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."
With all the bombast of the presidential campaigns rattling in our heads, with invectives being exchanged and measured discussion all but absent, how utterly lovely to retreat and relax into the harmonious soundscape and well-reasoned debate posed in Strauss’ Capriccio, on magnificent display at Santa Fe Opera.
In a wonderfully varied Santa Fe Opera 60th Anniversary season that had young lovers committing suicide, bandits almost being hanged, a jilted young woman resigning to numbing isolation, and an immoral wastrel being dragged to hell, by contrast this Strauss is hardly riveting stuff. Luckily, Santa Fe selected an incomparable cast and lavished Capriccio with a dazzling production, lovingly led by a commanding new (to me) conductor.
Amanda Majeski (The Countess). Photo Credit: Ken Howard.
Amanda Majeski seems pre-destined to play the Countess. Her cool, secure, limpid soprano is just what Strauss had in mind when he endowed the role with lovely conversational passages, airy flights above the staff, and haunting musings on the philosophies of art and music. Ms. Majeski’s pure tone and knowing, fluid delivery harkens back to great Strauss interpreters of the last century, a direct connection to (or at least recollection of) a revered roster of interpreters.
Her traversal of the Countess’s last great monologue was a thing of great beauty, infinite variety, and sublime vocalization. Moreover, Amanda has a regal and poised presence, her carriage leaving no doubt that she is “royalty.” Her achievement is such that she may just be unequalled in this part at the moment (pace, Renée-sayers).
The charming, natty Ben Bliss was a most convincing Flamand. Lanky and handsome, sweet of voice and behavior, his assured tenor was just the right fit for the demands of the role. His warm, effortless singing and his charismatic presence proved a wholly winning combination. As Olivier, dapper Joshua Hopkins was a scrappy bulldog of a rival, barking counter arguments in a petulant, resonant baritone. Mr. Hopkins has shown before that he is not only a consistently secure vocalist, but also an imaginative actor.
Craig Verm (The Count). Photo Credit: Ken Howard.
Rising baritone Craig Verm keeps going from strength to strength. Having turned in a fine performance as Sonora in Fanciulla, Mr, Verm impressed even more as the rather changeable, effete Count. His easily produced, suave delivery served the role with distinction. David Govertsen found sardonic delight in the role of La Roche, and his direct approach and easy cynicism were served by well-controlled vocalism.
It was deluxe casting to have superstar Susan Graham in the lesser role of Clairon, and she embraced the assignment with relish. Ms. Graham sang with her usual aplomb, and her world-class mezzo discovered every rich gradation of this starry featured role. Adrian Smith brought a resigned gravity in the Major-Domo, Allan Glassman was a rambunctious Monsieur Taupe, and Galeano Salas and Shelly Jackson made notable contributions as the Italian Singers.
Susan Graham (Clairon). Photo Credit: Ken Howard.
Tobias Hoheisel has designed both scenery and costumes for Capriccio, and I cannot imagine a more resplendent realization. Such is his achievement that the real existential question of the night might be: Which are more beautiful? The costumes? Or the sets? The Countess’s beautiful mid-20th Century home is all elegant windows open to the Sangre de Cristo mountains, with the furniture and other appointments an apt study in refinement and affluence. The side compartments antechambers and playing spaces off the living room are evocative of many a European villa I have seen.
Mr. Hoheisel’s period (1940’s?) costumes are breathtaking in their luxurious specificity. Any actor that gets such consummate costume assistance in communicating a character is fortunate, indeed. Malcolm Rippeth’s lighting design has bathed all this noblesse in a beautifully tinged wash of warmth that slowly morphs from daytime into a moodier look as the arguments sharpen and introspections deepen.
Shelley Jackson and Galeano Salas (Italian Singers). Photo Credit: Ken Howard.
Tim Albery has directed with unfussy precision, allowing the confrontations to unfold gently and tellingly. His genius has been in allowing his consummately gifted cast to naturally make a case for this gentle opus. Mr. Albery never ‘got nervous’ and tried to gild the lily by inventing extraneous distractions. Everything he did was honestly in service to the score and the text. That said, I thought the extended on-stage prelude might have benefitted from a little more movement, sooner furthering a subtext of relationships. But all in all, this was a beautifully restrained, stylistically informed interpretation.
Conductor Leo Hussain was a revelation in the pit, helming a delicate, fluid, mesmerizing, echt account of a graceful score that is more succulent caviar than substantial Hauptspeise. From the churning string ensemble of the prelude to the confrontational dialogue at the score’s core, to the rhapsodic meditation of the closing quarter of the opera, Maestro Hussain led a propulsive, informed, precise reading that fell gratefully on the ear.
Santa Fe has a long and happy relationship with the operas of Richard Strauss. On this occasion of the 60th anniversary season, it is a pleasure to report that partnership is not only alive and well, but is still resulting in definitive interpretations.
James Sohre
Strauss: CapriccioFlamand: Ben Bliss; Olivier: Joshua Hopkins; La Roche: David Govertsen; Countess: Amanda Majeski; Count: Craig Verm; Clairon: Susan Graham; Major-Domo: Adrian Smith; Italian Singers: Galeano Salas, Shelly Jackson; Monsieur Taupe: Allan Glassman; Young Dancer: Beth Miller; Conductor: Leo Hussain; Director: Tim Albery; Set and Costume Design: Tobias Hoheisel; Lighting Design: Malcolm Rippeth; Choreography: Jodi Melnic.
5th August 2016.