“Orpheus I am!” – An unusual but very well chosen collection of songs, arias and madrigals from the 17th century, featuring Julian PrÈgardien and Teatro del mondo. Devised by Andreas K¸ppers, this collection crosses boundaries demonstrating how Italian, German, French and English contemporaries responded to the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Category: Recordings
Laci Boldemann’s Opera Black Is White, Said the Emperor
We normally think of operas as being serious or comical. But a number of
operas-some familiar, others forgotten-are neither of these. Instead, they
are fantastical, dealing with such things as the fairy world and sorcerers,
or with the world of dreams.
The Devil, Greed, War, and Simple Goodness: Ostr?il’s Jack’s Kingdom
Here is a little-known opera that, like an opera by the Swedish composer
Laci Boldemann that I have reviewed here, and like
Ravel’s amazing L’enfant et les sortilègesá, utterly bypasses the usual categories of comic and grand/tragic by
cultivating instead the rich realm of fantasy and folk tale.
Grands motets de Lalande
MajestÈ, a new recording by Le PoËme Harmonique, led by Vincent Dumestre, of music by Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726) new from Alpha Classics. Le PoËme Harmonique are regular visitors to London, appreciated for the variety of their programes. On Friday this week, (11/5) they’ll be at St John’s Smith Square as part of the London Festival of Baroque, with a programme titled “At the World’s Courts”.
Perpetual Night – Early English Baroque, Ensemble Correspondances
New from Harmonia Mundi, Perpetual Night. a superb recording of ayres and songs from the 17th century, by Ensemble Correspondances with SÈbastien DaucÈ and Lucile Richardot. Ensemble Correspondances are among the foremost exponents of the music of Versailles and the French royalty, so it’s good to hear them turn to the music of the Stuart court.
Maria Callas: Tosca 1964: A film by Holger Preusse
When I reviewed Tosca at Covent Garden in January this year for Opera Today, Maria Callas’s 1964 Royal Opera House performance was still fresh in my mind. This is a recording I have grown up with and which, despite its flaws, is one of the greatest operatic statements – a glorious production which Zeffirelli finally agreed to staging, etched in gothic black and white film (albeit just Act II), with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi, if not always as vocally commanding as they once were, acting out their roles like no one has before, or since.
Hubert Parry and the birth of English Song
British music would not be where it is today without the influence of Charles Hubert Parry. His large choral and orchestral works are well known, and his Jerusalem is almost the national anthem. But in the centenary of his death, we can re-appraise his role in the birth of modern British song.
Camille Saint-Saens: MÈlodies avec orchestra
Saint-SaÎns MÈlodies avec orchestra with Yann Beuron and Tassis Christoyannis with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana conducted by Markus Poschner.
Les FunÈrailles Royales de Louis XIV recreated at Versailles
Les FunÈrailles Royales de Louis XIV, with Ensemble Pygmalion, conducted by RaphaÎl Pichon now on DVD/Blu -ray from Harmonia Mundi. This captures the historic performance at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles in November 2015, on the 300th anniversary of the King’s death.
Beyond Gilbert and Sullivan: Edward Loder’s Raymond and Agnes and the Apotheosis of English Romantic Opera
Mention ‘nineteenth-century English opera’ to most people, and
they will immediately think ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’. If they
really know their Gilbert and Sullivan, they’ll probably remember
that Sullivan always wanted to compose more serious operas, but that
Gilbert resisted this, believing they should ‘stick to their
last’: light, comic, tuneful satire.