Glyndebourne Tour: Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury

Last month my granddaughter, aged 8, saw this production at Glyndebourne. It was her first opera but she was well prepared because the company had done some outreach work in her Brighton primary school (Hurrah!). She was thrilled with the production and having now seen it I can see why. It is huge fun and immaculately well staged and sung.

The oblique frontage to Adina’s house provided by Les Brotherston’s set leaves plenty of room to accommodate the large and fine chorus which Donizetti’s score makes more use of than earlier composers such as Mozart.

Nardus Williams is terrific as the attractive but hard-to-get Adina wanted in marriage by two men, one of whom is a cad (Matthew Durkan – good) and the other is clearly the one she should have (Sehoon Moon of whom more anon). Her top notes soar, her emotional control is excellent and her duets are delightful.

Moon (tenor) is boyish and very appealing dramatically. And his last famous aria, over harp and clarinet, just before Adina finally sees sense is the showstopper it should be. All in all his is a very memorable performance.

Also outstanding is Misha Kiria as the Dr Dulcamara – all those fabulous bass patter songs unfurled at high speed with clarity and insouciant panache. He looks comical too because he dwarfs everyone else.

Much of this performance reminded me of a comment made by Michael Berkeley in his recent Private Passions with psychotherapist, Philippa Perry on Radio 3. He explained to her that traditionally, before the mid nineteenth century, almost every emotion in opera was expressed in a vibrant 3/4 rhythm, (oom-pa-pa). This show is almost a case study to prove his point which is partly why it swings along so cheerfully.

I was delighted to see lots of very engaged school parties at the matinee I attended. Ironically what, I suspect, most of them will remember most is the performance by mime artist, Maxine Nourissat as Dr Dulcamara’s assistant, Puck to the other man’s Oberon. It’s a non-singing part but he commands the stage for every second he’s on it whether he’s dancing, prancing, twitching, gesturing, “talking” with his very expressive hands or twirling an umbrella in the colours of the Italian flag.

Susan Elkin

CBSO, Birmingham Symphony Hall, 7 November 2019

Since it first opened I have always though the Symphony Hall the finest acoustic in the country for large scale choral works and so it proved once again for a magnificent performance of Elijah this week. Kazuki Yamada brings a dramatic realism to his interpretation, combined with the subtlest of musical nuances, so that the combination is thrilling. There is clarity throughout – many orchestral passages sparkle with the lucidity of the writing – while the constant ebb and flow of the musical line heightens the intensity of the experience.

Yamada is not afraid of the extrovert impact of the score, with the Baal choruses and Be not afraid as heart on sleeve as one could wish, while the gentle uplift of Lift thine eyes is floated effortlessly into the open spaces of the hall.

The CBSO chorus were on fine form, with incisive accuracy and a real sense of enthusiasm, combined with immediate response to their conductor’s wishes. The CBSO itself lives up to its international reputation and it is always worth coming to Birmingham to hear them on their home turf.

They were also blessed on this occasion with outstanding soloists. Matthew Brook proved to be surely the finest exponent of Elijah at present available. Not only does he sing the part with exemplary beauty but he brings a dramatic dynamism to it which is utterly convincing. Where there is a move to stage oratorios today, a performance of this quality makes any extra staging quite unnecessary. Karen Cargill was certainly his match, bringing beauty of line to O rest in the Lord while giving us one of the nastiest Jezebel’s I can recall! The change in tonality and rasp was particularly impressive. If the other two soloists don’t have quite the same scope Robert Murray showed the lyricism he can bring to If with all your heart and Keri Fuge was a moving widow.

Elijah can too easily be dismissed as an old war-horse trotted out to fill a choral gap. Done like this one can only thrill at the experience – and we still have Gerontius to come!

31 October 2019, Islington

Paul Fincham, composer of The Little Princess, which premiered at Garsington Opera at Wormsley this summer invited me to this private recital by Serbian pianist Ljubica Stojanic in his Islington home. I joined about 30 other like minded people – mostly Fincham’s friends, colleagues and people who sing with him in the London Philharmonic Choir.

It’s a novel joy to hear and enjoy salon music played in a salon. We sat in rows at one end of the house’s large all-through sitting room which Fincham uses as a studio and music room. Stojanic played Bach’s French Overture in its rather lovely entirety including all the movements which are usually omitted. With the piano lid open and Stojanic facing her audience it became a very engaging experience because we felt the music with her intimately.  I admired the way she managed the varied moods, time signatures and tempi with thoughtful silent links. She is, moreover, mistress of Baroque decoration. Rarely have I heard so many grace notes and turns.

Then we repaired to Fincham’s generously proportioned kitchen/dining basement area for a delicious supper (some of the best vegetarian food I’ve ever been offered) before going back upstairs and fast-forwarding nearly 300 years for Rachmaninoff  Preludes Op 23. It was a good choice because they’re a varied set of pieces and Stojanic gave us plenty of colour and mood change all played with precision and warmth. She ran very dramatically with the famous, bouncy number 5 in G minor which worked particularly well after the more lyrical one which preceded it.

The great advantage of hearing this music in a very small space (and with an informed audience) is that you can really hear and appreciate the slow dying away of notes at the end of sections until the release of the sustaining pedal. It fosters attentive listening.

All in all this was a very congenial informal recital and I hope we hear a lot more of the talented Stojanic, still only 24, in the future.

Susan Elkin