Schubert’s music ‘suggests a rippling movement and by the side of the rippling a flowering: it has the variety and unsurprising naturalness of moving water and springing herb’ (Capell) and this same naturalness and sense of flowing ease are the very qualities which make John Mark Ainsley such a special interpreter of this composer.
Category: Reviews
IphigÈnie en Aulide at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
Rome’s opera house was built in 1880, in the explosion of building that followed the unification of Italy with Rome as its capital.
Rigoletto at the MET with Diana Damrau as Gilda
Rigoletto is the ideal first opera: a taut tale, comprehensible characters, terrific tunes, and not an ounce of fat anywhere.
Angels in Frankfurt
Was Tony Kushner’s monumental play Angels in America in need of being musicalized?
Domingo sings Wagner
This two-CD budget series collection brings together two Placido Domingo Wagner recitals, the first from 2000, with Deborah Voigt receiving co-billing, and the second from 2002.
Humperdinck: H‰nsel und Gretel
Originally directed by Brooks Riley for German television, this updated staging of Engelbert Humperdinck’s familiar opera H‰nsel und Gretel is based on a production created by Johannes Felsenstein, the son of the well-known director of the Komische Oper Berlin, Walter Felsenstein.
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at the MET
The current revival of Cav and Pag at the Met went off like clockwork, with all the comfort and reliability that implies for a repertory house and all the success these tried and true verismo stalwarts merit.
Benjamin Britten: Owen Wingrave
In the parlance of a Hollywood film pitch, Britten’s penultimate opera might be described as “War Requiem” meets “Turn of the Screw.”
Reasons to be Cheerful
London: Sue Loder reviews Alessandro and the Handel Singing Final