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."
There were two, equal ‘stars’ of this performance of the authorised concert version of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story at the Royal Albert Hall: ‘Lenny’ himself, whose vibrant score - by turns glossy and edgy - truly shone, and conductor John Wilson, who made it gleam, and who made us listen afresh and intently to every coloristic detail and toe-tapping, twisting rhythm.
The John Wilson Orchestra Prom is a greatly anticipated annual highlight of the Proms season, and in recent years Wilson and his band have celebrated the music of George Gershwin, Cole Porter and, in 2015, Bernstein himself ( Bernstein: Stage and Screen ). The concert was billed in some sources as the first time that Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s complete concert version of the musical had been performed in the UK - though Bernstein-protégé Justin Brown conducted the LSO in a Collins Classics summer pops performance in 1990, with Derek Chessor (Riff), Cynthia Hayman (Maria) and Kurt Streit (Tony) in the leading roles. But, perhaps on that occasion the score was truncated - and it matters not: this was certainly the first complete performance of this version at the Proms, and Wilson and his musicians didn’t disappoint those who had reportedly been queueing since the early hours for day-passes. The RAH was packed to the rafters for the evening performance, the second of two that day, and the audience made their prior excitement and subsequent appreciation heartily felt and heard.
Wilson’s baton is a live wire: it jives with the silky slipperiness of the most sinuous snake, ducking and diving, neatly and niftily. With an occasional tight sway and precise, sometimes miniscule movements, Wilson indicates his intent with economy and authority, and every player knows exactly what he wants. The twenty-one violins and eighteen cellos and double basses played with plush richness; woodwind solos had space to sing; the bright big-band brassiness was alternately polished and rasping; the two percussionists juggled the panoply of chimes, maracas, whistles, cymbals and sundry sound-makers with calm dexterity. Quite simply, I felt as if I was wallowing in orchestral luxury from the first off-beat pizzicatos which initiate the Prologue to the violins’ pianissimo reminiscence of a fragment of ‘Somewhere’ which brings the tragedy to a close.
John Wilson. Photo Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou.
Tempi were on the swift side which was great for ‘Something’s Coming’ and ‘The Dance at the Gym’ but, while it might be judged that the up-tempo ‘Maria’ communicated the impetuousness of Tony’s passion, ‘Tonight’ needed a little more spaciousness for the phrases, and the singers, to breathe. In the latter, though, the voices of Mikaela Bennett (Maria) and Ross Lekites (Tony) blended with beguiling ease.
Ross Lekites (Tony) and Mikaela Bennett (Maria). Photo Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou.
After the pre-season ‘fuss’ about casting - which saw Olivier-award nominated Sierra Boggess (Phantom of the Opera, The Little Mermaid, and House of Rock) withdraw from the role after criticism that Latina/o actors had been overlooked - Bennett proved an open-hearted, pure-toned Maria, who kept her vibrato in check at moments of romantic innocence and sincerity (‘One Hand, One Heart’), soared with beautiful sweetness, and made ‘I Feel Pretty’ more convincing that it sometimes is, aided by some terrifically expressive string accompaniment.
Eden Espinosa (Anita). Photo Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou.
Lekites (moonlighting from Frozen on Broadway) made good use of his high baritone to convey just the right note of frankness and naivety, and had sufficient heft to hint at the heights of Tony’s romantic ardour, though there was little ‘chemistry’ between this pair of star-crossed lovers. Eden Espinosa was a vivid Anita, at least vocally, though not entirely convincing dramatically; that said, ‘America’ suffered particularly from the absence of a stage milieu, and in terms of orchestral flair this number was stunning. What wonderful orchestrations Bernstein, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal devised between them - it seemed that the double basses might achieve rocket-style lift-off from their stools as they attacked the triplet syncopations with true panache and gusto. Alistair Brammeri and his fellow Jets whipped through ‘Gee, Officer Krupke’ with spice and punch. And, while I was wondering why Louise Alder had been drafted in to sing ‘Somewhere’, she appeared in the organ loft and sang, literally, like an angel - and my unasked questions evaporated into the ether, extinguished by the pure luminosity of her soprano.
Louise Alder (soprano; ‘Somewhere’). Photo Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou.
This might have been a ‘concert’ version, but stage director Stephen Whitson made use of every RAH stair-well, balcony and platform. What was ‘missing’ however, was dramatic context. There was no dialogue, excepting some spoken text over the sung numbers and one or two introductory phrases (perhaps this was fortunate, as the amplification volume button was turned up so high the spoken text would surely have become as muddied as some of the busier orchestral dialogues, which were at times cloudy despite Wilson’s fine baton-work).
And, though the cast were costumed - tight coloured ti-shirts for the muscled Jets and Sharks, ’50s frocks (some more flattering than others) for the ladies - there was little sense of the upper West Side Manhattan milieu, or the urban tensions between the white Americans and Puerto Rican immigrants which underpin the dramatic frissons. The latter find expression not just in Laurents’ book and Sondheim’s skilful lyrics, and, of course, in the score itself, but also in Jerry Robbins’ choreography - a veritable narrative ballet - and the absence of the danced expression and drama was a more serious deficiency - all the more so as for last year’s Oklahoma! it had proved possible to stage all elements that form the ‘whole show’. The second act suffered especially from the lack of theatrical context, for here the dramatic structure needs all the constituent parts to be pulling their weight. The tragic denouement seemed to take the Hall unawares, and lacked gravitas and pathos. We did have a ‘Chorus’ - the students of ArtsEd and Mountview theatre schools - tiered behind the orchestra stage-right, though their slightly clumsy choreographed ups-and-downs and ‘dramatic gestures’ didn’t make much impact.
Students from ArtsEd and Mountview. Photo Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou.
One positive outcome of these mildly irritating short-comings was that the emphasis was thrown on the music - Bernstein’s wonderful eclectic fusion and Wilson’s heart-winning rendition of it. As Nigel Simeone recalled in his programme article, when Kenneth Tynan saw West Side Story on Broadway in 1958 he described the score as ‘smooth and savage as a cobra’. Perhaps a little more grit, even vulgar earthiness, would not have gone amiss at times, but who could not relish such lustrous lavishness and sweetness as we enjoyed.
Claire Seymour
Bernstein: West Side Story (concert version)
Maria - Mikaela Bennett, Tony - Ross Lekites, Anita - Eden Espinosa, Riff - Leo Roberts, Bernado - Gian Marco Schiaretti, Rosalia - Emma Kingston, Francisca - Laila Zaidi, Consuelo - Jocasta Almgill, Snowboy/Big Deal - Christopher Jordan Marshall, Action - Alistair Brammer, Baby John - Jack North, Diesel - Michael Colbourne, A-Rab - Fra Fee, Officer Krupke - Phil Barnett, Louise Alder - soprano (‘Somewhere’); John Wilson (conductor), Stephen Whitson (stage director), John Wilson Orchestra, students from ArtsEd and Mountview.
Royal Albert Hall, London; Saturday 11th August 2018.