Rosenkavalier conundrum

Now Hugo von Hoffmanstahl's libretto for Der Rosenkavalier is one of the great libretti in operatic history and virtually a work of literature in its own right. It was carefully constructed by Hoffmanstahl and Strauss so must be exactly what was meant. Which leads me to the oddity of the opening of the 3rd Act. What is going on?

Now, we know that Octavian and the Italian intriguers are planning a trap for Ochs, the intention being to get Ochs to try and seduce Mariandel (Octavian in disguise), with a false message to Faninal ensuring that Ochs prospective father-in-law sees what a rogue his son-in-law really is. Annina (the female Italian intriguer) is pretending to be Ochs's wife and children have been hired (in many productions these are the 3 noble orphans from Act 1).

That it all goes horribly wrong because of the presence of the Watch, Sophie Faninal and the Marschallin is quite clear.

But why on earth are there a bunch of blokes who are hidden in trapdoors and other places around the room. What have they to do with Octavian's plot? Is his intention to scare Ochs so that he behaves irrationally? When I first read the libretto I had assumed that they were being hidden so they could spy on Ochs and Mariandel, but a careful reading of the text makes it clear that they are there to jump out on signal, something which is included in Strauss's orchestration. They feel redundant and seem to be present simply to add a bit of fun, so that the open of Act 3 can have the requisite busy-ness. I have often wondered what a cut Act 3, shorn of this business would be like. The opening section would be far shorter, just an orchestral prelude perhaps with a short scene between Octavian and the intriguers before Ochs comes in. Then the incursions of the hidden men later on would be removed. What would the effect be, better or worse?

Thelma!

Thelma is frankly not a very promising title for an opera. Norma cuts the mustard, but the name Thelma has too many odd contemporary references to be taken seriously at first. Thelma is in fact the name of the heroine of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's first (and only) opera. The opera was rejected by Carl Rosa Opera and the composer consigned it to a draw to be forgotten. Now the piece is receiving its world premiere, tomorrow, at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, presented by Surrey Opera in a production directed by Christopher Cowell.

By all reports, Coleridge-Taylor's music for the opera is strikingly attractive but the libretto leaves a lot to be desired. The libretto is the reason why Carl Rosa Opera rejected the piece and Christopher Cowell has had a go at improving things for this performance. Cowell has stuck to Coleridge-Taylor's plot and to his rhyming scheme; I'm afraid that my heart sinks when I think of a libretto in rhyming English, but there you are.

We are promised a grand romantic opera, something that  English composers do not seem to have been good at creating. Plenty had a go, but few, very few, seem to actually work on the stage. (Sullivan's Ivanhoe anyone?). Coleridge-Taylor was coming rather late to the party, Thelma was written in 1907, and composers now had to deal with not only Wagner's influence but Debussy's. Coleridge-Taylor died far too early to give any indication whether he would have had another go at opera, but his best pieces such as Hiawatha have an infectious romanticism that would have seemed to make him perfect for opera.

The performances are part of a year long festival of events celebrating Samuel Taylor-Coleridge.

Norma conundrum

There are few dramatic conundrums in early 19th century Italian opera because the drama is essentially non-realistic so that you have to suspend disbelief for long periods of time. But in Bellini's Norma, the fact that Norma has been able to conceal a long-term affair with Pollione and the production of two children seems to stretch belief to beyond credulity. In fact most directors don't even try and simply present the events as fact and leave the audience to wonder, perhaps the the local populace are particularly credulous or stupid?

When Ian Judge's production of Norma was new in Scotland the title role was sung by Jane Eaglen. The doctor friend I was with commented that it was the only time that the pregnancy issue was believable as it would have been all to easy for some one of Eaglen's (very) substantial frame to have concealed the pregnancy. This might not have been Judge's idea, the casting was probably done on the basis of Eaglen's preeminent fitness for the role rather than her ability to believably hide two pregnancies.

But one idea of Judge's I did find particularly striking. During Casta Diva he was obviously concerned to ensure that Norma stood out amongst the assembled populace (and the stage at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow does not offer that much space). So the chorus prostrated themselves in front of their priestess and sang the chorus parts of the aria in this prone position. Very, very effective.

CD Review - Tosca

This disc is the record of a milestone in the history of the post-war Covent Garden opera company. When re-founded in 1946, the company had acted very much as an English repertory company, with occasional foreign visitors and guests (such as Kirsten Flagstad and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf). For the June 1955 revival of Puccini's Tosca all 3 principals and the conductor were Italian guests, the first time that all principals had been guests.It represented Tebaldi's first appearance a the Covent Garden theatre and gives us the chance to hear Tito Gobbi live in a role which he had recorded with Callas in 1953.

Tebaldi is a supremely aristocratic Tosca, beautifully sung with a gloriously fine line. Hers is a disciplined, well schooled voice which sounds glorious. Tebaldi sings in paragraphs, contributing beautifully moulded phrases, as compared to Callas who illuminates every single note. Recorded live, the performance comes with an added dramatic edge. The scene in Act 2, between Gobbi and Tebaldi is thrilling. But if you took the performance of Vissi d'arte out of context, I don't think that you would find it the most powerful on disc. Ultimately, though, this is a vividly dramatic performance but one that is also well schooled and, above all, well sung.

Ferruccio Tagliavini has the sort of tenor mannerisms that it is easy to deride; the opening phrase of Vittoria in Act 2 is horrendously extended and we get a sob in Act 3. But it is the sort of open throated, dramatic performance of the roale that has become a rarity nowadays. It is pointless castigating Tagliavini for being what he is, a stereotypical Italian tenor of his period. Instead we should enjoy the freedom of his voice, the good sense of line and the rapport with Tebaldi's Tosca.

Gobbi's Scarpia is above all an aristocrat, one corrupted and made vicious by power, but an aristocrat all the same. A commanding presence, he dominates the close of Act 1, just as Scarpia should (I write this with memories of a recent live performance where the baritone didn't). His recording with Callas is a complete performance, but recorded live this is a thrilling event.

Certainly that is what this feels like, we are eaves-dropping on a real event. But when I first put the disc on my heart sank as I listened to the boxy sound of the orchestra in the prelude. However my ears soon attuned, and the voices are captured with remarkable clarity; their diction coming over well. The recording comes from a BBC broadcast made on June 30th 1955 and generally has remarkable stability.

The rest of the Covent Garden regulars in the smaller roles provide good support, with Michael Langdon as Angelotti and Howell Glynne as a characterful Sacristan.

Conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli doesn't frighten the horses and though sympathetic to his singers foibles, generates a good dramatic performance.

Inevitably this is not a library recording. But there are many reaons for wanting it as an extra on the library shelves, with notable performances from all 3 principals.

Puccini - Tosca
ica classics ICAC 5022 2CD's [42.45, 67.00]

Tosca - Renata Tebaldi
Cavaradossi - Ferruccio Tagliavini
Scarpia - Tito Gobbi
Angelotti - Michael Langdon
Sacristan - Howell Glynne
Spoleta - David Tree
Sciarrone  - Ronald Lewis
Un carceriere - Rhydderch Davies
Shepherd boy - Noreen Berry

Chorus and Orchestra of Covent Garden
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli

Recorded live June 1955

Magid El-Bushra

On Wednesday we went to a private concert, raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust; at which counter-tenor Magid El-Bushra and lutenist Simon Linne played a selection of lute songs by Dowland and Purcell. It is a programme that they both recorded and played before, and this concert formed the beginning of a short tour that they are making. El-Bushra was born in the Sudan and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford and the RCM.

For all the apparent exoticism of his origin, El-Bushra speak and sings mellifluously beautiful English (he gave witty spoken introductions to the songs). Hearing this repertoire in a private surroundings was perfect, after all these are songs that were originally written for domestic consumption. El-Bushra has a beautiful voice and sang the lute songs as if he'd been doing so all his life. He and Linne opened with Dowland's Sorrow stay, and finished with Purcell's Evening Hymn, along the way taking in Dowland's Flow my tears and Come heavy sleep as well as Purcell's The fatal hour and Dear pretty youth. This latter, a theatre song for a female character, received an amusing performance from El-Bushra. In order to demonstrate that Dowland was not always gloomy, they performed his When Phoebus first did Daphne love. Simon Linne played two preludes by John Wilson as solos. For the Purcell pieces Linne played on a reconstruction of an English theorbo, slightly different to the Italian variety.

Andreas Scholl at the Barbican

Last night Andreas Scholl and the Kammerorchesterbasel arrived at the Barbican with their all Bach concert; the second leg of a tour which started on Wednesday in Birmingham. The tour is, of course, tied in to a CD of Bach cantatasThe orchestra were quite few in number; just 3 first violins, 3 second violins and 2 violas. They opened with the sinfonia from Bach's cantata BWV 156, Ich steh mit einem Fuss in Grab, which includes a substantial oboe part, in fact the sinfonia is related to one of Bach's lost oboe concertos.

This was followed by the cantata Ich habe genug BWV82, in the version for alto voice. The cantata was written for bass voice but Bach went on to produce versions for soprano and for alto. Scholl was joined by oboe player Kerstin Kramp. Almost the first thing I noticed was that the balance between Scholl and band seemed to favour the instruments. The group works without a conductor, which of course means there is no-one out front to adjust balance in different halls. It may be that they adjusted things after the interval, or perhaps my ears simply compensated, but the cantata after the interval seemed far better balance.

After the interval we got the keyboard concerto No. 5 in F minor, excellently played by Giorgio Paronuzzi, the group's keyboard player. Unfortunately the instrument he was playing on was hardly a match for the orchestral sound and the instruments easily dominated it, so some of Paronuzzi's sparkling keyboard work got lost. In a hall the size of the Barbican you need a pretty big harpsichord to use as a solo instrument.

The second cantata was Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169 where the band were joined by two oboes and an oboe da caccia. For the closing chorale the voice parts were sung by the string players (plus someone who seemed to be the orchestral manager), a rather neat and interesting solution/

Scholl was in good voice and turned in fine, disciplined performances. The alto parts (written probably for boy altos rather than counter-tenor), seem to lie in predominantly in his upper range and he sang quite lightly but very beautifully. This was a controlled and quite intense performance rather than being overtly demonstrative (despite Scholl's rather oddly swaying platform manner), beautifully poised and profoundly beautiful. Scholl first sang Bach's music as a boy treble and he seems to find a strong affinity with it.

The Barbican Hall was full and the audience was very, very enthusiastic. The concert was actually quite short (the advertised programme finished at 9.15pm having started at 7.30pm with a 20 minute interval) and we only got 1 encore, the aria Schlage doch gewunschte Stunde from a cantata once attributed to Bach but now accepted as being by Melchior Hoffmann. It includes the unusual instrument of a glockenspiel (presumably originally a carillon) playing the bells the text refers to.

A lovely concert which, for all the great beauties, felt a little slim.

Opera Holland Park 2012 season

Opera Holland park have announced their new season. As usual it is an interesting mix of core repertoire with one or two less familiar items. Opera Holland Park has become known for its championing of lesser known works by the verismo school. This year they are doing Zanetto a 1-act opera by Mascagni, first performed in 1896. It is a relatively miniature piece, using just 2 singers and with a gentle score that is a long way from the world of Cavelleria Rustican, but then Mascagni had a habit of not writing the same thing twice. The singers are Patricia Orr (in the title role, a trouser role) and Janice Watson. It will be paired with Gianni Schicchi, which needs no introduction, but in fact this will be OHP's first production of the opera. Alan Opie will be taking the title role.

Another comedy closes the season, Verdi's Falstaff in a production by Annilese Miskimmon (always someone to watch) with OHP regular Olafur Sigurdson in the title role, conducted by Peter Robinson. The season opens with Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The director is Olivia Fuchs, which should guarantee some interesting slants on the opera; she has contributed quite a few interesting productions at OHP in the past. The title role is sung by Elvira Fatyakhova, a Russian lyric coloratura soprano who has worked a lot in Australia singing Lucia, Elvira and Gilda. Edgardo will be sung by Aldo di Toro.

Core repertoire is covered in productions of Cosi fan tutte and Eugene Onegin. In Cosi director Harry Fehr will have a very interesting young quartet of soloists, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Julia Riley, Andrew Staples and Dawid Kimberg. Llewellyn caused quite a sensation when she appeared as the Countess in the recent ENO Le Nozze di Figaro.  I have followed Riley's career with interest since college, with Cendrillon; since then she has contributed some very striking male roles in Handel and Cavalli. Fehr himself is an ex-ROH Young Artist.

Eugene Onegin will have Mark Stone in the title role, with Tatyana sung by Anna Leese who was in last year's L'Amico Fritz at OHP. Daniel Slater will direct; conductor Alexander Polianichko, making his OHP debut, comes with a very impressive pedigree.

For children, Tobias Picker's opera Fantastic Mr. Fox makes a return.

Pricing remains keen (£12.50 to £65.50), which given the high levels of production and casting seems a bargain. All in all an interesting season with a nice mix of the well known and the unusual, plus some very striking young singers.

ClassicalRock - Interview with John Axelrod

Classical Rock is a project which aims to combine the best hits from classical music with the best of classic rock; the intention is to avoid the 'elevator music' tag of much orchestral rock arrangements. The project has been conceived of by John Axelrod (aka MaestroX) with arranger Christophe Patrix (aka CPRX). Axelrod is strikingly positioned to combine the two genres, not only is he the Music Director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire but prior to this he was A&R director for BMG/RCA Records and Atlantic Records where he was involved with such artists as the Smashing Pumpkins, Marc Cohen and Tori Amos.

Axelrod first presented a Classical Rock type programme at the Lucerne Festival to 4000 people in a hockey arena with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the lead singer of Krokus, Marc Storace. The project has now released a CD. The content mixes both classical music and rock music in good arrangements, with an interesting follow through between the items. So that a very upbeat performance of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries leads into Black Sabbath's Iron Man. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (performed the the choir Accentus and baritone Nmon Ford) leads into a Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody. The exoticism of  Rimsky Korsakov's Sheherezade is paired with Led Zeplin's Kashmir. And, inevitably, there is Stairway to Heaven (a piece I once conceived of using as the basis for a mass setting!), sung by Patsy Blackstone and paired with the sunrise from Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra. And eclectic and interesting mix, but it does work. What the performance of  Bohemian Rhapsody demonstrates is what remarkable vocal range and talent Freddie Mercury must have had.

I was lucky enough to be able to conduct an email interview with John Axelrod to find out more about the project.

Though Classical Rock may appeal more to audiences familiar with rock music than classical, Axelrod hopes that the audiences will hear the music in a new way and appreciate it enough to come to more orchestra concerts. He thinks that the real mission for both Classical Rock and many other musicians is in developing audiences for classical music. He points out that without developing audiences for the classical repertoire, we lose the raison d'etre for the orchestra, and much of classic rock would have lost its most inspired influence.

Axelrod agrees that some people will consider the project at best a novelty and at worst classical crossover. But for him the juxtaposition of the classical repertoire and classic rock hits programmatically connected would make a unique and exciting experience, taking the listener on a magical mystery tour. Axelrod affirms that there is no dumbing down, that they are not interested in muzak. The orchestral arrangements of the classic rock used are unique and musical and they keep the sonic and artistic levels consistent between the genres.

Axelrod has performed the Classical Rock programme in Lucerne, Switzerland and the USA and recorded it in Prague. And in each case the orchestra has found it a refreshing experience.  Where he used rock singers in the arrangements Axelrod has found that every time he has asked if they would like to sing Stairway to Heaven with an orchestra, the answer was an immediate yes. He points out that there is a strong tradition of rock singers using orchestra as backing, citing Sting, Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, and of course artists like Frank Zappa wrote music for symphony orchestra.

With his knowledge of both classical music and rock, Axelrod is eloquent on the way the history of rock intertwines with that of  the symphonic repertoire, citing the way rock arrangements over the years have taken inspiration from classical music. This traffic is not all one way of course, because classical musicians can love rock music too.

When I asked about the possibility of culture shock between the two worlds, he said that there wasn't any. That a choir like Accentus had loved singing on Bohemian Rhapsody, as had the baritone Nmon Ford. Also, of course, many orchestra play a wide variety of genres; the orchestra in Prague which recorded Classical Rock performs film music, sound tracks and pop music as well as the standard classical and operatic repertoire.

But to Axelrod culture shock can be a good thing too, opening up horizons and changing perspectives. Though he admits that there will always be those who will find such new ways of doing things too much of a shock, the trick is to find a balance between traditiona and modernism.

For Axelrod an important point is that the repertoire of  Classical Rock keys into memory and nostalgia in a way which he believes will help build new audiences; after all, classic rock tracks are part of most people's upbringing.

Classical Rock is an interesting project which seems to rise above the generally cynical world of muzak and crossover. If it can generate a new audience all well and good, though personally I am something of a cynic. But if it doesn't, what the hell; I have to say that there are some damn good tunes on the disc, so we can just sit back and enjoy them.

This Week’s Classical Music Round Up by The Arts Desk

The Arts Desk’s classical music writers this week take a look at some sterling CD releases and a Prokofiev concert at the Royal Festival Hall.

Graham Rickson’s first recommendation in his weekly classical CD round-up was a barnstorming recording of Handel’s early opera Agrippina, under the baton of René Jacobs. It’s an attempt to reconstruct the composer’s original intentions and the result is a roaring success. Despite the opera’s convoluted plot, this slightly trimmed-down version is thrillingly theatrical and energetically powered along by Jacobs. The entire cast give full-throttle yet believable performances, particularly Alexandrina Pendatchanska as Agrippina (whose acting chops outweigh the odd shrill note), Marcus Fink as Claudio and Neil Davies as Pallante, and the fun they are all having is both evident and infectious.

Next was Vasily Petrenko’s new Rachmaninov recording with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, which is typically superb according to Rickson. Petrenko chooses the oft-overlooked Symphony No 3, and unveils it as an underrated classic, with its energy and memorable tunes reminiscent of the great Symphonic Dances and its action-packed cinematic feel. He also leavens the darkness of the piece by adding his own modern touches of wit, gloss and affirmation where necessary. The sweet but not sickly Vocalise and the Caprice bohémien make superb additions to finish.

Andy Findon, photo by StudioTime Photographers

And finally Rickson recommends flautist Andy Findon’s new CD, Density 21.5: Unaccompanied Works for Flute, a seemingly effortless disc comprising contemporary works by Edgard Varèse, Michael Nyman, David Cullens, Geoff Eales and Dave Heath, with a Bach partita thrown in as well. Findon can produce a wonderful range of sounds on the instrument, from winsome to percussive, and adds alto flute, piccolo and baritone sax to add depth and variety. The results are never monotonous or tiresome, and always enjoyable.

Meanwhile Alexandra Coghlan headed to the Royal Festival Hall to partake of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s current season, “Prokofiev: Man of the People?” which aims to explore the humanity behind the music’s glossy façade. In this concert, Prokofiev’s ballet music was under scrutiny, particularly the lavish, lurid and knowingly grotesque Chout and the more constrained, mainstream Cinderella. A highly controlled Vladimir Jurowski conducted an exquisitely precise orchestra that itself had an abundance of humanity, though pianist Leon Fleisher attacked the problematic Fourth Piano Concerto with slightly more aggression than it could withstand. There was certainly plenty of impressive showmanship on display here, but Prokofiev’s soul remained somewhat elusive.

Concert Peace and Prosperity

The Peace and Prosperity Trust aims to raise funds to promote aspiring young Arab and Western artists and help them work with internationally renowned artists resulting in a greater understanding and fusion of Western and Middle Eastern music and culture. Their concerts also raise funds for other charitable organisations.


On 20th February they are presenting a concert, Eastern Voices - Western Echoes at the Cadogan Hall. Young artists from the trust, some of Middle Eastern origins, will be performing Western and Arabic repertoire with the Orion Orchestra conducted by Toby Pursuer, with guest start Dennis O'Neill. The concert will raise funds for the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital, which provides essential eyecare to the poorest inhabitants of the Middle East.


The singers in the concert include Samar Salame (soprano), Zeina Barhoum (soprano), Timothy Connor (baritone), Bassem Alkhouri (tenor), Mariam Tamari (soprano) and Tala Tutunji (piano), with original music for the concert has been written by composer Bushra El-Turk.


A worthy enterprise and a fascinating one. I don't have details of the programme but further details on the concert can be found on the Cadogan Hall website.


And here, from one of the Trust's previous concerts, is a performance of that unlikely but rather delightful Victorian song, The Holy City.

Conducted by Patrick Hawes and performed by the English Chamber Orchestra with Dima Bawab, Soprano and Ramzi Shomali, Pianist, in celebration of the work of the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital, produced by the volunteers of the Guild, ensuring all donations go directly to the Hospital, recorded 2009

Rigoletto conundrum

Another interesting conundrum from Verdi, this time from Rigoletto. What is the significance of Sparafucile appearing just at that moment? Was he just touting for trade and generally in the habit of appearing on street corners asking people if they wanted the services of a friendly neighbourhood assassin. Or had he done some research and knew that Rigoletto might be needing his services. Are we to assume that the Duke, who seems to have been in the habit of frequenting Sparafucile's establishment, had dropped some sort of indication that the Duke was having an interesting liaison with Rigoletto's daughter.

Sparafucile's establishment is some sort of inn, so are we to assume that he is the sort of 'hail fellow well met' publican in whom people confide things? Is that why he is also a successful asssasin?

Octavian on the go

I understand that Sarah Connolly was held up on a train for 2 hours on Saturday and arrived at the London Coliseum only 30 minutes before curtain up, though her performance showed no signs of this. She was also spotted on the train doing her stage makeup!

Review of Wagner Dream at the Barbican

At various times in his life Wagner talked of writing an opera based on a Buddhist story. Entitled Die Sieger it concerned a young woman (Prakriti) who fell in love with one of Buddha's disciples (Ananda) and ended up being the first woman to be admitted to the Buddhist order. Wagner got as far as producing a prose summary for the libretto, quite what sort of opera he would have made of it is one of the fascinating what-ifs of history.

Jonathan Harvey has used this Buddhist opera as the centrepiece for his opera Wagner Dream with a libretto by Jean-Claude Carriere. Carriere is a French screenwriter and actor who collaborated with film director Luis Bunel and also with Peter Brook on The Mahabharata.

The opera is structured on two levels. Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima are in a hotel in Venice; they argue about Wagner's relationship with the singer Carrie Pringle. Wagner has a heart attack. On the brink of  dying he is approached by Vairochana who informs him that something is left undone from his life. Wagner's Buddhist themed opera then unfolds before the dying man, though he is the only one who can see it, Cosima, the Doctor and the Maid can see nothing. The Wagners are played by actors, with their scenes as melodrama. The Buddhist opera is fully sung.

The piece received its first UK performance at the Barbican on Sunday as part of BBC Radio 3's Total Immersion event. It was semi-staged by Orpha Phelan (designed by Charlie Cridlan) with the Wagners and the Buddhist opera on separate stages behind the orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Harvey uses an orchestra of 22 players including substantial percussion; though all the players had microphones and the sound mixed with the electronics produced by Gilbert Nouno, the IRCAM computer music designer, with Franck Rossi as sound engineer. Seated in the orchestra were an additional 4 singers, also miked, who were heard but not seen, they provided additional comment. Their text was omitted from the surtitles; in fact with such a complex multi-layers event I would have felt it helpful to have the printed text.

Wagner was played by Nicholas Le Prevost and Cosima by Ruth Lass. But frankly the text they had to work with was poor. The effect of Carriere's dialogue for the Wagners was almost bathetic and completely nullified the effect of the subtleness of the music created by Harvey to surround the text. What might have been a mix of interesting textures, live music, electronics, spoken text, was blunted by the bad sitcom level of the dialogue.

Vairochana (singer Simon Bailey) is the only character to bridge both worlds, so that his dialogues with Wagner are a mixture of sung and spoken text. When the Buddhist opera starts this leaves the creators with a dramaturgical problem; what to do with the Wagners, the doctor and the maid (and eventually Carrie Pringle as well). Only Wagner can hear and react to the opera, the rest are required to act silent puzzlement for 90 minutes. Spoken interjections have a totally different effect to sung ones, if Wagner had been singing then the results would perhaps been different and rather atmospheric. As it was Le Prevost's interjections of comment and puzzlement were rather pointless and the other actors seemed redundant; add to this the inherent problem with speech, it inevitably pulls the focus from the music no matter how unimportant the spoken statement.

For the Buddhist opera, the story of Prakriti, we had 6 singers. Simon Bailey as Vairochana, who took no direct part in the Buddhist opera but interacted with Wagner, Claire Booth as Prakriti, Andrew Staples as Ananda (the man she falls in love with), with Hilary Summers as Prakriti's mother who supports her. Roderick Williams played Buddha and Richard Angas an Old Brahmin. As Ananda is part of Buddha's order  he is not allowed to have relations with women. Prakriti challenges Buddha and she is taunted by the Old Brahmin. But ultimately Buddha allows her to join the order, though her relationship with Ananda will be an entirely sexless friendship.

Finally, the Buddhist opera over, Buddha and Vairochana sing to Wagner as he dies.

I am quite sure that Harvey and Carriere were aiming for a subtlety and richness which is not apparent from my rather bald summary. Harvey's vocal lines were quite plain and chant based; eminently singable, the results were a little uninteresting though clearly intended to have an intensely meditative quality. The contemplative nature of Harvey's setting of the Buddhist opera meant that vocally it lacked drama and the interest was very much in the orchestra.

Most contemporary composers have a tendency to try and re-invent opera in their own image.. In Wagner Dream Harvey and Carrier have attempted something rich and complete which combines Wagner and Buddhism in a curiously fascinating manner. But though I appreciated aspects of the craftsmanship, the total effect of the opera (105 minutes with no interval) was to leave me unmoved.

It received a strong performance. The actors Nicholas Le Prevost (Wagner), Ruth Lass (Cosima), Julia Innocenti (Carrie Pringle), Richard Jackson (Dr. Keppler), Sally Brooks (the Maid) did their best with the material they were given and Le Prevsot almost convinced as the dying composer.

Claire Booth as Prakriti took the lions share of the singing, spinning out Harvey's lines with ease. In fact she sang the role in the opera's premiere with Netherlands Opera. Roderick Williams brought gravitas and convincing otherworldliness to the role of Buddha. Andrew Staples gave strong support in the under written role of Ananda and Hilary Summers was completely wasted in the tiny role of Prakriti's mother. Richard Angas contributed the small role of the old Brahmin.

The electronics were generally of the subtle kind, almost sound effects blending in with the music. They helped contribute to the unworldly atmosphere of the piece. I think that Harvey intended there to be an aural difference between the world of the Wagners and the Buddhist opera, but one just one hearing I could not detect it.

The whole was conducted by Martin Brabbins in an unflapably capable manner. And the BBC Symphony Orchestra played brilliantly, and the music for the orchestra was some of the best in the evening. This was an important premiere and was have to be thankful to the BBC for continuing to present such things. The Barbican Hall was by no means full, the stalls were to capacity but the other areas seemed nearly empty.

When the opera was staged at the Grand Theatre, Luxemberg, Andrew Clements was extremely positive about it in the Guardian. I only wish that I could feel the same.  It will be interesting to see what WNO makes of the opera when they perform it next year.

Review of Der Rosenkavalier at the London Coliseum

This was a welcome revival of David McVicar's attractive and intelligently traditional production of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Originating with Scottish Opera, the production was first seen at the London Coliseum in 2008 and we saw the first night of the current revival (Saturday 28th Jan).

Returning to their roles were Sarah Connolly as Octavian,  John Tomlinson as Ochs and Andrew Shore as Faninal. In fact Connolly sang the role of Octavian when the production was created in Scotland.

Of great interest were the artists new to the production, both also making their role debuts, with Sophie Bevan singing her first Sophie Faninal and Amanda Roocroft giving her first Marschallin. I saw Roocroft's debut as Sophie with WNO (in the early 90's I think). So it was fascinating to see her returning to the opera in the role of the older woman. It helped emphasise the fact that in Sophie, the Marschallin sees her younger self, forced to marry a much older man; something which helps us understand the Marschallin's sympathy with Sophie's plight despite Sophie taking Octavian away from her.

Roocroft's triumphant return to form in recent years has been centred on the operas of Janacek (though not exclusively). Janacek is immensely responsive to speech rhythms and Roocroft brought something of this feeling to her Marschallin. (Off the top of my head the only other soprano who specialised in Janceck and Strauss was Elisabeth Soderstrom, not a bad role model to have).

It was very lightly sung, in fact there were moments when I thought that Edward Gardner could have been more sympathetic over balance with the orchestra. Only on a few occasions, notably when telling off Ochs in Act 3, did Roocroft use the full steely tones of her voice. For most of Act 1 she was quietly and intensely responsive to the nuances of the text. This was a very conversational performance Roocroft does not have an instrument capable of easy refulgence and soaring tone. She made a virtue of this, giving us a detailed  and profoundly moving portrait rather than falling into the trap of relying on the broad brush of gorgeous tone.

The Marschallin is one of the greatest secondary characters in opera history. She appears in under half the opera (Act 1 and the end of Act 3) but is capable of transforming the performance. The singer must tug the heart strings in the monologue in Act 1 and then bring this atmosphere back with her into Act 3. This Roocroft did in spades. Her's was one of the most vividly and intelligently touching Marschallins that I have seen in recent ears. In Act 1 there were no grand histrionics, just a woman coming to term with time and ageing. In Act 3 she was nicely aristocratic without ever feeling overly grand.

Roocroft's upper register is not the easiest of instruments and I was aware of the moments when she seemed to be carefully managing it. (Gwynneth Jones, a great Marschallin whom I heard in the '80s, was another singer of whom you were aware that a significant amount of voice management went on). The concluding trio was not the loveliest I had ever heard but it was well balanced in terms of tone and timbre and profoundly expressive.

Sophie Bevan made an immensely promising debut as Sophie Faninal. Bevan has a voice fuller and richer in the lower registers than many Sophies, but she was able to float the high notes with gorgeous ease and the duet with Connolly at the Presentation of the Rose had the requisite magical beauty. Bevan's Sophie was high spirited and emotional, you suspected that she and Octavian would have a very lively married life.

Connolly's Octavian is starting to feel a tad maturer than 17, but it is still a magnificent creation. She captures Octavian's egotism and surly volatility. Her relationship with Roocroft's Marschallin in the opening scenes was fun, funny and very sexy, the two artists had obviously developed a strong rapport. Connolly's relation to Bevan's Sophie was different, more solicitous but equally affecting. The closing scenes were nicely delineated by all 3 artists and consequently rather moving.

John Tomlinson's Ochs is still an amazing creation, though as the singer has now reached his mid 60's you do wonder how much longer he can perform at such a level. Strauss and Hoffmanstal intended Ochs to be only slightly older than the Marschallin and rather less of a boor than he is usually made out to be. But Tomlinson inhabited the role so entirely that this didn't matter. The upper lying passages are now somewhat laboured, but he takes care of individual details in a brilliant manner. Whilst Tomlinson's Ochs was larger than life he was part of a strong ensemble and Tomlinson did not pull focus the way he did as Pogner in the recent Meistersinger at Covent Garden.

Whilst it was a welcome treat to re-encounter Connolly and Tomlinson in this opera, I did think that it might have been a good opportunity for ENO to entirely re-cast the opera with a younger cast.

Andrew Shore repeated his nicely detailed Faninal  In the absence of Jaewoo Kim, due to illness, Gwynne Hughes Jones was luxury casting as the Italian singer. Jennifer Rhys-Davies made a lively and dramatic duenna. But she succeeded no better than others in this role in getting across the words of her narration, "Er kommt". Perhaps one day I will attend a performance where you can understand what the Duenna is describing.

The most touching Marschallin that I have heard at the London Coliseum was Valerie Masterson whose peerless diction succeeded in getting a remarkable amount of text over. The present cast were not quite peerless but all worked hard on diction and Bevan's was particularly notable.

Madeleine Shaw offered a rather better sung Annina than I have heard in a long time and she as well paired with Adrian Thompson, almost unrecognisable as Valzacchi.

Edward Gardner conducted a well paced and free flowing account of the opera, keeping things nicely conversational whilst never rushing the singers. He brought out the felicities of Strauss's orchestration and there were moments of great beauty.

I have to confess that this is an opera where I miss the original German and I hope before very long to encounter Roocroft's Marschallin in the original language. It would be nice to think that their success with this opera might encourage ENO to add more Strauss to its repertory. Surely one of the talented group of sopranos who ahve come to fore at the Coli in recent years would be ready for a role like Arabella?

CD Review - Callas in La Traviata in London

There are few sopranos who can manage all three acts of Verdi's La Traviata with equal facility. Coloratura sopranos, for whom Act 1 comes easiest, can seem underpowered in the later acts; but sopranos for whom these acts are most suited, can often finish Act 1 with a feeling of  'thank God that's over'. Perhaps indeed Verdi intended some element of desperation here.

Maria Callas's famed success in the role stemmed for the way she applied her intelligence to every aspect of it. But the manner in which she could alter the scale of her voice is an important factor. In Act 1 she fines the tone down to provide pinpoint accuracy. I remember an old voice teacher of mine saying that the word coloratura comes from the Italian for coloured. It is this colouring which is important; not just technical facility but rising beyond it make individual notes work dramatically. And this is what Callas gives us. But the more dramatic set pieces are equally magnificent and profoundly moving.

Of course, all is not perfect. When she puts the voice under pressure in the upper register her vibrato develops into a wobble so pronounced it sounds like a slow trill. And of course, there is her (in)famous tone quality, which can sound as if she is singing with a plum stone in her mouth.

But then, you listen to the way she rises to the big dramatic moments in Act 2, or again the magical way she thins her voice to whiteness at the opening of Act 3, to create a Violetta who us truly at death's door. Peter Heyworth, quoted in John Steane's Singers of the Century 2 (Duckworth: 1999), said of this performance that, 'perhaps the most marvellous moment of the evening, the sustained note before "Dite alla giovine". By some miracle Callas makes that note hang suspended in mid-air; unadorned and unsupported she fills it with all the conflicting emotions that besiege her. As she descends to the solo, which opened with a sweet, distant mezzo voce of extraordinary poignancy, the die is cast.'

Her Alfredo is Cesare Valletti, a lyric tenor who was a pupil of Tito Schipa. He had appeared with Callas as early as 1950. He has a good open tone and a nice degree of elegance in the lighter moment. Though I found him perhaps a little heavy handed in the more dramatic situations, with the inevitable tendency to grandstand. But he provides Callas with a strong partner.

Mario Zanasi, who sang the role with Callas at the Met in February 1958, is an elegant Giorgio Germont. He was a lovely baritone voice which is slightly lighter than some singers in the role. It is a beautifully sung elegant performance, which might lack that last element of dramatic fire that a singer like Gobbi would have brought. But the advantage is that he really sings the role and doesn't bark.

The remaining cast are all anglophone, with Marie Collier strong casting as Flora, Lea Roberts as Anina, Dermot Troy as Gastone, Forbes Robinson as Barone Douphole, Ronald Lewis as the Marchese and David Kelly as the Doctor.

It has to be said that there are ensemble problems between pit and stage; some of the big ensembles are not the Covent Garden chorus's finest moments.

Conductor Nicola Rescigno provides fine support for the singers, giving a naturally paced performance which breathes.

The recording itself does have drawbacks. For much of the time it is remarkable for its clarity, but there is some distortion in the ensembles and at other times. It seems to be a private recording, not a BBC broadcast. The CD booklet by David Patmore suggests that it may have been made in one of the boxes adjacent to the proscenium

The CD booklet includes a detailed track listing and an article by David Patmore.

The recording has been available before but this is its first major release and it has been re-mastered by Paul Baily. Anyone interested in Callas's Violetta should listen to this set as it stand's up well against the others available, the live recordings from Lisbon and from La Scala. Callas always had the potential to be better recorded live and there is a lot to be said for the argument that this recording is aurally one of the most satisfactory and certainly deserves to be heard.

Verdi - La Traviata
Violetta - Maria Callas
Flora Bervoix - Marie Collier
Annina - Lea Roberts
Alfredo Germont - Cesare Valleti
Giorio Germont - Mario Zanasi
Gastone - Dermot Troy
Barone Douphol - Forbes Robinson
Marchese - Ronald Lewis
Doctor - David Kelly
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden
Nicola Rescigno (conductor)

Recorded live at Covent Garden 20 June 1958
ICA Classics ICAC 5006

COG Plans

The next Chelsea Opera Group concert is on Sunday 25th March at the QEH, when they are doing the first, St. Petersburg, version of Verdi's La Forza del Destino, with Gweneth Ann Jeffers as Leonora and Peter Auty as Alvaro, plus Donald Maxwell as Melitone and Brindley Sherratt as Padre Guardiano. A very strong cast indeed plus the chance to hear Verdi's first thoughts in the opera, where the final act is significantly different. (And no, the piece is no less rambling!).

Further ahead, on Sunday 27th May they are doing Donizetti's Maria Padilla with Nelly Miricioiu in the title role, conducted by Brad Cohen. They have also announced their 2012/13 season. There's still no Meyerbeer but we do have Massenet's Don Quichotte on 25th November plus Wagner's Die Feen on 17 March 2013 and Verdi's Alzira on 2nd June 2013 (all three at the QEH). I look forward to the Massenet immensely. It will be interesting to hear Wagner's early opera, its probably hardly worth staging but COG provide a valuable service in allowing us to hear it. Similarly the Verdi, which was based amazingly on a play by Voltaire, but did not have conspicuous success in Verdi's lifetime. It comes between Giovanna d'Arco and Attila but it seems that Verdi took his eye off the ball, at least that is the judgement of history, COG give us a chance to find out.

Salomon Orchestra on Valentines Day

The Salomon Orchestra are doing an attractively romantic programme for their concert on Valentines day, at St. Johns Smith Square.

Philip Ellis conducts them in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Sibelius's 2nd Symphony. I must confess that I do rather find the Wagner a little too over done but the other two are both certainly worth making an effort to hear. The advantage of St.  Johns is that you can have a rather nice meal there before hand, just to compliment things nicely!

Lalo Schifrin interview

Last night I had the pleasure of interviewing film composer Lalo Schifrin for an article; as he's in Los Angeles it was a phone interview. Things didn't start well as I got the time zone wrong so that I expected the interview to take place 2 hours later than it did. Still, things went pretty well after that and the interview is now on the web.
You can find it here, at WeirdMusic.net

Kronos Quartet on In Tune

A YouTube video of the Kronos Quartet's appearance on In Tune, rather fun seeing a radio programme. Also, of the two pieces they play the Swedish one Triakel — Tusen Tankar (A Thousand Thoughts, from Sweden) sounds fascinatingly Scottish, reminiscent of Gaelic Psalmody.

Tosca at the London Coliseum

We hadn't intended to see this first revival of Catherine Malfitano's production of Tosca at the London Coliseum. But we missed Claire Rutter's Tosca at Grange Park in the summer and we wanted to take friends to their first opera and this intelligently traditional staging seemed just the ticket.

I'm not quite sure what, but something has changed since the production's premiere, whether it be my perceptions or production details; probably a bit of both. But, the close of Act 1 apart, I found the production flowed better, the details fitted nicely and neatly and it seemed more satisfying as a whole. Of course the change in principals will have had an effect as well.

Claire Rutter was a feminine Tosca, very much the vulnerable woman rather than the grand diva. It was finely sung without too many big dramatics, she made Tosca quite touching at times but still capable of imperiousness. I suspect that Rutter might have benefitted from the cut and thrust of a more traditional, powerful Scarpia. Anthony Michaels Moore repeated his sensualist Scarpia to notable effect. But there was the odd moment (such as at the end of Act 1) when you just wanted his voice to be bigger, more dominant. But in Act 2, the long scene between Rutter and Michaels Moore seemed to need a bit more push from the baritone, a bit more bark (and bite). Sparks didn't quite fly and you felt that both artists were capable of it.

Gwyn Hughes Jones sang Cavaradossi with beautiful open Italianate tone and a lovely sense of line. This was a glorious Cavaradossi to listen to. Dramatically, Hughes Jones seemed a bit stiff though given his relative bulk it might have been sensible that he deliberately did not overstress the physical element. There was a genuine feeling of a relationship between Hughes Jones and Rutter,  and Hughes Jones certainly made you aware that politics came first with Cavaradossi; if he and Tosca had survived, you felt certain that Cavaradossi would sooner or later move on.

There was a strong supporting cast with Matthew Hargreaves as Angelotti, Scott Davies as Spoletta, Graeme Danby as Sciarrone and Henry Waddington as a hilarious but touching Sacristan.

Stephen Lord conducted in a very singer friendly way; everything flowed nicely, it was beautifully paced but you never felt he was hurrying the singers.

And the close of Act 1. Well, as ever, the staging seems to make no liturgical sense, but then I have seen very few productions which get this scene right. (Anthony Besch's memorable and long lived production for Scottish opera is a notable exception).