Monthly Archives: June 2019

CDs/DVDs June 2019

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Donizetti: Il Castello di Kenilworth
Orchestra & Chorus Donizetti Opera, Riccardo Frizza
DYNAMIC 37834

Issuing recordings of Donizetti operas is an admirable undertaking but one has to admit there really are a very large number of them. Il Castello di Kenilworth dates from 1829 and was not immediately successful though quickly overcame its original disappointment. The singing here is excellent – in particular the heroic tenor of Xabier Anduaga as Leicester – and the production is bland but never gets in the way of the music. Riccardo Frizza maintains a brisk approach throughout but I just wish I could tell the work apart from the many others which are fine in themselves but not quite on the level of Lucia.

Mendelssohn in Birmingham: Overtures
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner
CHANDOS CHSA 5235

This continues to be a highly engaging series and there is nothing problematic about this collection of overtures. If anything it goes out of its way to include lesser known works which are nonetheless more than worth seeking out. The Trumpet overture was new to me and Athalie is rarely heard. While the others are more familiar they are given lively and very immediate performances, certainly up to the standard of the earlier volumes.

Contemporaries of the Strauss Family – 4
Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, John Georgiadis
MARCO POLO 8.225370

We hear so much from the Strauss family, particularly in the winter, that it is easy to forget they came from a world which was heady with dance music in a similar vein. Here we have scores by fourteen contemporaries any of whom can sit comfortably alongside more familiar music for a New Year concert. If some of the works stray into the early twentieth century then so did Lehar and Korngold, so we can easily forgive this collection of highly engaging pieces.

 

Marschner: Hans Heiling
Essen Philharmonic, Frank Beermann
OEHMS OC 976

I suspect that most of us know of Marschner only in terms of a foot note in a Wagner compendium. Here is the evidence which so much of that is based on. If anything Marschner seems closer to Wagner than Weber, particularly in the opening scenes which foreshadow Flying Dutchman  and Tannhauser in the romantic sense of sturm und drang. If you don’t know any of Marschner’s works this is a good palce to start. The live recording does at times produce a more distant acoustic but this does not affect the listener’s enjoyment.

Strauss/Korngold: Eine Nacht in Venedig
Graz Philharmonic, Marius Burkert
CPO 555 235-2

This live recording is pleasing even if the work itself is rather light-weight and hangs almost entirely on the popular aria Komm in die gondel which returns at key moments. Possibly a souvenir of the live performance but not really a work to put alongside Strauss’ other operettas.

 

Finzi: By Footpath and Stile & other works
Finzi Quartet, Marcus Farnsworth, baritone, Robert Plane, clarinet, Ruth Bolister, oboe
RESONUS RES 10109

As a lover of Finzi I very much welcome this new recording which includes the Five Bagatelles and four other short works for small ensemble. Marcus Farnsworth’s beautifully lucid singing of By Footpath and Stile makes it worth seeking out anyway.

 

Elgar: Symphony No1
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Roger Norrington
SWR 19520CD

This live recording from 1999 brings us Roger Norrington’s forthright and extrovert approach to the symphony, often driving tempi though never overextending the pressure. It is impressive. There is also a recording of the Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg which he takes at a real lick, getting through it in just over eight minutes!

 

Fritz Wunderlich: Music of the 20th century
SWR 19075CD

For those of us who think of Fritz Wunderlich essentially as a Mozartian – or at least a lyric tenor who sits comfortably within the classical/romantic framework, it comes as something of a surprise to find him hear recording works by Pfitzner, Stravinsky, Orff, Egk and Berg.

The three cds are taken from recordings made before 1960 and  include songs by Fritz Naumeyer, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and excerpts from Orff’s Antigonae and Oedipus der Tyrann, concluding with two extended extracts from Wozzeck. A fascinating collection to set alongside the more familiar recordings which have come down to us.

 

Beethoven: Christus am Olberge
Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam
NAXOS 8.573852

Leif Segerstam is not as familiar a figure in this country as was previously the case so it is all the more welcome to be reminded of his considerable talents as a conductor. This early oratorio was first performed in a lengthy concert which included the first and second symphonies alongside the third piano concerto, and is fairly conventional in its structure even if there are hints of a more operatic approach to the chorus writing and the sensitive solo part for Jesus. Good to have a new recording of this and the bonus is the rarer Elegischer Gesang from 1814.

 

Sibelius: Kullervo
Lunds Studentsangare, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard
HYPERION CDA 68248

We hear the numbered symphonies so often they are almost over-familiar but the two other major works – which are both in effect symphonies, Lemminkainen and Kullervo – are rarer. This is particularly true of Kullervo presumably because hiring a Finnish speaking male choir is quite an undertaking. Not only is the work set in Finnish, it needs singers who understand Finnish to make a real impact – which it certainly does here. Thomas Dausgaard’s approach is bright, open and at times dangerously aggressive. A fine recording altogether.

 

Sibelius: Lemminkainen Suite; Spring Song; Suite from Belshazzar’s Feast
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
CHANDOS CHAN 20136

I don’t think anybody gives us better Sibelius at the moment than Sakari Oramo and so this new recording of the Lemminkainen Suite is very welcome. There is an intensity, not to say weight, even in the most lightly scored passages which brings emotional engagement and depth. It is good to find the Spring Song included as it is not frequently heard live and the suite from Belshazzar is a welcome addition.

 

Schubert: Works for solo piano Vol 4
Barry Douglas
CHANDOS 20086

Volume 4 brings us Piano Sonatas Op147 D575, Op164 D537 & Op120 D664

Of these three I find the Op164 the most engaging in the fluidity of its approach but all three are well worth seeking out and adding to an already fine series.

 

Bruckner: Symphonies 1-9
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, various conductors
BR KLASSIK900716 (9 CDS)

Most box sets are drawn together through a single artist – most often, with symphonic series like this, through the conductor – but here it is the orchestra itself which is the focal point with four different conductors who take an understandably idiosyncratic approach to the works.

Lorin Maazel conducts the first two, Mariss Jansons 3,4,7 and 8, Bernard Haitink 5 & 6 and finally Herbert Blomstedt for No9. The impact is exciting if only for the difference in approach given the continuity of tonal impact from the orchestra. A very interesting collection and one which presumably would pay dividends in other contexts.

TALLINN GUITAR FESTIVAL 2019

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EuroStrings – the European Guitar Festival Collaborative
is pleased to announce
TALLINN GUITAR FESTIVAL 2019
8–14 June 2019
The 14th Tallinn Guitar Festival 2019 in Estonia, will feature NINE EuroStrings Artists:
Misael Barraza-Díaz, Mexico
Gábor Hart, Hungary
Tomasz Radziszewski, Poland
Simone Rinaldo, Italy
Yuki Saito, Japan
Emmanuel Sowicz, United Kingdom/Chile
Julia Trintschuk, Germany
Radu Vâlcu, Romania

Concerts
Saturday 8 June 2019
Jesse Flowers, winner of the 2018 EuroStrings Competition and Tomasz Radziszewski
will play the Opening Concert at St. Nicolas Church, 19.00

Thursday 13 June 2019
Yuki Saito and Tomasz Radziszewski at Tartu St John’s Church, 19.00
Gábor Hart at Haapsalu Evald Okas Museum, 19.00
Simone Rinaldo and Radu Vâlcu at Rakvere Tark Maja, 19.00
Misael Barraza-Díaz at Jõhvi Concert Hall, 19.00
Emmanuel Sowicz and Julia Trintschuk at Keila Joa Schloss Fall, 19.00
As well as these solo recitals
EuroStrings Guitar Ensemble, conducted by Thomas Offermann will perform
with Aniello Desiderio
The Walls by Sérgio Assad
on Wednesday 12 June 2019 at House of the Blackheads, 19.00

EuroStrings Artists will have the opportunity to visit and give a concert
at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa
– a music information centre where the composer also has his personal archive
EuroStrings Artists will give masterclasses during the Tallinn Guitar Festival

Garsington Opera at thirty

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Garsington Opera is celebrating its thirtieth birthday this summer, secure in its new home on the Getty estate at Wormsley. What started life as a few performances on a terrace in Leonard Ingrams back garden has developed into a festival of exceptional musical standards which commands international respect. The new opera house (which it is, regardless of what title it was originally given) has proved itself to be a highly versatile space with splendid acoustics, and one which has encouraged the development of new approaches to staging and to relationships with other organisations.

The continued involvement of the Philharmonia Orchestra will come to fruition in the 2020 season when they will support three of the four operas – the English Consort playing for the new Mozart production. This is in no way to disparage the Garsington Opera Orchestra, which has given sterling support over the years, but marks a shift towards a longer term professional partnership.

I have been reviewing Garsington Opera since 1996 when I first came up for Albert Herring and it has been the highlight of my summers ever since. The transition to Wormsley was remarkably seamless in retrospect and the subtle annual upgrading to the building and surroundings always add to the experience. Even a summer where it poured with rain every time I was there did not deter my enthusiasm or damage the performance – unlike the first Fidelio I attended in the old house which was washed out when the pit flooded and the rain drummed on the roof louder than the music. No chance of that now at Wormsley and though blankets are still provided you would need to be very unlucky to really need them.

The season opened this summer with Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, a work surprisingly rarely seen in this country given its overt festival appeal with familiar music, lots of dancing and a real circus! Director Paul Curran had moved the story to an English village c1960 allowing the chorus to create a wide range of individuals who never needed to be simple stereotypes. The opening conceit – the villagers are learning a Czech dance based on Smetana’s music – gently makes the transition from central Europe to middle-England but for the rest of the evening the local setting is remarkably effective. The only minor quibble for someone of my age is that pubs in that period rarely saw that many women in the public bar – all rather too European for the period!

However the first act is delightful with Brenden Gunnell’s emotionally charged Jenik taking his frustrations out on the corned-beef sandwiches with aplomb, while Natalya Romaniw’s Marenka tries to keep him under control while constantly wanting to show how much she loves him. The relationship blossoms well across the evening and is very strongly sung and characterised throughout. Joshua Bloom’s brash Kecal throws his weight about and has a vast bass voice in keeping with his character. Stuart Jackson underplays Vasek’s potential as the village idiot, making him more appealing and sensitive that is sometimes the case though his very large physical presence makes him a gentle giant without any effort. The circus in the final act is magnificent and the dancing throughout compellingly effective.  The Philharmonia Orchestra under Jac van Steen gave an emotionally charged and frequently thrilling account of the score.  I don’t know if this is to be recorded but it certainly deserves to be.

Garsington Opera have had an uneven history where Mozart is concerned ranging from John Cox’ definite Le Nozze di Figaro to some less than involving other stagings. Michael Boyd’s new Don Giovanni looked at first as though it was going to be firmly in the latter camp with its Jackson Pollock paint flinging and its unconvincing setting of picture frames. However once it got firmly into its stride – in this case after the death of the Commendatore – it suddenly flowered dramatically and was gripping for the rest of the evening. When the quality of acting and singing is added to this, it really became a very impressive evening. At its heart was the sense of ensemble rather than individual characters. The up-dating worked perfectly well when the Don becomes a vile, louche, aggressive serial rapist who clearly has too much money and no sense of purpose other than to indulge himself. For once, the catalogue aria comes across as repellent rather than comical. This is not to imply that Michael Boyd takes a significantly feminist approach, just that we are as an audience far more aware of the way individuals abuse power. There was always the potential problem of the conclusion to the work – if the audience don’t believe in hell and damnation, what happens to the Don?- but Michael Boyd took this at face value with the Don dragged off screaming attached to the metal ladder and the evening ended there, as did Mozart’s version in 1788. There is no comfortable denouement, no winding up of loose ends, just a sense that one problem has been dealt with even if many more remain.

The young cast make much of the dramatic interplay. Jonathan McGovern’s Don is highly mobile as well as vocally exciting, and always just one step ahead of the capable Leporello of David Ireland. Trystan Llyr Griffiths is one of the most convincing Don Ottavio’s I can recall. His singing is magnificent and he is a genuinely convincing foil perfectly capable of standing up to Giovanni . Thomas Faulkner’s Masetto is equally virile and his anger is always dangerous, even when Zerlina appears to get the better of him.

Camila Titinger’s Donna Anna is strongly sung, her character hinting at rather than over-playing her aristocracy. Sky Ingram’s Elvira never lets us forget her passion for Giovanni is very real even when she knows how despicable he is. Her Mi tradi was dramatically carried throughout and her presence on stage never in doubt. Mireille Asselin’s Zerlina was a very different kettle of fish. A working class woman who has to use all her wiles to maintain her place and dignity, as much within her own people as with the wider social world. Paul Whelan’s Commendatore is very much of an older generation, his return as a statue placing him firmly in the world of elder statesmen passing judgement.

Douglas Boyd moved the score on with consummate skill, allowing moments of ornamentation to peep through without any sense of indulgence. The Garsington Chorus were their usual joyous self.

Next time I will be covering Offenbach’s Fantasio and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.

GARSINGTON OPERA’S FALSTAFF NOMINATED FOR PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

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Garsington Opera’s 2018 production of Verdi’s Falstaff, directed by Bruno Ravella, has been nominated for the highly coveted forthcoming Sky Arts Awards in the Opera category.  This production, which was also captured and streamed to 9,000 people in over 20 countries via the digital platform OperaVision, stands beside Welsh National Opera and English National Opera for Rhondda Rips It Up! and Porgy and Bess respectively.

The South Bank Sky Arts Awards is now in its 23rd year and will take place on Sunday 7 July at the Savoy Hotel, aired on Wednesday 10 July at 8pm on Sky Arts, the UK’s only TV channel dedicated to arts, music and culture.  Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, the South Bank Sky Arts Awards is the only Awards ceremony in the world to celebrate every genre of the Arts, including Dance, Theatre, Pop, TV Drama, Film, Classical Music, Literature, Opera, Comedy and Visual Art.

Garsington Opera’s 30th Anniversary Season is now well underway with four new productions – Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the first UK stage performance of Offenbach’s Fantasio and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.  The season culminates with three concert performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, celebrating the start of a partnership with The English Concert.

Brighton Early Music Festival returns with programming for our uncertain times

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BRIGHTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL: METAMORPHOSIS – 25 OCTOBER–10 NOVEMBER 2019

The 2019 programme for Brighton Early Music Festival is all about change and changing times. With its theme of ‘Metamorphosis’, the Festival will present 27 events across Brighton & Hove this autumn, exploring transformation in many intriguing ways.

Deborah Roberts, Artistic Director, writes: “The idea of things undergoing transforming change has long fascinated the human race. Our 2019 Festival explores the 2,000-year-old stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as well as musical and social transformation over the centuries. We end the Festival with a re-creation of the medieval Feast of Fools, which reversed all the social hierarchy for a few days and allowed a ‘letting off of steam’ for people living under the control of a feudal system. Our own times are certainly troubled, with society at war with itself, the threat of runaway climate change, and a political system with which many are disillusioned. Our message is musical, and all about bringing people together positively. What better reminder that many of these themes have resonated throughout history?”

Headline events include the first public performance in modern times of Antoine Brumel’s complete Lamentations for Good Friday, recently discovered in a Florentine manuscript and performed by Musica Secreta; a day devoted to J S Bach – from his Musical Offering, through dynamic re-colouring on synthesizers in The Art of Moog, and ending with a ground bass meets jazz clubnight. The culmination of the Festival is an immersive performance of The Feast of Fools, combining medieval music, street dance, community performers and children from Brighton & Hove schools.

The Festival has long been at the forefront of developing and mentoring young artists, and over half of this year’s events feature current or former members of the Festival’s BREMF Live! young artist scheme. Bringing a new and often dramatic take on early music, alumnae of the scheme are making illustrious names for themselves on the early music scene. Standout shows of 2019 include Ceruleo’s Burying the Dead – a music theatre piece capturing London transformed by cataclysmic events, as seen through the eyes of Henry Purcell; and Fieri Consort’s play with music exploring the life of celebrated Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi, the 400th anniversary of whose birth falls this year.

Community events include a Highland Dance workshop and Ceilidh; and a wide range of family concerts for toddlers and older children from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Really Classical.

Tickets on sale from early September at bremf.org.uk or 01273 709709.  See full concert listing at bremf.org.uk or call 01273 833746 to join the mailing list.

The Magic Flute: Ensemble OrQuesta

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St Mary in the Castle, Saturday 1 June 2019

Mozart’s Magic Flute becomes increasingly difficult to stage as time goes on. Marcio da Silva’s programme note addresses these very real concerns even if his production tends to diplomatically skirt the problems rather than address them. The strong racist elements are simply overlooked with no hint at Monostatos’ origins or the overt connections to slavery. However the misogynistic elements are more deep-seated and therefore too complex to ignore.

Thankfully the musical side is so well presented that it would be easy to simply ignore the context and indulge in the beauty of the singing – and the quality across the evening is never in doubt. But the problems raised never quite go away and much of this is down to the impressive characterisation we are given

 

Jessica Leao’s Queen of the Night is a good case in point. Magnificently sung, with the top coloratura spun off as if she has been doing it all her life, she comes across as deeply sympathetic. Her daughter has been stolen from her by a man who thinks he knows better, in a world dominated by men. As the leader of the cult Vedat Dalgiran’s Sarastro is dangerously convincing – a benign populist who places his type of rationalism above all other philosophies, and who sings with a calming authority which sweeps all before it. Under the circumstances it is no wonder that Alex Gebhard’s Tamino is taken in and allows himself to go through the rituals without questioning them. Only the outsider, Flavio Lauria’s amiable Papageno seems to begin to see through the charade, concerned for the essentials of life – food and companionship – rather than existential philosophy. He is also the only Papageno I have ever come across able to do his own whistling – a magnificent feat! Helen May’s finely sung Pamina seemed a far stronger character than the text sometimes gives her credit for and her rendition of Ach ich fuhl’s – with her back to the audience – was very effective and moving.

Within the confines of the temple Oguzhan Engin’s Monostatos is something of a loose cannon. His bungled attempts at seduction never put him off and even at the very end he is intent on trying to seduce the Queen of the Night if he can’t have her daughter.

The orchestral ensemble was well balanced with particular respect for Neylson Crepalde who not only sang the Speaker with considerable aplomb on the first night, but also played both the side drum and Papageno’s bells, while on the second night conducting the performance!

Marcio da Silva’s conducting of the opening night was tight and forceful, driving his singers even where some might have wanted to indulge the musical line rather more.  The only minor quibble must be with the every-present dry-ice machine which constantly clicked into action across the line of the music and occasionally made the singers invisible within its clouds.