http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1554371,00.html
CHRISTINE BREWER — The ‘Anti-Fleming’
As everyone knows, the art of the song recital is in decline. When you and I were young Maggie, Columbia Concerts and Community Concerts regularly sent vocal and other musical artists all around America providing a never fading rainbow of wonderful music, as great classical music performers educated and thrilled us with their art. For example, As a youth I once heard Leonard Warren give a recital in a high school auditorium in Webster Groves, Missouri, price of admission $5. I still have the ticket stub – and the memories. Kathleen Ferrier, Robert Casadesus Jennie Tourel and Guiomar Novaes performed in my town when I was a kid.
HANDEL: Saul
Any new recording of Handel under the baton of Rene Jacobs has to be greeted with both respect and interest, even if the absolute need for another recording of this well-represented oratorio is debatable. Perhaps some Handel scholars would argue with that and are still discussing the precedence of the current available recordings — the older Gardiner, the Neumann, or the more recent McCreesh for instance. So, one presumes, this recording of “Saul” on the Harmonia Mundi label must be intended to either trump those three or to at least offer a viable fourth choice for those who prefer their Handel oratorios as complete as possible. And a plus point is that the entire work is squeezed onto just 2 CDs with a total running time of 2 hrs 30 minutes, accompanied by some stimulating liner notes by Pierre Degott that are both informative and absorbing for the non-specialist consumer.
Rossini’s Adelaide di Borgogna at Edinburgh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1553696,00.html
Caballé Backs Out of Pelagio Production
http://www.elcomerciodigital.com/pg050821/prensa/noticias/Sociedad/200508/21/GIJ-SOC-120.html
Sir John and Me
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/08/20/bmweek20.xml&sSheet=/arts/2005/08/20/ixartleft.html
The Guardian Profiles Sir Charles Mackerras
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1552655,00.html
SANTA FE — Second Thoughts
For an opera company that boasts a $30-million endowment, and has scheduled funding efforts expected to bring that largesse to $50-million by 2007, its fiftieth anniversary of summer opera performances, plus $10-million more for capital improvements, the question comes up: Santa Fe Opera can afford top quality, but are they providing it? The answer seems to be, sometimes.