One can only hope that the ill wind which strips away the cherry blossom at the close of Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s feeble 2003 production of Madama Butterfly might soon carry off the entire staging. I’ve seen some cheesy operatic moments over the years but the sight of poor Butterfly in her death throes … [Read More]
Edward Seckerson
Reviews, Blogs, Podcasts
Reviews, Podcasts and Blogs
Classical music, Opera and Musical Theatre reviews
Monthly Archives: June 2011
Puccini “Madama Butterfly”, Royal Opera House
Tagged with: andris nelsons, kristine opolais, madama butterfly, moshe leiser, patrice caurier, puccini, royal opera house
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Britten “Peter Grimes”, Royal Opera House
Willy Decker’s 1994 production of Britten’s Peter Grimes has not worn well and pales now in the shadow of David Alden award-winning staging down the road at English National Opera. That, too, is due for revival. Decker’s problem – more pronounced in Francois de Carpentries’ revival – is that the highly stylised and fussily choreographed … [Read More]
Tagged with: amanda roocroft, andrew davis, ben heppner, britten, peter grimes, royal opera
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
London Symphony Orchestra, Pires, Haitink, Barbican Hall
Her appearances in this country are rare enough as it is so to discover that Maria Joao Pires was to be a late substitute (for the indisposed Murray Perahia) was precious consolation indeed. She played Mozart’s last and in some ways sparest Piano Concerto – No.27 in B-flat minor – with the kind of profound … [Read More]
Tagged with: bernard haitink, bruckner, london symphony orchestra, maria joao pires, mozart
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Mascagni “L’amico Fritz”, Opera Holland Park
It’s all a little unlikely: Protestants and Jews in rural Alsace, Yiddish melodies given a distinctly Italianate spin, the longest and most infuriating foreplay in opera, and not one single death. I’m not sure when there was last a Jewish wedding in Holland Park and I wish they’d had better weather for this one – … [Read More]
Tagged with: anna leese, city of london sinfonia, eric margiore, L'amico Fritz, mascagni, opera holland park
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Verdi “Simon Boccanegra”, English National Opera
It doesn’t take long to establish that there is an extraordinary director at work here. The body language, the tangible involvement of every character on stage, the way in which emotional journeys are charted and feelings expressed not just in song but in the involuntary sounds that people make when they communicate joy, anger, hatred. … [Read More]
Tagged with: dmitri tcherniakov, edward gardner, english national opera, simon boccanegra, verdi
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Bernstein “Candide”, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Kristjan Jarvi, Barbican Hall
Leonard Bernstein’s most bountiful score – a mouth-watering confection of sugar and spice and all things nice – is also a masterpiece of parody and counter-parody. Voltaire’s Candide was short and pithy; Bernstein and his legion of collaborators (this was a Broadway breech-birth if ever there was one) went for long and elaborate and terminally … [Read More]
Tagged with: andrew staples, candide, kiera duffy, kim crisswell, kristjan jarvi, leonard bernstein, london symphony chorus, london symphony orchestra
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Mozart “The Magic Flute”, Garsington Opera at Wormsley
The sun really smiled on the opening of Garsington Opera’s handsome new summer pavilion at the Getty’s Wormsley estate – but in doing so it rather turned Mozart’s Magic Flute on its head flooding light and enlightenment somewhat prematurely over the Queen of the Night’s dominions. The new dawn arrived here with the rising of … [Read More]
Tagged with: garsington opera, magic flute, mozart, olivia fuchs, sophie bevan, wormsley
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
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