Florian Boesch and Malcolm Martineau gave the finest recital so far in the Wigmore Hall’s decade by decade series of German Song.
Author: Anne Ozorio
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.
Schubert Transcribed, Wigmore Hall
Schubert, but not quite as we know him. You can always rely on the Wigmore Hall to promote adventurous recitals.
Gyˆrgy Kurt·g Kafka Fragments, Banse and Keller
Gyˆrgy Kurt·g’s Kafka Fragments, op 24, is a masterpiece, one of the seminal works of the late 20th century.
Jurowski, Das klagende Lied
Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic have repeated their success with Mahler’s Das klagende Lied at the Royal Festival Hall.
Lucrezia Borgia, ENO
Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at the English National Opera, London, is an interesting hybrid. The opera is performed “straight” so to speak, but encased in a frame of short filmed passages that add background and depth. These films don’t intrude, but enhance.
Rienzi on DVD
Wagner and Verdi were born within 6 months of each other. Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen comes from 1840, and could in some ways be Wagner’s Simon Boccanegra.
Wagner Tannh‰user: Royal Opera House, London
The Royal Opera House itself is the star of this new production of Richard Wagner Tannh‰user. An intriguing twist on an opera that pits orgiastic excess against purity, pleasure against morality.