Pilgrimages, I suspect, derive a degree of their fruitfulness from the slowness of the journey, a pace born of desire or necessity, that removes the journey from the quotidian, brings the purpose into greater focus, and allows for a richer savoring of the experience.
Month: May 2011
Le Royaume OubliÈ: La TragÈdie Cathare
Before a single track has been heard, Jordi Savall’s The Forgotten Kingdom impresses with its scale: a three-CD set packaged in a lavish, bound book that contains fifty dense pages of English commentary by nine different authors; adding the multiple translations, beautiful illustrations, and song texts, the book itself luxuriantly sprawls over 500 pages.
Ian Bostridge, Wigmore Hall
“Music, music for a while/ Shall all your cares beguile,” vowed Ian Bostridge at the opening of this recital with his regular accompanist, Julius Drake.
Les Noces de Figaro in Paris
This is the one by Giorgio Strehler that opened at Versailles in 1973 and since has endured twenty-three incarnations, first at the Garnier and later at the Bastille.
James Bowman, The Last London Recital
It’s easy to slip into platitudes when eulogising the last London
recital performance of a singer commonly lauded as the outstanding countertenor
of his generation.
I Compagnacci and Il Re, Teatro Grattacielo
Teatro Grattacielo gives concert performances of Verismo operas that range from the obscure to the unheard-of.
Macbeth, Royal Opera
Phyllida Lloyd’s reading of Verdi’s Macbeth –
first seen in 2002 and here revived for the second time – could certainly
not be described as ‘subtle’, either dramatically or visually.
Houston Grand Opera Announces New Leadership
http://houston.broadwayworld.com/article/Houston-Grand-Opera-Announces-New-Leadership-20110525
Zambello to WNO – as advisor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/classical-beat/post/zambello-to-wno—as-advisor/2011/05/25/AGPvsGBH_blog.html
Handel – True or False?
“Germanico del sig. Hendl”. Since 1929 the printed catalogue of
the Conservatorio Cherubini in Florence (section “Opere teatrali”,
p. 143) has contained a Handel title not mentioned in any other sources.