We left at the interval...

ONP Bastille, Monday December 13 2021   Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel. Production: Robert Wilson, Nicola Panzer. Sets: Robert Wilson, Stephanie Engeln. Costumes: Jacques Reynaud. Lighting: Robert Wilson, John Torres. Turandot: Elena Pankratova. Liù: Guanqun Yu. Calaf: Gwyn Hughes Jones. Timur: Vitalij Kowaljow. Altoum: Carlo Bosi. Ping: Alessio Arduini. Pang: Jinxu Xiahou. Pong: Matthew Newlin. Mandarin: Bogdan Talos. Paris Opera Orchestra and Choruses. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine/Paris Opera Children Chorus. After all these years of opera-going, I still don't trust my ears and eyes, and find myself wondering 'Is it just me?' Last night's Turandot  at the Bastille had me puzzled and, to some extent, worried. First of all, who chose the cast? Whose idea was it to ask these singers to sing these roles in this theatre and in a Wilson production? Not once did their singing come across as striking or seductive, let alone thrilling. Don't get me wrong: nobody was downright b...

  December's ' pick of the month ' in the recordings section of France's Opéra Magazine , with their 'Diamond' accolade for outstanding achievement, is Rameau's ' Pastorale Héroïque ' Achante et Céphise , with a cast headed up by Cyrille Dubois and Sabine Devieilhe ('We could not dream of a more delightful pair of lovers') under Alexis Kossenko. This is the first recording of the work, originally given in 1751 to celebrate the the birth of Louis XV's grandson, the Duke of Burgundy.

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Monday November 22 2021 Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev. Theodora: Lisette Oropesa. Irene: Joyce DiDonato. Septimius: Michael Spyres. Valens: John Chest. Didymus: Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian. Messenger: Massimo Lombardi. Orchestra and chorus: Il Pomo d'Oro.   Only the other day I was telling someone how much I still enjoy Johannes Somary's recordings of Händel, with what now seem 'old-school' Händelians like Sheila Armstrong, Felicity Palmer, Helen Watts and Robert Tear, and the harpsichord banging away like a Bösendorfer. But since then, over the years the 'HIP' movement has largely got us used (or should I say 'inured'?), in France at any rate, to a different kind of voice in pre-1760 opera, so to find Lisette Oropesa, Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres cast in Theodora now comes as a surprise, especially with a 'HIP' band like Il Pomo d'Oro. It seemed too good to be true, but true it was, so I bought tickets a...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday November 14 2021 Conductor: Alain Altinoglu. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes: Malgorzata Szczesniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Choreography: Claude Bardouil. Video: Denis Guéguin. Lulu: Barbara Hannigan. Gräfin Geschwitz: Natascha Petrinsky. Theater-Garderobiere, Gymnasiast & Groom: Lilly Jørstad. Maler & Neger: Rainer Trost. Dr. Schön & Jack The Ripper: Bo Skovhus. Alwa: Toby Spence. Schigolch: Pavlo Hunka. Tierbändiger & Athlet: Martin Winkler. Prinz, Kammerdiener & Marquis: Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke*. Theaterdirektor & Bankier: Georg Festl. Mutter: Mireille Capelle. Kunstgewerblerin: Beata Morawska. Journalist: Lucas Cortoos. Polizeikommissar & Diener: Kris Belligh. Medizinalrat & Professor: Gerard Lavalle. Eine Fünfzehnjährige: Julie Mathevet. Ballerina: Rosalba Torres Guerrero. Dancer: Claude Bardouil. Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie. This Lulu was a revival of Warlikowski's Brussels pr...

November's recording of the month in France's Opéra Magazine , 'Diamond'-rated, is the Palazzetto Bru Zane's production of Lecocq's La Fille de Madame Angot , with Anne-Catherine Gillet, Artavadz Sargsyan, Mathias Vidal (who seems to be in nearly everything these days), Véronique Gens... and the Paris Chamber Orchestra under Sébastien Rouland. 'Long live Angot's daughter!' writes the critic. 'Thanks to the Palazzetto Bru Zane, Lecocq's masterpiece has at last its reference version (...) To be listened to urgently.' The cast is said to be 'flawless' and 'As always with the Palazzetto, the libretto is printed in full, with enlightening introductory texts. So there's every reason for this complete recording, head and shoulders above the sparse catalogue, to become a reference.'

Bozar, Brussels, Sunday October 17 2021 Conductor: Alain Altinoglu. Stella: Tineke Van Ingelgem. Geertrui: Christianne Stotijn. Ivo Mariën: Yves Saelens. Petrus: Werner Van Mechelen. Bolten: Kris Belligh. Frederik: Gilles Van Der Linden. La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra. La Monnaie's 'post-Covid' season opened, for me at any rate, with this rare work, Lodewijk Mortelmans' De Kinderen der Zee , performed in Flemish at the Bozar hall in concert. The occasion wasn't altogether auspicious, as one or several members of the chorus had tested positive and the work was therefore performed without them. Yet, oddly in the circumstances, though proof of vaccination had to be shown, masks weren't mandatory in the auditorium. I see Mortelmans was a respected Lieder composer, and was indeed at times annoyed to be pigeonholed as such. The work is an accomplished, rip-roaring 1915 'sea-symphony' kind of score, with lots of chromatic runs and sparkling woodwind and trills ...

ONP Paris-Bastille, Thursday October 14 2021 Conductor: Ingo Metzmacher. Production: Wajdi Mouawad. Sets: Emmanuel Clolus. Costumes: Emmanuelle Thomas. Make-up, hairdressing and headwear: Cécile Kretschmar. Lighting: Éric Champoux. Video: Stéphane Pougnand. Œdipe: Christopher Maltman. Tirésias: Clive Bayley. Créon: Brian Mulligan. Le berger: Vincent Ordonneau. Le grand prêtre: Laurent Naouri. Phorbas/Le Veilleur: Nicolas Cavallier. Thésée: Adrian Timpau. Laïos: Éric Huchet. Jocaste: Ekaterina Gubanova. La Sphinge: Clémentine Margaine. Antigone: Anna-Sophie Neher. Mérope: Anne Sofie von Otter. Une Thébaine: Daniela Entcheva. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine, Paris Opera children’s chorus. I first saw Oedipe in Brussels, almost exactly ten years ago , and was impressed: 'This, for me, was a major discovery of the kind I haven’t made since Die tote Stadt or (to a lesser extent) Die Gezeichneten . It should appeal to anyone who enjoys ...

  October's recording of the month in France's Opéra Magazine , 'Diamond'-rated, is Michael Spyres' Baritenor album, with the chorus of the Opéra National du Rhin and the Strasbourg Philharmonic, conducted by Marko Letonja, on Erato. 'The Fregoli of the opera,' says the magazine. 'A regular performer of supposedly unsingable roles, the American tenor takes up an even crazier challenge with his new recital. And succeeds! (...) For it isn't just the voice. Whatever the language, the fusion of singing with text, founded on perfect diction, leaves us breathless. Each character is drawn with a permanent commitment to dramatic truth (the imitation of Figaro's clients in " Largo al factotum"  is simply stupefying!)...'

  Every month, France's Opéra Magazine rates new recordings (CD and video) on a scale from 1 to 5 and hands out the occasional ' Diamant ' ('Diamond') award to what it considers exceptional ones, for whatever reason. This month, its 'coup de coeur', complete with a ' Diamant ', is the DVD, on Orange Mountain Music, of the Met's Phelim McDermott production of Glass's Satyagraha . 'To the glory of Philip Glass. Satyagraha , one of the prolific American composer's most successful operas, appears at last in a reference version.' French critics are obsessed with these 'reference versions', and the text rubs it in at the end: 'An indispensable reference, and for a long time to come ' (my italics). Apparently the writer is blessed with the gift of clairvoyance.

Photos © Barbara Aumüller Every month, France's Opéra Magazine rates new recordings (CD and video) on a scale from 1 to 5 and hands out the occasional ' Diamant ' ('Diamond') award to what it considers exceptional ones, for whatever reason. This month, its ' coup de coeur ', complete with a ' Diamant ', is a 3-CD set of Schreker's Der ferne Klang,  recorded in Frankfurt. Sebastian Weigle conducts the Frankfurt Opera, with Magnus Baldvinsson, Barbara Zechmeister, Jennifer Holloway, Nadine Secunde...  Opéra Magazine 's reviewer regrets that there is no DVD, as Michieletto's production was 'as technically accomplished as its characterisations were analytical...' Nevertheless, this recording is a ' référence ' version (the French critics love those) in the Schreker catalogue, 'A very great historical moment for the Frankfurt Opera, with Der ferne Klang 's dazzling return, almost exactly one century later, to the city ...

Photo © Elisa Haberer/OnP The Paris Opera's Tcherniakov production of The Snow Maiden , which I saw in May 2017 , is now available on video (BelAir Classiques). The July issue of France's Opéra Magazine says this was a ' 'Formidable spectacle on the Opera Bastille's vast plateau' and asks 'how, finally, could anyone fail to melt before Snegurochka as portrayed by Aida Garifullina, whom Paris discovered at the time in a rôle that seemed tailor-made for the spun gold of her voice?' I see it's also available in full on YouTube . No telling how long that will last, so see it while you can! Here it is:

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Wednesday June 23 2021 Conductor: Christophe Grapperon. Production, sets, costumes: Pierre-André Weitz. Lighting: Bertrand Killy. Choreography: Ivanka Moizan. Dindonette: Laura Neumann. Fleur-de-Noblesse: Ingrid Perruche. La Marquise: Olivier Py. Éclosine: Sandrine Slutter. Mariette: Clémentine Bourgoin. Françoise: Sophie Calmel-Elcourt. La Sentinelle: Alma Villard. Alexandrivore: Damien Bigourdan. Géromé: Pierre Lebon. Le Bailli: Jean-Damien Barbin. Le Marquis: Flannan Obé. Ernest: David Ghilardi. Chavassus: Antoni Sykopoulos. Roussin: Sévag Tachdjian. Le Duc d’en Face: Pierre-André Weitz. Dancer: Julien Mercier. Châtelet Chorus. Orchestre Pasdeloup.  Of all the Palazzetto Bru Zane's 'restoration' projects, the one that's brought me the most pleasure has been their revival of Opéra Bouffe , especially the madcap works of the extraordinary Hervé. As Covid restrictions are lifted, Paris theatres are opening again, albeit not to full capac...

This evening I decided it was time to watch the Birmingham Opera Company's 'reinvention' of Lady Macbeth,  made available by OperaVision on YouTube . According to the blurb: 'Birmingham Opera Company's 50th production relocates Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to a disused, iconic nightclub where, amidst the 150 volunteer actors and chorus, audience members encountered bloody brides, oversized rats and poisoned wedding guests. Accompanied on stage by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a band from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and with a radical set design by the Banksy collaborators Block 9, "the production is perhaps its most brilliant so far" (The Observer).' The audience certainly seem to enjoy it, and I see The Guardian gave it five stars , calling it 'a blast of pure energy.' The production, with its injection of community involvement, makes up to some extent for occasional shortcomings among the voices (closely, i.e. unkindly, mi...

Cadmus et Hermione  at the Opéra-Comique in 2008 Every month, France's  Opéra Magazine  rates new recordings (CD and video) on a scale from 1 to 5 and dishes out the occasional ' Diamant ' ('Diamond') to what it considers exceptional ones, for whatever reason. This month, its ' coup de coeur ', complete with a ' Diamant ', is a 2-CD set of Lully's Cadmus et Hermione conducted by Vincent Dumestre, on the Versailles Spectacles label. The review begins (my translation): 'After the sumptuous production at the Opéra-Comique in January 2008, then the acclaimed release of the show on DVD by Alpha Classics, Vincent Dumestre now offers us a Cadmus and Hermione of rare quality, without the visual trappings. With the help of highly inspired singers, he has made up for his first approach, which was somewhat overdone and vocally under-cast. For, let us say it straight out, the voices assembled for this studio recording, in November 2019, are far more co...

Every month, France's  Opéra Magazine  rates new recordings (CD and video) on a scale from 1 to 5 and dishes out the occasional ' Diamant ' ('Diamond') to what it considers exceptional ones, for whatever reason. This month, its ' coup de coeur ', complete with a ' Diamant ', is a DVD of Gay & Pepusch's The Beggar's Opera , in a 2018 production by Robert Carsen, with William Christie conducting. The reviewer writes 'A glittering success (...) A breath of fresh air (and almost of laughing gas) in these gloomy times: who's to say no?' Here's a trailer:

Puzzling Dido from Geneva this evening. I don't know what to make of it. I'm sure some people I know would call it ' foutage de gueule ' (a mockery, a wind-up...). And I don't usually like directors to chop a score up and/or add things of their own; nor do I usually care much for distracting dancers having fits all over the place... But I get the feeling I'll probably read up on it tomorrow, if I find time, and perhaps watch again. Thinking through this kind of production is more interesting to me than sitting through, say, McVicar's  Adriana Lecouvreur  or nearly any of the stuff I've seen in the past year from Vienna. Despite the weak (not to say risible) additional texts, there were some powerful moments - more so dramatically than musically. I was surprised Haïm wasn't a bit livelier.  This is the link to the replay on arte.tv. This is the link to the programme notes. Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm. Production and choreography: Franck Chartier (Pe...

In a blind test earlier this year, France Musique's panel of record critics decided that Marek Janowski's 1992 recording of Messiaen's Turangalila,  with Roger Murano, Valérie Hartmann-Claverie and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, was the best overall. They also liked Chung's, which I already had, but dismissed it on account of what they agreed unanimously was inadequate sound quality. With my tin ears, I hadn't noticed. Janowski's recording isn't easy to get hold of: I first ordered it in February, but it never arrived and in the end my money was refunded - without any notice: I only found out by chance when looking at my account. (That reminds me of a great cartoon from Modern Toss , which I'll post at the end, below.) I ordered the CDs again, from a different source, and at last, this week, they showed up, and I now have the set on my iPad so I can listen in the cemetery next door on sunny days like today. (Messiaen is not buried in Père ...

  Photo: Stofleth 'C'est un Rubens, un fameux Rubens... Elle est robuste, elle est naïve, sa grâce est quelque peu massive...' Two or three years ago, the Opéra de Lyon staged Offenbach's Barbe-Bleue in a production by Laurent Pelly, whose La Belle Hélène and La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein , many years ago now, were unforgettable. Perhaps this is the work that should rightly be paired with Bartok's, so we can make learned comparisons. I decided to watch it tonight, on France.TV's website. The site requires you to register, but it's easy to do and free of charge, and once it's done it's done. Here's the cast: Conductor: Michele Spotti. Production and costumes: Laurent Pelly. Sets: Chantal Thomas: Lighting: Joël Adam. Barbe-Bleue: Yann Beuron. Prince Saphir: Carl Ghazarossian. Fleurette: Jennifer Courcier. Boulotte: Héloïse Mas. Popolani: Christophe Gay. King Bobeche: Christophe Mortagne. Count Oscar: Thibault de Damas. Queen Clémentine: Aline ...

I was recently bemused to see Shostakovich's The Nose described as 'rather tedious' in a blog thread that initially recommended a production of Cavalleria Rusticana , one of the most tedious operas I can think of, as 'interesting'. As I haven't seen the Shostakovich for ages (unlike Cav , I'm sorry to say), I decided to run a search on YT and was delighted to find Barrie Kosky's Covent Garden production available there in full. The cast is led by the amazing Martin Winkler: Conductor: Ingo Metzmacher. Platon Kuzmitch Kovalov: Martin Winkler. Ivan Iakovlevitch, Clerk, Doctor: John Tomlinson. Ossipovna, Vendor: Rosie Aldridge. District Inspector: Alexander Kravets. Angry man in the cathedral: Alexander Lewis. Ivan: Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke. Iaryshkin: Peter Bronder. Old Countess: Susan Bickley. Pelageya Podtotshina: Helene Schneiderman. Podtotshina's daughter: Ailish Tynan. Ensemble: Daniel Auchincloss, Paul Carey Jones, Alasdair Elliott, Alan Ew...

I had tickets to see Ann Hallenberg in Mahler's Song of the Earth in Berlin on April 5 2014, but had to cancel the whole trip for work. On April 8, this clip of Ann singing the Abschied was published on YouTube. On April 9, David, at just 27, took his own life and we lost an artist who could, I sincerely believe, even now have brought something quite new to the art of painting. For me, this Abschied has always been, since then, a farewell to David. As Peter Doig said , he will not be forgotten. The following Saturday, on a beautiful sunny day up in the snow-capped mountains: deep blue sky, white blossoms on the trees... I was at his funeral, where the crowd of those who loved him was such that many had to stay outside the church among the mountains of flowers, and inside, this was played:  ' Now I've heard there was a secret chord /  That David played, and it pleased the Lord..'

I continue to find online things I never knew existed or thought I'd never see again. Today it's Britten's Gloriana starring Anna Caterina Antonacci, which I flew to Madrid to see in 2018. Photo: Javier del Real 'As an unusually gripping tragic actress and an unusually subtle singer, Anna Caterina Antonacci has “form” - and a devoted, if discreet, following. As Elizabeth I, she surpassed herself in her personification of the ageing queen, in gait and posture, gestures and facial expressions, and myriad vocal inflections… 'In terms of volume, she was at her limit in a house the size of the Real. But the point here was not to blast and bludgeon her way through the part, but, through vocal subtlety, as usual, to deliver a convincing portrait of a complex, changing character. This was, physically and vocally, an operatic performance of a kind we rarely get to see. It was a privilege to witness.' My account is here in full . This is the link to the video .

I had no idea this was out there!  

Every month, France's Opéra Magazine rates new recordings (CD and video) on a scale from 1 to 5 and dishes out the occasional ' Diamant ' ('Diamond') to what it considers exceptional ones, for whatever reason. This month, its ' coup de coeur ' is Lise Davidsen's new recital of Beethoven, Wagner and Verdi. Here's a clip from YouTube :

' For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ' (at any rate I hope so.) ' The flowers appear on the earth ...' So it's a good day to see this classic mid-80s Glyndebourne production of Albert Herring again. I'm glad to find it's still available in full on YT . I suppose Albert Herring must have been the first Britten opera I really got to know - I was in the pit for a production when I was an undergraduate. By the time I got to Peter Grimes and the others, I was already in France. The production's by Peter Hall, Haitink conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the cast is as follows: Lady Billows: Patricia Johnson Florence Pike: Felicity Palmer Miss Wordsworth: Elizabeth Gale Mr Gedge: Derek Hammond-Stroud Mr Upfold: Alexander Oliver Superintendent Budd: Richard Van Allan Sid: Alan Opie Albert Herring: John Graham-Hall Nancy: Jean Rigby Mrs Herring: Patricia Kern Emmie: Maria Bovino Cis: Bernadette Lord Harry: Richard Peachey. Alber...

A thoughtful friend sent me a link to a new and varied recital on Swedish Radio by Ann Hallenberg with a little continuo group: Mariangiola Martello, Mime Brinkmann and Karl Nyhlin. I'm listening to it right now. There's a little bit of talking after the first piece and occasionally between sets, but persevere, this is a lovely programme. This is the link . The programme is as follows: 1. Claudio Monteverdi: Si' dolce è'l tormento 2. Giovanni Felice Sances: Accenti queruli 3. Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger: Canario 4. Tarquinio Merula: Canzonetta sopra la nanna 5. Francesco Geminiani: Cellosonat nr. 5 i F dur 6. Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger: Toccata 9 7. Claudio Monteverdi: Ur L'incoronazione di Poppea "Disprezzata regina" 8. Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata prima 9. Paolo Rolli: Solitario bosco ombroso 10. Antonio Vivaldi: Ur Juditha Triumphans "Transit Aetas" 11. Domenico Gabrielli: Sonata in G 12. Johann Philipp Krieger: An die Ensamkeit 13. R...

I was quite surprised to come, almost by accident, across this full-length video of Paris's Damnation , with Jonas Kaufmann and Sophie Koch. Amazing what you find on YouTube , and I wonder how long it will stay up (though it's already survived four years, so...). I really liked this production, by Alvis Hermanis, when so many people didn't, complaining about copulating snails and so on ('It has also led to memorable, near-historic levels of booing, heckling and exchanged insults, even during the show, forcing Philippe Jordan to intervene from time to time to quieten people down.') I wrote about it here .

Rummaging about on the website of Swedish Radio, as one so often does, I came across this 2019 performance of Giulio Cesare from Ambronay, presumably the same concert as the one I missed, because of work 😡, at the Champs Elysées. It will be my evening's listening. It actually starts at 8 minutes 20 in. The cast is as follows: Cesare: Christopher Lowrey Cleopatra: Karina Gauvin Cornelia: Eve-Maud Hubeaux Sesto: Ann Hallenberg Tolomeo: Kaxper Szelazek Achilla: Ashley Riches ' Les talens lyriques ' are conducted by Christophe Rousset.

The Paris Opera is now renting out some of its productions at 7.90 euros a pop (why 7.90 and not 8 or 10 I don't know but that's their business). I've attended and written about most of their selection, which pointedly does not include some things I'd most like to see again: Warlikowski's Makropoulos and Parsifal - yes, for Warlikowski, even I would pay for Parsifal - both of which have sunk without trace.  One of the works up for rental is Graham Vick's odd 2015 take on Chausson's Le Roi Arthus . Odd to watch, but as I remember it, Jordan's most magnificent heure de gloire as music director here. I may well rent it one evening this week and watch it over a bowl of beans or pasta. This is the link to my article about it . And this is the link to the 'Opéra chez soi' (opera at home) selection on the ONP's website. ©Andrea Messana/OnP

I mentioned in an earlier post that the Palazzetto Bru Zane's recent issue of Reynaldo Hahn's Ô mon bel inconnu was declared pick of the month in the March edition of Opéra Magazine . The Palazzetto has been as generous as usual in posting it on YouTube . A treat, especially for those who can follow the French, but not for the 'woke'. If all goes well, this link should lead to the playlist . The Palazzetto Bru Zane's website , which is full of treasures, including a 'radio station' of French romantic-era music, gives this text, in English, about the work: The hatter, Prosper Aubertin, dissatisfied with the daily grind of his bourgeois life, dreams of having extramarital affairs. However, he is annoyed to find propositions from his wife, daughter and maid among the replies to an anonymous personal ad he had placed in the agony column. To find out what these women really want, he invites them all to a villa in the south of France. “This is a bourgeois tr...

The arte.tv website is still offering the Paris Opera's new production of Aida , by Lotte de Beer, one of the numerous recent (and less recent) productions using puppets that I mentioned in my post about Titon et l'Aurore . In this case, it isn't a total success, but it's interesting in particular to see how the director handles the ballets and manages to introduce some humour into her critique of 19th century imperialism. I might add that while I don't know if these offerings are officially available outside Europe, everyone knows there are ways to get round regional restrictions. https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/100855-001-A/giuseppe-verdi-aida/