Author Archives: John

So – it finally happened! After 14 and a half months, yesterday I was at a full scale opera again , at Covent Garden. The last time I heard an opera, or indeed an orchestra, was the Marriage of Figaro, given by Opera North on 14 March 2020 at the Salford Lowry Theatre……..Since then –Continue reading “La Clemenza di Tito ROHCG 23/5/21”

After months of hibernation, I have booked a whole range of concerts and operas to see in May, June, July and August. We’ll see how much of this actually happens. I’m – in theory – ready to spring into action as below, and plan to go to: ROHCG – La Clemenza di Tito Halle OrchestraContinue reading “Ready, steady, and ??go…..”

At the Manchester Wagner Society we had a great talk last week about Sir Adrian Boult and ‘what might have been’ if he had been given the chance to conduct more Wagner. The talk was given by Adrian Brown, a student of Sir Adrian’s, a finalist in the von Karajan conducting competition and a veryContinue reading “Sir Adrian Boult and Wagner”

I listened the other day to the Wigmore Hall live stream of the Bach Goldberg Variations played by Pavel Kolesnikov  (271) Pavel Kolesnikov – At Wigmore Hall – YouTube I find this an endlessly absorbing work. I am not qualified to comment on Kolesnikov’s pianistic competence but it seems to me a fine performance. IContinue reading “Goldberg Variations”

I laid out a not inexpensive but thoroughly worthwhile £19 or so on a digital link to the Melbourne Opera recent performance of Das Rheingold which they were streaming for a few days – I had been interested to see it as a result of emailed conversations on Manchester Wagner Society business with its conductorContinue reading “Das Rheingold – Melbourne Digital Concert Hall February 2021”

I spent an hour and a half (!) yesterday with a Youtube video of Sergiu Celibidache and the Munich Philharmonic performing Bruckner 5 in 1985. (260) Anton Bruckner Symphony No 5 in B-flat Major – Sergiu Celibidache, MPO, 1985 – YouTube This is a VERY slow performance, a full 9 minutes longer than Abbado, alsoContinue reading “Celibidache’s Bruckner 5”

This was broadcast on Radio 3 at the end of January – I think it’s also on Youtube. The I-Player link is BBC Radio 3 – Radio 3 in Concert, To the memory of an angel. I was interested to hear this as, had the pandemic allowed, I was supposed to see this concert atContinue reading “Rattle Schubert 9 – LSO, January 2021”

Remarkably I have never seen or heard a note of Wagner’s Rienzi beyond the overture. While it’s not too much of a disgrace for a Wagnerian in the UK to say they’ve never seen a live performance, it is available to watch on Youtube, and on Friday I decided to take the plunge – 51Continue reading “Rienzi”

I have been catching up on parts of my MP3 collection that I bought a while ago and haven’t really listened to much. Amng them are some collections of music by Gerald Finzi. His large scale works – Clarinet Concerto and Cello Concerto – I know fairly well and I really like them – melancholy,Continue reading “Gerald Finzi”

One of the books I got for Christmas was ‘Wagnerism’ by Alex Ross – Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music: Amazon.co.uk: Ross, Alex: 9780007319053: Books I am now about 75% of the way through it – it is a fascinating, if exhausting, read. Essentially it is a history of European culture fromContinue reading “For your reading list 1”