Monthly Archives: September 2017

ENO: Aida

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London Coliseum, Thursday 28 September 2017

Aida lends itself to spectacle and the sort of vast theatricality of open air arenas, but at its heart is an intimate love triangle, and it is this reality which Phelim McDermott’s new production draws on. In many ways it is a very old-fashioned approach, the soloists often down-stage singing straight out, caught in a single follow-spot. When the scene opens out, Tom Pye’s settings are weighty and powerful but never specifically Egyptian, moving us away from the tourist view to an imagined world of ritual within which individual needs suffer. The two temple scenes are particularly impressive, the off-stage priestess here very much in view and the misty depths of Act 3 finely caught.

Within this world, the protagonists have more freedom than usual to find subtlety in the text. In this Latonia Moore is particularly impressive as Aida. The voice is large and at times genuinely thrilling, yet she is able to suggest the pain and inner sensitivity of the character. O patria mia was wonderfully expressive and the real joy of the final scene completely convincing. She was well partnered by Gwyn Hughes Jones in heroic voice throughout as Radames and looking the part of the Commander. His shock and capitulation in Act 3 was moving and completely convincing.

Michelle DeYoung seemed uncomfortable as Amneris and was the only soloist who seemed to have come in from another production. The voice was not fully focused at the start, though she was not helped by a costume that made her look like a cocoon. Where the rest of the cast were easily able to sing with dramatic impact directly to the audience, she appeared often to be giving a recital, and the final scene lost some of its impact because of her. It will be interesting to see if Dana Beth Miller later in the series has a more profound impact.

The rest of the cast were drawn from strength with Matthew Best an imposing King, Musa Ngqungwana a fierce Amonasro, and Robert Winslade Anderson – standing in at short notice – a particularly impressive Ramphis. The chorus were on superb form, sounding like double their number which often happens in Aida. The dancers/actors of Improbable were used tactfully across the evening, adding colourful choreography to the temple scenes and unexpected militarism to the triumph scene – which on this occasion became a celebration for dead heroes, and effective for being different to expectations.

A scene from Aida by Verdi @ London Coliseum. An English National Opera production. Conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson. Directed by Phelim McDermott. (Opening 28-09-17) ©Tristram Kenton 09-17 (3 Raveley Street, LONDON NW5 2HX TEL 0207 267 5550 Mob 07973 617 355)email: tristram@tristramkenton.com

Keri-Lynn Wilson conducted with considerable panache, her sensitivity towards the introspective scenes particularly impressive, and her sense of the sweep of the narrative always under control.

This was a fine start to the new season and a number of new brooms in evidence. Let us hope it continues that way.

Even Stephens

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Steve Corke and Stephen Page at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Hollington  Saturday 23rd September 2017

St John’s Church Hollington welcomed an audience of over a hundred to a captivating evening presented by Steve Corke, a leading member of the Hastleons, and Stephen Page, well known local organist and pianist. Their followers came with high expectations and were not disappointed.

“On with the Show…”   opened with a rousing organ medley including There’s no Business like Show Business, and I do like to be beside the Seaside.  Stephen continued with Bach’s Toccata in D minor, thus introducing us to the versatility of the organ, which was further demonstrated by John Addison’s A Bridge too Far. By contrast, Stephen played the church’s digital piano for Monti’s dance Czardas, familiar even if one couldn’t name it!  The evocative Dream of Olwen, and Shostakovich’s popular Romance followed, and Stephen’s dexterity in Billy Joel’s Root Beer Rag dazzled us all!

Steve’s voice delighted, moved, and amused by turns, and his sensitive characterisation transported us into the contrasting worlds of the musicals. We experienced the fairground, the Opera, the French Revolution, and the Cold War. We enjoyed favourites like This Nearly was Mine, Anthem, Stars and The Impossible Dream, indulged our nostalgia with For Once in my Life, and remembered less familiar shows like The Fantasticks.

There were engaging surprises! Reminiscent of Just William, the pair gave a hilarious rendition of Terry Scott’s My Brother (“Who put fireworks in the coal? Who put a real live toad-in-the-‘ole?)  During Godspell’s pacey but thought-provoking All for the Best, Stephen left the piano to sing with Steve, and the instrument continued apparently playing itself!

Steve and Stephen’s infectious enthusiasm and relaxed enjoyment of performing together, suggested years of experience, though this was their first full-length collaboration since schooldays. The appreciative audience clearly hoped the duo would continue, and that St John’s Hollington would develop as a concert venue.

Donations were earmarked for church roof repairs.   As this work will soon start, the organ recital by Stephen Page at 3.00 pm on October 14th, will now take place at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Parkstone Road, TN34 2NT.  Hope to see you there!

Chris Edwards

 

Musicians of All Saints

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Southover Church, Lewes, Saturday 23 September 2017

As a contemporary composer, Peter Copley has a wonderful knack of creating music which is immediately accessible and yet has hidden depths which demand to be explored. His most recent composition – a double concerto for two violins and strings – was given its premiere performance at the start of the Musicians of All Saints new season, alongside works by Elgar, Holst and Mozart, and I have no hesitation in saying it was perfectly at home in this company.

Before the concert commenced he spoke about his approach to the work and in particular his interest in the baroque. While many composers have used earlier music as a basis for their own compositions there is always the danger of pastiche. Peter Copley avoids this by using the structures, one might say the grammar, of the baroque while applying to it a contemporary vocabulary. Skimming the score visually, it could be by Couperin, Bach or Purcell, but a closer look reveals a more challenging harmonic structure and melodic lines which could only have been written since the late twentieth century. The frisson was telling and superbly caught by the two solo violinists, Jenny Sacha and Laura Stanford, who threw themselves into the whirlpool of sound which emerges from the outer movements. Between these is a superb Largo, its faint hints of the Bach double violin concerto just there in the background while the melodic overtones seem to lean towards Rachmaninov. In so many ways it should not work – but it really does.

I very much hope to hear it again soon – and better still that others will be encouraged to take it up, to the profound enjoyment of both players and audience.

Conducting the Musicians of All Saints, Andrew Sherwood had put together a well-balanced programme opening with Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, with its hushed, translucent slow movement gently filling the church with its warmth. Holst is to be the featured composer throughout this series, with lesser known chamber works in every concert. The first brought us the more familiar St Paul’s Suite which seemed almost too loud after the Elgar but also brought some very well judged crescendos and changes in dynamic impact.

Mozart’s Divertimento in F major K138 was the only work which seemed slightly out of place amidst all the English music surrounding it. If the slow movement had an over-serious intensity, the finale smiled on us. This was a splendid start in a very fine venue.

The next concert in the series is on Saturday 11 November in St Michael’s, Lewes, with works by Holst, Mozart, Dvorak and Haydn.

 

 

ENO Chief Executive to step down in June 2018

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English National Opera (ENO) has today announced that Cressida Pollock, the company’s Chief Executive, is to leave her role at the end of ENO’s current season in June 2018.

Cressida Pollock, who joined ENO in March 2015, said: 

I will be greatly saddened to leave this incredible institution, which it has been a privilege to lead. I am very proud of our achievements to date and am grateful to the extraordinary people I work alongside. When I arrived, the ENO was in crisis and the company’s survival was in real doubt. I am delighted that we have brought stability and secured ENO’s future. My successor will be able to focus on ensuring that the ENO continues to produce award-winning work at the heart of the UK opera scene.’

Dr Harry Brunjes, Chairman of ENO, added:
‘Cressida has turned around our fortunes to deliver financial security, while keeping us on a solid creative footing. Cressida has led the ENO back into the Arts Council England’s National Portfolio and brought together a leadership team who the Board are confident can continue to help ENO thrive and develop. On behalf of the Board it has been a pleasure to observe her courage and positivity in the face of ENO’s immense challenges. We will be sorry to lose her energy and determination to achieve success when she steps down next June.’

 

ENO will begin the process of appointing a new Chief Executive Officer later this month.

ENO presents the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie, conducted by ENO Music Director Martyn Brabbins

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Opens Saturday 18 November at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum (5 performances)

Following his 2011 premiere of Two Boys at ENO, composer Nico Muhly returns to the company with this second world premiere, the psychological thriller Marnie.

Based on Winston Graham’s classic 1961 novel with a libretto by Nicholas Wright, Marnie will bring together an extraordinary array of operatic talent: it marks conductor Martyn Brabbins’ debut as Music Director at ENO and Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer’s UK operatic debut. Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke will lead the cast in the title role, while Julian Crouch and 59 Productions return to ENO with their unique video designs.

The novel, also famously adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1964 film of the same name, tells the story of Marnie as she embezzles money from her employers before changing her identity and moving on. Finally caught by her boss Mark Rutland and blackmailed into marriage, she must confront the hidden trauma in her past.

Nico Muhly is the youngest composer ever commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, New York, a ‘phenomenon’ (Gramophone) whose work spans chamber works, sacred music, film scores as well as opera. His previous premiere for ENO, Two Boys, was called ‘serious and radiant’ by the New York Times and as ‘one of the most celebrated and sought after classical composers of the last decade’ (The Guardian) this premiere will be a major highlight of the operatic calendar; it will go on to play at the Met for the 2019/20 season.

Muhly comments:

‘I am particularly excited to present this premiere at ENO. Librettist Nicholas Wright and I have worked very closely with director Michael Mayer and the excellent design team of 59 Productions and Julian Crouch to create something particularly suited to ENO – a house committed to daring new productions.  I am looking forward to working with the ENO Chorus again, with whom I had a great deal of fun during Two Boys, and am so pleased to work with Martyn Brabbins in his first production as ENO Music Director.’

Director Michael Mayer has helmed many of Broadway’s most impressive productions, winning the Tony Award for Best Director for Spring Awakening in 2007 and garnering great praise for his 2014 production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Having directed the 2012 Las Vegas-set Rigoletto for the Metropolitan Opera, New York, this marks his operatic debut on the London stage after directing the musical Funny Girl here in 2016.

CDs/DVDs September 2017

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Puccini: La Boheme
Teatro Regio Torino, Gianandrea Noseda
UNITEL 742608

Though the production has many strengths there are a number of nagging concerns. Modern dress is not one of them, but the huge stage often dwarfs the cast, who are lost within the plethora of windows at the back. The production itself makes little of the updating, and the Café Momus scene is remarkably conventional, the main worry being how these students managed to get into a restaurant which is so obviously up-market. Act three works the best, both visually and dramatically.

Of the singers, Kelebogile Besong’s Musetta and Massimo Cavalletti’s Marcello are the strongest both dramatically and vocally. Neither the Mimi nor Rudolfo are positive enough in the first act and are visually engulfed by the set. As above they are at their best in act three where they have space to move about and sing more freely. Gianandrea Noseda’s handling of the score is polished and well-paced.

Shakespeare: Cymbeline
RSC, Stratford upon Avon
OPUS ARTE OA 1242

Melly Still’s modern dress production was given at Stratford last year, where we were fortunate enough to see it live. The recording here does full justice to the impact of the production with Bethan Cullinane a quietly impressive Innogen and Marcus Griffiths a dangerous Cloten. In the course of the narrative it made little difference that Cymbeline himself was played by Gillian Bevan as a distinctly dangerous queen – if anything it added a certain frisson to a part which can too easily seem old and doddery. A fine addition to the growing number of splendid recordings from the RSC.

JS Bach: Keyboard concertos
Sonya Bach, piano, English Chamber Orchestra
RUBICON RCD 1006

This is a strange release if only because of the lack of information given with it. We know a great deal about Sonya Bach and her fine reputation, but there is virtually nothing about the works themselves or the approach to the recording. While she brings a bravura technique to the Bach arrangements, the style and sound are entirely modern and often fiercely aggressive. The instrument is not named but as the recordings were made in St John’s Smith Square one can assume it is their Steinway – not a particularly apt choice for Bach as this cd unfortunately demonstrates.

The Baroque Bohemians
Red Priest
RPR RP 014

This is a total and unique delight throughout. Don’t expect authenticity in the conventional sense, but do expect to be thrilled by the sheer daring of the approach. I doubt if you have heard Telemann, Byrd or Vivaldi like this before but the musicianship is superb and the panache of the approach drives all before it. As with all of the finest scores, they are still here for others to play and record in more conventional ways if that is what you desire. For me – I just wish more concerts had this level of life and enthusiasm.

Debussy: Jeux; Khamma; La Boite a Jououx
Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui
BIS 2162

This is a most impressive recording. If the two major works here are less familiar that is because they were both completed or orchestrated by other hands. Not that there is any hint that this is not fully authentic Debussy, and one to which Lan Shui responds with immaculate sensitivity. Much of the scoring is remote and hushed, and Shui creates a distant shimmering sound which is both apt and captivating. Khamma is a brief ballet score whose narrative Debussy did not warm to but, needing the money, felt obliged to complete. Its introspective textures are finely spun and we don’t really need to worry about the story!

Dvorak: Piano Trios
The Tempest Trio
NAXOS 8.573723

Dvorak’s Piano Trio No 1 Op 21 was written in 1875 and revised in 1877, its lyrical qualities obvious from the start. By contrast the second quartet in G minor, composed in 1876 is more introvert and may reflect Dvorak’s personal tragic circumstances at the time. The Tempest Trio came together having previously had individual careers as soloists, and this recording follows the success of their first cd of Dvorak trios.

Szymanowski & Karlowicz violin concertos
Tasmin Little, violin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner
CHANDOS CHSA 5185

Szymanowski’s first violin concerto from 1916 is written in a single movement and full of lightning changes of mood and texture. It is about as far away as one could imagine from his near contemporary, Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, whose concerto is richly romantic both in style and structure. The lyrical second movement is particularly impressive and it is strange that the work is not far more familiar given how close it seems to Bruch and Elgar. Szymanowski’s second violin concerto was one of his last major works to be completed and is dedicated to the violinist Paul Kochanski who had assisted in its creation. Fine performances of all three works from Tasmin Little. It would be good to hope we hear the Karlowicz now in repertory.

Mozart: Piano concertos and divertimenti
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano, Manchester Camerata, Gabor Takacs-Nagy
CHANDOS CHAN 10958

While the two concerti date from 1784 the Divertimenti are much earlier, dating from Mozart’s teenage years. Not that there is anything juvenile about them even if he was still very much under Leopold’s thumb at the time of their creation.

Sparkling performances throughout from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and secure accompaniment from the Manchester Camerata.

Strauss: Oboe concerto; wind serenade
Alexei Ogrintchouk, Royal Concertgebouw wind players, Andris Nelsons
BIS 2163

While the oboe concerto will be very familiar it is the two other works which command attention here. The early Serenade in E flat major dates from 1881 when the composer was only seventeen, but the Sonatina comes from the same very late stable as the concerto. As such they make a fascinating and most acceptable coupling. Alexei Ogrintchouk’s approach is stylish and Andris Nelsons brings a mellifluous sensitivity to the wind players.

ENO announces Harewood Artists for the 17/18 season

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English National Opera (ENO) it delighted to announce four new ENO Harewood Artists, joining the eight singers that will remain part of the programme. David Ireland, Božidar Smiljanic, Katie Stevenson and Elgan Llyr Thomas will join the ENO Harewood Artist programme for two years, beginning in the 17/18 season, alongside existing ENO Harewood Artists Katie Coventry, Eleanor Dennis, Matthew Durkan, Rhian Lois, Soraya Mafi, Samantha Price, Andri Bjorn Robertsson and David Webb.

The ENO Harewood Artists, formerly the ENO Junior Company Principals and ENO Young Singers Programme, enables exceptionally talented British and British-trained singers to perform career-building roles with a major opera company while receiving specialist coaching, support and guidance. Across the 2017/18 season over 20 principal roles will be taken by current or former ENO Harewood Artists.

The ENO Harewood Artist programme began in 1998 and is renowned for its development of many of the UK’s most cherished young opera singers. Former ENO Harewood Artists include Sophie Bevan, Mary Bevan, Katherine Broderick, Allan Clayton, Madeleine Shaw, Nicky Spence, Julia Sporsén, Sarah Tynan and Kate Valentine.

This season, a number of small changes have been made to the programme in order to ensure that it continues to develop these young singers in the most supportive way possible. As ENO is now planning its opera seasons further in advance, a tailored, multi-year development programme has been established for each singer to ensure that they are performing and covering the roles most suitable to their voices across the next two years.

Under the scheme’s new structure, ENO will now cast Harewood Artists approximately 18 months before the start of the season in which they will first appear. They will receive coaching from that moment, alongside repertoire guidance and career advice. In addition to regular coaching sessions, the singers are awarded a bursary to enable them to partake in diction and language coaching, dialogue coaching, acting and dramaturgy sessions, performance psychology and Alexander Technique.

Mezzo-soprano Katie Stevenson will make her professional debut at ENO in Marnie in November, after graduating from the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music this summer. She will also cover the role of Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bass-baritone David Ireland joins from the National Opera Studio and will cover the role of Dr Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Tenor Elgan Llyr Thomas will make his ENO stage debut at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre as Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw. Prior to this he will be covering the role of Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Bass-baritone Božidar Smiljanic will take to the London Coliseum stage as the Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata. Having previously debuted at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington, Božidar will also cover the role of Figaro in ENO’s The Marriage of Figaro this spring.

Inauguration of the Phoenix Grand Piano at Opus Theatre

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Opus Theatre, Hastings, Saturday 9 September 2017

Opus Theatre have a new, anonymously donated, Phoenix Grand Piano which was inaugurated last Saturday with two, highly contrasted, concerts. It is difficult at this point to avoid clichés as it is a magnificent instrument, superbly responsive in touch with a wide dynamic range completely at one with the fine acoustic of the building.

In the afternoon Anton Lyakhovsky brought us a traditional romantic programme of Schumann and Rachmaninoff. The sound he produced for Schumann’s Arabesque  was baritonal – warm and slightly hazy in impact but in perfect keeping with the work itself. There was no lack of clarity but the balance across the instrument proved here, and later in the day, to be one of its most impressive qualities. Schumann’s Op11 No1 may be less familiar but brought a greater sense of attack without any loss of finesse. The articulation of the Aria was refined before the fierce impact of the Scherzo and the lightning changes of mood of the final movement.

The second half was all Rachmaninoff, opening with two Etudes Tableaux from Op39. The complexity of the writing of No1 held no terrors for either performer or the instrument itself, maintaining clarity even at its most rapid articulation. No3 brought some gentler translucent qualities before we moved into more familiar territory with the Prelude Op23 No25 – given with a real sense of panache.

The afternoon concluded with the Corelli variations and a delicately reflective coda.

The evening brought us Oliver Poole and a total change of both mood and impact. Dressed casually and immediately creating a warm rapport as he introduced his programme to the audience, Oliver is no stranger to Hastings, having played her before (if some years ago!) and living just down the coast.

His programme was a tour do force and one of enormous contrasts. The whole of the first half was given over to Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The immediate impact was startling. Where Anton Lyakhovsky had created a romantic warmth, the Bach was crisp, clear, almost clavichord-like in its impact. I can’t ever recall a Steinway being able to match this level of contrast. The variations sparkled and danced their way through, frequently touching the sublime and occasionally those moments of spiritual enlightenment which seem to arise naturally in Bach at his finest.

This might have been enough in itself but after the interval Oliver Poole introduced us to an arrangement of scenes from Wagner’s Ring cycle. While being entirely pianistic, the orchestral impact of the arrangement was staggering. I can recall hearing versions for four hands which seemed to have fewer notes than we heard here! The Ride of the Valkyries was so intense it recalled images of Franz Liszt with smoke erupting from the piano, so hard was he driving it.

By total contrast the final listed work was Rhapsody in Blue which Oliver clearly plays for his own enjoyment – though it entranced the audience. A brief toying with the Blue Danube as an encore brought the day to a close, but Polo Piatti was totally justified in his remarks that this superb instrument could be the start of a totally new chapter in the musical life of Hastings.

 

 

Coffee Concert;  Stephen Page at St Peter’s, Bexhill

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Saturday 9 September 2017

A strong turn-out for a varied and entertaining concert, which ranged from less familiar classical works to the highly popular.

Stephen Page opened with a triumphant voluntary by Alan Viner, Lobe den Herren followed by Bach’s Chorale Prelude Wir glauben all’ an einen GottBWV680 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. His use of the cantus firmus here was in marked contrast to John Ireland’s gentle Villanella which requires a wide range of registration.

Howells’ Psalm Prelude No1 from Set1 demonstrated the English cathedral sound the St Peter’s organ can command, and this gave way to the warm tones of Pachelbel’s brief Chaconne in F minor.  Herschel’s allegro from a longer suite used echo refrains and could easily have been written for a mechanical clock.

Not that any of the above made for difficult listening but the rest of the programme was in a lighter, more familiar vein, commencing with Yon’s Toccatina for flutes and Lang’s Tuba Tune. Karg-Elert’s Chorale-Improvisation on Nun danket alle Gott needed no introduction but it was good to know the background to Fats Waller’s The Jitterbug Waltz – how many of us knew he played the organ?

As a tribute to the 40th anniversary of Star Wars we heard a brief and quiet piece from John William’s film score before Stephen Page concluded with one of his most popular works – Abe Holzmann’s  Blaze Away!

The next organ concert at St Peter’s will be given by their resident organist, Anthony Wilson, on Saturday 11 November at 10.30am.