Of all opera singers of the last century, no one better dominated the genreís star power than Maria Callas. During her thirty-four years onstage, she came to embody the essence of the term ìdiva,î both in her stormy personal life and her equally tempestuous stage career.
Category: Reviews
My Name is Barbara
Barbara Bonneyís discography is extensive and wide-ranging, including opera and oratorio, as well as lieder recitals from Mozart and Mendelssohn through the major Romantics to Zemlinsky.
Hercules at the Barbican ó Five Reviews
Hercules (HWV 60) was first performed on 5 January 1745 at King’s Theatre, Haymarket, London. Categorized as a drama, it traditionally has been performed in the oratorio style (i.e., a concert performance). Following its performance as an opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, this production by William Christie now appears at the Barbican in London. “This extraordinary opera recounts the tragic tale of a hero literally poisoned by the jealousy of his misguided wife. In this modern-dress production, punctuated by Greek references, the action takes place on a sand-covered, amphitheatre-style arena where the chorus is used as Handel originally intended, to embody the people of Trachis and comment on the action.” Here are five reviews.
Songs for Ariel
Of the countertenors coming to the fore in the generation following Alfred Deller, few, if any, have achieved the prominence or performance longevity of James Bowman.
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is one of the most popular ballets. Tchaikovskyís score alone is synonymous with Christmasóone can even say that it is what keeps this ballet alive.
MAHLER: Symphony no. 4
BERG: Sieben Fr¸he Lieder
A critical aspect of Mahlerís music is the way the composer often juxtaposed the familiar and the new, and this dichotomy is reflected strongly in his Fourth Symphony.
HIGH RISK ìORFEOî FROM CHICAGO LYRIC
Producer Robert Carsen, together with his set designer Tobias Hoheisel, is taking a big risk with their new production of Gl¸ckís 1762 version for alto of ìOrfeo ed Euridiceî at Chicago Lyric Opera.
MEYERBEER: Dinorah
Some opera sets are meant to be an introduction to the work presented. They contain a booklet which tells you about the life of the composer, the history of the work, some analysis, a synopsis of the story, and maybe (if you’re lucky) the libretto translated into your language.
Gabriela Montero ó Piano Recital
This recording features piano works by the pillars of nineteenth-century Romantic piano composition (Chopin and Liszt), the Spanish-speaking musical nationalists (Granados, Ginastera, and de Falla), and the Russian composer-pianists (Scriabin and Rachmaninov) who reinterpreted the Romantic spirit in new and innovative ways for the piano.
MOZART: Requiem
Mozartís Requiem has become widely-known and popular since the 1984 movie Amadeus. Left incomplete at his death, his student and assistant Franz Xaver Sussmayr (1766-1803) completed the work from Mozartís notes.