Lots of stuff

 While in Munich, I found Simon Rattle’s Walküre from Aix. Of course the old TV in my hotel room had a horrible sound and I couldn’t turn the volume up that late because my unlovely (to say the least) neighbours did not seem to be Wagnerians. That said, I could realize nonetheless that this was [...]

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Time will tell

A month ago I wrote down my first impressions on Emmanuelle Haïm’s recording of Handel’s first oratorio, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. At that point, I hadn’t listened to the two other official recordings, Rinaldo Alessandrini’s and Marc Minkowski’s, and could only compare it to a broadcast from Luzern with Giovanni Antonini and [...]

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London and Munich

The reason why I haven’t posted for a while is the fact that I had been away in deserved vacation in Europe. I have accepted the invitation of dear friends in London and had a great time there. It was my first visit to the Royal Opera House, which proved to be one of the [...]

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Schumann and more Schumann

Although Thomas Quasthoff has flirted with baritone repertoire, the dark resonance of his low register proves he has no mistake in calling himself a bass. He has a fearless approach to top notes, as in Ich grolle nicht, but the truth is his voice acquires a grainy almost rattling sound around the baritone area, which [...]

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You’re not hardcore unless you stage it hardcore

Because my German is not good enough to follow a whole play in that language, I decided to buy the original English text of Mark Ravenhill’s pool (no water), which happened to be the play performed in the Bayerische Staatsschauspiel on my free day in Munich. This was very convenient for my intent of seeing [...]

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Many moments of contentment

Because dramatic timing and the expression of emotions in baroque opera usually do not survive under the scorching light of Romanticism, most stagings of Handel operas adopt a certain cynically comical approach, in which the actions of characters tend to look silly and nonsensical. Hence it is most commendable of Cristof Loy’s staging of Handel’s [...]

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Blond ambition

I have the impression that, because Magdalena Kozena is so pretty herself, she makes a point of always going beyond pretty. When I say “beyond”, I do not mean that her singing is unlovely. On the contrary, her crystalline mezzo-soprano is a consistent pleasure to the ears. What I mean is that Kozena takes her [...]

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Donizetti in tailleurs and high heels

Thanks to the advocacy of Edita Gruberová, the Bayerische Staatsoper has reserved a special place for bel canto operas in its seasons – and judging from what I witnessed this evening, admirers of Donizetti operas have something to be thankful for. Never before had I experienced the charm of Donizetti’s writing for the orchestra as [...]

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Spicy, but uninspiring

The fact that the visual imagery proposed by designer Marja Björnsson in this 2002 production by Francesca Zambello – frankly anachronical in its disparaged style of costumes and sceneries – is ultimately unconvincing could be the reason why the intendant decided to give it a twist by selling the show as a “feast to the [...]

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Vintage Pinter in a fresh approach

Roger Michell’s staging of Harold Pinter’s 1978 play is the perfect translation of Pinter’s dry playwriting style. Scenic elements are reduced to the minimum necessary and the different settings are cleverly told from each other with repositioning of props. Michell also had a great cast and it seems he has taken advantage of that to [...]

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