When the Ring theater burned in Vienna, on December 8, 1881,1 Richard Wagner commented that it left him “cold” to know that a number of patrons should die while at a performance of Jacques Offenbach’s music.
Category: Reviews
SANTA FE OPERA: Golden Oldies
Carmen and The Magic Flute have finally made it onto my calendar, a nice way to end the summer opera festival at Santa Fe.
A Night of Rhythm and Dance
The Waldb¸hne in Berlin is a large copy of ancient Greek theatres. Originally it was the ‘Reichssportfeld’, built for the Olympic Games of 1936.
Mirella Freni and Cesare Siepi Live in Concert
In summer doldrums? Spend a delightful hour with two great artists in a rare joint appearance, as Fabula Classics has resurrected for DVD a 1985 Cesare Siepi and Mirelle Freni televised recital.
Haitink conducts Elgar and Britten
Commemorating some of its outstanding concerts of the 1980s and Bernard Haitink, its principal conductor (from 1967-1979), the London Philharmonic Orchestra has released on its own label a single CD that includes several
pieces that brought notice to the ensemble.
Ann Murray and Malcolm Martineau: Schumann, Mahler, Britten
Recorded in early May 2005 at Crear, an artists’ community in Argyll, Scotland, this CD contains selections of Lieder and songs that fit well the supple voice of the mezzo-soprano Ann Murray, who is accompanied facilely by the Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau.
Morricone Conducts Morricone
Connoisseurs of pretentious booklet essay verbiage will delight in the prose style of Matthias Kellerin his musings for this EuroArts DVD of Ennio Morricone conducting his film scores with the Munich radio orchestra.
Strong Tempest at Santa Fe
The news from Santa Fe Opera last week-end is good, unexpectedly so. The British composer Thomas Ades’ new (2004) opera, a riff on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, has been rumored hard to perform and harder to hear.
BUXTEHUDE: Membra Jesu nostri
Dietrich Buxtehudeís Membra Jesu nostri is a large-scale Passion work dedicated to the Swedish chapelmaster, Gustav D¸bin, in whose notable collection, now at Uppsala, it holds a prominent place.
WAGNER: Das Rheingold
Was it so many years ago that lovers of Wagner’s titanic multi-part opus, Der Ring Des Nibelung, focused their passion principally on audio versions?