Conductor Jane Glover reads from her book Handel in London in five 15 minute episodes currently posted up on BBC 4's Book of the Week website.
Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night, which has been touring houses in the worldwide operatic hinterlands and had quite a spectacular production at Glimmerglass this past summer, is posted up on the BBC Radio 3 website in Opera North's recent concert outing. This young opera has already had multiple productions, but look for Tomer Zvulun's especially breathtaking one at an opera house near you.
Showing posts with label Handel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Handel. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Sunday, September 23, 2018
new regime
Mr. Nézet-Séguin said he was excited to mount several operas that have never or rarely been performed at the Met, including Handel’s “Agrippina” and “Alcina”; Verdi’s “Don Carlos,” in the original French (the company has only performed the Italian version); Cherubini’s “Medea,” in Italian; and Prokofiev’s “The Fiery Angel.”
Read all about it... ...except for the casting, so place your bets.
Read all about it... ...except for the casting, so place your bets.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Gauvin radio alert
This Sunday WCRB runs Handel's La Resurrezione from last year's Boston Early Music Festival, with Karina Gauvin, Teresa Wakim, Aaron Sheehan, Christian Immler, and Kelsey Lauritano. WCRB usually archives these things for a while, so no worries if 7pm ET is way past the witching hour for your part of the planet. Click on the Read the program notes link and scroll down if you need the libretto.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Seattle Soundcloud addendum
Including mezzo Deborah Nansteel, who just made her Met debut on Thursday as Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor (and who turned in a memorably scorching O don fatale at a Young Artist recital at Glimmerglass a few years back).
Monday, December 11, 2017
sundry Messiahs
On the off chance that you, the splendid readership of this joint, need an extra Messiah or three this year, Trinity Wall Street -- the way downtown Manhattan church with its own baroque orchestra -- is live videostreaming all three of its performances next week somewhere around here. That's Dec. 15, 16, and 17 at 7:30pm ET. Singers TBA, but the band is not to be sneezed at.
Moreover, as Dr T has just pointed out below, WCRB is presently running Boston's venerable Handel & Haydn Society performance from last week, and that should be showing up here pretty soon. (Scroll down and you'll find a Semele while you wait.)
Moreover, as Dr T has just pointed out below, WCRB is presently running Boston's venerable Handel & Haydn Society performance from last week, and that should be showing up here pretty soon. (Scroll down and you'll find a Semele while you wait.)
Thursday, April 20, 2017
tbt
Boston Baroque's 2015 Agrippina has finally made it to WCRB's online archive. Come for Amanda Forsythe, stay for Susanna Phillips.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
excavations
One of the benefits of spring cleaning: opening boxes of tapes untouched for years. One of the benefits of Judicious Old Technology Retention: you still have something to play them on.
From an Independent review of a 2003 Proms Concert: "If Christine Brewer, Mark Wigglesworth and the London Philharmonic shrank the Royal Albert Hall to the size of the Wigmore a fortnight ago in Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder, von Otter, Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre turned it into a smoky, film noir, torch-song dive of the kind that probably ceased to exist in the mid 1950s."
A smoky dive where the dance band plays Rameau and the torch song is Scherza infida...
and for the record,
From an Independent review of a 2003 Proms Concert: "If Christine Brewer, Mark Wigglesworth and the London Philharmonic shrank the Royal Albert Hall to the size of the Wigmore a fortnight ago in Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder, von Otter, Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre turned it into a smoky, film noir, torch-song dive of the kind that probably ceased to exist in the mid 1950s."
A smoky dive where the dance band plays Rameau and the torch song is Scherza infida...
and for the record,
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
radio dial
WCRB has posted last May's Saul from Boston's Handel & Haydn Society, with Iestyn Davies, Jonathan Best, Joelle Harvey, et al. We recognize that not everybody is a fan of this oratorio, but we think it shows Handel at the peak of his metal phase (C'mon! Witch of Endor! \m/). Moreover, as with many Jennens librettos when combined with less than pristine choral diction, it's a great Mondegreen generator.
Meanwhile, WQXR has Ian Bostridge's Winterreise from Carnegie Hall, with luxury accompanist Thomas Adés, from last Sunday afternoon, to celebrate the cold, wet, raw, dreary end of our bright sunny days.
Meanwhile, WQXR has Ian Bostridge's Winterreise from Carnegie Hall, with luxury accompanist Thomas Adés, from last Sunday afternoon, to celebrate the cold, wet, raw, dreary end of our bright sunny days.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Welcome to Hell, Here's Your Bassoon: Saul @ Handel & Haydn, Boston
Being arguably the most metal of Handel oratorios, Saul presents a conductor a wide range of opportunities to stomp the effects pedals and up the drama quotient by way of the orchestra. But we knew from his recording with The Sixteen that Harry Christophers is one to resist those temptations, and our expectations were borne out on Sunday when he brought the work to Symphony Hall in Boston with his American gig, the Handel & Haydn Society.
If there was anything that stood out about the Christophers approach, it was his skill at making room for the singers, and leaving the drama, by and large, for them to create. If there was a certain chemistry lacking among the singers, it was also a very short run of two performances. Nevertheless, there was some extraordinary singing, not least from the David of Iestyn Davies (if there's a broadcast, that sound you'll hear at the start of O Lord Whose Mercies Numberless is everybody moving to the edge of their seats) and -- perhaps the standout -- the Michal of Joelle Harvey.
The chemistry vacuum was probably not helped by this being a fairly straight-up concert performance, with comparatively minimal singer interaction. There were some thumbnail gestures toward the drama -- Saul (a very good, if reserved, Jonathan Best), after his first address to David, turning to walk off but being arrested by David's long, bell-like note on O King, for instance, -- but in this day and age of increasingly sophisticated semi-stagings, we've come to look for a little more. There was certainly room for more. Or maybe we've just gotten used to Handel oratorios performed with an operatic sensibility for which they weren't really designed, and so it's unfair to judge them accordingly. My jury is out, and anyway this is more a quibble than a complaint.
The Handel & Haydn Society has been in existence since Haydn was a New Music composer, so in spite of this being (remarkably) the first assay of this oratorio in the history of the orchestra, the execution was smooth without being anodyne. And if any one thing was worth the price of admission, it was the H&H chorus, who surfed some of Handel's most exquisite choral writing with impeccable balance, dramatic flare, and close attention to dynamics.
If there was anything that stood out about the Christophers approach, it was his skill at making room for the singers, and leaving the drama, by and large, for them to create. If there was a certain chemistry lacking among the singers, it was also a very short run of two performances. Nevertheless, there was some extraordinary singing, not least from the David of Iestyn Davies (if there's a broadcast, that sound you'll hear at the start of O Lord Whose Mercies Numberless is everybody moving to the edge of their seats) and -- perhaps the standout -- the Michal of Joelle Harvey.
The chemistry vacuum was probably not helped by this being a fairly straight-up concert performance, with comparatively minimal singer interaction. There were some thumbnail gestures toward the drama -- Saul (a very good, if reserved, Jonathan Best), after his first address to David, turning to walk off but being arrested by David's long, bell-like note on O King, for instance, -- but in this day and age of increasingly sophisticated semi-stagings, we've come to look for a little more. There was certainly room for more. Or maybe we've just gotten used to Handel oratorios performed with an operatic sensibility for which they weren't really designed, and so it's unfair to judge them accordingly. My jury is out, and anyway this is more a quibble than a complaint.
The Handel & Haydn Society has been in existence since Haydn was a New Music composer, so in spite of this being (remarkably) the first assay of this oratorio in the history of the orchestra, the execution was smooth without being anodyne. And if any one thing was worth the price of admission, it was the H&H chorus, who surfed some of Handel's most exquisite choral writing with impeccable balance, dramatic flare, and close attention to dynamics.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
single item
Last spring's Boston Baroque Agrippina, with Susanna Phillips, David Hansen, Amanda Forsythe, et al., will be broadcast (audio only) on WCRB this Sunday, Feb 7, at 7pm ET.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
not Messiah
If you've burned out on Messiah season but are still jonesing for some Handel oratorio action, for a small and modest fee (5 euros) Sonostream.tv has Saul on demand from this past summer's Glyndebourne run, directed by Barry Kosky, with Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies, Lucy Crowe, Sophie Bevan, and Paul Appleby.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
continuously variable transmission
If the object of having a car stereo is to regale the residents of every intersection with (the bassline of) your playlist, sometimes only a hybrid makes this even remotely possible. Anyway this seems to be the only thing on my road playlist these days. All Rens'wijk shall bow before the awesomeness of this theorbo accompaniment...
Oh hey look, spotify thinks I might also like this. Let's find out!
Oh hey look, spotify thinks I might also like this. Let's find out!
Friday, October 23, 2015
sundry items
BayStaats livestreams its Ariadne this afternoon at 2pm ET, with Amber Wagner, Brenda Rae, and Alice Coote, right here.
The BSO's barnburning Elektra, with Christine Goerke in the title role, should be archived here sometime this week. You all should give it a listen.
And BBC 3 has Sarah Connolly's recital (or goodly bits thereof, anyway) from last May's Göttingen Festival.
The BSO's barnburning Elektra, with Christine Goerke in the title role, should be archived here sometime this week. You all should give it a listen.
And BBC 3 has Sarah Connolly's recital (or goodly bits thereof, anyway) from last May's Göttingen Festival.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Friday, June 26, 2015
BEMF Friday, bit the second
A Boston vignette: Meeting up with the Music Librarian after Buxtehude, and hanging out in the sanctuary of Emmanuel for a bit because she's a Music Librarian on a Mission and has a Mozart score she's supposed to be handing off to a Fortepianist in Need on our way to have lunch at another Thai place with Librarian's SO the Bass Trombonist. Delivery of score made on sidewalk, followed by all too brief discussion of what it's like living with five period keyboard instruments in your apartment plus cats. There's a lot of music in this town.
Lounging & Talking About Music, ep 2: Also talking about cats. And social media's effect on arts presenting. And cats. And the absurdity of the Boston Olympics bid. And music.
Then to First Church, admittedly late for Seattle Historical Arts for Kids' production (slightly adapted) of Alcina, which I knew about not from the BEMF Fringe program but from Twitter (cf reference above to social media convo), where this happened
and then this happened
When I sit down next to the Envoy in the back row, she hands me a note that says Amanda Forsythe is sitting with her kids in the front row. No pressure!
It doesn't seem to faze them. I've come in at Questo il cielo. There's a bunch of extra characters, of whom we've already mentioned Bradamante's lady knight sidekick. Lady Forsizia is particularly eye-catching as she's in full bloom a couple of months out of season. Handel and Ariosto seem engaged in a somewhat Straussian power struggle between opera stage adaptation and source material -- swords are drawn, but we know from the last BEMF (the Almira festival) that Handel had special body armor made from opera scores, so Ariosto's scrappy Italian Renaissance street-fighting ninja skills notwithstanding, I think this eventually ends in a draw.
Working with an orchestra of two violins, cello, theorbo, and harpsichord, the cast gets to sing in both English and Italian, and the English translations actually work well with the music -- "She's a liar, / she'll make you a plant!" sings Oronte. Straightforward but snappy.
This being a production having at its center various manifestations of Girl Power -- Bradamante is also designated as a Lady Knight in the program book, and Oronte, in this version, keeps his disparaging remarks specific to Alcina, thus failing to cast aspersions on all women -- the venue has a certain resonance as well.
Lounging & Talking About Music, ep 2: Also talking about cats. And social media's effect on arts presenting. And cats. And the absurdity of the Boston Olympics bid. And music.
Then to First Church, admittedly late for Seattle Historical Arts for Kids' production (slightly adapted) of Alcina, which I knew about not from the BEMF Fringe program but from Twitter (cf reference above to social media convo), where this happened
Please PLEASE support his incredibly wonderful youth opera opportunity however you can!
http://t.co/VhS2CsbJAo
— alice coote (@AliceCoote) May 5, 2015
and then this happened
— Joyce DiDonato (@JoyceDiDonato) May 5, 2015
When I sit down next to the Envoy in the back row, she hands me a note that says Amanda Forsythe is sitting with her kids in the front row. No pressure!
It doesn't seem to faze them. I've come in at Questo il cielo. There's a bunch of extra characters, of whom we've already mentioned Bradamante's lady knight sidekick. Lady Forsizia is particularly eye-catching as she's in full bloom a couple of months out of season. Handel and Ariosto seem engaged in a somewhat Straussian power struggle between opera stage adaptation and source material -- swords are drawn, but we know from the last BEMF (the Almira festival) that Handel had special body armor made from opera scores, so Ariosto's scrappy Italian Renaissance street-fighting ninja skills notwithstanding, I think this eventually ends in a draw.
Working with an orchestra of two violins, cello, theorbo, and harpsichord, the cast gets to sing in both English and Italian, and the English translations actually work well with the music -- "She's a liar, / she'll make you a plant!" sings Oronte. Straightforward but snappy.
This being a production having at its center various manifestations of Girl Power -- Bradamante is also designated as a Lady Knight in the program book, and Oronte, in this version, keeps his disparaging remarks specific to Alcina, thus failing to cast aspersions on all women -- the venue has a certain resonance as well.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
sundry items
By now you've probably all read Alice Coote's piece in the Guardian about gender fluidity on and off the opera stage, but here it is in case you haven't. All in conjunction with this.
There's a new kid on the opera streaming block, free, ungeoblocked, and with some interesting stuff coming down the pike.
Meanwhile, Digital Theatre -- not free but damn cheap -- has added Nicholas Hytner's Così and Michael Grandage's Figaro to the Glyndebourne section of their burgeoning opera video library.
Lastly, Kerry Candaele's documentary Following the Ninth, about Beethoven's 9th Symphony in times of social upheaval, is up for streaming on Amazon.
There's a new kid on the opera streaming block, free, ungeoblocked, and with some interesting stuff coming down the pike.
Meanwhile, Digital Theatre -- not free but damn cheap -- has added Nicholas Hytner's Così and Michael Grandage's Figaro to the Glyndebourne section of their burgeoning opera video library.
Lastly, Kerry Candaele's documentary Following the Ninth, about Beethoven's 9th Symphony in times of social upheaval, is up for streaming on Amazon.
Friday, February 6, 2015
even younger artists
Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music takes on Alcina tonight and tomorrow night at 8pm ET. Live video streams of both performances will be up here, and, as usual with this series, it'll be a different cast tomorrow.
Update: So everybody had pretty much equal trouble with the coloratura, even with the tempi ratcheted down a notch or two from average. On the other hand, there was some pretty spiff work in the more leisurely bits, and we've got a couple of Bradamantes to look forward to. Also, a bunch of these are students of Carol Vaness (stray's first Vitellia :-), so we're interested to see where they go and what they do.
Update: So everybody had pretty much equal trouble with the coloratura, even with the tempi ratcheted down a notch or two from average. On the other hand, there was some pretty spiff work in the more leisurely bits, and we've got a couple of Bradamantes to look forward to. Also, a bunch of these are students of Carol Vaness (stray's first Vitellia :-), so we're interested to see where they go and what they do.
Monday, October 27, 2014
be very afeard
Random thoughts on Alcina at Carnegie Hall, as scribbled on the fly in a notebook in the wayback:
Di', cor mio -- OMG, as the young people say.
Ruggiero, dude, don't cut yourself on that dress.
killer cello obbligato!
Tornami a vagheggiar -- effect on foetus in utero? Recheck 20 years.
Mi lusinga -- hearing Alice Coote sing this is like falling backwards into a goosefeather barcalounger.
Verdi prati -- strings go all mingey when the beauty vanishes. Ew.
Ombre pallide -- yeah yeah, guess how that was LOL
___________________
Overheard at Intermission:
"She's a villain, you know."
"And if we didn't know, the dress would tell us!"
___________________
more killer cello obbligato!!
The dress erodes as the power does
Rage! Look out how she handles that score!
"Bring your Gorgon shield!" Really this opera is all about accessorizing.
Sta nell'ircana -- Horns! and vehement page-turning!
Man these scores get a workout, hope they didn't rent them.
Barbara! -- Wakey!
let me introduce you to my fully-armed and operational cadenza.
If you want to know how spectacular this performance was, I really have nothing to add to Earworm's assessment.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
sundry items of livestreaming
Via La Cieca, Whitebox Art Center will be video streaming its Alcina performance/installation tonight and tomorrow (9/20 & 21) at 7pm Eastern.
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music has started its video streaming of student performances this weekend with L'Italiana in Algeri. Tonight's performance starts at 8pm Eastern.
And of course the Met season begins on Monday with Richard Eyre's new production of Le Nozze di Figaro, audio streaming on SiriusXM and from the Met's website, festivities beginning at 5:45pm Eastern, followed by SiriusXM-only webcasts of Boheme on Tuesday and Macbeth on Wednesday.
Off to the races...
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music has started its video streaming of student performances this weekend with L'Italiana in Algeri. Tonight's performance starts at 8pm Eastern.
And of course the Met season begins on Monday with Richard Eyre's new production of Le Nozze di Figaro, audio streaming on SiriusXM and from the Met's website, festivities beginning at 5:45pm Eastern, followed by SiriusXM-only webcasts of Boheme on Tuesday and Macbeth on Wednesday.
Off to the races...
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