Primi Divi

English National Opera

27th June 2008

Maybe the ENO should keep away from musicals. On the Town was excellent, but, with a mostly musical rather than operatic cast, it barely counted as an opera production at all. Kismet wasn’t as bad as people said, but the fact that I was pretty much the only person who liked it shows it wasn’t exactly successful. As for Candide, what can I say? I’m not Hairy McMungo, but ‘can I have a refund?’ springs to mind.

Robert Carsen’s production was well-thought out, and the gimmicks were mostly understandable to most people. Let’s ignore the fact I thought it was cringe-makingly awful. Most people found it very amusing, and Michael Levine’s designs did manage to convey quite a lot. I liked the way the stage was turned into a TV set. Conductor Ruman Gumba was excellent – the ENO orchestra played well, and occasionally managed to get some real meaning out of the music, even though most of it is total fluff.

There wasn’t any really bad singing. Actor Alex Jennings, in the multiple roles of Voltaire, Dr Pangloss, and the miserable Martin was easily up to the standards of the operatically-trained performers, and completely showed them up when it came to the comedy. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a trained actor is so much better at comedy than opera singers, but I wouldn’t have expected the difference to be that great – particularly as several members of the cast are usually brilliant at comedy The only funny thing about the opera singers’ performance was the glaring contrast between Jennings’ effortlessly smooth, polished performance, and the ridiculousness everywhere else.

Beverley Klein was possibly the weakest singer in the stage, but she invested the Old Lady with so much character, it was difficult not to enjoy her performance - although there were times when I wished her diction wasn’t quite so good, as some of the most disgusting lines in the libretto happened to be hers. I don’t know how she managed to get any humour from those moments at all. She also looks great in a sparkly leotard – despite her character’s only having one buttock.

The title role was sung by Toby Spence, who sang beautifully, and even made Candide vaguely interesting and likeable. But it was hard not to lose patience for his continuing devotion to Anna Christy’s slut of a Cunegonde, who can’t even go through Immigration without being unfaithful. Christy’s performance was wholehearted, impressively sung, and she looked beautiful in all her costumes, which seemed to grow skimpier in every scene. But I couldn’t stand Cunegonde as a person. You can be unfaithful and yet rather adorable – like Valencienne in The Merry Widow. You can also be utterly disreputable, yet with a sensual and magnetic charm – like Carmen. But Cunegonde, promiscuous, vain, shallow, disloyal and cruel, has nothing to recommend her.

There was also some strong singing from Mark Stone as Cunegonde’s brother Maximilian – Stone also played Christy’s brother when she made her ENO debut as Lucia di Lammermoor. I look forward to seeing them Marguerite and Valentin or Manon and Lescaut. As Pacquette, ENO Young Singer Mairéad Buicke spent most of her time onstage being groped or dressed up as a bunny girl, but seemed completely unfazed, and sang beautifully. The first time I saw her I said she wasn’t suited to the lighter repertoire. I was wrong: she’s actually suited to it very well.

But there is more to the opera than the singing, and it’s difficult to enjoy even that when such horrible things are going on all the time. There’s much too much death, mutilation, prostitution… I know this kind of thing goes on in the world, but it’s not something I want to pay to watch. The whole opera seemed to be about nasty people cheating other nasty people, and telling gruesome stories along the way with the occasional frothy song. The ENO can do so much better. Forget the musicals. Why can’t we see The Carmelites, King Arthur, Lucia di Lammermoor, Eugene Onegin, The Fairy Queen, The Silver Tassie, Gaddafi or Alcina again?

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Royal Opera

1st July 2008

This was a weird one! To start with, I thought it was going to be a comedy like Der Rosenkavalier. Definitely an opera of two halves. Did I like it? Can’t make up my mind!

The first half was set backstage in the home or an art patron. They’d arranged for two celebratory performances, an opera and a singing/dancing performance by a comedy troupe. First they argue about what is going to be performed first, then they decided there’s no time for both, so both will be performed at the same time.

I didn’t know the story, and I thought it was a great idea, but it turned out the second act wasn’t very funny at all. The comedy troupe had their moments, but Ariadne spent the whole time being miserable. Apparently, Theseus has dumped her. This is the same Ariadne and Theseus who met in The Minotaur, but other people think it’s Bluebeard who dumped her, there’s also a French opera together called Ariadne and Bluebeard which Barry thinks he might have seen many years ago. Then in this one she ends up with Bacchus. It’s quite confusing.

The sets were interesting. Fit Crit was especially excited about seeing the second-act set because he’s only seen this production once but the first set got stuck, so in the end they had to perform the second act on the first act set, which must have been very interesting. The interval was extra-long even though it was 40 minutes to start with. Can’t help thinking the second half was probably more effective with all that dark blue lighting.

There were lots of good things in the first half. Loved Thomas Allen as the Music Master. Hairy says he’s so good, he’s practically Scottish, and I think he has a point. He’s just very funny with lots of energy. Shame he was only in the first half. Then there was Christoph Quest as the Major-Domo. The opera is mostly all sung, but the Major-Domo is a spoken role. I don’t know why Strauss decided to do this, but it didn’t seem strange. His speaking was very rhythmic and it followed the style of the music.

Really enjoyed the comedy troupe, especially in the first half. Gillian Keith was a very pretty Zerbinetta – amazing singer with lots of high notes to sing. She also had to take her top off, but she really seemed to be enjoying herself right through the opera. Also really liked the men – Markus Werba as Harlequin, Jeremy White as Truffaldino, Ji-Min Park as Scaramuccio and Haoyin Xue as Brighella. One of them was wearing a kilt, but I’m not sure which one. He had good legs though. They were all really funny, and made a great addition to the first act. It was quite strange having them in the second act as well, and to be honest they were the best thing in the second act.

There was a bit of controversy the last time Ariadne was performed at the ROH. Apparently, Deborah Voigt was supposed to sing Ariadne, but she was sacked because she didn’t fit into the little black dress. No idea if this is true or not, but it makes a good story. Deborah Voigt did sing at this performance, but the story goes she was cast after she’d had a stomach-stapling operation. Poor girl, operas are famous for their large sopranos but the truth is opera people seem to be as shallow as everyone else. Pathetic really. I thought Deborah Voigt looked pretty good in the dress. She’s voluptuous, but far from unattractive. Violetta says she looks better than the other Ariadnes in the dress, and I’m happy to take her word for it. Wish I could say her singing was great too, but I thought it was a bit hard and shrill.

Robert Dean Smith sang the role of the Tenor in the first act and Bacchus in the second act. He was very funny as the Tenor, but Bacchus didn’t really do it for me. Don’t really know what he sees in a misery-guts like Ariadne either. Maybe the problem is I just don’t understand the music. Kristine Jepson who sang the Composer was another shrill one but Anita Watson, Sarah Castle and Anna Leese as Naiad, Dryad and Echo sounded good. But maybe the problem with an opera with two such different styles is that if you love the first act, you might not love the second act as much.

Madam Caterpillar

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

English National Opera

5th June 2008

This is just such a cool opera. It starts with these 2 girls in bed having an orgasm and you kind of feel things just couldn’t get any better after that. But somehow it does get better or at least it doesn’t get worse. The opera is just really funny, it has some really cool characters. After that bit there’s some more lesbian stuff and a bit of fighting and cross-dressimg and it’s got some really great music as well. Okay yeah so parts of it are a bit of a slush fest but I can live with that when it’s got all the other stuff too. It’s got something for everyone, Der Rosenkavalier.

The only problem with it is that it’s a really long opera and I had to sit in the balcony and it was a bit squashed but I didn’t really notice it because I was so into the performance. David McVicar has done a really fun production with lots of visual jokes, I think it would have been quite easy to follow if you didn’t know the story already. Some of the music is quite sexy like the plot and Edward Gardner who was conducting put that over quite well. He milked the slushy bits a bit but I think that’s fair enough really, it’s an important part of the opera.

Sarah Connolly was Octavian, she was seriously good. She didn’t just sing it really well, she really has this cool teenage walk thing going on which was annoying in a way because a lot of the time I forgot she was a girl so I couldn’t get excited about the lesbian stuff but that’s a good thing really I suppose as you’re not supposed to think she’s a lesbian. Do you know something though, Octavian’s the same age as me and he’s pulled the Marschallin who’s in her thirties! My mates were really impressed I’d pulled Sophie (that’s my girlfriend, not the character in Der Rosenkavalier) who’s 3 years older than me and I thought it was quite good going really even though she does go for younger guys but seriously if I could pull some hot babe in her thirties like Octavian did that would be very cool. If Sophie’s reading this obviously I’m joking.

But yeah brilliant performance from Sarah and one really interesting bit about this production was that Octavian wanted to go back to the Marschallin but she was pushing him at Sophie (that’s Sophie in the opera). They didn’t change the words I don’t think, they just showed her walking off to leave them along together and him trying to follow her. I can understand in a way, if I was with some hot older woman and she dumped me and tried to fix me up with some 15 year old I’d be like hang on a minute, it’s up to me who I go out with. Octavian’s a bit pathetic though and he stayed with Sophie but it would have been a bit difficult for him to do anything else really when he had more words to sing. But you could tell even though he really fancied her and kept kissing her (yes more lesbian stuff!) he wasn’t very happy with how things turned out.

Sarah Connolly also got to kiss Baron Ochs and the conductor so she really got around a bit! The scenes where Octavian pretends to be a girl and goes on a date with Baron Ochs, that was so cool. Sarah did the weird voice but I could still understand what she was singing. It’s stupid she’s never sung at the ROH. She’s sung at the Met though.

Sarah Tynan was Sophie, she was wearing a weird dress that stuck out so if Octavian had tried to put his arm round her I don’t reckon he’d have been able to reach properly. Sometimes it sounded like Sarah was pushing her voice a bit to get through the orchestration which I don’t think she should do, they should just play quieter but she’s a total babe and a brilliant singer. Sophie’s a bit fake though, she acts all innocent but when she kissed Octavian it looked like she’d done that before. Seriously though, dumb blonde is not the word!

The Marschallin was Janice Watson, some crits haven’t been that sure about her but I really liked her. She made the Marschallin seem a lot more human than she usually is. She is a bit girly especially in bed and she’s sexy in a posh sort of way. Some people think she was a bit emotionless but I’d say she was too emotional if anything, she was almost like clingy in the first scene. But major respect to her for letting Octavian go like that, how many girls would react like that if they caught their boyfriend with another girl? She should be an inspiration to girls everywhere.

Baron Ochs was John Tomlinson, he is just so funny, even his first line which was offstage was really clear. What a total prat though! He’s got this dance he does when he thinks he’s pulled, it’s just like so hilarious! He just totally fills the stage with his personality but at the same time he’s like really really pathetic.

Andrew Shore is one of those people who’s always going on about how the ENO shouldn’t have surtitles. I get his point, it’s really annoying when you can’t understand people and it’s not like the surtitles spoil the jokes, if it’s a funny bit they like wait till the last word of the joke before putting it up on the surtitles most of the time. He is right though that they should try to improve people’s diction, maybe one day there won’t be any surtitles at all and it won’t matter but I think they need to have surtitles when they’re getting all the improvements sorted out. Maybe what they could do (this would be really mean though) is to get people at the first night to vote on which singers need surtitles and then they could set the surtitles up so they only work when someone with crap diction is singing. It would be mean but if singers thought that was going to happen they might be more likely to try to have perfect diction. In case you’re wondering Andrew’s diction is brilliant. His character von Faninal is another prat but he’s a nice guy, just totally useless.

Barry Banks was the Italian Tenor, it was supposed to be Dwayne Jones from the Young Singers programme but they had Barry at some performances and Alfie Boe at other performances. I don’t know why Dwayne couldn’t do it but if Barry Banks is in a production you don’t complain about it! The only thing I didn’t like about his performance was that it was so good, it really pissed me off when Baron Ochs interrupted him and wouldn’t let him finish. I know it’s a slushy song but when you get a really good tenor like that you want to hear him don’t you? Baron Ochs should just like shut up for 5 minutes then do his bit. But Baron Ochs wouldn’t shut up for 5 seconds, no way 5 mins.

Madeleine Shaw from the Young Singers programme sang all her stuff though, she’s good. She sang Annina, that’s a character that doesn’t usually make much impression on me really but even when Madeleine’s not singing there was just something so obviously dodgy about Annina, she was all kind of skulking around the stage, it was brilliant. Hairy said she showed a Scottish commitment to getting her money or something, Annina is actually Italian though Hairy! She even had more stage presence than Stuart Kale who was Valzacchi, the other dodgy one and he’s good.

There was only one person in the cast that wasn’t brilliant, I think he/she was maybe trying too hard to put lots of character into his/her voice and it didn’t work for me. I’m not saying who it was though, that would be mean. And I think the ending’s a bit crap, they should think up something else to do in the last bit. I mean like, Sophie drops her handkerchief and sends this little boy or servant guy in to get it, so what? What’s so dramatic about that? Then you have to put up with the servant doing this stupid pose like he’s the star of the opera. Total anti-climax. What I’d want to do is as they’re still in the hotel where Octavian was on his date with Baron Ochs and there’s a bloody great bed there (that’s what Octavian called it, really good line that, it’s always well funny when people swear in the middle of an opera) maybe it should finish how it starts with 2 women in bed together only Octavian and Sophie this time. That would be a much better ending.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Chelsea Opera Group at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

1st June 2008

If there is, one, great story, of romance, above, all other, great stories, it is the story, of Cinderella. Every girl, and, most likely, every boy, too, dreams, sometimes, of meeting, that special someone, who will transform, their very life, from cinders, into happiness. It might not be, always, a desire, for the literal, delineation, of these dreams, as, here, in this opera, transpires, but, the longing, for any transformitive improvement, in your destiny, can be, so compared.

There is no, nesessity, of relating, the tale, of that great romance, Cinderella. I am certain, that you know it, and have done so, since your very birth. Although, I confess, I had not beheld, nor even heard, this great opera, before, I knew it, actually, more intimately, than La Cenerentola. In Rossini’s great, if frivilous, opera, there is no fairy godmother, but, instead, an old philosopher, who gains, by means of cunning, anonimous entry, to the home, of Cinderella. Here, in Massenet’s splendiferous, epic, we are permitted, to see the chronicle, as intended, at this story’s conception.

The music, flowed melifliously, from the venerous, orchestra, of the Chelsea Opera Group. At least, I believe, that this is their name, the programme, appears not to give, the orchestra’s identity. This is an opera of the most profound passions, but also, an opera, of peculiarity. Cinderella, is not a soprano, and the Prince, is not a tenor. Strangely, inconceivably, both are mezzo-sopranos. I can conclude, only, that Cendrillon, is a mezzo, because she sweeps floors, and the Prince is a mezzo, because a tenor, would never accept, so insubstantial, a role. One point, in Rossini’s favour, is that, the Prince, has a considerable quantity, to sing, so he could, reasonably, cast a tenor.

Liora Grodnikaite, a former Jette Parker Young Artist, of the ROH, sang the role of Cendrillon, and gave, for a mezzo-soprano, a performance of considerable monumentality. Unlike the others, she sang, without her music, and was able, therefore, to circumnavigate the stage, and to turn, this way and that, in her reactions, to the other characters. Liora has always, had a great affinity, for Massenet, and the role of Cendrillon, she sang, with extreme beauty and gentility. Yet, her Cinderella, was not, a victim. She moved, throughout, with potency, and dignity, whether, she was, in servility, or finery. Her costume, I must declare, however, was disappointing. She wore the same, black, plain, dress, throughout the opera’s, entirity.

The Prince, was Emma Selway, who had not, the masculinity, for such a role, but, in her femininity, might consider that, a compliment. Her voice, was attractive, but rather thin, in its tonality. Judith Howarth, as the Fairy Godmother, in a gown, of voluptuous, green, looked, appropriately, like a Christmas tree, but was, somewhat, shrill. The Ugly Sisters, Anna-Clare Monk, as Noémie, and, Harriet Williams, as, Dorothée, looked most beautiful, in dresses of fashion.

Elizabeth Sikora, as the Wicked Stepmother, dressed, revealingly, for a lady, of her, superior, years, but the starkly, scarlet, dress, so suited, her role, as the Wicked Stepmother, who was vulgar in character, I wholeheartedly, forgive her. It is not a voice, of, transparent, beauty, but of, significant, personality, with inordinate, characterisation.

Roderick Earle, for I believe it was, he, although, the announcement being given, in such tones, of softness, I could not be certain, sang with the greatest, bravery, with a throat infection. He, quite plainly, suffered, but his role, with its narratorial, quality, and its buffoic, nature, did not demand, beauteous singing, but, the ability, to comediate, and this, Roderick possessed, in exessive, amounts. Adrian Powter, Philip Sheffield, Wyn Pencarreg, all singers, and Dominic Wheeler, not only, the sensuous conductor, but also, personifying, the speaking role, of the Herod, completed, this accomplished, cast.

Violetta

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

English National Opera

21st May 2008

English National Opera’s production of The Merry Widow was rather satisfying even before Oliver von Dohnanyi had raised his baton – although the evening got a lot better once he had. Just looking at the cast list was worth much of the cost of admission. The great English tenor John Graham-Hall, not only a very gifted comedian but the owner of a really lovely voice, usually makes a very strong impression in even the smallest roles, and seems perfectly happy to do so. He appeared to be much involved in the ENO Gala early last season, yet appeared content to restrict himself to roles like Gastone La traviata, leaving Alfredo to a less experienced singer.

But the fact he is such a good and generous performer only makes me keener to see him in leading roles, and The Merry Widow gave him that opportunity. Count Danilo is not only a leading role, but he’s supposed to be quite sexy. Graham-Hall was magnificent, and he was sexy. He is such a versatile performer, and even though I’m not usually a fan of operetta, there is no doubt that Danilo allowed him to show off his strengths as a singer, actor and dancer. I really enjoyed not only his scenes but his storyline, and I did actually care whether or not he and Hanna got together (they did, and I was glad).

The title role at this performance was taken by Michelle Walton. Walton was scheduled to sing only this performance, but I believe she performed at least once as an understudy. I really enjoyed her performances as a mezzo-soprano, but I haven’t seen her since she became a soprano a few years ago, so the chance to see Walton in a leading role was something I really didn’t want to miss. And she was great. A lot of singers have trouble with spoken texts, but Walton sounded completely natural and comfortable. Her voice is also very clear, so I could hear every word and every joke, all beautifully delivered; her music beautifully sung. I never realised Hanna Glawari had such lovely arias. ENO – let Michelle sing more performances next time!

Alfie Boe is one of these opera singers everyone thinks is wonderful. EMI deals, sell-out concerts all over the world, you know the sort of thing. So it’s always a surprise to hear how good he actually is. The fact that he seems more than happy to take on supporting roles, not only like Camille in this opera but also the Young Servant in the ROH Elektra, suggests that he is considerably less conceited than a lot of young singers with his sort of stardom. He was great as Camille – he was funny and sang really well, and generally seemed to enjoy being onstage.

As Valencienne, Fiona Murphy didn’t quite measure up to her co-stars as either a singer or an actor, but she is a relatively inexperienced singer working with an excellent cast, and many singers would struggle in her position. But she sounded and looked lovely, and she did manage to make Valencienne seem quite sweet and innocent, which is an achievement considering what she gets up to with Camille.

Valencienne’s husband, Baron Zeta, was wonderfully performed by Richard Suart, and Graeme Danby, another singer known for his amusing portrayals, stood out as Pritschitsch. Hal Cazalet and Daniel Hoadley managed to be funny despite their rather stupid French accents, and there were also impressive performances from ENO Young Singers Mairéad Buicke and James Gower, and members of the ENO Chorus. I did find Roy Hudd’s Njegus a rather disappointing singer, but he was very funny, and he seemed to be there more as a special guest star than an opera singer. He was certainly a star – one of many in this performance. The Merry Widow could have been nothing but romantic slush, but there was so much to enjoy. John Copley’s production was silly at times, but in a fun way. Maybe not a great opera, but certainly fun to watch.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Independent Opera at the Wigmore Hall

21st June 2008

Finally my exams are over and I’m back on the opera circuit! Yay! I’d better have passed them because there’s no way I’m sitting through that lot again but I reckon I’ll do okay.

Independent Opera did the complete Orlando at Sadler’s Wells last year I think but I didn’t go. They only did extracts at Wigmore Hall, I don’t know why. Maybe because it takes like 3 and a half hours to perform the whole thing and Wigmore Hall concerts are usually quite short unless they’re big galas.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing to cut down long operas, they should definately try doing it with Wagner, have you ever tried sitting through like the whole of Das Rheingold without an interval when you’ve had a drink or two? Forget the world coming to an end, do you know what that could have done to my reputation? Handel doesn’t need cutting down as much because at least he doesn’t go through the same stuff over and over again but then if you have a time limit I reckon you should still do Handel operas. First because he’s a really great composer and every company needs to do him but also because companies with time limits are usually companies with young singers who are often going to be really good at Handel because their voices are still quite light. So if doing Handel means you have to cut stuff out then you cut stuff out. Like when English Touring Opera did Alcina they had to miss out a whole storyline but they still ended up with a really good production.

Orlando would be harder to cut storylines out of because it’s all like a big love square. Medoro and Angelica are a couple but Orlando fancies Angelica and Dorinda’s after Medoro. You could cut out Dorinda I suppose and just have the two blokes fighting over Angelica, you can’t do the trio at the end of Act 1 without Dorinda but if you’ve cut bits out you probably want to do a 2 act version anyway and then you can have the interval after Orlando’s big mad aria like Independent Opera did – that worked really well dramatically actually.

So what Independent Opera did to cut it down was they just did the tunes, the accompanied recitative and a few plotty bits of recitative. I thought it was a good idea at first because you’d probably still have the whole story and the recitative is the least interesting bit of the music. But you know like at the start of Act 4 of The Marriage of Figaro when you’ve got Barbarina, Marcellina, Don Basilio, Figaro and Susanna all singing arias one after the other? They’re all good arias and everything but you kind of wish a couple of them would start doing a duet or something.

That’s kind of how it was in Orlando, it was like aria aria aria aria aria all the way through and even the recitative they had didn’t break it up much because there mostly wasn’t any and the bits they did have were all like leading into the arias most of the time. There’s like 2 duets, 1 trio and the Finale and all the rest is arias and ariosos. Orlando is such a cool opera and it does have some brilliant arias in but what they did just didn’t work for me. I reckon it would have been better if the conductor Gary Cooper or maybe the singers had introduced each aria and kind of moved the story along in the introduction, kind of like how Classical Music Company did that Die Entfuhrung/Zaide thing Barry reviewed. The programme had a synopsis with the words but the words were quite small and you’d probably have to read quite fast if you wanted to follow that and read the libretto and watch the singers too.

William Towers was Orlando which was really cool because the first time I saw him was in Orlando when he sang Medoro at the ROH, Bejun Mehta who was supposed to be singing Medoro ended up singing Orlando because the mezzo was off sick so William sang Medoro. He’s a brilliant Orlando too. I wasn’t quite so sure in his first aria, it took him a bit of time to get warmed up but once he was he sang really well and I reckon it must be really hard to sing all the arias with just one interval, it’s not like they’re easy arias anyway although William didn’t seem to be having any trouble with them. It wasn’t staged or anything but William did lots of acting, he looked so insane.

Rebecca Ryan was Angelica, she looked really sexy and powerful so I could understand why the blokes were literally going mad over her. She seemed a bit cold sometimes but that made it extra funny when she and Medoro were comforting Dorinda because he was acting all concerned and Angelica looked really pissed off with him for being nice to her rival. They were singing the same lines but he sounded like he meant it and she sounded like she was singing through her teeth. I liked it like that, it makes her a bit more interesting.

Christopher Ainslie was Medoro, he seemed really cool. Poor guy though, he’s got Dorinda stalking him and Angelica possibly about to run off with this madman and Medoro’s only just recovering from nearly dying, seriously he’s not having a good time but you don’t see him going mad do you? He’s got a really interesting voice, he almost didn’t sound like he was singing falsetto. It’s cool the way countertenor voices can vary so much. The only ones I don’t like are the honky ones but there weren’t any at this performance which was good.

Dorinda was Martene Grimson, she was the only singer who wasn’t in the staged production. I know my girlfriend won’t like me saying this but Martene is HOT! Maybe Medoro is mad. Dorinda is a bit pathetic really but she’s got some great arias and she is quite sweet in a clingy sort of way. It’s quite cool the way Dorinda asks them all back to her house even though she’s just a shepherdess and the others are all upper class probably. Lots of operas have people from different classes hanging out together, I know lots of the characters keep killing each other but seriously these librettists and composers aren’t classist or sexist or anything stupid like that. They even have gay relationships like Don Carlo and Rodrigo.

There’s hardly anything for Zoroastro to sing but he’s someone you remember. Nicholas Warden is still quite young but he’s got all the low notes and he can sing them in tune most of the time. He’s a real proper light bass and his stage presence is good, you could tell Zoroastro was the authority figure.

So even though it probably wasn’t performed in the best way possible you just had to enjoy it because the performers were all so good. The orchestra had a theorbo and a harpsichord which was played by the conductor (so he had enough to do really without doing little intro pieces about the arias as well) and I reckon all the other instruments were old too because they didn’t sound like the modern ones. There was this one bit with a violin solo, I can’t remember which piece it was in but it was but it sounded really good.

FitCrit

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Classical Music Company at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre

19th May 2008

The Study Day on Mozart’s Turkish Operas, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Zaide, was the last in a series of very successful events, and there was undeniably some disappointment in the air when it was revealed that, while they would be a talk next year, it would not focus on Il sogno di Scipione or La finta giardiniera. But, no doubt, Peter Medhurst’s future talks will be very interesting and entertaining, particularly if they continue to feature the excellent singers who have participated in this and previous events. I can’t quite be certain which operas have featured in this series of talks, as I, sadly, haven’t been able to attend them all, but I believe they include Die Zauberflote, Idomeneo and the three Da Ponte operas at the very least. However, as La clemenza di Tito, La finta giardiniera, Mitridate re di Ponto and Il re pastore have all been performed by the Royal Opera in recent years, and by other companies, including English National Opera and Garsington Opera, I can’t help hoping (although this is very greedy of me) that they might feature in future study days led by Mr Medhurst.

Mr Medhurst’s method of working through each opera chronologically and asking the singers to perform musical extracts at the appropriate point in the story has always worked very well. At this event, however, he discussed Mozart’s two Turkish operas, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Zaide, concurrently, drawing parallels between the operas, both of which are set in a Turkish Seraglio. It was an excellent idea, but, despite being very familiar with Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, I confess I did become a little confused at times. I was also a little concerned that audience members who were unfamiliar with both operas might have felt still more confused, particularly as both operas feature a bass named Osmin. It might have been more effective to devote the two morning sessions to the completed Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and the afternoon to the unfinished Zaide. Having said this, I did enjoy it very much as it was.

In fact, it proved to be a most informative and entertaining day. As usual, Mr Medhurst had assembled a very fine group of singers, and my only surprise is that I do not encounter these singers more often in my exploration of opera in London and the surrounding areas. Perhaps Classical Opera Company is busy throughout the year in other parts of the country, but I would have expected such excellent Mozartians to be of great interest to the country’s major opera companies.

The tenor Richard Rowe sang the roles of Belmonte and Gomatz, the two leading tenor roles. He sang his arias so warmly and stylishly, a member of the audience was moved to comment in the break that he would be a very fine Tamino. The lady, of course, was absolutely right: as a comparison with Gomatz’ portrait aria, Mr Rowe was asked to sing the opening lines of Tamino’s portrait aria in Die Zauberflote, and he did so beautifully. Mr Medhurst’s belief that the later aria is the superior would not usually be disputed, but the Zaide aria also has much to recommend it, and I do rather wonder if part of the difference in the power of the arias was due to the two heroes’ having different characters. Mr Rowe was an earnest Belmonte and his Tamino was clearly overwhelmed by the beauty of Pamina, but Mr Rowe gave Gomatz a slight excitability and impulsiveness. But perhaps it is just as well that Gomatz seems less romantic than the other characters, as Gomatz and Zaide are siblings in Voltaire’s original story.

Similarities were also drawn between the role of Blonde and Mozart’s other ‘soubrette’ roles. Hannah Ockendon was a delightful Blonde, extremely amusing but with considerable charm. She did not sing Blonde’s top Es, but I hope this would not deter any opera company from casting her in the role, as she is excellent. Mr Medhurst also asked Miss Ockendon to sing an aria from Handel’s Rinaldo, the beginning of Susanna’s second aria in Le nozze di Figaro and the end of Zerlina’s first aria in Don Giovanni, all of which were very beautifully sung and characterised. This was to demonstrate a similarity in the characters and their music.

However, I do wonder if Mozart’s characters are quite as simple as Mr Medhurst appeared to be implying. Perhaps I have misunderstood completely, but I can’t help reflecting there are many quite significant differences between the three characters, and this was shown in Miss Ockendon’s performances. All three ladies are members of the lower classes, and are married or almost-married women pursued by a gentleman of superior rank (in the case of Blonde and Osmin, the difference is minimal, but it certainly exists within the social structure of the Seraglio) - yet they all react differently. Blonde shows her admirer no respect at all; Susanna plays elaborate jokes on hers, and Zerlina succumbs.

Even in the arias Miss Ockendon sang, the difference seems quite clear. Blonde’s first aria consists of instructions to Osmin on how to be a gentleman – most disrespectful considering she is effectively his servant, but I applaud her for it all the same. Susanna’s arias are both based on playing jokes (although I do like to think she forgets about the joke quite early in her second aria), and Zerlina, having succumbed to her gentleman suitor, is in a far more vulnerable position than Blonde and Zerlina, and must do all she can to win back Masetto’s trust.

Blonde can perhaps most convincingly be compared with Despina, who instructs Fiordiligi and Dorabella how to treat men - but Despina is also like Susanna in her willingness to play tricks (although her gullibility leads her to be duped, like Zerlina). There is a similarity in the type of voice that is associated with these roles, and perhaps this is all Mr Medhurst was trying to demonstrate, but there, I believe, the generalisation ended.

Maciek O’Shea sang the roles of the two Osmins – both very different characters, but both very funny. Mr Medhurst was supposed to be singing one of the Osmins, but was unable to sing due to a throat infection that fortunately did not prevent him from speaking – he has a very dynamic style of presentation that could not be easily imitated. Mr O’Shea consequently agreed to sing the other Osmin at short notice – and both were so wonderfully characterised, it would surely have been impossible to guess from listening to him which role was a last-minute affair. Mr O’Shea is a great comedian, and his very lovely bass voice ensured that his contributions were a delight musically as well as being so humorous. Perhaps Mr O’Shea’s lower notes are not yet sufficiently strong for a larger hall than the Purcell Room, but Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Zaide might very well be better-suited to a smaller venue in any case.

The two leading soprano roles of Konstanze and Zaide were sung by Dominique Thiébaud, who gave a very touching performance as Zaide. It is a great shame this work is not performed more often, and I feel sure that it would be much more popular were it not for its sadly unfinished state. Miss Thiébaud is an excellent lyric soprano, and it is a great shame she was not asked to sing Konstanze’s ‘Traurigkeit’, which would have provided a contrast with Konstanze’s faster arias, as well as showing her strengths to great effect. But she nevertheless gave a determined, and very well-acted performance of ‘Ach ich liebte’ and ‘Martern aller Artern’, two very demanding arias which can provide a real challenge even for some of the most flexible of coloratura sopranos. Miss Thiébaud is also an inventive comedienne: she provided her audience with a marvellous masterclass on ‘What (Not) to Do During the Extremely Long Introduction to Martern aller Artern’, which involved a lot of movement, the striking of poses, checking her watch, as well as demonstrating the many moments in the introduction which a nervous soprano (and I would most certainly be absolutely terrified if I ever had to sing Konstanze, though, admittedly, I’m unlikely ever to develop into a soprano) might mistakenly take for her cue.

Tenor Andrew O’Brien sang the roles of Pedrillo Die Entfuhrung and Sultan Soliman Zaide. His voice is not conventionally Mozartian, but it suited the characters well – his Pedrillo was notable not only for his fine singing, but for his wonderful expressions of terror in ‘Frisch zum Kampfe’. The Sultan is a very different character, and Mr O’Brien seemed to derive no less enjoyment from performing a more authoritative character.

As a baritone, Mark Oldfield had nothing to sing in Die Entfuhrung and only one aria to sing as Allazim in Zaide, yet was probably the busiest performer of all. His dramatic talents were called for in the role of Pasha Selim, as he too had to think of something to do during the introduction to Konstanze’s aria – retaining his authority whilst not distracting attention from Miss Thiébaud’s remarkable performance can’t have been easy. I believe it was also Mr Oldfield who performed Gomatz’ dramatic monologue in the original German – also very well done. That would probably have been more than enough for me to cope with, but Mr Oldfield was also responsible for turning the pages for the excellent pianist Carol Wells, who showed not only considerable agility in her playing, but also dealt with the jocular and occasionally rather teasing Mr Medhurst with great patience and humour.

All in all, another wonderful day with Classical Opera Company, and, much as I’ll miss these detailed exploration into Mozart’s works, I shall really look forward to the change of direction next year.

Barry Tone

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Classical Music Company at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre 19th May 2008 The Study Day on Mozart’s Turkish Operas, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Zaide, was the last in a series of very successful events, and there was undeniably some disappointment in the air when it was revealed that, while they would be a talk next year, it would not focus on Il sogno di Scipione or La finta giardiniera. But, no doubt, Peter Medhurst’s future talks will be very interesting and entertaining, particularly if they continue to feature the excellent singers who have participated in this and previous events. I can’t quite be certain which operas have featured in this series of talks, as I, sadly, haven’t been able to attend them all, but I believe they include Die Zauberflote, Idomeneo and the three Da Ponte operas at the very least. However, as La clemenza di Tito, La finta giardiniera, Mitridate re di Ponto and Il re pastore have all been performed by the Royal Opera in recent years, and by other companies, including English National Opera and Garsington Opera, I can’t help hoping (although this is very greedy of me) that they might feature in future study days led by Mr Medhurst. Mr Medhurst’s method of working through each opera chronologically and asking the singers to perform musical extracts at the appropriate point in the story has always worked very well. At this event, however, he discussed Mozart’s two Turkish operas, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Zaide, concurrently, drawing parallels between the operas, both of which are set in a Turkish Seraglio. It was an excellent idea, but, despite being very familiar with Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, I confess I did become a little confused at times. I was also a little concerned that audience members who were unfamiliar with both operas might have felt still more confused, particularly as both operas feature a bass named Osmin. It might have been more effective to devote the two morning sessions to the completed Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and the afternoon to the unfinished Zaide. Having said this, I did enjoy it very much as it was. In fact, it proved to be a most informative and entertaining day. As usual, Mr Medhurst had assembled a very fine group of singers, and my only surprise is that I do not encounter these singers more often in my exploration of opera in London and the surrounding areas. Perhaps Classical Opera Company is busy throughout the year in other parts of the country, but I would have expected such excellent Mozartians to be of great interest to the country’s major opera companies. The tenor Richard Rowe sang the roles of Belmonte and Gomatz, the two leading tenor roles. He sang his arias so warmly and stylishly, a member of the audience was moved to comment in the break that he would be a very fine Tamino. The lady, of course, was absolutely right: as a comparison with Gomatz’ portrait aria, Mr Rowe was asked to sing the opening lines of Tamino’s portrait aria in Die Zauberflote, and he did so beautifully. Mr Medhurst’s belief that the later aria is the superior would not usually be disputed, but the Zaide aria also has much to recommend it, and I do rather wonder if part of the difference in the power of the arias was due to the two heroes’ having different characters. Mr Rowe was an earnest Belmonte and his Tamino was clearly overwhelmed by the beauty of Pamina, but Mr Rowe gave Gomatz a slight excitability and impulsiveness. But perhaps it is just as well that Gomatz seems less romantic than the other characters, as Gomatz and Zaide are siblings in Voltaire’s original story. Similarities were also drawn between the role of Blonde and Mozart’s other ‘soubrette’ roles. Hannah Ockendon was a delightful Blonde, extremely amusing but with considerable charm. She did not sing Blonde’s top Es, but I hope this would not deter any opera company from casting her in the role, as she is excellent. Mr Medhurst also asked Miss Ockendon to sing an aria from Handel’s Rinaldo, the beginning of Susanna’s second aria in Le nozze di Figaro and the end of Zerlina’s first aria in Don Giovanni, all of which were very beautifully sung and characterised. This was to demonstrate a similarity in the characters and their music. However, I do wonder if Mozart’s characters are quite as simple as Mr Medhurst appeared to be implying. Perhaps I have misunderstood completely, but I can’t help reflecting there are many quite significant differences between the three characters, and this was shown in Miss Ockendon’s performances. All three ladies are members of the lower classes, and are married or almost-married women pursued by a gentleman of superior rank (in the case of Blonde and Osmin, the difference is minimal, but it certainly exists within the social structure of the Seraglio) - yet they all react differently. Blonde shows her admirer no respect at all; Susanna plays elaborate jokes on hers, and Zerlina succumbs. Even in the arias Miss Ockendon sang, the difference seems quite clear. Blonde’s first aria consists of instructions to Osmin on how to be a gentleman – most disrespectful considering she is effectively his servant, but I applaud her for it all the same. Susanna’s arias are both based on playing jokes (although I do like to think she forgets about the joke quite early in her second aria), and Zerlina, having succumbed to her gentleman suitor, is in a far more vulnerable position than Blonde and Zerlina, and must do all she can to win back Masetto’s trust. Blonde can perhaps most convincingly be compared with Despina, who instructs Fiordiligi and Dorabella how to treat men - but Despina is also like Susanna in her willingness to play tricks (although her gullibility leads her to be duped, like Zerlina). There is a similarity in the type of voice that is associated with these roles, and perhaps this is all Mr Medhurst was trying to demonstrate, but there, I believe, the generalisation ended. Maciek O’Shea sang the roles of the two Osmins – both very different characters, but both very funny. Mr Medhurst was supposed to be singing one of the Osmins, but was unable to sing due to a throat infection that fortunately did not prevent him from speaking – he has a very dynamic style of presentation that could not be easily imitated. Mr O’Shea consequently agreed to sing the other Osmin at short notice – and both were so wonderfully characterised, it would surely have been impossible to guess from listening to him which role was a last-minute affair. Mr O’Shea is a great comedian, and his very lovely bass voice ensured that his contributions were a delight musically as well as being so humorous. Perhaps Mr O’Shea’s lower notes are not yet sufficiently strong for a larger hall than the Purcell Room, but Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Zaide might very well be better-suited to a smaller venue in any case. The two leading soprano roles of Konstanze and Zaide were sung by Dominique Thiébaud, who gave a very touching performance as Zaide. It is a great shame this work is not performed more often, and I feel sure that it would be much more popular were it not for its sadly unfinished state. Miss Thiébaud is an excellent lyric soprano, and it is a great shame she was not asked to sing Konstanze’s ‘Traurigkeit’, which would have provided a contrast with Konstanze’s faster arias, as well as showing her strengths to great effect. But she nevertheless gave a determined, and very well-acted performance of ‘Ach ich liebte’ and ‘Martern aller Artern’, two very demanding arias which can provide a real challenge even for some of the most flexible of coloratura sopranos. Miss Thiébaud is also an inventive comedienne: she provided her audience with a marvellous masterclass on ‘What (Not) to Do During the Extremely Long Introduction to Martern aller Artern’, which involved a lot of movement, the striking of poses, checking her watch, as well as demonstrating the many moments in the introduction which a nervous soprano (and I would most certainly be absolutely terrified if I ever had to sing Konstanze, though, admittedly, I’m unlikely ever to develop into a soprano) might mistakenly take for her cue. Tenor Andrew O’Brien sang the roles of Pedrillo Die Entfuhrung and Sultan Soli

Royal Opera

17th June 2008

Don Carlo was clearly meant to be one of the Highlights of the season – and it was. But perhaps not for the reasons everyone expected. With star tenor Rolando Villazón in the title role; Marina Poplavskaya, arguably the most successful graduate from the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme (although she was probably also the most experienced prior to taking up the place) as Elisabetta; Simon Keenlyside, one of England’s most successful opera singers as Rodrigo; Music Director Antonio Pappano conducting, and director Nicholas Hytner, it looked set to be a triumph – and it very nearly was.

As it happened, Antonio Pappano was the only one of the ‘stars’ who lived up to expectations – although, as Simon Keenlyside was unable to perform due to illness, it’s quite likely he would have been great as well. Don Carlo is a very long opera – possibly the longest I’ve ever attended – but the four and a half hours seemed more like two. Even when there was disappointment to be found on the stage, you could listen to what was coming out of the pit, and that would somehow make up for it. I’m usually someone who appreciates the dramatic side more than the conducting. But Pappano and the ROH orchestra were doing such an amazing job, even I could tell how good they were. I knew the opera had some wonderful tunes into it, like Carlo and Rodrigo’s duet, and Eboli’s first aria, but I hadn’t realised what a wonderful opera it was.

We’ll get the negative things out of the way first. Nicholas Hytner is one of my favourite directors. I’ve seen operas, plays and films he has directed, and never failed to love them. Don Carlo, though, was an exception. Everyone in the opera seemed to have trouble looking at the other characters. (Ironically, the blind Inquisitor was the best at this: at least he mostly faced in the right direction.) But there were far too many intimate scenes played out where, halfway through, one character either turns his or her back on the other, or goes to stand behind the person they’re talking to – and not particularly close behind them either. Hiding your real feelings seems to be quite an important theme in Don Carlo, but the movements of the characters just seemed odd. Bob Crowley’s designs were all elaborate and striking, but it was the snowy opening scene that I found the most effective.

Rolando Villazón returns to the Royal Opera following a break from opera, which saw him withdraw from productions including the ROH’s new L’elisir d’amore. Villazón is certainly a great singer at his best, and not a bad actor either. I hoped his time away would help him to approach future productions in a more positive manner, and be able to give his best all the time, but he seemed to be having real difficulties with Carlo’s music, and his acting was (unusually) mostly limited to sitting down with his head in his hands. Perhaps the problem is in the role: Carlo is a long role, and I would say it’s heavier than most of those in Villazón’s repertoire, so maybe it’s a case of his taking on too much – or possibly too much too soon. But his voice sounded great when not strained, and, while his Carlo was a pathetic little wimp who couldn’t lead a dog on a leash, never mind a revolution, there was something very sweet about him.

Marina Poplavskaya is clearly a very gifted young singer with (I hope) a great future ahead of her. But she is still on the young side, and Elisabetta is a huge role. Poplavskaya’s voice is beautiful, and her performances in roles such as Donna Anna and Rachel La Juive for the Royal Opera have shown her to be an unusually good actress, but Elisabetta seems a bit much for her – as it would be too much for almost all singers of her age and experience. Her final aria was her best moment, exceptionally well-sung and full of passion, but there was a sense she was holding back during the other scenes. As the opera is so long, probably every soprano needs to hold back a bit, but it shouldn’t be quite this obvious. Poplavskaya is a great singer, and has the potential to be even greater, but there’s no need to push her. She’s only thirty: she can afford to take her time a bit, and it would be sad to see any singer, with Poplavskaya’s talent or not, to risk damaging her voice by taking on too much. I know she’s sung leading roles in other houses – but this it the Royal Opera House, and I don’t think those leading roles included Elisabetta. But I was very glad to see her and not the soprano originally intended to take the role, Angela Gheorghiu. Let’s just say she’s not a favourite singer of mine. Poplavskaya is.

In the absence of Simon Keenlyside and Jette Parker Young Artist Pumeza Matshikiza – I was particularly disappointed not to see her, as I’ve never seen this very promising singer in an opera I actually like – two singers made their ROH debuts. Mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy replaced soprano Matshikiza as Tebaldo, and was great. She has a rich, warm voice, smallish, but powerful – perhaps a future Eboli? – and also gave the role an unusually vivid characterisation, lively and very boyish.

Dimitris Tiliakos sang Rodrigo, and the only real surprise is that this great singer as never sung with the ROH before. He has a gorgeous voice, ideal for Verdi, and also seems to be a very generous artist: he had the power to drown out Villazón in their duet - and some singers of his vocal weight might have struggled not to do so - but he never did. He treated Carlo with great kindness and tenderness, and it seemed that the love he feels for Carlo is not just brotherly love. There was more chemistry between Carlo and Rodrigo than between Carlo and Elisabetta. The great thing about it was that it seemed very natural and sweet: suggested quite subtly rather than rammed down our throats. And Tiliakos’ Rodrigo seemed such a lovely man – extremely caring and thoughtful (which almost proves his sexuality!), but also very intelligent, noble and principled. But his love for Carlo clearly has affected his mental faculties in some ways – sacrificing himself for Carlo was a huge and tragic mistake.

The role of Eboli was taken by Sonia Ganassi. Perhaps the character was less alluring than ideal, but she gave a fiery performance of her Act IV aria. She seemed even more unhinged than usual, but was also surprisingly sympathetic. Her regret about never seeing Elisabetta again seemed genuine. I almost started thinking she might be gay too. She certainly has very unusual taste in men, and both, of course, are closely connected to Elisabetta. Another notable soprano was Young Artist Anita Watson as the Voice from Heaven, her voice sofer than ideal, but the light sweetness provided a striking contrast with the heavier voices.

The three basses were also very strong – and very different. I was watching the scene between Filippo and the Grand Inquisitor, and thinking: is there another scene in opera for two basses? Ferruccio Furlanetto was a brilliant Filippo, perhaps not very likeable at first, but completely winning the audience over in his aria. I think part of what makes him such a great performer is that he puts so much of the character into the way he stands; into even the smallest movement. His voice, too, is always subtly shaded. He can convey so much by doing so little.

Eric Halfvarson was a chilling Inquisitor, very deliberate and menacing: another who made the most of his movements. Robert Lloyd was no less powerful as the ghost of Charles V – it’s a very silly ending, but you don’t realise that when Lloyd is onstage. You’re too busy worrying about what he’s going to do to remember that the story has just taken a very bizarre turn. Lloyd is also well-known for his Commendatore: no one deals with eponymous Dons like he does. Perhaps Don Pasquale should be very afraid.

Cunning Little Vixen

primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk

Wigmore Hall

16th June 2008

Gerald Finley is one of my favourite singers because he’s such a good communicator. I could tell a lot of what he was singing just from looking at him even though the whole recital was in German. Would never have guessed German was such a musical language as it really doesn’t sound that way in speech, but it always sounds good except in Wagner. The other Primi Divi say Gerald Finley also has really good diction, and they’re probably right. If Gerry sang a line and I was asked to repeat the line, I could probably do that even though I might not know where one word ends and the next word begins, all the sounds he made were really clear.

GF’s first two songs were by Robert Schumann, called Tragodie. It was about two lovers eloping. I liked it, but maybe it was quite low-key as an opening. After that he sang a group of songs called Die arme Peter about a guy who really likes a girl who belongs to someone else. This one was easier to get into, I thought because even if it hasn’t happened to you, you still know people who have been in Peter’s position, although luckily no-one I’ve ever known as taken it quite so badly as Peter. I thought this one was quite exciting and dramatic, maybe this would have been better for the opening songs? To end the first section, GF sang four other songs by Schumann. These didn’t seem to be connected, but they were really interesting. I did feel like it was time for some happy songs after that though!

GF returned to the stage after a short break and sang some more Schumann, Three Songs from Myrthen. They weren’t happy songs exactly, but there was still a contrast with the other songs, they seemed less violent, and no-one actually seemed to be dying. The words were a bit soppy, but GF made it sound really powerful and quite sexy really. I found the music very accessible. I’m sure I’ve heard ‘Du bist wie eine Blume’ before, it was nice to hear a song I recognised.

After that he sang 5 songs by Grieg, I wasn’t looking forward to this part because I didn’t think I liked Grieg, but they were actually all really nice songs, very tuneful and GF really put a lot of meaning into them. There were some happy songs and sad songs mixed together. I don’t know what made Grieg or GF or whoever it was decide to put these songs together, but it really worked well. The words don’t really tell a story, the individual songs do, in a really interesting cryptic way, but there’s not really a story that continues in each verse as far as I can make out, but it was almost like the music was telling a story because one verse led on from the next in a really satisfying way, and part of that was probably Grieg, but a lot of it was GF.

The last section was all Schumann again. I never really realised it before, but it probably would have been possible to do a whole recital on Schumann without making people bored with him. After all, when you go to an opera, you’ve got the same composer for the whole evening, and I don’t think any of the others have ever halfway through a Mozart opera and wished there was a bit of Puccini in the middle. Maybe the other way round, though. The programme said GF was going to sing the song called Belsazar first, but then someone came onstage and said he would be singing that last instead. But GF actually sang in the order written in the programme. That was quite confusing. Barry reminded me Belsazar would be last, so I was looking at the last page, but he started singing and Vixen was mouthing that he was singing Belsazar which was a problem because we’re not supposed to turn the pages over in the middle of a song, but to be honest, as GF is one of those singers you can’t help looking at, I forget to follow the words half the time anyway.

Belsazar was really dramatic, GF is a great storyteller, and I couldn’t help thinking it would have made a great piece to finish off with. Even though it didn’t have a happy end, it wasn’t a sad piece, it seemed very colourful in a way. Then he sang a song about two brothers fighting over a woman. Even if I hadn’t known it was about a fight, I think I’d have guessed. It was another death song, but it was very exciting. GF sang a quieter song after that called Evening By the Sea, that was a really good song too and made a bit of a contrast. The last song was Die beiden Grenadiere and it wasn’t long before I decided that even though Belsazar was brilliant, this made an even better ending piece. It could have been quite a gloomy song, but it was actually quite stirring, and the audience gave GF a big cheer at the end of it all.

The encore was in German. The pianist Julius Drake announced it, I really should have talked about him more because he was great, he and GF fitted so well together as performers it was almost like he wasn’t an accompanist, they were performing together. The encore was Ich grolle nicht by Charles Ives, JD said it had the same text as a much better-known song by Schumann, but I have to say I don’t know the Schumann at all but I know the Ives song really we