Tag Archives: erraught

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 →

Roméo et Juliette at the Liceu

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I’m actually not sure where to start with Stephen Lawless’ production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette recorded at the Liceu in 2018.  The production is a bit weird but then so is the libretto.  It follows the basic plot of Shakespeare’s play but weakens it dramatically in all the wrong places which appears to be why Lawless made some of his, to my mind, less felicitous decisions.

1.ball

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Faust as you have never seen it before

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The 2016 Salzburg recording of Gounod’s Faust is challenging.  Perhaps the nine pages of the booklet given over to a concept discussion with the directors should have given me sufficient warning that this was not going to be Faust à la Met.  It’s not.  It’s extremely complex and I’m not sure I fully understand it or whether all the ideas work but I did find it fascinating visually and dramatically, and musically it’s top notch.  That said, traditionalists can save themselves a trip to the ER by walking away now.

1.rien

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