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."
If composers had to be categorised as either conservatives or radicals, Christoph Willibald Gluck would undoubtedly be in the revolutionary camp, lauded for banishing display, artifice and incoherence from opera and restoring simplicity and dramatic naturalness in his ‘reform’ operas.
But, this performance of Gluck arias from opera seria from the 1740s suggested that there is less different between the music of Gluck’s early operas and the later reform works than is sometimes inferred. And, this is not surprising when we know that Gluck included revised versions of numbers from the 1749 Ezio in Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) and that Telemaco (1765) borrowed from La Sofonisba of 1744.
The earlier Italian operas were among those performed at the Wigmore Hall by Milanese contralto Sonia Prina and the Italian baroque ensemble laBarocca. Prina presented a series of arias, interspersed with instrumental sinfonia and dances, in which Metastasio’s florid metaphors and banal repetitions were proven to be anything but dramatically inert and characterless. Such is the strength of Prina’s vocal character and dramatic presence that even lines such as ‘And just when I was trying to save myself/ from a treacherous rock,/ I crashed into another rock,/ worse than before’ had animation and conviction.
Prina grabs one’s attention in many ways. Dressed in post-punk black, she was more rebel Goth than historical royal, and yet she was instantly able to enter the affekt of any given aria, taking us deep into the emotional states of the Roman generals, mythical prince, infatuated step-mother and cross-dressing queen whom she impersonated. The recital might have been subtitled ‘Heroes in Love’ but several of the protagonists were pining, lamenting and denouncing Cupid’s darts, and Prina showed us the heat of their rage and the depths of their despair. Although occasionally prone to exaggeration - and after a while I did wish she would stop swaying and jigging so distractingly - Prina displayed impressive dramatic insight and a vocal technique which could communicate it.
This contralto is the genuine article: her low register, smoky and dark, surges unforced from the chest, while at the top she can find a real gloss. Her voice isn’t particularly large but it filled the Hall easily, as even in quieter moments there was no lessening in intensity. Technically assured, she rattled off the coloratura with meticulousness but still managed to make it serve the characterisation. The excitement and contrasts, as Prina leapt daringly between registers, sometimes took sway over the elegance and smoothness of the vocal phrase, particularly in the long melismas, but the energy was sustained and in the slower numbers she employed a more relaxed tone.
‘Dal suo gentil semblante’ (Her delicate appearance) from Demetrio (1742) was an urgent opener in which an infatuated queen claims that her love for a peasant can be cured only by death. Three of the Roman general Siface’s arias from La Sofonisba (1744) ran the gamut from torment, through transcendence, to derisive taunting and desperate desire. In ‘M’opprime, m’affana’ (Cruel fate oppresses me), the apparently betrayed husband of Sofonisba spat out his derisive scorn with a punch matched by the strings’ brusque quavers; but, learning of his erroneous judgement, damnation turned to exaltation in ‘Nobil onda’ (Gentle wave). Here, Prina made full use of her considerable range: the opening phrase was full deep and sincere, octave plunges suggested dignity of bearing, while the heights of the coloratura - ‘Più leggera all’aure va’ (the more lightly she rises into the air) - had a lovely gleam. A finely tailed diminuendo marked the end of the B section, in which Siface imagines his soul rising above an oppressive Fate. The virtuosic excesses of the first part of ‘Se in campo armato’ (If on the battlefield) contrasted with the tender pathos evoked by the sobbing pulsing of the B section.
The wishful thinking of ‘Sperai vicino il lido’ (I hoped that the harbour was closed) from Demofoonte (1743) - in which a prince, who has defied his father with a secret marriage to a girl who is next in line for sacrifice to the gods, flees with his beloved in a boat - drew a more unaffected line from Prina until an explosive central section shattered the calm with almost violent forward propulsion.
A highlight of the evening was ‘Se tu vedessi come vegg’io’ (If you could see like I see) from Ippolito (1745), in which Phaedra, infatuated with her step-son Hippolytus, simultaneously voices her delusions and warns him of the fatal consequences which will ensue if he denies her. The lyrical lines were beautifully relaxed yet intense, aptly conveying the conflicted stepmother’s avowals and omens.
Semiramide riconosciuta (1748) marked Gluck’s operatic debut in Vienna: it was composed for the birthday of Empress Maria Theresa and the opening of the newly renovated Burgtheater. Prina gave us a stirring ‘Tradite, sprezzata’ (Betrayed, scorned), depicting with rhetorical ferocity and flexibility the breathless anger of the queen whose deceptions have been exposed. Her despairing reflections, ‘Sentirsi morire/ Dolente, e perdura’ (Feeling like I’m dying, sorrowful, lost), ached with pained sweetness, and the lines were long and expressive. ‘Se Fedele mi brama il regnante’ (If my prince demands that I be faithful) from Ezio (1749, first version) brought the evening to a close, as Prina demonstrated impressive vocal stamina; it was a pity that the final phrases were not effectively supported by the instrumental accompaniment.
laBarocca, formed in Milan in 2008 by conductor Ruben Jais, were lively but at times ungraceful accompanists. Intonation was problematic at the start, especially in the basses, and throughout Jais gave more attention to drama - dynamic contrasts were extreme, accents were hard-edged - than phrasing and tone. The string sound was rather ragged although there was some fine playing from the horn whose warm contributions propelled the music forward.
In the Preface to Alceste, Gluck set out his reform ‘manifesto’: ‘I have made every effort to restore music to its true role of serving the poetry by means of its powers of expression.’ On the evidence of this entertaining and exciting performance by Prina, the music of his pre-reform years was no less pertinent in impact and range of expression.
Claire Seymour
Sonia Prina - soprano; laBarocca - director Ruben Jais.
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le cinesi - Sinfonia, Demetrio - Aria: ‘Dal suo gentil sembiante’, La Sofonisba - Aria: ‘M’opprime m’affana’, Ipermestra - Sinfonia, La Sofonisba - Aria: ‘Nobil onda’, Aria: ‘Se in campo armato’, La Semiramide riconosciuta - Sinfonia, Demofoonte - Aria: ‘Sperai vicino il lido’, Ippollito - Aria: ‘Se tu vedessi come vegg’io’, Orfeo ed Euridice - Ballabili (Dances), La Semiramide riconosciuta - Aria: ‘Tradita, sprezzata’, Ezio - Aria: ‘Se fedele mi brama il regnate’.
Wigmore Hall, London; Tuesday 28th June 2016.