Turn of the Screw in Aldeburgh

Posted on May 20, 2026 by operaramblings

The death last week of Dame Felicity Lott had me thinking about English singers of that generation who featured a lot in the first live opera and recordings that I experienced back in the 1970s. A bit of digging around led me to a 1993 recording of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with Philip Langridge (who died in 2010) as Quint and Felicity Lott (not yet a Dame) as the Governess. It also, perhaps surprisingly, features American Wagnerian Nadine Secunde as Miss Jessel. Less surprisingly, it was recorded in Aldeburgh with Steuart Bedford conducting.

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4.4.2

Posted on April 14, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of Californian composer Mark Abel’s CD 4.4.2 featuring Canadian mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh is now available at La Scena Musicale.

Ein Traumspiel

Posted on April 13, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of the recent CD release of Aribert Reimanns’s first opera Ein Traumspiel is now on-line at La Scene Musicale. The disk also includes his rather unusual Denn Bleiben ist nirgends.

Sankofa: The Soldier’s Tale Retold

Posted on April 12, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of the recording of Art of Time Ensemble’s adaptation of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale is now on-line at La Scena Musicale. Sankofa is a very moving reframing of the story to relate the experiences of a young man from the Caribbean trying to join the Canadian Army in WW1.

Yiddish Glory again

Posted on April 7, 2026 by operaramblings

Way back in 2018 I wrote about a CD called Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of WW2 (though I don’t think I wrote an actual review of the CD… I should fix that). Since then various participants in that project including UoT’s Professor Anna Shternshis plus the members of Payadora Tango Ensemble and Likht Ensemble among others have unearthed more lost songs from the ghettoes, labour camps, DP camps and so on. I’ve written about some of it and some of it features on Payadora’s Silent Tears CD. Other songs were released on the Yiddish Glory Youtube channel during COVID.

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Britten from Monaco

Posted on February 24, 2026 by operaramblings

The Orchestre Philharmonique de Monaco and their conductor Lawrence Foster recently recorded a collection of Britten works to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death. It’s a bit of an odd mix but it’s nicely done. The first piece is The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This was composed for a commission by the British Ministry of Education to accompany an educational film for schools showcasing the various instruments of the orchestra. I find it hard to imagine that happening now. Anyway, it’s performed here, as it often is, without narration. It’s quite a sprightly and satisfying performance. Continue reading →

Daughters of Donbas – CD Launch and film screening

Posted on February 22, 2026 by operaramblings

On Friday evening I attended the CD launch for Daughters of Donbas’ new album Songs of Stolen Children at the Tranzac. Let me try and provide some context. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has now been going on for four years and, of course, before that, in 2014, Russia seized the Crimea and territories in the Donbas. The Russians are determined, as they have been since the 18th century, to erase Ukraine as a separate polity and write Ukrainian culture out of the historical record (as they have done with others such as the Crimean Tartars). A relatively recent step in this campaign is the kidnapping of over 20,000 Ukrainian children who have been deported to “re-education” camps in Russia where, cut off from their families, they are trained to be good little Russians. Parallels with events closer to home are a bit obvious. Daughters of the Donbas is a band and a project dedicated to keeping this issue alive. Continue reading →

Intriguing recital album from Laura Choi Stuart

Posted on February 21, 2026 by operaramblings

Rituals combines songs by Charles Ives, Reynaldo Hahn and William Bolcom around a theme of “living the good life”. The eight Ives songs set texts either by himself or by 19th century English poets in a characteristically Ivesian way. There are folksy bits and hymn tunes (a setting of Arnold’s “West London”) plus some crazy loud piano (“Paracelsus”). Laura Choi Stuart sings them idiomatically and clearly with excellent accompaniment by Tanya Blaich. It’s a vision of the good life rooted in community and collective memory. Continue reading →

December

Posted on February 15, 2026 by operaramblings

The sound track of Essential Opera’s on-line video of Monica Pearce’s COVID era opera December has now been issued as a CD. You can read my review at La Scena Musicale.

Boulanger’s La ville morte

Posted on February 9, 2026 by operaramblings

My review of Catapult Opera’s recording of Nadia Boulanger’s La ville morte is now available at La Scena Musicale.

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