We left at the interval...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Tuesday March 26 2013 Conductor: Pascal Rophé. Production: Ludovic Lagarde. Sets: Antoine Vasseur. Video: Lidwine Prolonge. Costumes: Fanny Brouste. Lighting: Sébastien Michaud. Contessa Susanna; Elle: Anna Caterina Antonacci. Conte Gil: Vittorio Prato. Sante: Bruno Danjoux. Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. The double bill of Il segreto di Susanna and La Voix Humaine is a good example of the Opéra Comique’s interesting programming, making up for less interesting schedules at the ONP in recent seasons and the near abandon of opera - temporarily, perhaps - at the Châtelet. Of course I’d never had a chance to see the former. Less obviously, in over 30 years of opera in Paris I’d never even seen the quintessentially Parisian Poulenc. Inevitably, this being so, I had Denise Duval in my mind and ears. Poulenc Fortunately, Anna-Caterina Antonacci was completely different in almost every way: different yet perfect, bringing a role fairly firmly anchor...

La Monnaie at Bozar, Brussels, Sunday March 24 2013 Conductor: Evelino Pidò. Juliette: Nino Machaidze. Stéphano: Angélique Noldus. Gertrude: Carole Wilson. Roméo: John Osborn. Tybalt: Tansel Akzeybek. Benvolio: Stefan Cifolelli. Mercutio: Lionel Lhote. Le Comte Pâris: Alexandre Duhamel. Grégorio: Nabil Suliman. Le Comte Capulet: Paul Gay. Frère Laurent: Jérôme Varnier. Le Duc de Vérone: Patrick Bolleire. Manuela: Amalia Avilán. Pepita: Kinga Borowska. Angelo: Marc Coulon. Frère Jean: Pascal Macou. Orchestra and Chorus of La Monnaie. Vlaams Radio Koor. Reflection. Concert performance There’s a certain kind of opera classed in my mind alongside Massenet’s Esclarmonde . Works, that is, that need top-rate performances to, well, work. Joan Sutherland’s famous recording of Esclarmonde does; an Esclarmonde put on by the local amateur operatic society on a shoestring budget probably wouldn’t. At the Opéra Comique some years back, it was decidedly unconvincing. The risk, with a superla...

Staatsoper Unter den Linden im Schiller Theater, Berlin, Thursday March 14 2013 Conductor: David Robert Coleman. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes: Małgorzata Szczęśniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Video: Denis Guéguin. Trulove: Jan Martiník. Anne: Adriana Kucerová. Tom Rakewell: Stephan Rügamer. Nick Shadow: Gidon Saks. Mother Goose: Birgit Remmert. Baba the Turk: Nicolas Ziélinski. Sellem: Erin Caves. Keeper of the madhouse: Gyula Orendt. Staatskapelle Berlin. Staatsopernchor. Stravinsky This production of The Rake’s Progress was covered so well and in such depth by Opera Cake in 2010 that it hardly seems necessary for me to add anything, other than that I had a partly different cast. It can't have been easy for Opera Cake : once again, Krzysztof Warlikowski's production was typically... What's the word? A web? A tapestry? Kaleidoscopic? Whatever the word is for involving a profusion of ideas and details, themes, images, symbols, actions, a...

La Monnaie at the Cirque Royal, Brussels, Sunday March 3 2013 Conductor: Julian Reynolds. Production: Guy Joosten. Sets: Johannes Leiacker. Costumes: Jorge Jara. Lighting: Manfred Voss. Don Alfonso, Duca di Ferrara: Paul Gay. Donna Lucrezia Borgia: Elena Mosuc. Gennaro: Charles Castronovo. Maffio Orsini: Silvia Tro Santafé. Jeppo Liverotto: Roberto Covatta. Don Apostolo Gazella: Tijl Faveyts. Ascanio Petrucci: Jean-Luc Ballestra. Gubetta: Jean Teitgen. Rustighello: Alexander Kravets. Astolfo: Justin Hopkins. Oloferno Vitellozzo: Stefan Cifolelli. Usciere: Alain-Pierre Wingelinckx. Un coppiere: Gerard Lavalle. La Monnaie orchestra and chorus . I’ve decided this report will be truffled, as the French say (i.e. like a goose liver or white pudding) with quotations. Though I’ve said before it’s probably not pukka to quote yourself, it saves time; so I started out (you’ll soon see why) going back over my recent write-ups from Brussels, looking for things to copy and paste. Then, perusi...

On Naïve's website you can "preview" a forthcoming release including nine previously unrecorded arias. Händel "The Händel arias and orchestral pieces on this disc span a narrow spectrum from the comparatively unfamiliar to the practically unknown. Nine of the twelve arias are recorded here for the first time, as is the D major March, HWV 416. The arias are mostly arie aggiunte , composed for insertion in later performances of existing operas to accommodate a different cast of singers. Some of these arias have come to light only recently or have previously been inadequately identified. The interspersed instrumental works were produced for purposes still uncertain. Yet despite the sometimes shadowy origins of this music it is all vintage Händel, and arias such as ‘La crudele lontananza’, ‘Sa perché pena il cor’ and ‘Farò così più bella’ rank among the composer’s most eloquent dramatic utterances".

Opéra Comique, Paris, Monday February 18 2013 Conductor: Laurence Equilbey. Production: Michel Fau. Sets: Bernard Fau, Citronelle Dufay. Costumes: David Belugou. Lighting, Joël Fabing. Ciboulette: Julie Fuchs. Duparquet: Jean-François Lapointe. Antonin: Julien Behr. Zénobie: Eva Ganizate. Roger: Ronan Debois. Françoise: Cécile Achille. Monsieur Grenu: Jean-Claude Sarragosse. Madame Grenu: Guillemette Laurens. Auguste-Victor: Patrick Kabongo Mubenga. Le Patron; Le Maire: François Rougier. Grisard: Safir Behloul. Le Lieutenant: Olivier Déjean. Madame Pingret: Bernadette Lafont. La Comtesse de Castiglione: Michel Fau. Le directeur d'opéra: Jérôme Deschamps. Accentus choir. Orchestre symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon. Hahn Operetta seems to be in an odd situation in France. As long as I’ve lived here (i.e. for more than 30 years) I’ve heard the cliché that it’s outdated or “superannuated” yet also - another cliché in French musical journalism over the years - that it deserves ...

Jessye Norman sings " Quelle plainte en ces lieux m'appelle " from Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie , in Aix in 1983.