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.
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.
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.
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.’
‘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.’
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 doors at The Metropolitan Opera will not open to live audiences until 2021 at the earliest, and the likelihood of normal operatic life resuming in cities around the world looks but a distant dream at present. But, while we may not be invited from our homes into the opera house for some time yet, with its free daily screenings of past productions and its pay-per-view Met Stars Live in Concert series, the Met continues to bring opera into our homes.
Music-making at this year’s Grange Festival Opera may have fallen silent in June and July, but the country house and extensive grounds of The Grange provided an ideal setting for a weekend of twelve specially conceived ‘promenade’ performances encompassing music and dance.
There’s a “slide of harmony” and “all the bones leave your body at that moment and you collapse to the floor, it’s so extraordinary.”
“Music for a while, shall all your cares beguile.”
The hum of bees rising from myriad scented blooms; gentle strains of birdsong; the cheerful chatter of picnickers beside a still lake; decorous thwacks of leather on willow; song and music floating through the warm evening air.
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’.
The first of the ROH’s ‘Live in Concert’ performances was fittingly somewhat sober and refined. Now it was time for some razzle-dazzle. 67 members of the ROH Orchestra and Chorus were spread across the stalls and along the grand tier, respectively - the first time the Chorus, readied for performance by Chorus Master William Spaulding, had gathered to perform together in person since the ROH doors closed to the public on 16th March. Sir Antonio Pappano was stationed, as he put it, “a kilometre” from the stage, in danger of falling down the Stalls’ rear exit stairs should he take a step backwards. The posh frocks and evening attire had been aired. And, a programme of ‘favourites’, ‘big numbers’ and ‘climactic finales’ beckoned.
The Figaro overture was punchy and, occasionally, quirky - the fiddles’ accents had swagger, the sforzandi stamped their feet brusquely and the tempo was well-judged, a graceful sprint rather than a madcap race to the finish. It was Rossini’s, rather than Mozart’s, Figaro who got the show rolling, though. Vito Priante was a forthright and decibel-raising barber in ‘Largo al factotum’, but his bellows were a bit ‘rough-edged’ at the top and his baritone seemed a little tight; while he loosened up for the patter, which was neat and clean, he pushed Pappano’s baton and sacrificed tuning for volume at the close. Priante was in more relaxed voice later in the evening, as Dappertutto in ‘Scintille, diamant’ from Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. This aria lies lower in the voice and Priante’s velvety duet with the low strings was graceful and expressive: think melted dark chocolate with a hint of bitterness.
Charles Castronovo was rather ‘full-on’ as Nemorino in ‘Caro elisir!’, both in terms of dynamics and characterisation. The difficulty of performing to an invisible audience was apparent: gestures and antics that might garner a chuckle in a full house seemed over-emphatic when directed at a vacuum. Lisette Oropesa seemed to have the opposite problem, finding it difficult to get into Adina’s skin. Both singers fared much better in their solo numbers subsequently.
I don’t think that Oropesa has performed the role of Amina in a staged production of Bellini’s La sonnambula, but her interpretation of the final scene here makes one hope that she chooses to (and viruses permit) sooner rather than later. Her vocal control was consummate; the phrasing was immaculate - complemented at the start by warm, sustained horns and woodwind; her vibrato was expressive, creating nuance and colour. She rose to the top exquisitely, lamenting, “but my tears cannot restore my love”. Filipe Manu, a Jette Parker Young Artist, was an earnest, soothing Elvino and, with the ROH Chorus making an energetic contribution, Pappano held the wide-spread performers together superbly, pumping up the visceral dynamism towards the final section of the scena in which Oropesa’s soprano shone with joy. She’s a keen runner and, despite the passion and intensity conjured, in conversation with the BBC’s Katie Derham immediately afterwards Oropesa didn’t seem to have been unduly taxed by her exploits and exertions!
Lisette Oropesa
If anything, Oropesa was even finer as Massenet’s Manon, evincing tremendous allure, gloss and power: the stamping of the ROH Orchestra’s feet at the close warmly conveyed their appreciation. Castronovo returned as Riccardo in ‘Forse la soglia attinse’ from Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera), singing with compelling expression, thoughtful phrasing and dynamics, varied colour, sustained strength and fine lyricism.
Former Jette Parker Young Artist, Aigul Akhmetshina, rose to the moment in ‘Non più mesta’ from Rossini’s La Cenerentola; her mezzo glowed with vibrancy and her cascades were full-voiced, warm and finely articulated. Again, Pappano’s ability to set the scene was notable: in the instrumental preface the harmonies yearned, enriched by woodwind interjections, the pedal points pumped like a burning, beating heart, and recitative chords were places with absolute precision, like rhythmic springboards. Akhmetshina returned in the penultimate item, the whole of Carmen’s final act, as a sultry and cruel Carmen, mocking Castronovo’s desperate Don José and luxuriating in the gleam of glamour that Priante exhibited as Escamillo. The ROH Chorus clearly relished finally being able to give their lungs a good workout! But, alongside the spectacle and showy excess there was tenderness and intimacy, the act opening with some lovely tender cello playing which emphasised the poignancy of the former lovers’ estrangement. Again, the dramatic cohesion that Pappano mustered was impressive.
Aigul Akhmetshina
Replacing the advertised Sonya Yoncheva, Kristine Opolais sang Dvořák’s ‘Song to the Moon’ (Rusalka) with gleam and power, the focused intensity and easeful expansiveness of her soprano transporting us to another world. The tenderness, enhanced by harp and woodwind, and silvery shimmer suggested a timelessness which was a welcome refuge from ever-present cares. Opolais’ aria was also a cleansing reprieve after Iago’s poison-dripping ‘Credo in un Dio crudel’ in which Gerald Finley pushed sanity to its limits, relishing every word of the text, his baritone black and fierce but always lyrical. Pappano brilliantly balanced orchestral drama and details. In the final stages of Iago’s hellish declaration, with the lower strings descending into dark, tormented realms, Finley - one eye screwed up painfully, the other darting wildly - seemed truly deranged. Iago’s explosion, “Heaven is make believe!”, was terrifying.
Finley seemed destined to play the villain on this occasion, returning as Scarpia in the final item, the Act I duet and ‘Te Deum’ from Puccini’s Tosca, alongside Opolais as the eponymous diva, Manu as Spoletta, with Jeremy White making a fine Sacristan. Finley’s baritone was dangerously seductive. Opolais sang with plushness and passion, though her choice of dress did make it very difficult for her to undertake much ‘movement’ on stage - fine for the stillness of Dvořák’s moon-caresses but less effective in conveying Tosca’s agitation, and exacerbating the ‘social distancing on stage-problem’ which had prevented Don José from stabbing Carmen, the latter forced to exit the stage to signal her demise.
Vito Priante
The ‘set’ for the evening was borrowed from Richard Eyre’s 1994 La traviata, specifically Bob Crowley’s curving crimson terrace and angled gilded ceiling for the Act 2 gambling scene. The ROH didn’t take much of a risk by laying their bets on the tried and trusted, but we’ve all had enough ‘risk’ for a while. And, when ‘safety’ comes in this star-studded, sumptuous and very satisfying form, it is just what we need at present.
Claire Seymour
Lisette Oropesa (soprano), Kristine Opolais (soprano), Aigul Akhmetshina (mezzo-soprano), Charles Castronovo (tenor), Filipe Manu (tenor), Vito Priante (baritone), Gerald Finley (bass-baritone), Jeremy White (bass), Antonio Pappano (conductor), Orchestra of The Royal Opera House, Royal Opera Chorus Chorus (William Spaulding, Concert Master).
Mozart: Overture from Le nozze di Figaro’; Rossini: ‘Largo al factotum‘ (The Barber of Seville); Donizetti: ‘Caro elisir!’ recitative and duet (L’elisir d’amore); Rossini: ‘Non più mesta’ ( La Cenerentola); Bellini: La sonnambula, final scene; Verdi: ‘Forse la soglia attinse’ (Un ballo in maschera); Verdi: ‘Credo in un Dio crudel’ (Otello); Dvořák: ‘Song to the Moon’ (Rusalka); Offenbach: ‘Scintille, diamant’ (Les Contes d’Hoffmann); Massenet: Recitative and Gavotte ( Manon)l Bizet: Final act of Carmen; Puccini: Act I duet and ‘Te Deum’ from Tosca.
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (broadcast live); Friday 4 th September 2020.