Random Music

The Genius of Mozart

This is a blog I drop into now and then to post and good to know it is here but it will only be updated as and when the spirit moves me or I see something wonderful in the theatre/opera house etc or, as in this case, have heard some music which has inspired me to write.

Radio 3 are in the final few days of their Genius of Mozart which began in the New Year.  The BBC are playing every single piece of music he composed and what an eye opener it has been.  There have been discussion programmes, interviews with Mozart interpreters and the entire thing has been a feast for the ear. I knew a bit about Mozart, but not a huge amount so hearing all about his life and hearing his letters and thoughts has been fascinating.  I realised how little of his music I really knew and here I have to state that on the whole I find the operas a tad tedious.  I know this is heresy, along the lines of admitting that I find a lot of Bach boring, but there it is.  I have seen Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Il Seraglio, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo and Cosi fan Tutte and by the time I reached the final act of all of these I had had enough.  When I think about it I have a feeling that I had very little empathy with the characters in these operas, particularly Cosi and Giovanni when I thought everyone was venal and unlikeable.  I have tried, really I have and have seen each of these several times but just cannot warm to them at all.

BUT there is an exception to every rule and that exception is The Magic Flute.  This is the Mozart opera I love the best, I adore every single note and I find it uplifting and I am usually in tears at the end. (Here is a link to my review of a performance I saw at the ENO a year or so ago. It is simply wonderful. I also go on a bit about my feelings on his operas!). At the moment I am listening to a broadcast on Radio 3 of the entire opera and, once again, am enthralled by it. Funny is it not, one's likes and dislikes?

I have also taken in a big way to his woodwind compositions and Serenades and yesterday afternoon, in the company of my good friend Rosemary, we sat after lunch just quietly relaxing, me dozing, she doing the Guardian crossword (oo-er) and listened to the Grand Partita, and some of his Serenades. Utterly sublime with moments of quietness and stillness at the heart of them all so that when listening it is almost as if time has been suspended.

I began to enjoy Mozart after I had had a binge, many years ago, on Wagner. The ENO were producing their first Ring Cycle in English over a period of four years.  Throughout the four seasons each opera was staged I attended each performance, so that I saw the Rhinegold, the Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods eight times and then two complete Cycles when they were all brought together.  I was totally soaked in Wagner, but also a tad shattered by it all.  Too much Wagner can make you mad and I needed some respite so I turned to Mozart and began to listen to the piano concertos.  Just what I needed and I regained my equilibrium.

Apparently, there have been complaints about the blanket coverage given to this concept.  I simply cannot comprehend why somebody would want to moan because there was 'too much Mozart' on the radio.  Much as I love Wagner, if they decided to repeat this by playing every note he wrote, then I would have sympathy, but I have none for these miscreants.

Now if Radio 3 would do the same for Beethoven, I would be a happy woman.

RIP Dame Joan Sutherland

Very very sad to hear of the death of Joan Sutherland today aged 83.  Hard to realise that the opera stars I loved as a child and a teenager are gradually vanishing from the music scene.   Maria Callas, who I think is one of the greatest sopranos ever, died a while back but I can still remember how shocked I was at her death when she was only in her early fifties. One felt her life, despite its great success, had been one of sadness and heartbreak.  Along with Callas I listened to Dame Joan Sutherland, a totally different singer, both vocally and temperamentally.   No diva tantrums or bad press for Dame Joan, she was as
down to earth as she appeared, both delightful and charming.  In some ways her equable and unflappable character impinged on her roles and I felt at times that her characterisation was somewhat lacking, but this was more than compensated for by the Voice.

What a glorious voice it was.  I never heard an ugly note or one that was not hit slap bang in the middle.  Her coloratura and the trills and decorations could make you tingle so precise and beautiful were they.  I saw her in various operas, not as many as I would like, but of course the one which propelled her to stardom was Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti where the wonderful Zeffirelli production, which stayed in the House for many many years, suited her to the ground. Zeffirelli made use of her tall frame, her big boned body and had her running and swooping round the stage particularly in the mad scene where she trilled and sang as she ran in the most breathtaking manner, ending up with a spectacular seemingly boneless fall to the ground.  I was twelve years old when I saw it and it remains as clear in my mind as if it was yesterday.  Words cannot describe the audience reaction - they just went Stark Staring Mad and cheered and yelled and stamped and shrieked and it was a night to remember and bring out and talk about as I am doing now.

I have already posted about Dame Joan in an earlier post and here is the link for you here.

I have two recordings of Lucia with Dame Joan in the title role.  The first one she recorded in 1960 under the conductor, Sir John Pritchard, an elegant and inspirational musician and this is the one to have.  The score is not complete, as it is in the later recording she made with Pavarotti and conducted by her husband, Richard Bonynge, but this captures her voice at its clearest, freshest and most beautiful. I have both of these on my shelves and shall be playing one later on this evening in memory of a wonderful singer and a wonderful woman.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11517601

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8056601/Soprano-Dame-Joan-Sutherland-dies-age-83.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/11/dame-joan-sutherland-obituary

I expect there will be full obituaries and appreciation in tomorrow's newspapers as the announcement of her death has just been made.

Oh I am so sad.

The Proms

I first attended a Prom at the age of 13 - it was a Tchaikovsky night full of popular stuff as I wasn't too au fait with much classical music at that age - and I loved it.  From the age of 15 I had a season ticket and went to practically every single concert. I had a Saturday job at the time which helped fund this and it was worth every penny as my musical education took place at the Albert Hall.  My lifelong love of Beethoven started here as each Friday night was Beethoven night; we had  Gilbert & Sullivan night and a Viennese night all great fun, Glyndbourne opera used to put on a semi staged performance of one of their operas in their repertoire that year (I still remember a radiant Elizabeth Soderstrom performing the Letter Scene in the night they did Eugene Onegin which still remains one of my favourite operas); Solti came and conducted a concert performance of  Rheingold with four percussionists hammering away at anvils at the back of the stage for the descent into Neibelheim; I heard my first Gerontius with Richard Lewis singing and Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting; was there for the first performance of Shostakovitch's Fifth symphony in this country conducted by Leopold Stokowski; was thrilled to the marrow by the sounds of the trumpets ringing around the Hall in a performance of the Verdi Requiem; introduced to Mahler by a sublime performance conducted by Haintink; watched performers such as John Lill, Shura Cherkassky, Joshua Bell, Rostropovitch, Janet Baker, Joan Sutherland....the list is endless.

I am writing at length because I wish you all to knbow just how much my musical life has been bound up with the Proms and how much I love them, but and there is a but I find myself agreeing with quite a lot of what has been written in a post over on one of my favourite blogs Gertsamtkunstwerk.  The lady who writes this blog is witty, amusing and holds very strong opinions about music and, in particular, opera. She is a huge fan of Domingo and has been to far more opera performances than I have, she is years younger than me and it is highly unlikely that we share the same political ideals. But I always enjoy reading her blog and her trenchant views.   I could take issue with some of her comments on the Proms, but it would be nit picking as, essentially, I think she is right.  However, I must mention in response to her comment about those people who 'always go to the Last Night of the Proms' as if they were going to Henley or Ascot or part of the season, drive the regular prommers barmy. Whatever you may think of the front row of the prommers in the arena (more of that in a minute), most of those crowded into the Albert Hall on the last Saturday have attended many many concerts, if not all and they deserve to be there. They have earned their place and resent very much the 'in crowd' who just turn up and hijack the last night with their flags draped over their boxes.  You have to attend four concerts, I think, before you can apply for tickets to the last night but that is a drop in the ocean compared to those who come to most of the season.

OK now back to the front row and I am speaking with the voice of experience here having been part of that group.   Huge fun being at the front and being so close to the artistes, the orchestra and the action but there is a pecking order and woe betide you if you sit or stand in  somebody else's place.  I remember doing that one year, when I had been attending for some time, and got a blast that sent me reeling.  I have witnessed so many squabbles and arguments between the Regulars and the Newcomers who arrive and, quite rightly, think they can move forward and watch the concert. Wrong.  I decamped after one season back to the third or fourth row and stood at the left hand side on the violin section where I remained for the rest of my promming days.  If somebody happened to be in the spot I used, well no matter, I moved three or four feet somewhere else.   So be warned if you are thinking of promming, don't think you will be given a warm welcome by the Regulars - you won't.

Then there is the dressing up at the front and the behaviour which is all a bit silly and pathetic considering most of those on the front row won't see forty again.   The BBC are always going on about how the proms are for young people, so how come we don't see any of them? Because the Regulars hog their places and make sure they don't have a chance of being near the front.that is why.  The antics of some of the Regulars on the last night drives me demented.  This year we didn't have the Henry Wood Sea Songs but they were played at an earlier concert and, as usual, when the cellist is playing the beautiful solo of Tom Bowling, all those in the front row whip out hankies and pretend to weep and cry into them, causing their sycophantic friends to laugh and thus ruin the mood.  This year they had them all on a long string which they whipped out and passed along.   Somebody had spent time doing that - unbelievable.

I love the Last Night - it is enormous fun and it is, or at least the second half, a party to have a laugh, let you hair down and celebrate what is a simply wonderful music festival.  Sadly, this last night is seen as representative of the Prommers and the Proms as a whole which is a huge shame and every year we get comments and snide letters in the Radio Times about it all.  While part of me agrees with these comments, the other half wants to say Oh Lighten up.   If you have stood through two months of music, paid attention, which prommers do, to all the music the proms has to offer, then you are entitled to a little fun, but sadly what you, as a member of the In Crowd, may think is wildly witty and amusing, merely looks silly and childish to others.  Might be worth remembering.

As a final note, I will disagree with Gertsamtkunstwerk on one thing - Renee Fleming.   She sang five songs by Richard Strauss in the first half and they were quite sublime. The first one was called Seduction and left me in a heap by the time she had finished.   In the second half she sang an aria from Dalibor and Dvorak's Song to the Moon from Rusalka, usually a show off piece for a soprano, but she sang it seriously and I have never heard it sung so beautifully.   She made a slightly ill advised little speech saying How Wonderful you all are etc which I could have done without but overall, I thought her performance was magical.  Not sure about her hat in Rule Brittania though......

Bud despite all the above and all the caveats, I love the Proms, always have and always will. They have been part of my life and will remain so.

Rigoletto - Placido Domingo live from Mantua

It is a trait in opera lovers to be overly critical and to say when a performance is lauded 'oh, yes but you should have seen Callas/Sutherland/Tebaldi they were the best' as if the only good opera singer is a dead one.  I am guilty on occasion of doing this myself though I try very hard not to and I had to strain every sinew last weekend to not fall into this trap when watching the live broadcast from Mantua of Rigoletto with  Placido Domingo in the title role.

Rigoletto is one of Verdi's greatest operas, in my opinion, and one of my favourites.  I learned to love this opera from a very old recording with Tito Gobbi as Rigoletto, Giuseppe di Stefano as the Duke and Maria Callas as Gilda.  I played it so often as a teenager I wore it out. Now of course I have it on CD and still listen to it and, even though I have heard many other recordings and seen other performances, this is still my first choice.   Tito Gobbi is one of my all time favourite opera singers and I have posted about him here back in 2007, so will not repeat myself and, for me, his performance of Rigoletto is THE one and nobody else, no matter how hard I try, can replace him for me.

This does not mean that I do not enjoy seeing and listening to other interpreters of the role and I was looking forward to seeing what Domingo made of it.  Rigoletto is stuffed full of the most glorious music. I know that can be said about most Verdi operas but this opera was written when Verdi was at the height of his powers and is a stream of fantastic arias, duets and choruses without let up - totally sublime.

I watched the live broadcast of Tosca some years ago from Rome, also with Domingo and remembered just how thrilling it was so my expectations were high. Perhaps too high, as I found the use of the location in Mantua somewhat disappointing.  OK we saw some beautiful interiors and some good long shots of galleries and rooms, but on the whole the camera work was limited and it seemed to me that the producer was using a stage eye rather than a filmic one.  Far too many close ups - most opera lovers are used to viewing from a distance and it can be preferable as we don't really want to see the sweat dripping off Domingo's nose or the spittle flying out of the tenor's mouth, both of which are the inevitable consequences of the heat and the effort.

So from that point of view I did find it a little lacking.  How about the performances?  Gilda was sung beautifully, she is a Verdi heroine for whom I have little sympathy and most of the time want to shake her and Caro Nome, beautiful though it is, goes on far too long.   The Duke's role is a killer. Every single time he is on stage he has a huge sing; Questa Quella in Act I followed by El Sol del anima and a duet with Gilda followed by an imnpassioned farewell Adio, adio when he leaves; Parmi verde la Lagrime in Act II followed by a cabaletta and a chorus and then in Act III, La donna e mobile. Jose Carreras once said in an interview that when he sang this role, he would take a few days of afterwards as he was exhausted. The tenor who sang the Duke was pretty damn good and he looked pretty damn good as well. I would think that even if you were the best tenor in the world, but were bald or plump, there would be no point in auditioning for this particular performance, you had to look good also for the millions of viewers.

And so we come to Domingo.  I love Domingo and think he is a wonderful artiste.  The state of his voice is quite amazing, not sure how the sound balance may have helped but I am pretty sure that the strength and beauty of his sound did not need much   I last saw Domingo sing live about three years ago in Die Walkure at Covent Garden and I was pole axed when he opened his mouth and sang Siegmund's opening phrases.  It was like listening to a golden trumpet and every hair on my neck stood on end.  He was quite simply magnificent and the baritonal quality of his boice was perfectly suited for this part.    Therefore, his taking on Rigoletto and, before this, Simon Boccanegra, is perfectly understandable and they are two great roles and a challenge to any singer.

Domingo was totally committed to the part, that comes as no surprise, his acting and complete involvement is always there and the role is well within his range and grasp.  I thought he did really well and his raging at the courtiers in Act II followed by his plea to them to return his daughter is one of the highlights of the opera for me, and he brought a lump to my throat which is always a good sign.   The final duet with Gilda in Act III is one of the most moving Verdi ever wrote. HIs plea of Do not die, I will be all alone and begging her to stay with him always reduces me to tears and this time was no exception.

All in all a marvellous evening and experience, but and yes there is a but, where does Domingo go from here?  He has essayed two of the great Verdi baritone roles so what will be next?  While enjoying this late flowering of his singing career I am beginning to wonder if he is, perhaps, doing too much and what it is that drives him on.   I am not complaining, believe me, the longer he is with us and performing the better as far as I am concerned and I would happily pay good money to see him do this in the theatre but I felt at times, particularly in Act I that he looked a trifle uncomfortable and his gasping in distress was not just acting.  No doubt in his heavy costume it was incredibly hot and tiring but I did feel a little bit worried.

The difficulty now is finding other great baritone roles which he might want to sing.  Apart from the two he has already sung, most of the other Verdi baritones are supporting, rather than starring, roles and I cannot imagine Domingo doing these.  I almost feel that if he did it would be unfair on the rest of the cast as no matter how good they would be, the attention would be on Placido though I daresay the honour of singing with him would make up for that.  I am not sure that he really should go down this route and my worry is that he will try to sing the last great Verdi baritone part, Falstaff.   Yes, he could do it, no problem but not sure that it would really be suitable for him.  We shall see.........

Rodgers and Hammerstein at the Proms

Well another simply wonderful concert from the Proms celebrating great musicals. Last year John Wilson and his orchestra gave us music from MGM and he had to reconstruct all the scores himself as most of them had been lost in a fire at the studios.  This year he turned his attention to Rodgers & Hammerstein and had no problem at all with the music as it is very much available.  

I listened to the Prom when it was broadcast on the radio last weekend and I was very glad my neighbours were on holiday as I spent the entire two hours singing along with all this glorious music.  I remember being taken as a child to see Carousel in Cinemascope, very much a new thing then and the combination of the wide screen and the sweeping tune of the Carousel waltz was simply thrilling.  And has there ever been a more glorious opening to a musical than Oh What a Beautiful Morning?  Such a simple title, such a simple premise but it makes the heart lift.

Of course the selection, wonderful though it was, left out some of my favourite songs but it would have been difficult to fit them all in but I do wish we had had Younger than Springtime from South Pacific, The Farmer and the Cowhand should be friends from Oklahoma and a bit more from the King and I, but what we got was simply gorgeous.  It is clear when watching the members of the orchestra play just how much they are enjoying it all and wshat a ball they were having, particularly it seems to me the brass section.

Kim Cresswell, who also featured in the MGM musicals concert last year (now out on DVD - hooray) was back as was Julian Ovenden fresh from his success in the Sondheim concert which I have raved about already.  His My Boy Bill from Carousal, which surely has to be one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's's most moving songs, really brought the house down.

Excerpts from Flower Drum Song I could have done without as I have never taken to this musical which is one of their lesser known compositions but I suppose all of them had to be covered.  It came out in the early sixties and I gather was totally overshadowed by West Side Story which hit the town at the same time.

There had to be an encore of course and back to the final rousing Oklahoma title song. This is up on You Tube so here is the link. Do have a look and get a flavour of the evening.  My only beef about this concert was the camera work, too much cutting away for my liking but a small price to pay for having the privilege of listening to this music.   Hope they do this every year - I tried to get tickets for this particular concert but they were sold out I gather in fifteen minutes. Now let's hope the BBC issue this one on DVD as well....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTnDedy-FVs

An enchanted evening at the Proms with Rodgers and Hammerstein - Telegraph

Or so I thought. As it was, the lights dimmed, the orchestra struck up, the curtains opened to reveal those wide-open, sun-drenched plains, and Hugh Jackman strode on as Curly, planted his feet centre stage, and opened his voice.

via www.telegraph.co.uk

This is going to be quite quite wonderful. Some Enchanted Evening indeed

Sondheim at the Proms

It is Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday and so a Prom dedicated totally to him and his music took place at the Albert Hall last night.  I am a huge fan of Sondheim as back in the 80s my then husband was in a London production of Follies.  My post on this is here so I won't repeat all I have said, save to say that I had a long chat with Sondheim who was charming, delightful and genuinely interested in what I had to say. And how do I know that?  Because I was at a backstage party and we were surrounded by the great and the good, Cameron McIntosh, Eartha Kitt, Julia McKenzie, Daniel Massey and others and not once did he let his eyes stray to see if he could find somebody more interesting to chat to (and there were plenty believe me).  Lovely man.

My favourite of his works are Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd as I know these best, but last night we also had excerpts from Company, Merrily we Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Entire concert was quite superb, packed house having a whale of a time. Stand out performances:  Julian Ovenden who I have only known as an actor playing Foyle's son in Foyle's War.  He has a simply gorgeous tenor voice and brought the house down with a big number from Company, also duetting in Too Many Mornings, a quite gorgeous lyrical song, from Follies.

Simon Russell Beale - knew he had been a chorister as a boy but did not know he could still sing. He and Daniel Evans, who I don't know at all, duetted on Everybody ought to have a Maid from a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, it then turned into a trio with Julian O joining in and then, to a huge roar of laughter and applause from the audience, became a quartet as Bryn joined them dancing and singing and hamming it up. Quite wonderful.

Ah Bryn - well what can I say? All Random readers know  how much I adore him and just a couple of weeks ago saw him as Hans Sachs and here he was, not only being funny and witty as detailed above, but turning in a terrifying performance as Sweeney Todd. I saw him do this a few years ago and the contrast between his raging at his enemies and then his longing to see his long lost daughter, was heartbreaking. This is some of Sondheim's most powerful music.

BUT, even though all the above was stupendous, gorgeous and marvellous, all of this was upstaged by the sublimely beautiful Dame Judi Dench.  She recently said in a newspaper interview that she hated being called a National Treasure but I am afraid whether she likes it or not, she is and will always remain so.

She made her entrance to the most tremendous shout from the audience and made her way to the front of the stage and while it was clear she wanted to get into the part of Desiree from A Little Night Music, she had to acknowledge the applause before it would stop. She was wearing a black velvet dress slit up the side and she looked quite quite beautiful.   Send in the Clowns is the most well known of all Sondheim's songs, it has been sung and recorded hundreds of times (I have seen the show with Jean Simmons in this part and Dorothy Tutin among others), but it is Dame Judi who reduces me to tears. Sondheim says that each song is a mini-play and for the time it was being sung, you could see Judi immersing herself totally in her part. She has a husky voice just perfect for this song.  It was originally written for Glynis Johns who has a similar speaking voice and who, after a lifetime of smoking, had terrible breath control, so it was written in these short phrases so that she could manage to sing it.  Very pragmatic of Sondheim, but out of this has come one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs, full of sadness at lost love and opportunities.

I am inserting a link here to a concert performance given by Dame Judi which gives you some idea of her interpretation of this song.  I recorded last night's performance on my posh new digi-box so am hoping to be able to download Send in the Clowns though I am pretty sure somebody else will get it up on YouTube before me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE3dLzIYKs8&feature=fvw

At the end of the evening the entire ensemble was on the stage singing Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George, and all the artistes were at the front joining in and I honestly thought the roof of the Albert Hall was going to do a take off into the stratosphere (they had a Dr Who concert the previous week so it could be likely...) and the applause, shrieking and screaming was deafening. Sondheim then came onto the stage and the noise levels got even louder.  I was hoping that the audience would sing Happy Birthday and they may well have done but the BBC had to leave as the broadcast had come to an end.

A simply stunning evening. Gosh, the Proms this year so far have been staggeringly good. Last year there was hardly a single concert that I would have gone out of my way to listen to, this year my Prom Prospectus is full of ticks and crosses and exclamation marks and we have another five or six weeks to go.

Coming up soon is another concert of music from the Hollywood musicals. I tried to get a ticket for this but failed as it had sold out in ONE, yes ONE hour so I am trusting to the Beeb to broadcast it on TV as they did last year.  That proved so popular they have shown it three times since.

If you have missed the Sondheim Prom it is on iPlayer for the next week - please don't miss it. Music making like this doesn't come along very often.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/for-one-night-only-dame-judi-to-perform-at--the-proms-2036177.html

What a start - Proms 2010

'"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents" grumbled Jo, lying on the rug' Little Women - L M Alcott

Substitute the words Summer and Proms for Christmas and Presents and now you will know what I feel about the Prom concerts which take place each summer at the Royal Albert Hall.  I started attending these when I was about 14 (difficult to do when the Beatles were driving all teenage girls to a frenzy so that my love of classical music was viewed as very odd to say the least), and for the next ten years or so, attended nearly every concert every night each season and it was there I learned my music, heard the first performance in this country of Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony conducted by Stokowski, my first Mahler 2 with Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw, my first Gerontius with Sir Malcolm Sargent and so many more I cannot list them all here, but it is a place that holds so many happy memories for me.

Last Friday was the first night with a simply stunning performance of Mahler's 8th symphony, the so called 'Symphony of a Thousand' with a huge orchestra, multiple choirs taking up all the seats way up high behind the orchestra, and multiple soloists.  It is in two parts and though I love Veni Creator Spiritus which comes first, my real love is saved for the second half which is based on Goethe's Faust and has the more glorious music (for me at any rate).  All the soloists gave it their all and it was lovely to see the soloists smiling and loving it when their colleagues  were singing.  The most sublime moment for me is when the tenor sings 'Blicket Auf' the orchestra soars away behind him, the choirs come in and from that moment on we have twenty minutes of the most beautiful and uplifting music you could hope to hear. It builds and builds and by the end always reduces me to tears and it did this time as well.

Prom Number two which I attended last night was the Welsh National Opera and Meistersinger with Bryn Terfle as Han Sachs and I have been waiting to hear him sing this for a long time.  Though there was no solo calls and the entire performance was very much a team effort, there is no disguising the fact that Bryn was head and shoulders above everybody else on the stage and of course, as a world famous opera  singer with a huge reputation, this was to be expected.  But, as with his Dutchman last year at the Opera House, which I reviewed here, there was no feeling of a superstar pinching the limelight and for this, I am most grateful having sat through certain performances in the past at an opera house where the Name jetted in, performed and jetted out not forgetting to collect his cheque as he/she left.

The Welsh National Opera, of which I am currently a friend, had two boxes in the Grand Tier and I was offered a place there for Saturday night.  Yes, it cost a bit but as I managed to return my previous inferior ticket and also had to return my ticket for the WNO in Birmingham when I was not well to my irritation and annoyance, the two of them added together more or less paid for this so that made me feel a bit better.  The box was to the left of the stage if you were looking out at the audience and only half way along the side so the view was terrific and to stand looking out at the Albert Hall and the prommers made me feel so nostalgic, but it was a good feeling.

As I said, Bryn was simply magnificent as Hans Sachs as I knew he would be, bringing warmth and nobility to the role of the Cobbler Poet. It is a wonderful part but so long and so wordy and it always amazes me that singers are able to commit everything to memory.  I feel it might be easier with say, Verdi or Puccini, which have more tunes and choruses, but Wagner is a different ball game altogether.  Takes me a little while to get into the Wagner idiom but once I am there I find as the evening wears on the music and the action slowly take me over and draw me in until I am totally engrossed.  Some of my friends recoil in horror that I will sit through something this long but when you love the music the time flies by.

As well as this seat, we also had supper laid on and very posh it was too, salmon, charcuterie, salads, fresh fruit platters, cheeses and good coffee and an endless supply of wine and soft drinks. I was most grateful for the coffee as by the last act I had been up since 6 am and was beginning to keel over.

The final act is quite quite glorious.   The writing of the Prize Song, the quintet at the end of the first half and then into St Johannes day when all the Meistersingers gather together to choose the champion singer.  The chorus came into its own here, the excitement building and the orchestra dancing along, the entrance of the Meistersingers and then THAT wonderful chorus 'Wacht Auf' at which every hair on my body stood on end and goosebumps appeared all over and from that moment on I sat on the edge of my seat on the verge of tears at listening to this simply marvelous and magical music.   And yes I know, Hitler loved Meistersinger, annexed it and used to have it performed at his Nuremberg rallies, and yes I know Wagner was not a nice man to put it mildly, but all this is forgotten when listening to his genius.

Standing ovation at the end and audience yelling and shouting, as was I and hope that the WNO revive this in the next year or so and I shall make sure I get to Cardiff to see it. In the meantime  Bryn is  singing Scarpia in Tosca again next year and shall make a point of seeing that - for the third time - which will keep me going even if his Tosca is Angela G again who I really find irritating.  No matter.

As I write this I am listening to Prom Number 3 which is Simon Boccanegra, the Covent Garden production which was shown on BBC 2 last week.  Talk about an embarrassment of riches, Mahler, Wagner and Verdi, Bryn Terfel and Placido Domings all in three days and if you queued and prommed you could see these marvelous performances for a total sum of £15. Unbelievable.  It is at this time of year, that I forgive the BBC for its arrogance, its total disregard for viewers thoughts and feelings, its dismissal of all criticism and feel that my licence fee is justified (come September when the Proms are over this feeling will, no doubt, fade....)

After the concert was over I headed off to stay the night with my family and so glad that the evening was not ruined by having to get the Vomit Comet home from Liverpool Street, always a most dispiriting experience.  I could curl up in bed in less than an hour and fall asleep just remembering this glorious evening and then drove home this morning with no traffic around and the sun shining .

And just to finish the weekend off nicely, I entered a comment on the Classic FM Facebook page in response to John Suchet (new programme on this station and he is excellent) asking what we were all doing and my response was 'I'm lying on the sofa enjoying thinking about Bryn in a wonderful performance of Meistersinger last night' and lo and behold, ten minutes later he played some Bryn and said 'and  I know this will please Elaine Simpson-Long' and I nearly fell off my sofa in shock.  

So tired but full of happy memories of a simply wonderful evening.  Now I will be drawing my horns in having spent more than I should recently but, as I have said before, I will happily live off baked beans for the chance to attend such performances which are uplifting to the soul and spirit.

All in one soprano

"Elaine: Do you think there is a single soprano(living or dead) who could do justice to all of the female arias? Is there one you would like to hear try?"

This question was left in the comments section on the Nation's Favourite Aria by Thomas on the Porch and it gave me pause to think and I decided to post my thoughts on this really interesting question.

I think the answer to this question has to be No.   Because of the different styles of music and voices I think it would be well nigh impossible to sing all kinds of roles - if you are a Rossini coloratura  then you are highly unlikely to try Wagner.  If you are a Wagner soprano then you will probably not essay Handel or Mozart and so on and so forth.  

Having said that some sopranos have tried. The wonderful Australian soprano, Joan Sutherland, had one of the most flexible voices I think I have ever heard.  She was famous, of course, for her Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) which shot her to international fame, she also sang in Fille du Regiment with Luciana Pavarotti (see earlier post on this opera), sang Verdi (her recording of Traviata with Bergonzi which is in my collection is wonderful), she also sang Bellini and Puccini and with her husband Richard Bonynge, brought Handel back into fashion in the 60s with performances of Semele and other of his neglected operas.   Purists nowadays would pour scorn on these full blooded (if Handel can ever be so described) lush orchestral readings but they certainly made an impact.  She also sang Wagner, the Woodbird on Solti's Ring cycle for Decca, but that was a small part and very suited to her voice.

She sang in Tales of Hoffman by Offenbach, sung Meyerbeer, Delibes and a simply gorgeous album of old fashioned Victorian songs - I simply love her I dreamt I dwelt in Marble Halls.   Queen of the Night in Magic Flute also one of her roles...I could go on and on.  So I suppose Dame Joan was pretty wide in her repertoire but her main body of singing was coloratura for which her voice was perfect. She only dipped in and out of the other repertoire.

I pretty much grew up on the Decca recordings Joan Sutherland made, mainly conducted by her husband. Excellent though he was, I do sometimes wish she had ventured out and tried different conductors - I do wonder how she would have fared with Karajan or Kempe and others.  If she had a failing, it was that she did not venture outside her comfort zone but then, if you know what you can do well, I suppose you may as well stick with it.

The other soprano who I grew up with and who definitely did NOT stay in her comfort zone was, of course, Maria Callas.   I know that some people cannot understand the myth and legend around this wonderful singer, finding her voice harsh and not beautiful and, I have to agree, there were times when it grated. BUT, and it is a big but, just listen to what she did with it.  The emotion and feelings in everything she sang.  Dame Joan was just so beautiful to listen to but she never made me cry.  Maria Callas did.  The last fifteen minutes of Madame Butterfly, gut wrenching, her Gilda in Rigoletto with the  incomparable Tito Gobbi, her Visi d'arte in the second act of Tosca, the mad scene in Lucia...well those are just a few examples.  

She sang Rossini - her Rosina in Barbiere leaving all others standing, her Verdi and Puccini magnificent and I have a very old recording of her singing Wagner's Liebestod (in Italian) which makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.  What a Brunnhilde she would have made.

I am well aware that I am beginning to ramble because talking about opera always does that to me - I want to say so much that it all comes out in a jumble and my fingers on the keyboard cannot keep up with what I want to say so apologies for the witter.

So Thomas - thanks for the question and as I said at the start - the answer is No and I have heard, in the two sopranos cited here, them having a try and wonderful though they both were, in the end both Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas sang what they did best with stunning results for which I am most grateful. I think the variety and wide range of opera singers is what makes this art form so endlessly fascinating and keeps me enthralled.

The Nation's Favourite Aria - No it's not Nessun Dorma

The BBC radio and TV have designated June the month of opera and we are being showered with goodies, Pappano on BBC4 with his history of Italian opera, full of the usual shots of presenter wandering around Italian streets, with a title appearing on the screen, Milan, Bologna, Venice (the water gives his one away), and looking at the ceilings of various wonderful churches/opera houses with his mouth open. Acutely irritating and if they cut these out I reckon the producers would have another five or six minutes to use more beneficially.  BUT, I must not moan, chances of seeing and hearing opera on the Beeb are very rare and don't come round very often, so I must make the most of it.  And I am.

Radio 3 have gone down the Classic FM route (they now play single movements from symphonies and concertos which they scorned to do before but now do) and have decided to find out the Nation's Favourite Aria and have asked all Radio 3 listeners to send in their nominations.  Of course, Nessun Dorma has been nominated but to my delight features nowhere on the ten top favourites.  I love this aria, make no mistake, but after the Three Tenors and Pav rather high jacking it and turning it into the equivalent of a football anthem, I had rather tired of hearing it played ad nauseam.

The ten that made the final cut were announced this morning and here they are:

• Casta Diva from Norma by Bellini
• Che faro senza Euryice from Orfeo by Gluck
• Der Holle Rache from The Magic Flute by Mozart
• Dove Sono from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart
• E Lucevan le stelle from Tosca by Puccini
• Gluck, das mir verblieb from Die Tote Stadt by Korngold
• Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde by Wagner
• Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix from Samson and Delilah by Saint Saens
• Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben from Zaide by Mozart
• Song to the Moon from Rusalka by Dvorak
• When I am laid in earth from Dido and Aeneas by Purcell

The more eagle eyed of you will have noted there are, in fact, eleven arias. This is because of a tie between two choices.  My thoughts on this list are that it certainly is a mixture and a surprise: ok three by Mozart, not unexpected, one by Korngold which is and what really amazes me is not a single entry by Verdi.  I could reel off dozens I would like to see here but Radio 3 listeners are an eclectic bunch judging by the above.

My choice of one of my favourite arias did not make it.  Un di all'azzuro spazio from Act one of Andre Chenier - a simply stunning show stopper and I have a very old video, now well worn, with Jose Carreras when he was young and beautiful, singing this but I was obviously a lone voice.

We are now asked to choose the Aria of Arias out of these ten and out of the limited choice on offer I have no hesitation in voting for my favourite. See if you can guess which one it is...