Fauré music for the stage (mostly)

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This recording from the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and their conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud contains 65 minutes of music; mostly written for the stage, though there are some songs for voice and orchestra.

The first set is based on the incidental music that Fauré wrote for an English language production of Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande given in London in 1898.  There’s a four movement suite and a bonus in “Mélisande’s song” from Act III Scene 1 sung here by Tara Erraught.  It’s really tuneful, pleasant music that evokes the piece well.  I particularly liked the third movement  “Sicilienne” which features a wistful harp melody and the song which is sung with beauty and clarity. Continue reading →

Schubert’s Four Seasons

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Schubert’s Four Seasons is a recital disk on the BIS label by soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Jioseph Middleton.  It contains a generous 75 minutes of music made up of twenty Schubert songs about the seasons and nature generally (also death… there’s lots of death).  Most of the songs are less well known ones but there are some more frequently heard one likes Die Forelle, Im Frühllind and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (which also features Michael Collins on clarinet).

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Ambur Braid masterclass

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So it’s April Fools Day in Walter Hall and Ambur Braid is scheduled to give a masterclass to UoT Opera students.  Were they having us on?  I was doubly suspicious having just finished the really annoying Guardian April Fool crossword.  But, no, it was real; though frankly funnier than most April Fool pranks.  You can check it out for yourself because it’s all up on Youtube.

Since you can check it out for yourselves I’lljust make a few observations:

  • The six students taking part; Christian Matta, Camille Labonté, Frank Yu,Teresa Tucci, Cameron Mazzei and Katherine Kirkpatrick, plus pianist Helen Becqué, all really entered into the spirit of the thing which meant giving as much of themselves as Ambur gave; which is saying a lot.  Good for them!

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Young artists do Dido and Aeneas

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This week the Young Artists Studio at the Canadian Children’s Opera Company gave two performances of Purcell’s classic Dido and Aeneas.  The YAS is a new initiative designed to give young singers (16-19) additional opportunities to the CCOC’s usual fare and maybe provide a pathway to serious professional study.

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Ninety fascinating minutes with a grumpy bastard

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RED by John Logan is a ninety minute play about Mark Rothko and the Seagram Building murals.  It premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in 2009 and it’s currently playing at the Theatre Centre in a production designed and directed by Kenzia Dalie.  It’s a two person show in which Lindsay G. Merrihew plays Rothko and Brendan Kinnon plays his young assistant Ken.

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Il Bajazet

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Vivaldi’s pasticcio Il Bajazet was composed for carnival season 1635.  It sets an earlier libretto by Agostino Piovene concerning the defeat and capture of the Ottoman sultan Bajazet (Bayezid I) by the Tartar leader Tamerlano (Timur) in 1403.  Tamerlano is contracted to marry the Princess of Trebizond, Irene, but falls for Bajazet’s daughter Asteria to the consternation of his Greek ally Andronico who is in love with Asteria.  Various plot twists and turns happen before Bajazet poisons himself, Tamerlano marries Irene after all and Asteria returns to Andronico.  Andronico also has a sidekick Idaspe.

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Not really a review at all

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So Thursday lunchtime I went to see Karoline Podolak and Wesley Harrison supported by Mattia Senesi and Brian Cho in the RBA.  It was a “schmaltzy” programme (Wesley’s description not mine!).  The whole thing consisted of arias and duets from La Traviata, The Barber of Seville and Don Pasquale with a bit of Lehar and a final Prayer chucked in.

It was the sort of rep that if it came up on University Challenge any opera goer would be hitting the buzzer in under two seconds!  And it’s all lovely of course.  It was beautifully sung by two beautiful people with two excellent pianists.  They sing beautifully separately and wonderfully together and Karoline’s coloratura is spectacular.  It’s rep that fits them like a glove at this stage of their careers and I’m not going to bore you with a blow by blow account.  It was unalloyed, undemanding enjoyment made all the better by being in the RBA on a sunny day!

Photo credfit: Karen E. Reeves.