At the Wigmore Hall, AndrË Schuen and Daniel Heide in a recital of Schubert and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and R¸ckert-Lieder. Schuen has most definitely arrived, at least among the long-term cognoscenti at the Wigmore Hall who appreciate the intelligence and sensitivity that marks true Lieder interpretation.
Year: 2019
Ermelinda by San Francisco’s Ars Minerva
It’s an opera by Vicentino composer Domenico Freschi that premiered in 1681 at the country home of the son of the doge of Venice. Villa Contarini is a couple of hours on horseback from Vicenza, and a few hours by gondola from Venice).
Wozzeck in Munich
It would be an extraordinary, even an unimaginable Wozzeck that failed to move, to chill one to the bone. This was certainly no such Wozzeck; Marie’s reading from the Bible, Wozzeck’s demise, the final scene with their son and the other children: all brought that particular Wozzeck combination of tears and horror.
Une soirÈe chez Berlioz – lyrical rarities, on Berlioz’s own guitar
Une soirÈe chez Berlioz – an evening with Berlioz, songs for voice, piano and guitar, with StÈphanie D’Oustrac, Thibaut Roussel (guitar), and Tanguy de Williencourt (piano).
Korngold’s Die tote Stadt in Munich
I approached this evening as something of a sceptic regarding work and director. My sole prior encounter with Simon Stone’s work had not been, to put it mildly, a happy one. Nor do I count myself a subscriber or even affiliate to the Korngold fan club, considerable in number and still more considerable in fervency.
Exceptional song recital from Hurn Court Opera at Salisbury Arts Centre
Thanks to the enterprise and vision of Lynton Atkinson – Artistic Director of Dorset-based Hurn Court Opera – two promising young singers on the threshold of glittering careers gave an outstanding recital at Salisbury’s prestigious Art Centre.
Lohengrin in Munich
An exceptional Lohengrin, this. I had better explain. Yes, it was exceptional in the quality of much of the singing, especially the two principal female roles, yet also in luxury casting such as Martin Gantner as the King’s Herald.
Hansel and Gretel in San Francisco
This Grimm’s fairytale in its operatic version found its way onto the War Memorial stage in the guise of a new “family friendly” production first seen last holiday season at London’s Royal Opera House.
An hypnotic Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House
Spot-lit in the prevailing darkness, Gustav von Aschenbach frowns restively as he picks up an hour-glass from a desk strewn with literary paraphernalia, objects d’art, time-pieces and a pair of tall candles in silver holders – by the light of which, so Thomas Mann tells us in his novella Death in Venice, the elderly writer ‘would offer up to art, for two or three ardently conscientious morning hours, the strength he had garnered during sleep’.
A Baroque Christmas from Harmonia Mundi
A baroque Christmas from Harmonia Mundi, this year’s offering in their acclaimed Christmas series. Great value for money – four CDs of music so good that it shouldn’t be saved just for Christmas. The prize here, though is the Pastorale de NoÎl by Marc-Antoine Charpentier with Ensemble Correspondances, with SÈbastien DaucÈ, highly acclaimed on its first release just a few years ago.