Scarcely had Julius Drake seated himself, when the piano’s turbulent stream of relentless semiquavers precipitously announced the opening of Schubert’s ‘Der Strom’ (The river), the opening song in Ian Bostridge’s recital series, Schubert Lieder.
Category: Performances
Le nozze di Figaro, Royal Opera House
Although this is their fifth outing, Tanya McCallin’s sets for David McVicar’s Le Nozze di Figaro remain a sumptuous feast for the eyes.
Thomas Hampson: Mahler Songs
Thomas Hampson “lives” Mahler. He’s the greatest Mahler singer of our time, and a serious Mahler scholar as well.
Turandot, Royal Opera
The Royal Opera’s production of Puccini’s Turandot is nearly 30 years old. Created for the 1984 Olympics, Andrei Serban’s production has been
revived 15 times.
Wigmore Hall Opening Gala, Terfel and Keenlyside
The Wigmore Hall 2013/14 season started in exuberant style. Simon Keenlyside, Bryn Terfel and Malcolm Martineau devised a programme that was festive and fun. And, this being the Wigmore Hall, the recital was as erudite as it was popular
Herheim in Salzburg: Die Meistersinger von N¸rnberg
Stefan Herheim’s Die Meistersinger von N¸rnberg in Salzburg will transfer to the Met. Will audiences collapse in hysteria?
Prom 57: Wagner — Parsifal
Prom 57’s Parsifal (Mark Elder, the HallÈ) brought us John Tomlinson, perhaps the greatest Wagnerian bass of our time.
Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro 2013
An overly sophisticated L’italiana in Algeri, a sublime, interminable Guillaume Tell (William Tell), a nostalgic L’occasione fa il ladro.
Prom 51: Tippett, Britten & Elgar
This programme of twentieth-century British music burst dazzlingly into life with the blazing flourishes of Michael Tippett’s Fanfare No.5, arranged by Meirion Bowen from music drawn from the composer’s oratorio, The Mask of Time.
Prom 47: Brahms — A German Requiem
In the first of her two visits to the Royal Albert Hall this summer, Marin Alsop led the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and its associated Choir through three nineteenth-century works which are united by their romantic intensity and progression from darkness to light.