Wednesday’s lunchtime recital in the RBA was given by Jane Archibald and Liz Upchurch. It was a programme of songs by the Schumanns (Robert and Clara) and their protegé Johannes Brahms, in celebration of their relationship which extended well beyond Robert’s premature death.
De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail is an adaptation by Gregory Prest of the famous letter that Wilde wrote, page by page, to Lord Alfred Douglas while he was in prison. It opened; a world premiere, last night in a Soulpepper production directed by Prest at the Young Centre.
Heinrich Schütz’s 1636 work Musikalische Exequien is sometimes described as the “first German requiem”.. It was performed last night at Koerner Hall by the excellent LA Master Chorale and their conductor Grant Gershon in a staged version directed by Peter Sellars; following up on their 2020 performance of the Lagrime di San Pietro.
Domenico Cimarosa’s 1788 piece L’Italiana in Londra is not performed very often. If you wanted to see it this year your only option would be a revival of the 2021 Frankfurt production which was recorded and is the subject of this review.
Invocazioni Mariane is a new CD from counter-tenor Andreas Scholl and his long time collaborators the Accademia Bizantina and their conductor Alessandro Tampieri. It consists of 18th century music from Naples; all of which is in some way connected with the Virgin Mary and is mostly drawn from oratorios or similar pieces designed to be performed during Holy Week. Back in the day, with women not permitted on the stage in Naples (or the Papal States) the high parts would have been sung by castrati. That, of course, is where Scholl comes in.
My review of the COC’s new Don Giovanni is now up at Bachtrack.
Photo credit: Michael Cooper
@bachtrack
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir with their conductor Tõnu Kaljuste appeared at the rather spectacular (and very large) St. Paul’s Basilica last night as part of Sounstream’s 2023/24 season. The programme was largely made up of works to liturgical or scriptural texts by Palestrina and Pårt. It was gorgeous polyphony, beautifully sung but in which any sense of the text was largely lost. It also all inhabited a very similar sound world. Even towards the end of the concert when a little variety crept in it was surprisingly little. One might expect a 21st century work setting H.P. Lovecraft to sound more dramatic or abrasive than a 16th century setting of “Ave Maria” but Omar Daniels new piece Antarktos Monodies, despite having a few interesting touches, was much of a piece with the music that surrounded it.
The title of this review of a 2022 recording of Rameau’s Platée is prompted by the fact that I’ve rarely seen this much high quality dance included in an opera production. It’s really spectacular. But back to basics. Platée is a comic opera of 1745. The production filmed in 2022 is by Laurent Pelly and was making its fifth run at the Palais Garnier. There’s an earlier video release of the 2002 run.
It’s an interesting idea for a CD; couple the well known (and original) orchestral version of Richard Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with the less well known piano version (the first three songs are arranged by Max Wolff and Im Abendrot by John Gribben). It’s exactly the sort of bold, slightly off the wall idea one might expect from Asmik Grigorian. So how well does it work?
I’m just not convinced by the piano version; where Gregorian is partnered by Markus Hinterhäuser. The vocal part, especially when compared with Strauss’ other songs for voice and piano just seems to be written for singing with an orchestra. It’s not as intricate and subtle as some of the other songs and with piano it seems a bit one dimensional and over dramatic. It’s not helped on this record by very slow tempi (for example, the piano version of Im Abendrot here runs 8m44 versus 7m16 for the orchestral version) and a “boomy” acoustic. The singing is OK but the overall effect is ponderous.
Joanna Murray-Smith’s 2009 play Rockabye is currently playing at Factory Theatre in a production directed by Rob Kempson. It’s an odd play. Ostensibly it’s about an aging rock singer; Sidney Jones (played by Deborah Drakeford), who hasn’t achieved much for 20+ years and desperately needs her come back album to be a success before she’s written off as a has been. She’s also obsessed with adopting an African baby. We’ll come back to that. She’s at the centre of a coterie of personal staffers and hangers on who are almost as shallow and self obsessed as she is. There’s the manager; Alfie (Sergio di Zio) endlessly congratulating himself on sticking with Sidney rather than taking on a “hot sixteen year old”. There’s boy-toy Jolyon (Nabil Trabousi) who has curtain phobia, a U-boat fetish and a big dick. Sidney’s every wish is the concern of her plummy lesbian publicist Julia (Julie Lumsden) who races around to locate the absolutely vital Peruvian wheatgerm or to send to Uzbekistan for a swatch of cloth to repair a button. Only the cook/maid Esme (Kyra Harper) seems to have any connection to reality.
operaramblings 