DÈodat De SÈverac: Le Coeur du Moulin

Interesting recordings continue to be produced in the classical music business by smaller labels with particular niche markets. For the label Timpani, their specialty tends to be rarer French repertoire.

Luca Pisaroni at the Wigmore Hall, London

After hearing his stunning Leporello at Glyndebourne and his Figaro at Salzburg, there was no way I was going to miss Luca Pisaroni’s concert with Wolfram Rieger at the Wigmore Hall, London. But I was delighted by how wonderful he sounded close up in recital.

Dialogues des CarmÈlites, Guildhall, London

Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des CarmÈlites is an unusual opera, but much sensitive musical thinking has gone into this production at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

L’Africaine, OONY

EugËne Scribe and Giacomo Meyerbeer were in the business of creating
proto-cinematic spectacles of drama and music, the formula being to take a historical incident in some exotic country or era, put in a tormented love story to hold our attention, and resolve the whole in catastrophe.

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado

The front leg of the grand piano may rest at a rather precarious angle, and
the out-sized martini glass lean a trifle askew, but Jonathan Miller’s
1986 production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado wears its
twenty-five years lightly — as do Stefanos Lazaridis’
eye-wateringly white, gleaming sets.

Roderick Williams, Wigmore Hall

Relaxed, confident and composed, baritone Roderick Williams, accompanied by
pianist Helmut Deutsch, gave a polished and performance before a warmly
appreciative Wigmore Hall audience, performing an interesting selection of
songs by Wolf, Korngold, Mahler and Schumann.

CosÏ fan tutte, Palm Beach

Little is known about the extent to which Mozart and Da Ponte collaborated on the libretto for CosÏ fan tutte.

Schubert Transcribed, Wigmore Hall

Schubert, but not quite as we know him. You can always rely on the Wigmore Hall to promote adventurous recitals.

Ariadne auf Naxos, Bordeaux

Ariadne on Naxos, or you could call it Bacchus · Bordeaux. It was an orgy of art.

RomÈo et Juliette, Philadelphia

Neither the music nor the libretto of Charles Gounod’s RomÈo et
Juliette
is quite compelling enough to have made it a popular standard.