We left at the interval...

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 ...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Wednesday December 11 2013 Conductor: Emmanuel Krivine. Production and lighting: Georges Lavaudant. Sets and costumes: Jean-Pierre Vergier. Manfred: Pascal Rénéric. The Witch, The Phantom of Astarte: Astrid Bas. Destinies and Spirits: Anneke Luyten, Sarah Jouffroy, Olivier Dumait, Norman Patzke, Luc Bertin Hugault, Geoffroy Buffière, Cyrille Gautreau. The Abbot of St Maurice: Max Delor. Chorus: Les Eléments. La Chambre Philharmonique. It will not last, But it is well to have known it, though but once: It hath enlarged my thoughts with a new sense, And I within my tablets would note down That there is such a feeling. R. Schumann So here I am, noting down my feelings. It was the oft-mocked Marie-Aude Roux, in Le Monde , who spotted how neatly those lines from Manfred might apply to Schumann's work. "Contemporaneous with the opera Genoveva , the score rejects scenic pragmatism so as to better explore the possibilities of musical expression com...