As good a performance of Rossini’s opera as this disc provides, for some equal entertainment value may potentially arise from the booklet essay by one Bernd-R¸diger Kern (as translated into English by David Stevens).
Year: 2010
Schumann: The Complete Symphonies, Mahler Edition
Mahler’s well-known revisions of music he conducted include the four symphonies by Robert Schumann, and while these Retuschen have been performed from time to time, a recording of all four of them is now available from Decca.
Technicolour Radamisto at ENO
Handel’s Radamisto came to the ENO at the Coliseum in glorious technicolour.
Washington National Opera’s edgy new ‘Salome’
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/curtain-up/2010/oct/9/washington-national-operas-edgy-new-salome/
Bieito’s Muted ‘Carmen’ Brings a Fresh Vision
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575533923300530594.html#
El Gato con Botas: Gotham Chamber Opera
Haven’t you always secretly felt that singers who reach for high notes
(and make them) ought to levitate and maintain themselves in mid-air
when they do it?
Das Rheingold, Metropolitan Opera
It will be no surprise to me, a year or five from now, when someone falls to
her or his death from the guy-wires that configure so much of Robert
Lepage’s new state-of-the-art (ah! But which art?) production of Der
Ring des Nibelung.
Bizet Les PÍcheurs de Perles – Royal Opera House
Bizet’s Les PÍcheurs de Perles is notoriously hard to stage. Because the plot’s so grandiose, the imagination works overtime, dwarfing the music, making it seem puny in comparison. There’s a lot to be said in favour of concert performances because they shift the balance back to Bizet.
Oxford Lieder Festival 2010
The Oxford Lieder Festival is small, but is extremely important. It’s quite an achievement, extremely well organized and comprehensive, a model for intelligently-presented festivals of any kind.