For me, this is almost to have come full circle — though as anyone with even the slightest acquaintance with the Ring will tell you, the so-called ‘cycle’ does not end where it began, its world having been changed forever.
Month: July 2013
A Music Of One’s Own: From The Diary of Virginia Woolf
The final concert in pianist Julius Drake’s Perspectives series united song, literature and biography through the prism of Dominick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize-winning song-cycle, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf.
Stockhausen at the BBC Proms
The Royal Albert Hall was made for Karl-Heinz Stockhausen. BBC Prom 11 2013 featured Gesang der J¸nglinge and Welt-Parliament from Mittwoch from Licht.
Capriccio, Royal Opera
‘Wort oder Ton?’ may be the Countess’s question, but it is far from the only question asked in, let alone by, Capriccio.
Glimmerglass premiere of ‘Camelot’ chivalrous, but hardly a knight to remember
David Pittsinger, as King Arthur, provided most of the magic in this
pleasant but unspectacular production of the Lerner and Loewe musical
Don Pasquale, Glyndebourne
Donizetti’s late comedy Don Pasquale debuted in Paris in 1843 and has been popular ever since. It was produced at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1938 but, rather surprisingly, Mariame Clement’s 2013 production, refreshingly set in the 18th century rather than being update, was the first festival production since 1938.
Prom 8: AdËs’ Totentanz
This remarkably cohesive programme of works by Britten, Lutoslawski and AdËs was underpinned by a dark intensity; tragic realism interwoven with transient intimations of hope.
Adriana Lecouvreur from Decca
Known principally for its two concert show-pieces for the leading lady, the success of Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur relies upon finding a soprano willing to take on, and able to pull off, the eponymous role.
ClÈop‚tre and Les Troyens in Marseille
There are forces to be reckoned with at l’OpÈra de Marseille — a first class orchestra, a first class chorus, first class casts (with notable exception, see below) who inhabit an extraordinarily fine old opera house.
L’elisir d’amore, Opera Holland Park
Pia Furtado’s production of Donizetti’s gentle rom-com, L’elisir d’amore, opens in the greenhouse-laboratory of a sunflower factory — all steel trolleys and agronomic apparatus.