connolly’s commanding Nero, the rapid exchanges had an impressive rhetorical power; both Rose and Connolly exhibited flexibility and control as the ever-changing line lengths conveyed the accumulating emotional force. In contrast, Seneca’s household’s sad farewell to their master had the expressive grace of a madrigal.
Tenor Andrew Tortise was striking as Poppea’s Nurse Arnalta. In the scene in which Arnalta warns her old charge to beware Ottavia’s vengeance, there was a striking contrast between Tortise’s calm wisdom and the fury of Lynne Dawson’s Poppea. Tortise sang the Nurse’s lullaby with gentle sweetness, but also injected a well-judged comic note in the final scene.
Mezzo-soprano Marina de Liso was superb as Ottavia: with finely nuanced phrasing and dark timbre she portrayed a truly regal suffering. In both of her principal arias, ‘Disprezzata regina’ and ‘A Dio Roma’, de Liso’s flexible declamation communicated the changing emotions within a lyrical continuity; chromatic nuances emphasised the pathos of her tragedy — it was easy to believe and understand contemporary reports of the power of Monteverdi’s music to stir the affections of his audiences and move them to tears.
This was a stellar cast and the principals were matched by fine singing in the minor roles. Tenor Gwilym Bowen, as Valletta and the First Soldier, moved and sang with naturalness, and demonstrated a pleasing, focused upper register. His comic scene with Daniela Lehner’s Damigella was a delightful moment of frothy light relief. Lehner also sang Amor, and having protected Poppea from Ottone’s murderous plot, gloried lustrously from the balcony.
Which brings us to the central passion-driven pair. With Anna Caterina Antonacci unable to take the role of Poppea as planned, Lynne Dawson might have seemed a strange choice of replacement. There’s no doubt that Dawson has had a varied and highly successful career over more than 30 years. Though best known for her Handel interpretations she has excelled in diverse repertoire; but, of late, it has been teaching, as head of vocal and opera studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, rather than singing which has been her focus. And, as the self-righteous, adulterous Roman queen, Dawson could not consistently summon the necessary vocal lustre. Although displaying a seductive lyricism when charming Nero to submit to her wish to have Seneca killed, her soprano lacked real, consistent weight and tone, and there were some technical blemishes in phrasing and tuning. This was a pity as it weakened the credibility of Nero’s passionate, single-minded commitment to his mistress.
Fittingly, Sarah Connolly was utterly authoritative and vocally imposing as the Roman tyrant, Nero. Responsive to every musical detail, physically commanding of presence, gleaming of tone and delivering Monteverdi’s organically evolving structures with sensitivity and suppleness, Connolly was a consummate portrait in blind self-conviction and egoistic assurance. Nero’s ecstatic celebrations following Seneca’s death possessed a wild beauty which was both seductive and deeply unsettling. In Connolly’s subsequent duet with Elmar Gilbertsson’s excellent Lucano, she demonstrated and effortless, florid vocal virtuosity, sculpting a highly dramatic idiom with repeated exclamations and exultations as Nero rejoices in Poppea’s beauty.
Directing the instrumentalists of the Academy of Ancient Music, Robert Howarth (replacing the indisposed Richard Egarr) created a ceaseless flow of recitative, arias, duets, trios and laments, forming exciting contrasts. As Monteverdi’s formal arrangements constantly evolved, Howarth’s flexible control of tempo perfectly reflected the score’s changeability of mood and allowed for the ‘side-actions’ to be smoothly incorporated into the main plot. The wonderfully expressive theorbo playing of William Carter and Alex McCartney was punctuated by instrumental accompaniments which were by turns lyrical and lithe; there was some biting concitato incisiveness in the scene for the soldiers and during the interrogation of Drusilla before Nero.
Throughout the performance, the capacity audience were held transfixed, unmoving and utterly captivated. The seventeenth century aspiration to (in the words of Monteverdi’s biographer Leo Schrade) speak to the passions of men — and to depict the human reality of those passions in conflict — was wonderfully fulfilled.
Claire Seymour
Cast and production information:
Lynne Dawson, Poppea; Sarah Connolly, Nerone; Sophie Junker, Drusilla/Virtu; Daniela Lehner’ Amore/Damigella; Marina de Liso, Ottavia; Matthew Rose, Seneca; Iestyn Davies, Ottone; Andrew Tortise, Arnalta; Vicki St Pierre, Nutrice; Elmar Gilbertsson, Lucano/2nd Soldier; Gwilym Bowen, Valletto/1st Soldier/Highest Familiari; Richard Latham, Liberto/Middle Familiari; Charmian Bedford, Fortuna; Phillip Tebb, Littore/Bass Familiari; Robert Howarth, director; Alexander Oliver and Timothy Nelson, stage directors; Academy of Ancient Music. Barbican Hall, London, Saturday, 4 th October 2014.