Britten
Schäfer, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 02 December 2010
Despite footsteps in the snow, as creepily characterised by Debussy's prelude of the same name, and sleighbells to launch a childlike symphonic journey, interior illumination should have been at the core of this concert. Sadly, given Colin Matthews'... Read more... |
Nicholas Daniel, Britten Sinfonia, MacMillan, Queen Elizabeth HallTuesday, 19 October 2010
If you were one of the world's top soloists but with a limited concerto stock - as woodwind players' tend to be - wouldn't you find it more rewarding to work as a principal in the orchestral ranks? That's the ideal, surely, but few carry it out in... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Conductor Stephen LaytonSaturday, 16 October 2010
Conductor and choral scholar Stephen Layton once said that he often wondered what happened to the little boy at his primary school who he thought sang better than he did. The discovering and nurturing of raw talent is an issue very close to his... Read more... |
The Turn of the Screw, Opera NorthMonday, 11 October 2010
To paraphrase a cliché, it’s rare to leave a theatre humming the lighting. But here, Matthew Haskins’ lighting designs help make this production so powerful and evocative, whether projecting grotesque, distorted shadows on the back wall of Madeleine... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Opera North Double BillSaturday, 25 September 2010
"It is a curious tale. I have it written in faded ink, a woman's hand, governess to two children, long ago..." So begins Benjamin Britten's operatic re-imagining of Henry James's ghostly chiller The Turn of the Screw. Oscar Wilde called it "a most... Read more... |
Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shadwell Opera, Rosslyn ChapelWednesday, 25 August 2010
Forget Dan Brown’s phony grail trail which has led so many paying pilgrims to Rosslyn outside Edinburgh. For the last week of the Festival Fringe the Chapel, most intricate and mysterious of 15th-century sanctuaries, has become a temple of high art... Read more... |
Sir Charles Mackerras, 1925-2010Thursday, 15 July 2010
Sir Charles Mackerras has died at the age of 84. In tribute to one of the most highly respected and best-loved of conductors, theartsdesk republishes here an interview he gave on the eve of conducting Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw for the... Read more... |
A Midsummer Night's Dream, GarsingtonMonday, 21 June 2010
The beautiful gardens of Garsington Manor might seem an ideal setting for Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with its ilex groves, its miniature forests of pyramid yew, and its paths overhung (o’er-canopied?) with climbing roses. So it’s a... Read more... |
The Tom Paine effect: Billy Budd in LewesTuesday, 01 June 2010
When Billy Budd, too-innocent hero of Britten's opera by way of Melville's trouble-at-sea novella, bids farewell to the Rights o'Man, his superior officers prick up their ears at the implications of mutiny. It's a ship he hymns, but the connection... Read more... |
Billy Budd, Glyndebourne Festival OperaThursday, 20 May 2010
Silence. Near-darkness. Oozy weeds of orchestral strings twist in the mind of Edward Fairfax Vere (John Mark Ainsley), remembering the tragic events of 1797 when he was Captain of the HMS Indomitable. From that awe-inspiring start through to one of... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: David Alden InterviewFriday, 12 March 2010
On the eve of his brand-new staging of Janáček's Katya Kabanova for English National Opera, David Alden - the one-time "bad boy" of opera - talks about first-night riots, Britten and Donizetti triumphs, and the dramatic potency of Janáček. Live and... Read more... |
Love Never Dies, Adelphi TheatreWednesday, 10 March 2010
In movies and on TV we expect sequels and spin-offs and the perpetuation of a franchise whereby we follow Rocky, The Terminator, or whomever seemingly to the grave. But theatre has tended to take the high road: Chekhov never revealed whether... Read more... |
