We left at the interval...

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.'