Musical Opinion back issues from January 2007:
From the Editor's Desk
Jan 01, 2007; ... As the UK cowers from a winter onslaught of torrential rain, severe winds and even the odd tornado it's comforting to be able to lose oneself in a sublime evening concert or lavish opera. Much has been made over the years of how classical music and especially opera is only for those few that can ...
Highnotes
Jan 01, 2007; ... News The Royal Northern College of Musk (RNCM) has announced the largest single investment in new quality instruments ever made in Europe of 76 new pianos with a value of over £2 million. Acquiring a fleet of quality instruments is vital in maintaining the RNCM's reputation for ...
Opera and Theatre Director Francesca Zambello
Jan 01, 2007; ... Talked to Judith Monk Francesca Zambello, the internationally respected director of opera and theatre, took time out of her hectic schedule to talk to me about her new production of Carmen at the Royal Opera House and other recent operas. Zambello's American debut took place at ...
A lost symphony by Wagner
Jan 01, 2007; ... An orchestral symphony by Wagner, which for more than fifty years has been lost to sight, is shortly to be publicly played in London for the first time, and I venture to think that a few words on its somewhat romantic adventures during that long interval may be welcome to such of your readers as ...
Judith Monk spends time with JULIETTE POCHIN
Jan 01, 2007; ... the mezzo-soprano with a "smooth and chocolaty" voice There is something about women and chocolate. It is the kind of relationship which many people spend hours pleasurably exploring. Juliette Pochin's voice was described by a Times reviewer as being "smooth and chocolaty" which in turn ...
New York City Opera's Fall Season
Jan 01, 2007; ... What did Marilyn Monroe and JFK have W to do with a 262 year-old operas recent, belated, yet joyously triumphant New York debut at the New York State Theatre? Plenty: and with results that are happy, surprising and, doubtless to some rigidly conventional opera fans, in horrifically poor taste ....
Classical Saxophonist: THEODORE KERKEZOS
Jan 01, 2007; ... Shares some time with Judith Monk Greek saxophonist Theodore Kerkezos is an interesting man and a fine musician. Kerkezos graduated with the highest honours from the Athens Conservatory having studied with Babis Farantatos and continued his musical training in Bordeaux with Jean-Marie ...
arturo Toscanini
Jan 01, 2007; ... Denby Richards remembers Arturo Toscanini's half centenary I first heard of Arturo Toscanini in 1939 during the Queen's Hall Henry Wood Promenade Season. I was beginning to collect gramophone records of Beethoven Symphonies and my friends immediately fell into two camps, those who ...
Elgar's Anniversary Year
Jan 01, 2007; ... Robert Matthew-Walker on the difference 50 years can make ... On 2 June we will celebrate the 150th birthday of Edward Elgar, now regarded throughout the International musical world as one of this country's great composers. As a measure of his fame, until quite recently his face was ...
The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Jan 01, 2007; ... Carolyn Nott was at the opening in California Contrary to what New Yorkers would sometimes have you believe, Southern California enjoys a rich cultural life in art, literature and music, and is far from being a cultural desert. Witness the opening of another major concert hall designed ...
Bird of Night at the Linbury
Jan 01, 2007; ... Bird of Night at the Linbury Looking back a couple of months to the Premiere of Dominique Le Gendres first full length opera, Bird of Night, in the Royal Opera House's remarkably versatile Linbury Theatre on 19 October, what resonates in my mind is the sheer vitality and colour, both ...
GTO's Turn of the Screw
Jan 01, 2007; ... GTO's Turn of the Screw On 20 October, the evening after Bird of Night had laid it's spell, I was in Sussex for the opening of Jonathan Kent's new production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw for Glyndebourne's Touring Company. Looking back on past stagings I still wince at the eerie ...
Royal Opera revives La bohème
Jan 01, 2007; ... Royal Opera revives La bohème It was back in 1974 that I first revelled in John Copley's practically perfect production of Puccini's La bohème with Julia Trevelyan Oman's well nigh perfect sets. It has had constant revivals with a galaxy of fine singers and never lost its spell. The ...
Berlioz' Les Troyens in Paris and Strasburg
Jan 01, 2007; ... Berlioz' Les Troyens in Paris and Strasburg Productions of Les Troyens are costly and necessarily few and far between. The Paris Opéra, better known as the Bastille, opened in 1990 with a suitably decorative production and a goodish cast, magisterially conducted by My Wong Chung. There ...
ENO's new Marriage of Figaro
Jan 01, 2007; ... ENO's new Marriage of Figaro A new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro from English National Opera. After the triumph of Jenufa and the disappointment of La bohème, not to mention Gaddafi, what would we find in Figaro on 2 November? Generally good, an excellent production ...
Operatic dinners at the Guildhall
Jan 01, 2007; ... Operatic dinners at the Guildhall On 8 November I was pleased to be at the last of four stagings by the Guildhall School of Music and Dramas Opera Department of a double-bill comprising Hindemith's The Long Christmas Dinner and Lennox Berkeley's A Dinner Engagement. On paper this was an ...
Opera North's new Rigoletto at the Lowry
Jan 01, 2007; ... Opera North's new Rigoletto at the Lowry Opera Norths latest trip to the Lowry Centre in a frosty Salford Quays on 7 November brought their brand new production of Verdi's Rigoletto and what an innovative production it proved to be. With an extremely strong cast, a modern, ...
Opera North's Peter Grimes at the Lowry
Jan 01, 2007; ... Opera North's Peter Grimes at the Lowry It may not he quite the same as the sea but on 8 November as I strolled down the chilly waterfront of Salford Quays and watched the choppy, windswept water distort the lights in their reflections, I was put very much in the mood for Opera North's ...
Independent Opera's Orlando at Sadler's Wells
Jan 01, 2007; ... Independent Opera's Orlando at Sadler's Wells Our august magazine doesn't give star ratings for reviews but if it did Independent Opera's new Handel would be a five out of five. Orlando was on stage for only three performances at Sadler's Wells' Lillian Baylis Theatre, the three ...
Fra Diavolo at the Théâtre Impérial, Compiègne
Jan 01, 2007; ... Fra Diavolo at the Théâtre Impérial, Compiègne Pierre Jourdan, the Founder and Artistic Director of the Théâtre Français de la Musique, continued his mission, unsubsidised by the State, of revising the jewels of the French lyric, principally 19th-century, repertory. Here on 12 November ...
Porgy and Bess at the Savoy
Jan 01, 2007; ... Porgy and Bess at the Savoy I saw my first staged Porgy and Bess in 1952 at the greatly missed Stoll Theatre in London's Kingsway, and was hooked for life. Of course, I soon discovered that this was not an uncut version so I greeted Trevor Nunn's marvellously presented version for ...
The Gondoliers at the Coliseum
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Gondoliers at the Coliseum The English National Operas new production of The Gondoliers, which opened at the Coliseum on 18 November, is one of the most brilliantly successful by this company for some time. It marked ENO's first-ever staging of the delightful Gilbert and Sullivan ...
Dardanus at the Royal Academy of Music
Jan 01, 2007; ... Dardanus at the Royal Academy of Music A major success in his lifetime, written at the peak of his reputation, Rameaus Dardanus received its UK debut at the Royal Academy of Music on 20 November, a full 267 years after it was written in 1739. Quite why it was ignored by the establishment ...
The Russian Ring in Cardiff, Brian Hick was there
Jan 01, 2007; ... In the short time it has been open the Wales Millennium Centre has proved itself to be one of the finest lyric theatres in the world. It has a comprehensive programme policy which offers a wide spectrum of entertainment to its equally wide public and First Great Western Trains not only provide a ...
Bath Mozartfest
Jan 01, 2007; ... Oxford Leider The 250th Anniversary of Mozart's birth made this year's Bath Mozartfest, always a gem in the musical calendar, even more special. The programme is never given over entirely to Mozart, rather his genius is set in context, unfailingly inspiring and rewarding. On 11 ...
Oxford Lieder Festival
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Holywell Music Room is almost too small a venue for the intensity of Schubert's Winterreise. On 26 October, almost at the end of this year's Festival, James Gilchrist gave us a reading of searing emotion and insight. Though the voice was never stretched it frequently overwhelmed us with its ...
HANDEL: Messiah/HANDEL: Messiah/HANDEL arr MOZART: Messiah
Jan 01, 2007; ... Something for everyone HANDEL: Messiah Brnensky Akademicky Sbor Brno Orchestra Mark Brown: Director Kevin Mayhew Premier Release KM1490175 2CDs 147'23'' HANDEL: Messiah Choir of New College, Oxford Academy of ...
PALESTRINA MASSES
Jan 01, 2007; ... PALESTRINA MASSES The Tallis Scholars Peter Phillips: Director Gimmell GIMSE 402 75' 28'' This is actually a re-release of the Tallis Scholars' 1981 and 1984 recordings to celebrate Gimmell's 25th Anniversary. It is certainly still well worth listening ...
MUSIC FROM THE CHAPEL ROYAL
Jan 01, 2007; ... MUSIC FROM THE CHAPEL ROYAL The King's Musick The Sixteen Harry Christophers Coro COR 16041 68' After the Restoration, one of Charles II's main concerns was to reestablish British music. Within just one month of his return from France, Henry Cooke was ...
ITALIAN LOVE ARIAS FROM THE 16TH, 17TH & 18TH CENTURIES
Jan 01, 2007; ... ITALIAN LOVE ARIAS FROM THE 16TH, 17TH & 18TH CENTURIES Ralph Kohn: Baritone English Chamber Stephanie Gonley: Director Raphael Records RAPHCD001 57' This is a delightful collection which admirably reflects the title of the album in so far as ...
LISZT: Second Year of Pilgrimage & First Mephisto Waltz
Jan 01, 2007; ... LISZT: Second Year of Pilgrimage & First Mephisto Waltz Libor Novacek: Piano Landor Records LAN 278 73' 05'' I have yet to hear Libor Nov-acek in the flesh but this CD held me in my seat for the whole 73 minutes and I have played it again and again to convince myself ...
CHOPIN: Third Sonata Opus 58; 3 Waltzes Opus 64; Nocturne in D flat major Opus 27 No 2; Fantasy in F minor Opus 49; Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante Opus 22 and Waltz in A flat Opus 69 No 1
Jan 01, 2007; ... CHOPIN: Third Sonata Opus 58; 3 Waltzes Opus 64; Nocturne in D flat major Opus 27 No 2; Fantasy in F minor Opus 49; Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante Opus 22 and Waltz in A flat Opus 69 No 1 Peter Katin: Piano RP Music 002 74' 39'' Peter Katin and Chopin ...
MALCOLM ARNOLD: The Sound Barrier Rhapsody Opus 38*; English Dances Sets I & 2 Opp 27 & 33; Homage to the Queen Ballet Opus 42; Scottish Dances Opus 59
Jan 01, 2007; ... MALCOLM ARNOLD: The Sound Barrier Rhapsody Opus 38*; English Dances Sets I & 2 Opp 27 & 33; Homage to the Queen Ballet Opus 42; Scottish Dances Opus 59 Philharmonia Orchestra Robert Irving: Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra* Sir Malcolm Arnold*: ...
SHOSTAKOVICH: The Fall of Berlin: Complete film score Opus 82*
Jan 01, 2007; ... SHOSTAKOVICH: The Fall of Berlin: Complete film score Opus 82*. Edited by Adriano; The Unforgettable Year 1919: Suite Opus 89a" Ellena Alekseyeva: Piano** Moscow Symphony Orchestra Moscow Capella & Youth Chorus* Adriano: Cond Naxos 8.570238 ...
BEETHOVEN: The Last Works for Piano
Jan 01, 2007; ... BEETHOVEN: The Last Works for Piano Diabelli Variations Opus 120 & Six Bagatelles Opus 126 Geoffrey Saba: Piano Carnegie Conceits CC005 75' 03'' The Diabelli Variations combine power with tenacity and humour with wisdom. To balance these features is a tough ...
TAKEMITSU: A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden; Spirit Garden; Dreamtime
Jan 01, 2007; ... TAKEMITSU: A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden; Spirit Garden; Dreamtime Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop: Conductor Naxos 8.557760 62'37'' Toru Takemitsu is Japan's leading composer, a musician with a highly individual style. The music on this ...
BRIAN BLYTH DAUBNEY: October Roses: Songs for Soprano
Jan 01, 2007; ... BRIAN BLYTH DAUBNEY: October Roses: Songs for Soprano, Baritone and Piano Anna Dennis: Soprano William Berger: Baritone John Talbot: Piano British Music Society BMS433CD 79'' The Lincolnshire composer Brian Blyth Daubney was born on 10 July 1929 ...
Russian Classical Ballet Theatre at Richmond
Jan 01, 2007; ... Fiona Baile in Richmond and at the Barbican, the Peacock and Sadler's Wells The Russian Classical Ballet Theatre Company, put together by Ellen Kent and Ballet International, is a collection of dancers, some of whom are strong technically, who for whatever reason don't quite fit into a ...
Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Wells
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Birmingham Royal Ballet's first programme at Sadler's Wells was a Stravinsky Triple Bill on 24 October, made especially interesting because each work was by a different choreographer. Apollo was shown in its original version, with a little more at the beginning and end than in the ...
Michael Clark Company at the Barbican
Jan 01, 2007; ... Mmm ... and Part 2 of his Stravinsky Project is the second programme Michael Clark has created for the Barbican Theatre as part of his continuing role as Artistic Associate. Part 1 was shown a year ago and there is a connecting thread from the previous show: the black head coverings which the ...
Dutch National Ballet at the Wells
Jan 01, 2007; ... The programme which Dutch National Ballet brought to Sadler's Wells on 8 November began with the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss set to choreography by Rudi van Dantzig and sung by Camellia Johnson. The romantic pas de deux for four couples were derivative and didn't have much to say: the ...
Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky at the Wells
Jan 01, 2007; ... Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky have performed together on a number of occasions and could therefore be sure of a large and loyal audience for their show at Sadler's Wells, which I saw on 28 November. The music was mostly recorded as the orchestra had been dismissed, and productions values were ...
Momix at the Peacock
Jan 01, 2007; ... Momix is a company of dancers led by Moses Pendleton, who appeared at the Peacock Theatre on 9 November in Lunar Sea; the wordplay of the title gives some indication of what was to follow. The underlying idea was to create an optical illusion and to attempt to show the impossible: to confuse the ...
Rambert Dance Company at the Wells
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Rambert Dance Company, which I saw at Sadler's Wells on 14 November, is so strong and such a fine group of dancers that over the last few years it has been a constant pleasure to watch them perform. The strength and technique of the company has in no way diminished; they are a superb group, ...
THE RIGHT INSTRUMENT FOR YOUR CHILD
Jan 01, 2007; ... THE RIGHT INSTRUMENT FOR YOUR CHILD By Atarah Ben-Tovim & Douglas Boyd Weidenfield & Nicholson ISBN 0-297-85065-2 £10.99 This book, originally published in 1985, has been revised and updated in line with current thinking. Atarah Ben-Tovim was a child prodigy who became a flautist ...
THE FENDER STRATOCASTER MANUAL
Jan 01, 2007; ... THE FENDER STRATOCASTER MANUAL By Paul Balmer Foreword by Hank Marvin Haynes Publishing ISBN 1-84425321-X £17.99 WOW! A Manual published by Haynes on the Fender Stratocaster This guitar has been around my whole musical life, from the early listening days straining to hear Radio Luxemburg ...
SHOSTAKOVICH: A Life Remembered
Jan 01, 2007; ... SHOSTAKOVICH: A Life Remembered By Elizabeth Wilson Faber & Faber ISBN 0-571-220-50-9 631pp £20 How we change! Back in 1994 I struggled with the first edition of Elizabeth Wilsons book, fully appreciating the research and dedication which had gone into it and the enthusiasm she ...
A MUSICIAN'S ALPHABET
Jan 01, 2007; ... A MUSICIAN'S ALPHABET By Susan Tomes Fabcr & Faber ISBN 0-571-22883-6 £12.99 This neat A5 book gives us the A to Z intimate knowledge of a musicians lot. Susan Tomes is a first class pianist whom I enjoyed hearing play at the Rye Festival last year: she is also a talented author. Her ...
Welsh Roundup
Jan 01, 2007; ... Rian Evans around Cardiff, with a side tr ... to nearby Bristol (ProQuest Information and Learning: ... denotes obscured text omitted.) Daniel Martyn Lewis at Cardiff University The slight, but athletic frame of pianist Daniel Martyn Lewis suggests a long-distance runner ...
Music in Education
Jan 01, 2007; ... Music for Youth, the national charity that organises the National Festival of Music for Youth is in financial difficulties. Larry Westland, Executive Director, said, "In view of our current funding situation it is unlikely that Music for Youth will continue in its present form beyond the end of ...
SMAULL SONG 2007
Jan 01, 2007; ... a Singing Experienxe on Islay Smaull Farmhouse, Gruinart, Isle of lslay, PA44 7PU, Scotland Tel:+44 (0) 1496850537 Website: www.smaullsong.org.uk Email: smaullsong@aol.com "The Smaull Song singing course, now in its third year, will be held at ...
Cinemaphonia DSCH
Jan 01, 2007; ... The days are getting shorten more reason to go the concert hall ... Writing of composing music for the cinema in the 1940s, Ralph Vaughan Williams made the interesting suggestion that he would like to see a gifted film maker take an established piece of music and create a film to it, ...
Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra at St John's
Jan 01, 2007; ... Sir Malcolm Arnold would have been 85 on 21 October, but his sudden death on 23 September caused the all-Arnold orchestral programme by the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra under Peter Stark at St John's, Smith Square on 15 October to become a celebration of this unique composer's life and ...
Classical Opera Company Associate Artist Recital at the Wigmore
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Classical Opera Company, which has done sterling work in bringing to performance worthwhile but unjustly neglected 18th-Century operas, presented an Associate Artist Recital at the Wigmore Hall on 9 October. It should be said at once that this was an exceptionally well-planned programme, ...
Oxford Philomusica at Cadogan Hall
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Oxford Philomusica under their Founder and Music Director Marios Papadopoulos appeared in an all-Beethoven programme at Cadogan Hall on 14 October. Despite a smart Programme given free to patrons it was thought necessary to have Classic FM s Natalie Wheen introduce both halves of the concert ...
Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall
Jan 01, 2007; ... In the first major outing for the Halle Choir this Season, Mark Elder conducted the Halle Orchestra in two largely choral works at the Bridge-water Hall on 14 October. The first was a real gem of a performance of Kodály's Psalmus Hungaricus. Tenor Stefan Margita was inspired throughout and told ...
St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall
Jan 01, 2007; ... It was a great pleasure to welcome the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra to London for their appearance at Cadogan Hall on 10 October in an ail-Russian programme conducted by their Music Director Alexander Dmitriev. This is a fine orchestra indeed, and a large one too, with no fewer then ...
Nadia Giliova at St John's
Jan 01, 2007; ... It was a particularly well-planned and relatively out-of-the-way programme given by the Russian-born but now naturalised British pianist Nadia Giliova that drew a discriminating audience to St John's, Smith Square on 19 October. This girted artist began with five individual items from Howard ...
Yukawa-Chan Duo at the Wigmore
Jan 01, 2007; ... Because it contained much virtuosity and little substance the 2-piano recital at the Wigmore Hall by Cassie Yukawa and Rosey Chan on 20 October evoked the sensational appearances of 19th-century keyboard lions. John Cage's Experiences No 1 offered no melody but only sensitively played textures ....
Dominant Quartet at the Wigmore
Jan 01, 2007; ... The class of the Dominant Quartet from St Petersburg was evident at the Wigmore Hall on 22 October from the opening bars of Prokofiev's second Quartet. Their ensemble playing was razor-sharp, their intonation completely secure, their virtuosity up to the most searching demands of two strongly ...
David King's Organ Recital at Servite Priory
Jan 01, 2007; ... The Organ recital given by David King on the fine Grant, Degens and Bradbeer instrument at Servite Priory in London's Fulham Road on 18 October deserved a larger audience, for it was an exceptionally well chosen programme given with this player's customary delight in musicmaking. He began with a ...
The Hallé's pairings at Bridgewater Hall
Jan 01, 2007; ... Two new composers, two conductors, a second Cello Concerto and a Second Symphony! Whatever it is about the number two was never explained, though it did add interest to the Hallé's concert at the Bridgewater Hall on 26 October. The Hallé's young Assistant Conductor, Rory MacDonald, cut ...
Vladislav Blaha at Leighton House
Jan 01, 2007; ... Commemorating the Czech Republic, one of the finest guitarists from that country, Vladislav Blaha, gave an impressive recital in association with LACCS at Leighton House on 24 October. He began with two works especially composed for him, the first being Usher Waltz, inspired by Poe's The Fall of ...
BBC Philharmonic in Bridgewater Hall
Jan 01, 2007; ... Continuing their Neglected Genius theme, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra chose Arnold Schönberg as the focus for their concert at the Bridgewater Hall on 27 October, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Having made such a fuss though, it was surprising that there was only an 8 minute Schönberg ...
Ivan Kiwuwa at Leighton House
Jan 01, 2007; ... In comparison with Japan, China and the other Oriental countries, we have so far had very few exponents of classical music out of Africa. One such is Ivan Kiwuwa from Uganda, who, after some choral experience, only began to study the piano at 13. Despite this he showed considerable technique and ...