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Article: The drowned world
- Article from:
- New Statesman
- Article date:
- December 8, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright New Statesman Ltd. Dec 8, 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The drowned world
Ian Irvine
Elaborate stagecraft is superfluous in a piece as spare and grim as a Norse epic
Riders to the Sea
Coliseum, London WC2
Vaughan Williams's Riders to the Sea is a work fraught with mortality, but the sudden and untimely death of the conductor Richard Hickox, just days before the opening of this new production at the Coliseum, gave the first night an added poignancy. Edward Gardner, English National Opera's music director, stood in for him, and all the performances were dedicated to his memory. Hickox had been a noted champion of English composers and had played a leading part in the commemoration this year of the 50th anniversary of Vaughan Williams's death, of ...