We left at the interval...

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.