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."
The always stimulating Iván Fischer consistently validates himself as an innovative conductor with his fresh approaches. Last May, his soul-crushing performance of Mozart’s Requiem with his Budapest Festival Orchestra at the Concertgebouw left me a sobbing mess at the end, so hearing him lead the Berliner Philharmoniker in Mozart was a must.
Soprano Christiane Karg proved utterly magnetic in two Mozart jewels that Fischer combined with the Symphony No. 38 in D major. In addition, he included Enescu and Bartók to form a highly engaging programme. The extreme contrast in styles before and after the intermission made me feel spoiled, as if I had attended two extraordinary concerts.
In the first part, Fischer led in Bartók’s unnerving masterpiece Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, preceded by an Enescu gem from 1903: the haunting Prélude à l'unisson. This first part from the Romanian composer’s Orchestral Suite No. 1 C major consists of thinly layered strings with, towards the end, a gravid timpani roll charging at their transparent, high registers.
Fischer reached gorgeously rarified heights with the Berliner strings, preparing us for the eerie Bartók. Enescu’s music reminded me of the vastness of a Sibelius icescape, fluctuating between highly suspenseful pianissimos and thunderous, swirling fortissimos. Fischer’s slow burning build up silenced the audience. You could cut the tension with a knife!
In Bartók, he took us for an adrenaline ride full of crisp contrasts, rhythmic momentum, outbursts of brilliance, and highly dynamic volume. His eye for detail led to shrilling extremes including flashes of incandescent heat. Fischer conducted with chipper exuberance supported by his invigorating energy. With generous charm, he even appeared ever so briefly to tap-dance to the pizzicato pecks in the dance passages of the final Allegro molto.
Fischer put the brawny Berliners’ ferocious power on display in Bartók’s otherworldly universe. The strings sounded muscular but transparent. Percussion delivered exhilarating effects, while Marie-Pierre Langlamet on the harp punctuated her notes with a violent temperament. Nikolaus Resa’s celesta made for an alien ambience, while Hendrik Heilmann performed percussively on the piano. Nestled in the center of the antiphonal orchestral set up, the trio’s focused intensity in their interplay demonstrated their superb musicianship.
After the break, Christiane Karg elevated the evening to an even higher quality. Though initially put off by her exalted emergence, I was quickly put in my place as she then dazzled as Sifare, originally a castrato role in Mitridate, re di Ponto. Sifare has a secret love for Aspasia, pledged to marriage to his father the King. As she sang the Second Act’s “Lungi da te, mio bene”, her expressive vocal prowess took hold over me. The vulnerability in Ms. Karg’s eyes dramatically sustained my attention as she subsequently disarm me with her expressive phrasing. Refined, sturdy curves from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Félix Dervaux elegant horn play enriched Ms. Karg’s razorsharp tendresse with a noble aura.
She continued her magic with “Misera, dove son! -- Ah! non son’io che parlo” from the Metastasio’s popular libretto for the opera seria Ezio, previously set to music by Handel and Gluck. With authenticity, Karg moved through the brooding to the fiery temperaments. She connects with the audience. At some moments, her sense of intimacy had me fooled she sang solely for me. Positively radiant, the BPO complemented her extraordinary performance. My eyes teared up several times.
Several people left after Karg’s performance. Perhaps they thought they had heard Mozart’s Prague Symphony too many times. Their loss, because with Fischer’s sensitive touch, this rendition sounded fresh and full of Classical lushness. It was the perfect ending to such an enthralling rollercoaster.
David Pinedo
Christiane Karg (soprano), Iván Fischer (conductor), Berliner Philharmoniker.
October 27th 2016; Berlin Philharmonie.