Wagner, The Flying Dutchman. Opera North, Leeds Grand Theatre: 14/2/25

Robert Hayward, The Dutchman; Layla Claire, Senta; Thomas D. Hopkinson, Daland; Edgaras Montvidas, Erik / Steuermann; Molly Barker, Mary. Garry Walker, Conductor; Annabel Arden, Director; Joanna Parker; Set, Costume & Video Designer; Kevin Treacy, Lighting Designer

I have never in my life been to Leeds before, let alone the Grand Theatre….which is indeed Grand, almost seemingly Coliseum-like in appearance and proportions. I enjoyed my trip!

The basic concept in this new production – much commented on in reviews – is of the Dutchman and his crew as asylum seekers. While Mary, the spinning women (not that there’s any spinning going on here) and Senta are much as they are in other productions, Daland and his crew become Home Office border staff, with lanyards. There are aspects of the work which this approach  enhances – in particular the motivation of Senta, who is gripped with compassion for asylum seekers and whose obsession with the Dutchman is seen in that context. It allows a coup de theatre at the end, where Senta, rather than throwing herself off a cliff picks up oddments of refugee clothing and literally disappears into anonymity – her empathy is so complete she becomes a refugee herself. Each of the three Acts is prefaced by the recorded voice of an actual asylum seeker talking about some of their grim experiences, and this is very powerful. On the other hand, the Dutchman’s character is not really illuminated that much by the asylum seekers concept – and indeed this just seems inappropriate when he’s shoving jewellery into Daland’s capacious pockets. He is not seeking empathy but ‘redemption’ and a release from Satan’s curse, and that, as I’ve said before in this blog, is a hot potato area which directors are uncomfortable about addressing. The asylum seekers concept and the curse fundamentally don’t quite sit with each other. As for Daland’s crew, some of the nautical language can in fact sound like a metaphor for the impact of some of the asylum seekers’ data they’re examining -‘stormy weather, a ‘fair wind’ – but on the whole the music and a lot of the sailing terms make the concept a bit ridiculous. It was not quite clear what Mary and her followers were doing during the Spinning chorus but it could well have been sorting out second-hand clothes for asylum seekers or a charity shop, and this did support the director’s concept – on the other hand, the ghostly chorus, focused as it was on the curse, seemed utterly outside the asylum seeker paradigm, as did the Steersman in his Act 1 song. So the asylum seekers idea is not 100% successful or even a very good fit, and it is at its most awkward in Act 1. On the other hand, it certainly doesn’t get in the way of a very powerful performance of Acts 2 and 3 in this production and at times does illuminate them, and there are resonances in the text which reinforce on occasion the aptness of the concept.

The set was curious – in Acts 1 and 2 the set back cloth was black with two or three grey sail-like pieces of cloth suspended above the stage. There was then a long slightly raised platform upstage which served as a Home Office desk and the Steersman’s bed in Act 1. In Act 3 the essential setting was a bar with glittering lights and a sense of the border guards being quite well off. In all three Acts there were several bundles of what I assume were either asylum seekers’ clothes or perhaps detritus from the small boats, hanging down above the stage. There was extensive use of videos – one of the rolling sea during the Overture with ghostly presences imposed – maybe Senta, maybe asylum seekers; plus several in Act 3 and elsewhere which might have been raids on asylum seekers houses- it wasn’t very clear. The most impressive video was of sets of data constantly scrolling up and down for the Home Office in Act 1.

Musically and dramatically the performance was very strong and overall I enjoyed this far more than the ROHCG one a couple of years ago with Bryn Terfel. The production uses the original three Act version of the work and there are some minor differences from the more familiar later straight-through version used in Bayreuth and Covent Garden. Opera North used the version that ends with the ‘redemption’ theme. Layla Claire was outstanding as Senta. She’s one of those singing actors who automatically become the centre of attention when on stage – striking in appearance, young, she conveyed all of Senta’s obsession. Her crawl across Daland’s dining table towards the Dutchman was mesmerising, and her contribution in Act 3 was about the best I’ve heard live. Her voice was powerful when it needed to be – though maybe she couldn’t quite manage to sing some of her more lyrical phrases quietly or sensitively enough. Robert Hayward, a veteran of many Wagner performances over the last almost 40 years, handled ‘Die Frist ist Um’ very well – better than Terfel when i last heard him – with a commanding top note, and his, and Claire’s contributions were both outstanding in the Act 2 ‘duet’. In his final peroration he was again imposing and impressive in announcing his name. The director had the Dutchman making quite odd-looking somnambulist gestures when moving about that detracted from Hayward’s natural authority rather than the reverse. A plus point for both the Dutchman’s costume and what Senta put on in Act 2, particularly the ‘Wanderer’ like hats, gave them both a sense of otherness which I am sure Wagner wanted. Thomas D Hopkinson replaced Clive Bayley as Daland – sickness – and gave an effective performance. The Lithuanian tenor Edgaras Montvidas gave one of the most convincing and sympathetic portrayals of Erik I have ever seen, with a strong but sweet tenor voice – he very much wasn’t a wimp in this performance. The Opera North chorus were very impressive in the sheer volume they produced and their Act 3 contributions were tight and powerful. The Grand Theatre pit sound, from where I was sitting in the stalls, was oddly dead, and the orchestra occasionally had some wobbles, particularly the horns. Gary Walker’s conducting though was thoroughly supportive of the singers and gave an exciting pulse to the end of Act 2 and the rapidly developing drama of Act 3

LSO, Pappano; Barbican, 9/2/25

Maconchy Nocturne for Orchestra; Walton Cello Concerto; Vaughan Williams Symphony No 1, A Sea Symphony. London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Antonio Pappano conductor; Rebecca Gilliver cello; Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha soprano; Will Liverman baritone, London Symphony Chorus

This was quite a generous programme time-wise – looking at the LSO;s 24/25 season overall I get the sense Tony Pappano likes big meaty programmes………I doubt if I’ve ever heard a note of Elizabeth Maconchy’s music, and I’ve heard the Walton Cello Concerto and the Sea Symphony just once each over the last 4 years or so since the end of lockdown. It was a well-planned programme too, each work in its own way offering an oblique (or not so oblique) commentary on a landscape (and with Maconchy a pupil of RVW) .

Elizabeth Maconchy wrote her Nocturne for Orchestra in 1950, around the mid-point of her career. It’s scored for a big orchestra which allowed for splashes of fully tonal sound in an impressionistic sort of way. The printed score is prefaced by a poem of Coleridge about the moon journeying through the landscape, and there is an arc shape to the work, which is initially tranquil, then becomes uneasy and disturbed , with a heavy tread from the basses, and at the end moves back into tranquillity. I found it quite appealing and would like to explore more of Maconchy’s music given the chance.

I hadn’t realised how ‘late’ Walton’s Cello Concerto was in his output – he composed it between February and October 1956, and it was his first major orchestral piece since the Violin Concerto of 1938–39. I have enjoyed listening to it before – particularly the Prokofiev-like opening and the first movement, the main theme of which returns at the end – and I like its sense of Mediterranean warmth and serenity, as well some of the old spikiness of the Walton of the 30’s, which makes an appearance in the second movement. As far as I could tell, Rebecca Gilliver, the LSO principal cellist, played it very well, and Pappano ensured the orchestra was well balanced in its accompaniment.

Listening to the Sea Symphony in the Barbican made me realise how wonderful the Albert Hall is for this sort of music. The RAH is in general terms an acoustic abomination, but it gives an expansiveness to big choral works (and Bruckner) which they benefit from. The dead acoustic of the Barbican, and the size of choir it can accommodate, really does not do such big works justice. I am convinced that the first movement  – which has the most magnificent choral passages – was played and sung better by Pappano’s performers tonight but I enjoyed Martin Brabbins conducting this movement at the Proms two years ago with the BBCSO far more simply because of the washes and waves (as it were) of sound. Nevertheless, though there wasn’t really the big enveloping of choral sound you need, Pappano’s team performed the first movement very well, with a lovely sweetness to the big tune on the strings at the beginning and crackling energy from everybody when the spray dashed and the wind piped and blew. Where the Barbican did come into its own was in offering me sufficient lighting in the auditorium to read the text of the last three movements. This has always been a bit of a one movement work for me – after the splendours of the opening movement I have tended to switch off. With the text in front of me, I was far more focused on those last three movements. For me, these were wonderfully performed – orchestra and choir seemed to mingle in sound in the second and fourth movements magically, and I love the theme in the third which sounds as though it comes straight out of the English Hymnal. The reflective nature of much of the music seemed to suit the choir well and there were some beautiful interplays between choir and orchestra. I understood the narrative of the 4th movement more clearly than I ever have before and Will Livermore and Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha projected the text and led the last movement’s journey towards the unknown movingly and very beautifully  – in the first movement Ms Rangwanasha has the sort of voice than can sail over orchestra and choir thrillingly but Mr Livermore at times from where I was sitting sounded a bit overwhelmed. Occasionally I felt a bit queasy about the Whitman poetry, but it didn’t matter given the glorious music.

A friend of a friend was enthusing to me in the interval about Pappano’s VW5, performed last year – this Pappano VW cycle seems to be developing impressively. I’m cross I had to miss the 9th, which I have never heard live. Luckily.  I think they’re all being recorded 

Leonkoro Quartet; Stoller Hall, Manchester, 5/2/25

Haydn String Quartet, Op. 50 No. 5 ‘Dream’; Berg Lyric Suite for String Quartet; Ravel String Quartet Op. 35

This String Quartet was founded in Berlin in 2019 and in 2022 they were awarded first prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition. The name means ‘Lionheart’ in Esperanto……..

This was a varied concert. The Quartet interestingly all stood to play apart from the cellist. This gave, I think, an extra zing particularly to the Ravel and Berg. I was also reminded what a nice hall the Stoller is and how good its acoustics are.

The highlight for me was the Ravel Quartet. I am sure I have got this in my CD or MP3 collection but have never consciously heard it before. It’s an early piece and clearly influenced by Debussy – but in the use of old modal folk song sounds it also seemed uncommonly akin to Vaughan Williams – I had not realised that RVW was actually older than Ravel when he studied with him before the First World War. Somehow I have never really got that enthused by Ravel – I like the two piano concertos, La Valse and Les Enfants et des Sortileges but Daphnis and Chloe leaves me a bit cold, I am afraid. Anyway it was good to find another Ravel work I liked, with its wistful first movement and quirky scherzo. The Quartet- not that I am very expert in comparing one quarter with another – seemed to have a very wide dynamic range and the ability to play softly yet distinctly together. I particularly enjoyed the work of the lower strings.

The Berg piece I found hard going. The violin concerto and Wozzeck both have stories with which to frame the 12 tone music and also use late Romantic tonal harmonies in a shadowy way at times – distant, through a glass darkly….. Adorno spoke of this piece as a latent opera – not so profound really given the title of the work….and indeed it was discovered 50 years ago that a secret coded theme in the music revealed the initials of Berg and  Hanna Fuchs Robettin, sister to Franz Werfel, Alma Mahler’s third husband, who had an affair together in the 20s. So this is also framed by a story – of an intense and doubtless unhappy affair (they were both married to someone else). But despite that correlative for the music I lost track of what was happening and I couldn’t sustain my interest. Perhaps I’ll give it another go….The Quartet played it well I thought, with a lot of passion

The Haydn quartet I thought was of course enjoyable but maybe a bit under characterised by the players. Overall I am pleased I went – all these works were new to me…….And the turn-out was good, with enthusiastic cheering at the end. The Quartet played a brief piece as an encore, a sardonic shorter version of La Valse, maybe by Ravel or ?Korngold.

Janacek, Jenufa: ROHCG, 23/1/25

Conductor, Jakub Hrůša; Jenůfa, Corinne Winters; Kostelničke a Buryjovka, Karita Mattila; Števa Buryja, Thomas Atkins; Laca Klemeň, Nicky Spence; Grandmother Buryjovka, Hanna Schwarz; Foreman, James Cleverton; Mayor, Jonathan Lemalu; Mayor’s Wife, Marie McLaughlin; Karolka, Valentina Puskás; Jana, Isabela Díaz
This is the 4th live performance I have heard of Jenufa in the last 4 years, and I am amazed I was 69 years old before I really understood what a great work it is. I saw this production in October 2021, when I queried some parts of the set design while enthusing about the musical aspects. It was much the same this time around. The wide-open set is excellent for producing unsettling phantasmagorical images on the back walls as in the silhouetted disapproving silent ladies of the second act or the cloudy images of tables and chairs of the third, but it had to be said the ENO’s claustrophobic set designs for their new production a year ago – all angles and points – seemed much more suited to plot and music. However, the personen regie of this Covent Garden production is excellent – never melodramatic, always seeming be truthful to what the music as well as the plot is saying. Such was its intensity and realism that someone in the Amphitheatre screamed when Laca slashed Jenufa across her cheek! The choral scenes with the folk music were expertly choreographed.

Musically the truly outstanding aspect of the performance was the orchestral playing conducted by Jakub Hrusa, the (from September) new musical director of ROHCG. The whole performance had more of a bounce, an energy, a swing to it – the brass sounded more edgy, the timpani louder, the woodwind more perky – than I’ve heard in other performances, while the solo violin and the full violin section at the end were sensationally passionate. ‘Idiomatic’ maybe sums it up in one sense but it just sounded more alive, more direct than how I’ve heard the work performed before. There seemed to be a bit of a love-in going on between the orchestra and Hrusa – they refused to stand up at the end and just sat applauding him……..

As in 2021, and with no diminution that I could hear in terms of vocal strength and characterisation, Karita Mattila was astonishing as the Kostelnička – an utterly gripping presence on stage and projecting her character’s good points (her love for Jenufa and her wish to see her happy) as well as her appalling judgement in killing the baby and subsequent remorse believably through her delivery of the music. Though perhaps without the full-on angst that Asmik Gregorian displayed in 2021, Corinne Winters was very good – her plight and her emotions completely believable. Nicky Spence repeated his appealing Laca from 2021 – I saw him sing Steva in the Rattle concert performance with the LSO maybe also a year ago, and he got more humorous swagger into the role than Thomas Atkins provided for this performance (but it was a fine performance – just not as intense as it could be, and with a voice maybe slightly on the small side for the house)

I can’t wait to hear The Excursions of Mr Broucek with Rattle and the LSO in the Spring……….Then it’s only ‘From the House of the Dead’ that I haven’t seen from Janacek’s operatic oeuvre (I believe I remember seeing Osud 20 years ago, coupled with Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea at ENO, though I have no documentary evidence of this……..)

Mahler 2, Halle, Wong: Bridgewater Hall, 16/1/25

Kahchun Wong conductor, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha soprano, Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano, Hallé Choir, Hallé Youth Choir: Mahler Symphony No.2, ‘Resurrection’

I first heard Mahler 2 live in 1968, with Haitink, and have been to many fine performances since – it’s a work that seems to bring out the best in performers and, really, I can say hand on heart I’ve never heard an indifferent performance. It brings out the audiences too, as a ‘big’ occasion, and the Bridgewater Hall (unusually) was completely sold out for this concert. I went to a pre-concert talk and, when the speaker asked how many people either didn’t know the work or had never heard it live before, a surprisingly large number of people put up their hands. That was gratifying to see and I don’t think the audience – familiar or unfamiliar with the work – would have been disappointed in what they heard this evening– this was another extremely fine performance of Mahler 2.  Indeed I know they weren’t, as, at the end, with one accord, everyone rose to their feet and started cheering…….This is pretty unusual for the Bridgewater Hall where normally a more phlegmatic approach prevails. The Halle’s Facebook page overflowed with enthusiastic comments the following morning.

One thing that’s becoming clear about Kahchun Wong as a conductor is his interest in shaping orchestral seating to fit the sound-world of each work. Here, as they were in Mahler 1 – but not Bruckner 9 – the violins were split. The harp was given a very prominent position centre-stage unusually. Double basses were over to the side – I think in the Mahler 1 they were at the centre in the rear.

As with the Bruckner 9 Wong conducted in October, there was an inclination in his performance towards broad tempi where justified- e.g in the resplendent brass chorales of the finale and the final choral peroration (which was glorious) as well as also the second and third movements (in Urlicht he was, relatively speaking, brisk). Although it is a bit difficult to separate out work that the conductor has done with the orchestra from the acoustic properties of the hall, what was also noticeable was the clarity of  the orchestral sound  – the split violins and the prominent position of the harp all emphasised this clarity, but in general I heard numerous details I hadn’t heard before such that, particularly in the second movement, the sound had a polyphonic element at times; you heard two different strands of melody occupying the same space with more clarity than you sometimes do.

The orchestra and Mr Wong built up very effectively to the big climaxes – things weren’t over-driven or over- emphasised too early. The climax of revulsion towards the end of the third movement and the climax after all the marching of the dead in the last movement were particularly finely done. Tempi were flexible- parts of the first movement were quite fast, the second was deliciously relaxed and, as mentioned already, slowish. I have to say I got a bit nervous (page 35 of my blog recounts what happened in late May 2019 at the last Halle rendition of Mahler 2) as the chorus surged towards the final full shout of ‘Auferstehn’ where there is a sudden diminuendo and the performance in 2019 collapsed for maybe 3-4 seconds, but Wong and the choral forces handled it magnificently – Wong’s hand shot out to the sopranos telling them exactly what to do.

Throughout the Halle sounded wonderful – no glitches, sweet-sounding strings, some excellent trumpet and flute-playing….The final orchestral blaze with splendidly crashing gongs and the RLPO’s ‘Forever Bells’ was as good as I’ve ever heard. Though the choral forces don’t have much time singing, what they do sing has to be utterly together and overwhelming – which it was . Neither of the two distinguished soloists sounded quite ethereal enough in the finale but were perfectly satisfactory

There was a forest of microphones on stage  – it looked like either they were being used to record the performance by the BBC or the Halle were planning to issue a recording of the performance. Either way, I’d love to hear it again

Brahms, LSO, Rattle: Barbican, 9/1/25

Boulez,  Éclat; George Benjamin, Interludes and Aria from Lessons in Love and Violence (world premiere); Brahms Symphony No 4. London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle conductor;  Barbara Hannigan soprano

It was nice to be back in a concert hall after 4 weeks with no live music. This was not a very generous concert, time-wise [though see below] but the content was in prospect fascinating – George Benjamin is a composer whose works, particularly his operas, have completely passed me by and which I was interested to hear, while it is years since I sat through a Boulez piece live. Rattle’s Brahms with the BPO was in my experience always a bit over-curated (I’ve heard him conduct Symphonies 2 and 3 with them) and so I was wondering how he might fare with the LSO…………

Once again – I really must remember this the next time I book at the Barbican – I found myself, though in Row D, about 5 feet from the orchestra, though more over to the left than at La Rondine, This didn’t matter so much in the Boulez piece which only features a couple of violins. I have to say I didn’t make much progress with the Boulez. I get the general principle – Eclats = splinters, so notes as it were breaking down into shards of colour, echoing and distorting. But why it should engage me for more than a minute or so I couldn’t quite make out. The piece works by splitting the 15 or so musicians into groups of blown. struck and plucked/strung instruments, but, to be frank, the sonorities were not that interesting, at least to my ears. Others in the audience seemed to be enjoying the piece more than I did, so I withdrew mentally in some bemusement.

The George Benjamin piece – Interludes and Aria from ‘Lessons in Love and Violence” – was much more approachable and easier to get into, in an expressionist Wozzeck-y sort of a way. It’s an orchestral piece drawn from his latest opera (about Edward II and Isabella – or Isabel here) with an aria set in the middle. The orchestral music sounded appropriate to the fairly grim story – agonised and intense; the interludes didn’t seem that varied, but then they are primarily in the opera providing commentary on and supporting/underlining the story, so it’s unsurprising that I didn’t know always what to make of them out of context. But I found myself always attentive and never mind-wandering. The amazingly gifted Barbara Hannigan was commanding as Isabel, in an impressive, strange aria about the beauty of a pearl and its radiance being akin to music, which was gripping. I made a note to myself that I must make more of an effort to see one or more of Benjamin’s operas, which have been highly praised by critics. Composer and librettist came on stage after the performance to enthusiastic applause.

Rattle always sounds to me more committed, also more relaxed, in his LSO performances of various works than he did with the Berlin Phil, and I found the Brahms 4 impressive. In fact, I couldn’t think of another one over the years which was better performed and conducted than this one – I must have seen Sir Adrian Boult, renowned for his Brahms, conduct this work at least once at the Proms but have no memory of it .

There seemed to me to be several reasons for why this performance of Rattle/LSO was so good:

•     The playing of the orchestra was superb. Sitting so near to the first violins, the unanimity, the sense of one instrument, was overwhelming. The horns and flutes in particular shone in their various big moments. The LSO sounded in this music – and this must be at least partly to do with Rattle – much more like one of the top-ranking German orchestras than British orchestras normally do

•     Rattle’s reading, with the orchestra, was based on well-judged tempi that never felt they were distorting the music. The first theme of the first movement was played with light and colour, speeds subtly changing, and the three first movement’s themes all related well to each other. The beautiful second theme of the slow movement – the reprise is one of my favourite moments in the whole symphonic canon-  was wonderfully warmly played yet with that Brahmsian ache , that sense of regret and unfulfillment. The third movement wasn’t taken too fast, so that it didn’t seem a rather oddly extrovert companion to the surrounding music. The finale was again well-judged in tempi so that the various elements hung together (it can feel a bit episodic) and the impact was tough, inexorable and sad. I really couldn’t think of how this work could be better performed.

There was a speech from Rattle that seemed to acknowledge the concert had offered slightly short measure and so unusually there was an encore – an F major Brahms Hungarian dance, a lovely end to the concert.  

My 10 best concerts and operas for 2024

After a lot of heart-searching, and In no particular order, these were:

1.            Bruckner 8: Halle/Elder, Newcastle

2.            R.Strauss, Die Frau ohne Schatten: Thielemann – Dresden Semperoper

3.            Britten Curlew River: Bostridge, Aldeburgh

4.            Wagner, Tannhauser: Bayreuth Festival

5.            Bruckner 5: Berlin Philharmonic, Petrenko, BBC Proms

6.            Bruckner 9 (+ performing version of finale): Halle, Wong – Manchester

7.            Busoni; Piano Concerto: Gerstein/Oramo BBCSO – Barbican

8.            Shostakovich 13th Symphony: LPO/ Boreyko, Roslavets – RFH

9.            Pfitzner, Palestrina: Thielemann, Wiener Staatsoper

10.          Mahler 6 – BRSO, Rattle, BBC Proms

As with 2023, there were a range of other concerts and operas which were almost equally as excellent, including: R. Strauss, Elektra – ROHCG/Pappano; Shostakovich 4 – LSO, Rattle; Death in Venice – WNO; Gotterdammerung – Jurowski, LPO; Jenufa – ENO; L’Olimpiade – ROHCG; Schubert piano sonatas D958/D959/D960 – Paul Lewis; Beethoven Op 131 quartet– Belcea Quartet; Janacek Glagolitic Mass’ – Czech Phil/Hrusa; Smetana, Ma Vlast/Schumann Piano Concerto – Petrenko/Olafsson, BPO; R. Strauss, Salome – Opera Bastille, Lise Davidsen; Puccini, La Rondine – LSO, Pappano; Weinberg, The Idiot – Salzburg Festival.

I feel very privileged to be able to attend all these wonderful musical events and feel very lucky to be living in a time which allows such (relatively) easy access to them 

Messiaen, BBC Philharmonic: Bridgewater Hall, 12/12/24

Messiaen Des canyons aux étoiles…Ludovic Morlot, conductor; Martin Owen, horn; Steven Osborne piano

Following on from Tuesday’s performance -of La Rondine, I was reflecting on how relatively few years there are between the writing of, say, Turandot and Messiaen’s ‘From the Canyons to the Stars’…no more than about 50 years. That is well within the span of my adult life yet they seem to inhabit totally different universes of sensibility. And yet there is maybe a hint of perfume and lushness to the Messiaen that Puccini might have understood even while other aspects of the work would perhaps have baffled him.  In fact, we can compartmentalise composers too much – I was reading in a book about Elgar and the early recoding industry recently that he was very keen to hear more of Stravinsky’s music…..Anyway….it was quite a jump in two evenings from Puccini to Messiaen…..

I have heard this work a few times in a recording I’ve got and I remember some of the movements – the one about Aldebran and the last movement for instance. I was surprised and pleased to see that it had been scheduled by the BBC Phil (good old BBC) though a bit apprehensive about how I would feel listening to the whole 90 minutes of it rather than just selected highlights.

A decent number of people turned up to the performance – I had the impression from some overheard conversations that some had come from London to hear it, as after all it is rarely performed.

I had not really appreciated beforehand how individual the orchestral set up is – only a small number of strings, solo horn and the important solo piano (the work is almost like an enormous piano concerto), plus fore-grounded glockenspiel and xylorimba (the latter a new one on me), lots of heavy brass and significant numbers of woodwind and a battery of percussion, including the wonderful ‘geometer’ – like a wind machine but with pebbles inside. Messiaen of course based the work on his trips to the USA in the early 70’s and specifically to Utah, where he was hugely struck by the landscape,. which he described (as per the programme) as “the most mystical landscape” he had ever encountered, particularly the red-orange rock of Bryce Canyon. As someone who has slept overnight on the desert slopes of Mt Sinai, and seen the stars there more brilliantly than anywhere else in the world, I’ve had something of that same sense (I am sure less profoundly than Messiaen), from the experience, of the beauty and vastness of the universe and the unlikelihood of it all being a random collocation of atoms. It’s a work I have a sense of empathy with in its celebration of the natural and spiritual.

It’s an absorbing work and the 90 minutes seemed to flash by. The work was superbly performed by Steven Osborne on the piano, by Martin Owen on the horn (the ‘Appel interstellaire’ for solo horn was an astonishing piece of playing) and the glockenspiel and xylorimba soloists, together with the orchestra. The most enjoyable movements for me were 5. ’Cedar Breaks et le don de crainte’, 7. Bryce Canyon et les rochers rouge-orange, the beautiful 8. Les ressuscités et le chant de l’étoile Aldébaran and the final movement Zion Park et la cité céleste. If I am being honest some of the bird song movements were less than gripping, but, maybe, you need their sparseness and spikiness as a contrast to the awe, splendour and peace of the ‘spiritual’ music. As always with Messiaen (maybe Turangalila is more approachable than the other big pieces) it’s not easy music but I do find it very rewarding and, ultimately, moving. There’s a lovely quote from St Augustine I came across the other day which exactly fits how I felt about this work as I listened to it – “I feel that all the various emotions of the heart have rhythms proper to them in verse and song, whereby , by some mysterious affinity, they are made more alive” .

 Puccini, La Rondine, LSO, Pappano, Barbican: 10/12/24

Concert performance – London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Antonio Pappano conductor; Carolina López Moreno, Magda; Serena Gamberoni,  Lisette; Michael Fabiano, Ruggero; Paul Appleby, Prunier; Ashley Riches, Rambaldo; Sarah Dufresne, Yvette/Giorgette; Angela Schisano,  Bianca/Gabriele; Marvic Monreal, Suzy/Lolette; London Symphony Chorus

Unusually for me, I had made a wrong judgement about seating in booking for this . I thought I was a few rows back from the platform but in the event I was in the front row about 5 feet away from the singers and the orchestra leader. I felt a bit awkward at times, but what I missed in being able to see the surtitles was more than made up by the feeling of being in the middle of a maelstrom of a performance. Because this was a very, very good performance indeed, within the limitations of the staged concert performance format – and this was one of the more minimalistic versions of the format, with serried ranks of music stands and little room to do anything on stage (it’s a big cast) than nod to each other and enter and exit.

It was disappointing to get an email about two weeks before the performance saying that the announced big star, Nadine Sierra, had had to drop out of the show (although she was singing at the re-opening of Notre Dame on 7th Dec – https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/national-anthems/nadine-sierra-la-marseillaise-notre-dame/). Somebody called Carolina Lopez Moreno, I was told, was taking on the role of Magda – not a singer I’ve heard of before. In the event, she was fabulous. Tall, with an expressive face, she had a very well-centred voice, very secure-sounding, and hers was a big voice, too – her higher register was gleaming and clear, the top notes pinged out, sailing over the orchestra, and at the same time she had a warm lower register and could fine her voice down to expressively quiet phrasings when needed by the text and music. She sung sensitively when in duets with Ruggero, so that her voice didn’t overwhelm his. I thought she was quite a find as a dramatic soprano – she was brought up in Germany but doesn’t seem to be part of a company there; she’s sung in various Italian opera houses. She got a huge ovation from the (pretty knowledgeable, in terms of the conversations going on around me) audience. She was also the only person singing without a score, so could be much more bodily expressive and looking as though she was fully engaged with the role than others in the cast (even Fabbiano was using a score, which surprised me – I would have assumed a tenor of his experience would know the role.

The other stand-out for me was Peter Appleby, a Met regular, as Prunier, who although singing  from the score, made a lot of effort to accompany a musical phrase with an appropriate gesture and point the words clearly, with excellent diction – his opening aria “Chi il Bel Sogno di Doretta” was excellent. Michael Fabiano has a fine Puccini tenor voice but, in this context, seemed a bit wooden in presence, particularly when confronted with such a vivid characterful performance of Magda. Sarah Dufresne had the right sort of sparkle and energy about her portrayals, as did Serena Gamberoni as Lisette. All the other parts were well cast and performed.

I just loved the music – so much of it is memorable, and so cleverly scored. It’s also concise, with no longueurs. It’s, in addition, a text that gives far more dignity to the heroine than most of the other Puccini operas – and she walks away at the end, sad but with head held high and in charge of her own destiny. The LSO, a lot of the players smiling to themselves and each other at some of Pappano’s huge ritardandos, played magnificently, with Pappano driving the score forward excitingly, but always with affection and warmth . The chorus also seemed to be enjoying themselves greatly as they belted out the big tune in the second act (and what an ear-wormer that is – Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso)

Uncredited picture from Ms Moreno’s website of her playing Magda in La Rondine

Advent Concert, Wiener Symphoniker. St Stephen’s Cathedral 6/12/24

Stéphane Denève, Conductor; Rosa Feola, soprano; Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde; Kate Lindsey, mezzo; Wiener Symphoniker. Programme included – Mass for Choir and Orchestra C major KV 167 “Trinity”, 2. Gloria, Mozart; Laudate Dominum, Mozart; German Dances KV 605, No. 3 C major “Sleigh Ride”, Mozart; ‘Ave Maria” for solo voice and organ, Saint-Saëns; ‘Carillon”, 3rd and 4th movement from “L’Arlésienne”, Suite No. 1 plus “Farandole”, 4th movement from “L’Arlésienne”, Suite No. 2, Bizet; “Les anges dans nos campagnes” for Choir in G major, Gevaert; “Marche des Rois” for Choir (Arrangement: Rosa Parker / Robert Shaw); “Adeste fideles”, Anonymous; Overture and “Abendsegen’ from the opera “Hansel and Gretel”, Humperdinck; “Ich harrete des Herrn”, Duet and choir from the choral symphony No. 2 in B-flat major op. 52 “Hymn of Praise”, Mendelssohn; “Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella” (Arrangement for Organ: Keith Chapman); Anonymous; “Adoration”, Florence Price; “In the bleak Midwinter” (Arrangement: Mack Wilberg); Gustav Holst; “Somewhere in my Memory” and “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas” from “Home Alone” (1990), John Williams; “O du fröhliche” (Arr.: Matthias Spindler).

Well, for my third evening in Vienna  – and it seemed a bit miserable to leave after only two – there were only two musical options happening that I could identify in advance to go to – one was West Side Story at the Volksoper, and the other was this, clearly a BIG Austrian event having a Christmas at King’s feel to it – televised, lots of people queuing. I suspect in fact I might have done better at the Volksoper but this, as they say, was what it was and delivered what it was meant to deliver – a series of festive, though not particularly Advent-ishly themed, short snippets of mostly easy-on-the-ear music. Highlights, though as usual the music in a big church always gets distorted, were the idiomatically played ‘Hansel and Gretel’ overture and Stephane Deneve really putting the orchestra through its paces in the Bizet Farandole, dangerously fast for such a congested space. Rosa Feola and Kate Lindsey are both distinguished opera singers and did well in their pieces, particularly the Hansel and Gretel duet. There was also some very effective and powerful organ playing in the piece arranged by Keith Chapman. That’s about it, really……My mind kept going back to ‘Tonight, tonight’……….as I listened to some of the more tedious pieces (there was a very irritatingly arranged version of ‘ In the bleak midwinter’ which managed to ruin Holst’s simple melody with chromatic overlays….)

My next trip overseas is in March to hear the Berlin Phil play Bartok. and three R. Strauss operas.