We left at the interval...

' 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/

The Opéra Comique's charming production of Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville's Titon et l'Aurore , which, like a number of recent productions, uses a good deal of puppetry (sky filled with flying sheep...) is still available free of charge for those willing to register as guests on medici.tv : https://www.medici.tv/fr/operas/jean-joseph-cassanea-de-mondonvilles-titon-et-laurore/

As live opera seems unlikely for the time being, I thought I might post the odd thing I've been viewing online. Admittedly, it's taken me more than a year to think of this... Here, for a start, is Cavalli's Ercole Amante , the commercial video of which was awarded a 'Diamond' in March's Opéra Magazine . In the same issue, the Palazzetto Bru Zane's edition of Hahn's Ô mon bel inconnu was pick of the month, CDs and videos confondus .