Wagner
Fidelio, Welsh National Opera, CardiffSaturday, 18 September 2010
In fact Giuseppe Frigeni’s production and sets have already been seen in Bordeaux, so perhaps it’s more that the novelty by now has worn off. Either way, it’s a miserable affair, devoid of movement or dramatic tension, obscure in its... Read more... |
Mattila, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rattle, Royal Albert HallSunday, 05 September 2010
My abiding memory of the Berlin Philharmonic’s second Prom under Sir Simon Rattle on Saturday will be of 6,000 people listening with rapt, or at any rate silent, concentration to Schoenberg, Webern and Berg. Has it ever happened before? Perhaps... Read more... |
Keenlyside, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Nézet-Séguin, Royal Albert HallSunday, 22 August 2010
Boy, did I want to enjoy this Prom. On paper it should have been the highlight of the season. Young Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been making his mark in London as principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with... Read more... |
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rattle, Royal Albert HallMonday, 02 August 2010
In 1860 Wagner sent a full score of his recently published Tristan und Isolde to Berlioz, inscribing it: “To the great and dear composer of Roméo et Juliette, from the grateful composer of Tristan und Isolde.” The bonds between these two works go... Read more... |
Die Meistersinger at the Proms, BBC FourSunday, 18 July 2010
Two birthday parties kept me away from the Albert Hall yesterday (though I'll confess that in the end I treacherously skipped the second and stayed glued to the TV's delayed relay). That, and a slight fear that the concert performance of Wagner's... Read more... |
A feast fit for the Mastersingers: Wales objectsMonday, 28 June 2010
Bit of a tizzy in Cardiff after Welsh National Opera decided to push the boat out for its biggest show in years. Richard Jones's new production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg starring Bryn Terfel in his toughest challenge to date wowed... Read more... |
Rigoletto, Welsh National Opera, CardiffSaturday, 26 June 2010
Watching and hearing this revival of WNO’s now eight-year-old production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, it’s hard to remember he composed it only a year or two before La Traviata, that most psychologically believable of all his operas. In Rigoletto nothing... Read more... |
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Welsh National Opera, CardiffSunday, 20 June 2010
Only those who think the burnt-out question of Wagner and the Nazis can still be brought to bear on his operas could be disappointed by Richard Jones's life-enhancing new production. Not a swastika in sight, not a hint of anti-semitic caricature for... Read more... |
Classical Music CDs Round-Up 9Saturday, 19 June 2010
This month’s selection includes a flamboyant fin-de-siècle Italian symphony that could give you a nosebleed. A little-known American band provide a fresh take on a British 1930s warhorse, and classy Viennese musicians play some delectable... Read more... |
European Festivals 2010 Round-UpSunday, 06 June 2010
Istanbul, Turkey, 3-30 JuneThe 38th annual music festival in the jewelled city of culture-clash continues its strong classical showing with Radu Lupu and Lang Lang, the Borodin Quartet and Riccardo Muti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. Equally... Read more... |
Stephen Fry on Wagner, BBC FourWednesday, 26 May 2010
Is there anywhere Stephen Fry will not go? I mean in documentaries. We’ve had Fry on depression and Fry on America, Fry on HIV and Fry on endangered species. Movingly, we’ve had Fry on who he thinks he is, an odyssey in which he discovered that much... Read more... |
Guillaume Tell, Chelsea Opera Group, QEHMonday, 24 May 2010
Was Rossini, credited with the unsinkable comment that Wagner had "beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour", hoist by his own petard in his last and grandest opera? For while Wagner, at least in performances as well-paced as the one I heard of... Read more... |
