This programme of mostly solemn, elevated music based around songs on such themes as Evening, Death and Immutability was part of Matthias Goerne’s ‘Journey with Schubert’ during which he is recording the songs on eleven CDs and presenting the series in recitals all over the world. If the singing on this occasion is anything to go by, these recordings are set to become the standard to which other singers should aspire.
Category: Reviews
Goerne sings Schubert at the Wigmore Hall
When Matthias Goerne sings, it’s never superficial. Lieder is a genre that needs almost as much engagement from listeners as from performers. “It’s like a church in there”, someone said to me about the Wigmore Hall. “They’re really listening”.
Die schˆne M¸llerin by Mark Padmore, Wigmore Hall
Schubert’s first song-cycle is a perfect choice with which to open a
new concert season, and the Wigmore Hall was packed on Friday evening in
anticipation of this recital by tenor Mark Padmore, much admired for the focus
and concentration of his ‘story-telling’, and Paul Lewis, one of
the most expressive and poetic of pianists today.
Haydn’s Le pescatrici at Bampton Classical Opera
Bampton Classical Opera have two areas of specialism: little-known gems of the late eighteenth-century and ‘opera in adversity’.
Cecilia Bartoli: Maria
While the cover of this Decca two-DVD set mirrors that of Cecilia Bartoli’s 2007 CD, Maria, the contents are not identical.
Humour and horror — Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the ENO, London
A massive female figure fills the whole stage at the ENO for Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, in this amazing production from La Fura del Bas. (Alex OllÈ). This production is so inherently dramatic that it brings Ligeti’s “anti-opera” onto a new level as theatre.art. .
Anna Karenina: An Opera by David Carlson, Libretto by Colin Graham
Reading the articles in the booklet for this set, it becomes clear that librettist Colin Graham was the driving force behind this opera’s creation.
Return to the Origins — Chamber Opera in Crisis Times
Chamber opera is coming back after a period when it appeared to be confined to experimental works.
Gustav Mahler: Symphony no. 4 in G major
The legacy of the late conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli includes a number of fine recordings of Mahler’s music, and among them is his Deutsche Grammophon recording of the composer’s Fourth Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the soprano Edita Gruberova.
Wigmore Hall Song Competition
‘It’s a personal choice’ / ‘Of course he won – he was the only one who sang songs’ / ‘I’ll be happy if anyone but the first one wins’ (he won) / ‘There’s only one possible choice – the third one’ (he came second)