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."
At a party hosted by a corrupt and dissolute political leader, wealthy patriarchal predators bask in excess, prowling the room on the hunt for female prey who seem all too eager to trade their sexual favours for the promise of power and patronage. ‘Questa o quella?’ the narcissistic host sings, (this one or that one?), indifferent to which woman he will bed that evening, assured of impunity.
After Jo Davies’ #MeToo-filtered Carmen the previous evening at Birmingham’s Hippodrome, came this Welsh National Opera revival of James Macdonald’s 2002 production of Rigoletto, which transfers the action from an immoral court in Renaissance Mantua to modern-day corridors of power, laying bare the misogyny, abuse and moral vacuum which underpins contemporary political power and privilege.
Designer Robert Innes Hopkins’ monochrome projection of Capitol Hill - the neoclassical dome subtly recalling the opera’s original Renaissance setting - nods towards the Kennedy-era White House, a period now at least partially characterised by the catalogue of sexual infidelities, assaults and religious hypocrisy revealed subsequently. The interior design of Act 2’s Oval Office, however, suggests more recent political eras, perhaps the Clinton years or, inevitably, the current incumbent.
David Junghoon Kim (The Duke). Photo credit: Richard Hubert Smith.
Though the Stars and Stripes stand tall behind the ‘President’s’ desk, the invitation to draw parallels between past and present is gently proffered, which is a good thing because if one probes to closely the holes and non sequiturs come into view. What is a court jester doing in the Oval Office? How does one explain society’s permittance of Gilda’s incarceration by her controlling father? And, we might believe that in the Renaissance a dutiful daughter, whose life has been a sequestered one, might not recognise her father’s employer, the local Lord, but would she really be so media-innocent in the late twentieth century and fail to spot the President - even if his old college scarf does serve as a ‘disguise’?
Most problematic of all is the opera’s central dynamic force (and original title): Monterone’s curse. It might be possible to interpret ‘la maledizione’ figuratively: a foretelling of the individual suffering that inevitably results from a corrupt patriarchal system? But, that’s not the line Macdonald takes. Here, Monterone - a straight-backed, stern Eddie Wade - is not dragged off to prison for his attack on the Duke’s debauchery but instead incarcerated in an asylum - an attempt to make sense of non-sense which doesn’t quite succeed.
Eddie Wade (Monterone). Photo credit: Richard Hubert Smith.
There were other small details that seemed to undermine the ‘realism’. The iron stairway leading up to Rigoletto’s shabby home is decked with flowerpots and a pumpkin; yet Gilda, full of the joy of misguided love, dances up the steps waving a sparkler. Given the timing of this tour, perhaps revival director Caroline Chaney was hedging her bets on Hallowe’en or Guy Fawkes Night? Then, when Gilda has been kidnapped, she runs through the Oval Office wearing a pair of pristine pyjamas, the sleeve of one arm decorously ‘torn’, not a hair out of place.
But, as always with such minor irritations, they were swept away by some truly engaging sung performances, as Rigoletto and the Duke battled it out not only for possession of ‘their girl’ but also for the vocal honours. Mark S Doss has a big bass-baritone which seems almost to reach out and grasp the audience, compelling them to share in Rigoletto’s trials and agonies. His voice can feel a little cumbersome at times, but the American singer can vary its colour, and its essential weight and fullness also means that the pianissimos can fade to a wisp and still make a mark. I found this Rigoletto a little too fond of grimacing, hand-wringing and head-clutching, as Doss sought to convey the ‘jester’s’ moods as they modulate between mockery, rage and distress. But, I did feel Rigoletto’s vulnerability. He cruelly baits Monterone but it’s clear he just wants to be in the gang - there’s a fine line between the bully and the bullied - though his checked jacket, as much as his hunchback and limp, mark him as, unavoidably, an outsider. Moments such as Rigoletto’s desperate scramble up the stairs, to discover that Gilda has been abducted, and his opening of the sack to find it contains the body of his daughter, were powerfully emotive.
David Junghoon Kim’s careless, self-regarding Duke remains unaware of such distress, which arises from his own narcissistic self-indulgences. Since I first heard him 2016, when he joined the Royal Opera House as a Jette Parker Young Artist, Junghoon Kim’s seems to have blossomed fulsomely, and now boasts a rich sheen, varied tonal shades and real strength of line. ‘La donna e mobile’ was muscular and clear, delivered with a confidence laden with conceit. Does the Duke really love Gilda? It wasn’t, perhaps never is, possible to know: perhaps he just thinks he does, for a short moment.
Emma Carrington (Maddalena) and David Junghoon Kim (The Duke). Photo credit: Richard Hubert Smith.
This Gilda certainly loves him, though. Haegee Lee (like Junhgoon Kim, a former Jette Parker Young and also hailing from Korea) has such a purity of tone and accuracy of intonation and ornament that one would never for a moment doubt Gilda’s sincerity. When I heard Lee sing ‘Caro nome’ during this year’s JPYA summer showcase , I was tremendously impressed, praising ‘a measured and confidently crafted performance which communicated character and feeling most impressively’. Here, while no less struck by Lee’s vocal precision and care, I found her dramatic embodiment of the role less convincing: too much wide-eyed wonder and ingénue stargazing for my liking.
Mark S Doss (Rigoletto) and James Platt (Sparafucile). Photo credit: Richard Hubert Smith.
James Platt was a frightening Sparafucile, lingering menacingly in the shadows, his Hadean voice shimmering with hatred (and evidencing none of the ‘wobble’ that has sometimes been evident of late). The Act 3 quartet was a dramatic and musical highlight, Emma Carrington’s Maddelena descending from atop the tawdry inn to seduce a Duke she seemed to truly love, just as blindly as Gilda.
Conductor Alexander Joel led a thoughtful performance in the pit, one skilfully paced and readily ratcheting up the tension as required. It was a pity, therefore, that having churned up an emotional maelstrom in the first scene, a technical hitch (one presumes?) during the scene change resulted in a long hiatus before the action resumed, undoing Joel’s good work as the audience relaxed, chatted and fidgeted.
Rigoletto has always been ‘political’. Its ‘predecessor’, Victor Hugo’s carefully researched study of ‘Francis I’, fooled no one and Hugo’s thinly disguised criticism of King Louis-Philippe led to his play being banned after one performance, not to be seen in France for 50 years. Verdi’s censors allowed him and Piave, his librettist, to set the play only if the action was transferred from France to Mantua, Francis I becoming a Gonzaga duke in a royal court that was no longer in existence, and as such unlikely to either offend or incite. In his renowned ‘mafioso’ staging for ENO, Jonathan Miller exploited this innate political core to the full. The corruption of high office; the ethical vacuity of the ruling classes; power maintained by misogyny, abuse and violence: plus ça change. Le roi s’amuse indeed.
That said, the perspective that Macdonald encourages us to adopt - like Jo Davies’ #MeToo sightline the previous evening - seemed ultimately irrelevant to the listening theatre-goer’s experience and pleasure. Together these two engaging and enjoyable WNO productions suggest that it’s the music and the singing that hold the balance of operatic power after all.
Claire Seymour
The Duke - David Junghoon Kim, Gilda - Haegee Lee, Rigoletto - Mark S Doss, Monterone - Eddie Wade, Countess Ceprano - Paula Greenwood, Sparafucile - James Platt, Count Ceprano - Martin Lloyd, Borsa - Simon Crosby Buttle, Marullo - Alastair Moore, Giovanna - Sian Meinir, Maddalena - Emma Carrington, Page - Francesca Saracino, Usher - George Newton Fitzgerald; Director - James Macdonald, Revival Director - Caroline Chaney, Designer - Robert Innes Hopkins, Lighting Designer - Simon Mills, Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera.
Birmingham Hippodrome; Wednesday 6th November 2019.