The 2021 production, by Keith Warner, of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Theater an der Wien uses Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre as a framing device. Sometimes the action is clearly the actors, producers, cigarette girls etc involved in the screening of a silent German movie version of “Caesar and Cleopatra”. Other times they are performing the action of the film/opera. Sometimes the cinema screen shows clips from the movie. Other times it shows pictures of the characters on stage. For example, at the beginning of Act 2 Tolomeo, whose other persona is some kind of sleazy mafioso movie exec, is shooting up. There’s a B&W picture of him on the screen that slowly changes to bright colours and then becomes more and more a depiction of a pretty heavy trip.
Sehnsucht is the title of a new CD from Barbara Hannigan and friends. It features three works in new arrangements for voice and chamber ensemble. Hannigan sings Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder in an arrangement by Reinbert de Leeuw. Baritone Raoul Steffani sings the Vier Gesänge Op.2 in an arrangement by Henk de Vlieger. There’s also a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No.4 in an arrangement by Erwin Stein. The eleven member Camerata RCO is conducted by Rolf Verbeek.
My review
This recent Centrediscs release contains 27 songs (a generous 76 minutes of music) written by Québecois singer and composer Lionel Daunais in the mid 20th century. The songs really fall into two distinct groups. Some are art songs written for concert hall performance while others are works in a more popular style written for a wider audience. The art songs are very French; the others distinctly of Quebec.
operaramblings 