This live performance of Laurent Pelly’s Glyndebourne staging of
Humperdinck’s affectionately regarded fairy tale opera, was recorded at
Glyndebourne Opera House in July and August 2010, and the handsomely produced
disc set — the discs are presented in a hard-backed, glossy-leaved book and
supplemented by numerous production photographs and an informative article by
Julian Johnson — is certainly stylish and unquestionably recommendable.
Year: 2013
Hänsel und Gretel
Magdalena Koûen·: Love and Longing
Recorded at a live performance in 2012, this CD brings together an eclectic
selection of turn-of-the-century orchestral songs and affirms the extraordinary
versatility, musicianship and technical accomplishment of mezzo-soprano
Magdalena Koûen·.
Prom 57: Wagner — Parsifal
Prom 57’s Parsifal (Mark Elder, the HallÈ) brought us John Tomlinson, perhaps the greatest Wagnerian bass of our time.
Once I was: Songs by Ricky Ian Gordon
Once I was: Songs by Ricky Ian Gordon features an assortment of
songs by Ricky Ian Gordon interpreted by soprano Stacey Tappan, a longtime
friend of the composer since their work on his opera Morning Star at
the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro 2013
An overly sophisticated L’italiana in Algeri, a sublime, interminable Guillaume Tell (William Tell), a nostalgic L’occasione fa il ladro.
Prom 51: Tippett, Britten & Elgar
This programme of twentieth-century British music burst dazzlingly into life with the blazing flourishes of Michael Tippett’s Fanfare No.5, arranged by Meirion Bowen from music drawn from the composer’s oratorio, The Mask of Time.
Amore e Tormento
Alfredo Kraus, one of the most astute artists in operatic history in terms of careful management of technique and vocal resources, once said in an interview that ‘you have to make a choice when you start to sing and decide whether you want to service the music, and be at the top of your art, or if you want to be a very popular tenor.’†
Rivals—Arias for Farinelli & Co.
In generations past, an important singer’s first recording of Italian arias would almost invariably have included the music of Verdi.†
Tobias Picker Talks About His New Opera Dolores Claiborne
With the help of Andrew Welch, a London theatrical producer who had adapted several of King’s works for the stage, including this one, I got the rights to both Dolores Claiborne and Misery.