Friday 21 October

The festival may only run for two weeks but seems to mount more events each year. I was there for a single day and managed to get to six separate events ranging from lieder to Bach Cantatas, and taking in lectures on the way.

The lunchtime recital at Holywell Music room was given by Andre Schuen with an all Schubert programme. Accompanied by Daniel Heide, he opened in operatic style with Auf der Bruck and Der Wanderer an den Mond but produced a fine introspection for Nachstuck and Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskurn. After many songs with serious if not depressive content he finished happily with Willkommen und Abschied.  He is certainly a young singer whose career we will follow with interest.

The afternoon was given over to three items all linked to the Festival’s theme – The Schumann Project. As well as many concerts given over entirely to Schumann’s lieder, Bach Revived considered the importance of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Sterndale Bennett to the revival of Bach’s music in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Dr Hannah French lectured in the Western Library on the importance of all three composers to the revolutionary change in attitude in the first part of the century, when the concept of J S Bach moved from the antiquarian musicologist, assuming the composer was of little interest and impossible to perform, to the present situation where he is treated in an almost godlike way.

Mendelssohn’s performance of the St Matthew Passion on 11 March 1829 is seen as the turning point. By modern standards this was not a complete performance and nor did is use anything like the instrumentation we have come to expect today. However it gave audiences, and musicians, a clear understanding of the magnificent potential of the work and from then on interest gathered exponentially. Mendelssohn was closely aided by the singer Edvard Devrient – who noted that it had taken an actor and a Jew to reinstate the greatest of Christian works!

The atrium of the Weston Library is not an obvious place for a recital but the Festival aims to present a number of sessions free to encourage a wider audience. Thus after the lecture we heard soprano Turiya Haudenhuyse sing songs by Bach and Schumann, ranging from an entrancing Bist du bei mir from Bach to the bleak setting of Zwielicht by Schumann. The link to the lecture came in the form of arrangements that the composers had made of Bach to make him more acceptable to the contemporary audience. So Schumann had added a piano part to Bach’s solo Violin Sonata No2, and Mendelssohn a similar piano part for the Violin Partita No3. These were finely played by violinist, Jonathan Stone with Sholto Kynoch at the piano. Working against a confused background of clinking teacups from the cafeteria and people coming and going, it still managed to be remarkably effective.

Back in the lecture theatre Richard Wigmore, who had provided many of the lieder translations, spoke about the influence of Bach on Schumann’s song settings.

Little time to recuperate before the early evening instrumental recital in the Holywell Music Room. The Phoenix Piano Trio comprises the violin and piano soloists we had heard immediately before, together with cellist Christian Elliott. They gave us Niels Gade’s Novelletten and Mendelssohn’s second Piano Trio. The Gade is a deeply romantic work, often jolly and extrovert in its scoring with a gentle lyrical Larghetto.  The Mendelssohn was on a different emotional level, sturm und drang from the outset though it comes to a joyous conclusion, using a brief chorale which never overpowers the more enthusiastic lyricism.

The main evening recital was given by soprano Julianne Banse. She apologised at the start for the cold she had developed and it was clear this was not an excuse. Though it did not curtail the performance it was obvious at times she was genuinely suffering and her breathing was often restricted. This did not prevent her from giving us a well focused and highly sensitive reading of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und-leben and the five Gedichte der konigin Maria Stuart.  The evening had opened with five songs by Mendelssohn, concluding with a humorous reading of Andres Maienlied ‘Hexenlied’ and seven by Brahms, of which Die Mainacht impressed.  She was accompanied throughout by Marcelo Amaral whose postludes in the Schumann were moving and always apt.

Most of the audience then moved down the road to New College Chapel where the Oxford Bach Soloists gave a late night performance of three Bach Cantatas. The last of these, BWV55, featured tenor James Gilchrist whose passionate rendition brought the day to a fitting close. Earlier we had heard countertenor Alexander Chance in radiant form for BWV 89 & 115. Here was another young singer who we will follow with interest. Between the cantatas Robert Quinney had shuttled between the chamber organ in the orchestra to the organ gallery to perform two of Schumann’s Fugues on BACH. After so much intimate music in Holywell it was exhilarating to be exposed to the power of the New College organ.

All of this in one day – and one day out of sixteen.

If you have not been, then next year’s Festival runs from 13-18 October and will focus on The Last of the Romantics – Mahler and fin-de-siecle Vienna. www.oxfordlieder.co.uk

London Coliseum, 19 October 2016

This is the second revival of Penny Woolcock’s production and it maintains the same balance of strengths and weaknesses as have been apparent on both previous occasions. The new soloists are strongly cast and the men are particularly impressive. Jacques Imbrailo as Zurga and Robert McPherson as Nadir impress in the act one duet, which is also well lit. Robert McPherson makes a great deal of his act one aria, floating the top line with ease.

Claudia Boyle may settle into Leila as the run develops but, while the voice is focused, much of her acting seems exaggerated. This worked well last year in Pirates but needs more subtlety for Bizet. James Creswell is a solid Naurabad and often quite sinister in his presence. Roland Boer handles the score with romantic aplomb from the pit, moving the narrative forward while allowing the soloists to enjoy their individual set pieces.

The chorus are in fine form but the production does not help. As I noted at the last revival, the set severely restricts the chorus movement so that the opening scene is both static and additionally is poorly lit. After the impressive diving scene at the start this is a real let-down, and visually the production does not pick up again until Leila appears on her tower and the sea comes in.

An musically worthy evening but I wish somebody had nudged the production values.

Jane Parker-Smith, organ
Royal Festival Hall, 3 October 2016

The 2016/17 season of this international organ series started with a bang in this recital by the renowned concert organist who is based in London. The programme notes included a quote from Gramophone magazine which describes her approach as “musically assertive organ-playing” and her championing of “big, gutsy, colourful” repertoire.  There is no doubting that Jane Parker-Smith is a fine organist with a tremendous command of the instrument but my problem with this evening was the amount of music which was overly loud, percussive and fast.

Beginning with Marcel Lanquetuit’s Toccata in D the first sounds from the organ were insistent and “in your face”! Guillou’s transcription of Lizst’s Orpheus followed, with some good orchestral registration but at times it felt like some of the accompaniment was running away with itself. Andreas Willscher’s Toccata alla Rumba brought some rhythmic contrast but was in many ways a return to the sound world of the opening piece. The most substantial work in the first half was Healey Willan’s Introduction, Passacaglia & Fugue in Eb minor. This was the nearest we came to baroque / classical structures and was well played with some lovely registration and overall a more measured approach. The beginning of the Passacaglia was beautifully constructed with well defined lines.

The second half consisted of just one work, Vierne’s Symphonie No 2 in E minor. This was a well-executed performance with a lot more contrast in registration and some sublime passages in the Chorale as well as the delightfully playful Scherzo as well as some more evidence of the might of this organ and organist.

An interesting evening which I am sure appealed to many in the audience. I enjoy organ music of varying styles and was impressed by much of the programme as individual items. For an entertaining evening and a showcase for this remarkable instrument I personally would have appreciated a more balanced diet.

The next concert in the series, an all Bach-programme, is given by Robert Quinney on 3^rd February.

Stephen Page

London Coliseum, 3 October 2016

Catherine Malfitano’s Tosca takes no prisoners. This is opera at its most visceral and, certainly in this revival, full-blooded and exciting. Some may dismiss the approach as old-fashioned, but what a delight it is to be able to sit through a whole evening without having to justify what is being presented to us, or make allowances for occasional weak casting.

The brooding sets by Frank Philipp Schlossman are just on the edge of naturalism, leading us gradually across the three acts to a world that is literally on the edge. When Tosca allows herself to fall backwards into the void it is as if she is being taken up rather than jumping to her death. A magnificent end to an evening which is full of thoughtful and moving moments.

American soprano, Keri Alkema was making her ENO debut in the title role and she will be welcome back at any time. Her Tosca is credible and sung with a careless abandon quite in keeping with the production. Vissi d’arte was rightly applauded though she maintained a sense of continuity even here.

Gwyn Hughes Jones is an heroic tenor, who throws off the top lines with aplomb and, having the stamina for Wagner, was in bright voice right to the end. E lucevan le stelle was assisted, not that it needed it, by the reflective nature of the set, the voice filling the auditorium with glorious power.

Craig Colcough, a fine Kurvenal in ENO’s recent Tristan, brings us an unusual Scarpia. This is a man who is so confident of his own power he is eternally relaxed and frequently jokey – the real threat lying with the unspeaking henchmen who surround him. His death comes as a shock to him – he can’t believe that it has come at the hands of a woman.

All the smaller parts are well characterised and I particularly enjoyed the idea of the Sacristan’s little helper.

Oleg Caetani allows the score its full force, though the introduction to act three showed unexpected sensitivity. The orchestra has lost none of its momentum over the summer and this promises to be, musically, an excellent season.

London Coliseum, 30 September 2016

Richard Jones has directed a wide range of productions for ENO over recent years and while they are often challenging they are normally highly sensitive to the work concerned. Unfortunately he seems to have come unstuck with his approach to Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It is quite reasonable to paint a corrupt world within which Giovanni operates but another altogether to suggest that there is not a single likeable person on stage. In his opening scene we see two rooms; Anna is setting up a sex game with Giovanni while next door her father is with a prostitute. How are we to have any sympathy for Anna in her emotional out-poring to Don Ottavio when we know she brought the whole situation on herself? The same is true of virtually everyone else on stage and as such we are consistently alienated from the action. When we add to this the use of black clothing throughout and the dank, if vast, interior sets and brutalist lighting, there is little to make us engage with the narrative. Added to this, the constant sweep of walls and doors, with the cast endlessly moving about, cuts across the structure of the score.

Thankfully the singing is excellent throughout with Christopher Purves a slimy if sure-footed anti-hero. He does not need to seduce any of the women; they simply throw themselves at him. Caitlin Lynch and Christine Rice as Anna and Elvira respectively are heroic in voice even when they are required to act against the score. Most at ease is Allan Clayton’s mellifluous Ottavio, whose refined Dalla sua pace is one of the few reflective moments in the first half. Clive Bailey’s Leporello seems deliberately to mimic Michael Caine though he creates a credible comic follower not averse to acting independently of his master. Nicholas Crawley and Mary Bevan are finely cast as Masetto and Zerlina, their relationship uneasy from the start, though there is no sense of class differences in this production.

Mark Wigglesworth takes a speedy approach to the score as if he wants to ensure there is no time for us to think or applaud between numbers. The orchestral playing is fine but the endless attack becomes wearing after a time.

With fewer new productions this season there was a hope that Richard Jones’ reputation would launch things in style. Perhaps this was not quite the style we were expecting.