Category: Performances

Almost irrespective of the results, it was quite a statement to open the Philharmonia’s London concert season with a performance of Nietzsche’s ‘opus metaphysicum of all true art,’ Tristan und Isolde.

In their programme note, Christopher Alden and Peter Littlefield explain the
concept which informs this dark, dystopian production of Jan·ček’s
penultimate opera, The Makropulos Case — a production first seen
at ENO in 2004:

Kafka’s In the Penal Colony set as an opera by Philip Glass? Against all expectations, it was a powerful and deeply moving experience.

Verdi’s 1859 hit Un ballo in maschera is an inspired choice to open an operatic season.

In this recital of thirty-four songs selected from Hugo Wolf’s
Spanisches Liederbuch, Ian Bostridge and Angelika Kirchschlager
revealed the profound emotional intensity of Wolf’s art; the concentrated
ardour of their performance intimated the heightened passion and expressive
angst which, as well as driving Wolf’s creative spirit, also led to
persistent depression and resulted in insanity and finally death in mental
asylum at the age of 42.

This show, a revival of Jonathan Miller’s 2004 production (first seen at the Maggio Musicale in Florence) is certainly a feast for the eyes.

It doesn’t take long for the summer’s new Lohengrin to reveal its entire bag of tricks as a large chorus of rats (yes, the chorus-as-rodents) scurries on at curtain-rise into the white science laboratory setting.