We left at the interval...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Tuesday October 9 2018 Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Pianist: Denis Matsuev. Wiener Philharmoniker Prokofiev Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet: Montagues and Capulets Juliet as a Young Girl Masks Romeo at the Tomb of Juliet Concerto pour piano n° 2 op. 16 Symphony n° 6 op. 111 This concert with the VPO under Gergiev had a markedly different temperature (or perhaps the word is temperament) from the one last week with the Philharmonia under Salonen. While both were virtuoso performances, naturally, Salonen’s was relatively cool and restrained and the Philharmonia’s sound overall was what I called “matter of fact”, while Gergiev’s thermometer went frequently up to red hot and occasionally - as in the angular (“constructivist”, the programme notes suggested) 6th symphony - white and, just as I said Salonen was not, paroxystic. Yet Gergiev can also do meltingly tender when the work calls for it. As I remarked later to an old lady livin...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Monday October 13 2014 Conductor: Hervé Niquet. Production: Christian Schiaretti. Choreography: Andonis Foniadakis. Sets: Rudy Sabounghi. Costumes: Thibaut Welchlin. Lighting: Laurent Castaingt. Castor: John Tessier. Pollux: Edwin Crossley-Mercer. Télaïre: Omo Bello. Phœbé: Michèle Losier. Jupiter: Jean Teitgen. Mercure, un spartiate, un athlète: Reinoud van Mechelen. Cléone, une ombre heureuse: Hasnaa Bennani. Un grand prêtre: Marc Labonnette. Le Concert Spirituel. Rameau Nothing new, of course, but it’s still funny how widely opinions on opera differ, making you wonder if there’s any value in reading or hearing anyone else’s. As I left the Théâtre des Champs Elysées last night, one friend I ran into exclaimed “I hated every minute!” But another simply said “On ne va pas bouder son plaisir” – literally “We aren’t going to pout (or pull faces) at our pleasure”, meaning even if the evening hadn’t been perfect, it would be fastidious deliberat...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Wednesday March 19 2014 Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer op. 19 Chausson: Poème for violin and orchestra op. 25 Paganini: I Palpiti for violin and orchestra, after Rossini's Tancredi Schumann: Symphony n° 2 op. 61 Ann Hallenberg: mezzo-soprano. Laurent Korcia: violin. Jean-Jacques Kantorow: conductor. Orchestre de chambre de Paris Chausson In the last few years I've drifted away from concert halls and spent my time (and pots of hard-earned money) almost exclusively in opera houses. This is no doubt a mistake: hours and hours of second-rate music indifferently performed have probably corrupted my taste irretrievably. So my opinion on concerts should be taken with a big pinch of salt. This one, it seemed to me, was odd and frustrating. The combination of works was odd enough. But the order they were played in was odder still. It seemed unfair on Ann Hallenberg to have her start with the strangest and most demanding ...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Wednesday May 15 2013 In concert Conductor: Eduardo López Banzo. Agrippina: Ann Hallenberg. Nerone: Vivica Genaux. Poppea: María Espada. Ottone: Carlos Mena. Claudio: Luigi De Donato. Pallante: Enrique Sánchez Ramos. Lesbo: Elías Benito. Narciso: José Hernández Pastor. Al Ayre Español. It may sound unlikely, but the little corner of the baroque music world I have access to via Facebook has been hooked, over the past few days, on the Eurovision semi-finals. This includes at least one (who admitted to watching in pyjamas in bed – probably with a beer in one hand and a bag of crisps in the other), maybe more and possibly all of those singing in Agrippina at the Champs Elysées on Wednesday. So… … here are We Left At The Interval 's votes for the Agrippina Song Contest. Händel Twelve points go to Ann Hallenberg and Vivica Genaux - Anne Hallenberg et Vivica Genaux: douze points . Just as, not so long ago, if you saw Béatrice Uria...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Wednesday 12 December 2012 Conductor: Christophe Rousset. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets & Costumes: Malgorzata Szczesniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Video design: Denis Guéguin. Médée: Nadja Michael. Jason: John Tessier. Dircé: Elodie Kimmel. Créon: Vincent Le Texier. Néris: Varduhi Abrahamyan. Servante 1: Ekaterina Isachenko. Servante 2: Anne-Fleur Inizan. Les Talens Lyriques. Chorus of Radio France. Pourquoi tant de haine ? (part 2) This is a production I already wrote about when I saw it in 2011 in Brussels , so I don't need to go into much extra detail here. In Brussels it was not booed; at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, it was both booed and heckled (to be specific, the booing started during "Oh Carol" at the end of act two), perhaps because the Champs Elysées audience often contains a fair contingent of conservative bourgeois from the leafy western suburbs, more used to more conventional productions of Mozart. ...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday June 24 2011. Conductor: Jérémie Rhorer. Sally Matthews, soprano. Ann Hallenberg, mezzo-soprano. Rainer Trost, tenor. Nahuel di Pierro, bass. Le Cercle de l'Harmonie. Choeur Les Eléments. I thought I’d better dash off a brief account of last night’s Mozart concert today, as tomorrow I have five hours of Meyerbeer in Brussels and may find myself with a lot more to write about. The magnificent C Minor Mass , so magnificent even I have a recording of it, was preceded by the smaller-scale and less magnificent Solemn Vespers , though they do contain one smash hit for the soprano. I was, for once (and by accident; if I’d paid more attention I would have chosen seats elsewhere), on the front row. This naturally brings you a bit too close for comfort to the people on stage - at such close range they are all too human: you can see the un-hemmed trousers, the hairy nostrils, the state of their shoes (in baroque orchestras, usually terrible) the ...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Monday May 9 2011 Conductor: Christophe Rousset. Ann Hallenberg, mezzo soprano. Les Talens Lyriques. Works by Broschi, Johann-Christian Bach, Porpora, Giacomelli, Hasse and Leo To avoid a single, solemn ceremony, we were told in a speech at the start of this concert, when celebrating their twentieth anniversary, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques have chosen to tour a beautifully crafted concert of 18th-century gems, including a generous (the unfortunate singer might well say gruelling) selection of arias composed for Farinelli, who – because of the film - played an important part in the group’s performing history. I’m not usually a great recital fan, either on disc or in concert, as I find a whole evening of arias a bit like eating a box of chocolates in one sitting. But in this case, having, for one reason or another, recently been mightily impressed by clips of Swedish mezzo Ann Hallenberg on YouTube (after recently being mightily...

"Opéra de Chambre" Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday May 4 2007 Pietro Antonio Giramo: La Pazza Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento d’Arianna Barbara Strozzi: Lagrime mie Claudio Monteverdi: Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda Production: Juliette Deschamps. Costumes: Christian Lacroix. Anna Caterina Antonacci. Soloists of the Cercle de l’Harmonie under Julien Chauvin. A single sentence found on the web sums up this rather intense evening: “ Era la notte presents four highly emotional, seventeenth-century Italian works, sung with commanding theatricality by Anna Caterina Antonacci.” Presented as a “chamber opera”, the performance is really a staged recital of works composed between 1620 and 1650, united by period but also by the the theme of destructive, mostly amorous, passion. The production is simple. The stage is nearly bare, with just a strip of water at the apron changing colour, from blue to blood red, depending on variations in the “old master” style lighting tha...

Théatre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday March 16 2007 Conductor: Christophe Rousset. Production and sets: Lukas Hemleb. Choreography: Andrew George. Ariodante: Angelika Kirchschlager. Polinesso: Vivica Genaux. Ginevra: Danielle De Niese. Dalinda: Jaël Azzaretti. Lurcanio: Topi Lehtipuu. Il Re: Olivier Lallouette. Odoardo: Nicolas Maire. Les Talens Lyriques. “Indignities for a pittance”. It’s highly unlikely Ivy Compton-Burnett ever danced in an opera, but her terse definition of work must strike a chord in the careworn hearts of those who do. How often, over the years, have we all felt sorry for those poor, cute kids: so much hard work, such beautiful bodies, only to be forced to look ridiculous in front of 1,000 people who wished you weren’t there at all, and smile as you get booed at the end. Presumably for a pittance, too. Lukas Hemleb’s production of Ariodante has had particularly mixed reviews, ranging from pure panning to sheer ecstasy - though any praise for the ballets has b...

Théatre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday October 27 2006 Conductor: Sir Colin Davis. Isabelle Cals, mezzo-soprano. Pavol Breslik, tenor. Kyle Ketelsen, bass-baritone. Orchestre National de France. Chorus of Radio France. Last week’s Berlioz binge continued with the indefinable Roméo et Juliette . The orchestre national was on cracking form under Sir Colin Davis. From the very start, it was plain from his laid-back stance and economic, matter-of-fact gestures that Sir Colin was totally in charge, and plain that the orchestra were determined to enjoy themselves – it’s rare to see them smiling and swaying along to the music like that. The strings were crisp and fresh yet tender, like rose petals, and played perfectly together (it doesn’t go without saying). The woodwind band was gorgeous as usual, and the brass were unusually firm and ripe. The Radio France chorus was sumptuous as ever, though you couldn’t tell a word they were singing. And we had three very decent soloists, thou...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday October 20 2006 Conductor: Christophe Rousset. Production: Irina Brook. Giulio Cesare: Andreas Scholl. Cleopatra: Rosemary Joshua. Cornelia: Sonia Prina. Sesto: Alice Coote. Tolomeo: Franco Fagioli. Achilla: Mario Cassi. Les Talens Lyriques. This production has had very mixed reviews; perhaps it was because it was such a mixed bag. Let’s start with what looked on paper like a dream cast. They certainly weren’t a nightmare; in fact, they were very nearly very good indeed. But somehow the evening lacked real thrills. Best of all was Alice Coote as Sesto (so this is the second time this season that Sesto has come out on top, the first being with Elina Garanca in La Clemenza di Tito ). Apart from having a very fine voice (and leaving aside some hesitation over the highest notes), she seems to transcend “mere” acting to project genuine feeling – leading to some odd audience behaviour: a loud clap at the end of the first section of a da capo ...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Saturday July 1 2006 Prelude to act 1, act 2 complete, prelude to act 3 and Liebestod Conductor: Kurt Masur. Isolde: Deborah Voigt. Tristan: Jon Ketilsson. Brangäne: Iris Vermillion. Kurwenal/Melot: Eika-Wilm Schulte. Marke: Georg Zeppenfeld. Orchestre national de France. Having followed her career with pleasure and travelled to places like London, Vienna and New York to hear more of her than simply in Paris, I had been worried by what I heard of Deborah Voigt’s Tosca at the Met, after her gastric bypass and amazing “downsizing”. So when Radio France sent out a letter announcing a concert not scheduled at the start of the season, I got tickets. I’m glad to be able to report, to the many of you holding your breath till now, that though her voice has changed, it has not changed much; and though, physically, she has shrunk amazingly, the vocal changes might be just those that come with age. Of course, I’m basing this on just one recent hearing, but for w...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, March 8 2005   La Bellezza: Veronica Cangemi. Il Piacere: Ann Hallenberg. Il Disinganno: Sonia Prina. Il Tempo: Pavol Breslik. Le Concert d’Astrée under Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor.   The Triumph of Time and Greed, or Impatience Punished   You may remember (but probably don’t) that in December I reviewed another Händel concert by Emmanuelle Haïm and her gang. I wrote “It’s a long time since I heard quite such an ‘unreconstructed’ HIP ensemble” and was, apparently not alone in my opinion, as on a French bulletin board someone commented that in a single concert Ms Haïm had cancelled out 30 years of progress in baroque performance practice. This time they were back with a gorgeously elaborate and Italianate cantata, a 150-minute allegorical debate between beauty, pleasure, time and disillusion. The last two win, of course. Well, the orchestra was a good deal better than on December 4. For a start, there were more instruments - safety in number...

Théâtre des Champs Elysés - December 3 2004 Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm. Veronica Cangemi, soprano. Le Concert d'Astrée. Bach: Suite n° 3 en ré mineur BWV 1068; Cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51. Händel: Concerto grosso op. 6 n° 1; Il Delirio Amoroso . Grazie, obbligato. If I begin another review with the words “comparisons are odious” I no doubt run the risk of being chased off this blog forever. But at last night’s Bach and Händel concert at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, both the programme and the circumstances invited comparison. The former, by placing Emmannuelle Haïm and her young orchestra squarely in the lineage of Les Arts Florissants and Les Musiciens du Louvre. The latter, because Veronica Cangemi was replacing Natalie Dessay, who has cancelled her engagements for a second operation to her vocal chords. Well, Le Concert d’Astrée is not Les Arts Florissants. Händel at his most taxingly virtuoso, live, is not Monteverdi in the studio. And Veronica Cangemi is no...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Tuesday September 23 2003 Conductor: Réne Jacobs. Production: David McVicar. Agrippina: Anna Caterina Antonacci. Nerone: Malena Ernman. Poppea: Miah Persson. Claudio: Lorenzo Regazzo. Ottone: Lawrence Zazzo. Pallante: Antonio Abete. Narciso: Dominique Visse. Lesbo: Lynton Black. Concerto Köln. Just one week after William Christie's voiceless wonders, René Jacobs showed that baroque opera really doesn't have to be like that. David McVicar's production of Ag rippina , shared with Brussels, is on its second outing in Paris. It is, in my opinion, a great modern Händel production, a model of how Händelian opera can be made to work, and work well, as theatre today. Händel The potential for staging this tale of political scheming, corruption and power play like Dynasty is there in the libretto, snide asides and all. Agrippina is the Joan Collins of the show, a tall, dark, glamorous, sexy, rich bitch in little black dress and five-inch heels, a g...