Our modern globalized perspective makes us alert to the cultural richness of difference, much as it ironically also seems to blur distinctions with ease of access.
Category: Reviews
Mahler: The Complete Works
The commemorate the sesquicentennial of Mahler’s birth in 1860, EMI has released an exceptional set of its recordings in a single box.
Jessye Norman — Roots: My Life, My Song
A career of the highest stature earns the professional the right to do as she or he pleases, after decades of dedicated achievement.
Don Giovanni, ENO
There’s nothing wrong with updating an opera as long as the director,
designer and conductor share an understanding of the work’s principal ideas and motivations, conflicts and contexts, and have a clear vision of how they intend to communicate these in a new setting.
Il Trovatore, Metropolitan Opera
It’s difficult to be reasonable about Il Trovatore. Reason is the last quality we expect from any of its characters or situations.
La Cenerentola, Minnesota Opera
Minnesota Opera’s recent production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola certainly is a fantastical, comical portrayal of the classical fairy tale.
Intermezzo, New York City Opera
Pace Tolstoy, happy marriages are not all alike, but they
require a lot of work.
Angelika Kirchschlager, German Lieder 1830-40 Wigmore Hall
Angelika Kirchschlager and Malcolm Martineau at the Wigmore Hall showed what real Lieder singing should be.
A Carmen Cast to Strength: Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Revival
For its second production of the current season Lyric Opera of Chicago has staged a modified revival of its Carmen under the direction of Harvey Silverstein.
Overture to London’s Handel Festival 2011
The small but perfectly formed Grosvenor Chapel in London’s exclusive Mayfair was the venue last Monday night for a programme of Handel vocal and instrumental music of considerable quality — if minimal quantity.