Random Jottings

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Last week I went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street a 'musical' by Stephen Sondheim.  I have put the word musical in inverted commas as there is an argument that this particular work can hardly be classified as such, but is more of an opera.  The same was said years ago when Gershwin wrote Porgy and Bess.  Both have been performed on opera stages and in musical theatres.  On reading the programme for the performance I have just attended it is opined that Sweeney Todd is both; when it is produced in a musical theatre then it is a musical, in an opera house, it is an opera.  This gets round the conundrum very nicely.

I have loved this work for years.  I first saw it via a tv broadcast back in the 1980's of the New York production with Len Cariou as Sweeney and Angela Lansbury as a wonderfully macabre Mrs Lovett, the lady who persuades Sweeney to go into partnership with her.  He will slit the throats of all his customers and pass them on to her and she will turn them into meat pies.  Yes, I know this hardly sounds like light entertainment but somehow it works.  Sweeney Todd is in reality Benjamin Barker who was transported for life to get him out of the way so Judge Turpin can seduce his wife who he has had an eye on for some time.  She is ruined by him and ultimately dies leaving her daughter Joanna who is raised by the judge as his ward, though he has lustful thoughts towards her as well.  When Benjamin Barker is rescued from the sea and returns under a different name to London, his plan is revenge.

My main reason for attending this particular production was, of course, Bryn Terfel who was playing the title role, but I think I would have gone anyway as this is a compelling work that I find fascinating each time I see it.  I have seen several productions of Sweeney Todd now, including a performance at the National Theatre some years ago.  This one at the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall was a semi-dramatised concert performance which can sometimes almost be better than a fully staged theatrical one, as there are few props, little scenery and it is up to the performers to bring it alive.

It goes without saying that Bryn was magnificent.  I think this man is a phenomenon, he seems to be able to sing everything.  I have seen him in Tosca, in the Ring Cycle, The Flying Dutchman and now this and each time he brings total commitment to the role he is singing.  One most powerful scene when he is singing of the revenge he wishes to wreak on all those who have been instrumental in his family's misfortunes, is truly terrifying with him giving this particular monologue the full operatic treatment.

My daughter, Helen, came with me as she and her sister are familiar with this score and have seen performances of it when they were children.  We have discussed the fact that this was really not suitable fare for them and I wondered why on earth I and my husband had taken them to see it so often, but Helen said though looking back, she probably agreed with me, she had never found it frightening and thought it was a great work.

Sweeney Todd may be brutal and frightening but there are moments of tenderness and for those critics who say Sondheim doesn't write 'good tunes' just listen to I feel you Joanna, the love song to Sweeney's daughter by the young sailor and Nothing's Going to Hurt You sung by the simple minded Toby to Mrs Lovett who has taken him under her wing. 

A truly wonderful evening and today to add to my joy, I have just read that Bryn Terfel, as well as tackling the Ring Cycle, has heard my dearest wish as he is to sing Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger for the Welsh National Opera.  I have been hoping for this for some time now and I am thrilled to bits so Cardiff here I come.  Don't care if I have to cash in my Premium Bonds this is one performance I will not be missing.

Opera Stories

I recently purchased the Orchard Book of Opera Stories retold by Adele Geras.  This is created and designed especially for children but it is so beautifully produced and with such lovely illustrations, that it is a sheer delight for all opera lovers everywhere, no matter what their age.

This is from Turandot, called The Ice Maiden in this collection, and the three gentlement clutching scrolls on the left of the picture are the barmily named Ping, Pang and Pong

 

No explanation needed for this one.  I will be putting more of these gorgeous illustrations on the blog from time to time as they are just so lovely and colourful and just wonderful to look at.  No other reason needed.

Cardiff Singer of the World - the Final

OK I am still sticking with the Chilean lady but but but the English soprano, Elizabeth Watts turned in the most magnificent all round performance and might just pip her at the post. However, I have a feeling that the jury might go for the Chinese bass baritone who is also simply stunning.  There are two that I think will NOT win, the Australian soprano and the Hungarian bass, and it is out of the other three.

I am going to stick with Isabel from Chile but it is nip and tuck all the way

I will let you know in about 15 minutes if I was wrong or right - I am posting this now as I said I would be honest and let you know if I had picked the wrong one.  No cheating!

My feeling was correct - the jury went with the Chinese bass baritone!  He is only 24 - but then so was Bryn when he won it.

Fantastic competition and now I have to wait two years for the next one - think I will start saving and see if I can go to it in Cardiff - for the whole week. 

Cardiff Singer of the World - Part Quatre

Should think you are all getting pretty bored by this now but pretend I am writing about the Booker Prize and I am working my way through the long list and perhaps that will make it better...

The last heat took place last night and this one was a corker.  I mentioned that I had not yet seen The One.  Well, I think last night might have produced the winner, we shall see.  There were some simply great performances.  One young baritone, Jacques Imbralio, started off with a fiendish Handel aria that did him no favours, then the serenade from Don Giovanni which was better and then finished off with a simply wonderful rendition of the big baritone aria from Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky.  This was his repertoire and showed off a warm, rounded tone and sung with great feeling.  I felt his choice for this evening let him down and he did not pick music that really enabled him to produce his best.

To cut a very long waffle short, the first lady out, a Chilean mezzo, Maria Isabel Vera took the stage and gosh what a voice.  The tingle factor was definitely there and she was very very good indeed.  Then later on, an Australian soprano, Miranda Keys, came out (a lady of traditional build I have to say) and was also equally stunning so I had to have a rethink, but plumped for the Chilean mezzo and was delighted when she won, thus keeping me with a clean score sheet.

The winner of each heat does not necessarily go through to the final.  The singers are chosen on their overall performance throughout the week and also the singing competition takes place in which they have to show a totally different side of their repertoire.  I had made a list of the five I thought should go through and was delighted when Edward Seckerson (music criitc of the Independent) came up with exactly the same list.  Isn't it nice when a critic says the same as a blogger? (OK Elaine don't labour the point).

The five were then announced and lo and behold Edward and I were right and there they were.  I really will have to write to congratulate him on his perspicacity.....

So, I am going to put my money where my mouth is and plump for the Chilean mezzo as the ultimate winner, with perhaps a caveat that Miranda Keys might might do it.  Maria Isabel Vera is singing a lot of Verdi in the final and ending with O don fatale from Don Carlos which is a show stopper for a mezzo. Miranda is ending up with another fantastic performance of a big aria complete with stunning cabaletta from Attila, also by Verdi.  Unless I am completely wrong, I think it will be a battle of the ladies.  Though the Chinese bass baritone is also marvellous.  Oh dear I am dithering.....  We shall see but it all depends on who turns it on when they walk on stage at the final.  It is always exciitng so fingers crossed.

I will return to books etc after this weekend.  I have had a pretty bad week workwise so have just come home and slumped on the sofa watching these heats each night, so not much reading done, but I now have a couple of weeks off now and I intend to rectify the sitaution.

Cardiff Singer of the World - Part Trois

OK 100% picking the nightly winner still intact, but as tonight's winner seemed pretty obvious to everyone, I certainly don't think I have used magical powers of insight.  Having said this, however, the jury took ages to choose so they obviously thought differently though they came to the right conclusion in the end.  The audience might have made their feelings known if they had chosen differently.

Lovely coloratura soprano, beautiful warm voice, lovely looking as well, Marie Moriya.  La Sonnambula gorgeous, Gilda's aria from Rigoletto a tad careful I thought, but she won the evening by a terrific performance of the first act aria of the Queen of the Night in Magic Flute whch showed off total control of her bvoice.

Still have not seen THE one yet in my opinion, but you never know, one of them might suddenly blossom on finals night and turn in the performance of the competition.  It has happened before, though ususally the winner is pretty clear early on.  Not this year though.

Cardiff Singer of the World - Part Deux

In my earlier post I said a singer had to have IT.  They could be great singers but they needed this extra sometning.  Last night there was a terrific Canadian/Korean counter tenor who had it in abundance, total showman and everyone loved him.  He won his heat.

Tonight there was a Chinese baritone, who made your hair stand on end.  He had IT no worries.  He sang Han Sach's aria from the last act of Die Meistersinger and for a 23 year old sung it with such maturity, brilliant German, and the most warm round gorgeous tone.  I thought my heavens this guy is only 23, and then of course remembered that Bryn Terfel was only 24 when he was in this competition.  Maria Ewing, a former opera singer, was one of the commentators tonight and she phrased my IT comment more felicitously 'great artists are born not made' and then went on to say 'you have either got it or you haven't' and I though whoopee yes she agrees with me!

So far I have maintained my 100% record of picking each evening's winner.  Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Great evening though I missed a bit of it as my digital box, which has been slightly wobbly recently, broke down.  The on/off swtich which has always been dodgy got totally jammes and in trying to loosen it up, I ended up sticking the screwdriver deep in the bowels of the machine and killed it stone dead.  Shock horror, so into car, whizzed down to a large electronic store down by the station which luckily is open till 8 pm, charged in at 7.55 waving plastic, grabbed digi box off shelf, paid for it, drove home, plugged it all in and sat back to watch this evening's heat.

Phew.

Cardiff Singer of the World 2007

When this competition first started over 20 years ago the BBC trumpeted it far and wide, gave copious space to it in the Radio Times and broadcast two hours each evening on BBC1 of the heats so that by the time the final came round we had all had a chance to watch each singer and to make our own choice. As the years passed by and the BBC swapped its personnel the station reflected the choice of its then Head and gradually this competition was squeezed out.  By the time Greg Dyke took over it had practically vanished and had to be searched for on the schedules and we were allowed to see the final on BBC2 only.  Then digital came in and it was sent over to BBC4 working on the then premise that nobody had digital so nobody would see it.  The same thing happened to the Proms.  Once upon a time you could always rely on at least one or two Proms a week being broadcast either live, or recorded, from the Albert Hall, but these started diminishing in number as well.

As I lived in a block of flats with no Sky, no decent aerial and no desire on the part of the management company to do anything about it, I was doomed to missing out on my favourite programmes.  I harassed the Services Manager relentlessly and demanded that they do something about the aerial and in the end they did (I suspect it was mainly to shut me up as I told them that I would not take no for an answer as they had to justify their extortionate service charge).  In the end we got a brand new state of the art aerial, I rushed out and bought a digital box and though the supplier warned me that I might not be able to receive all the programmes, found that I could.

Therefore, last summer I was able to watch Proms practically every night, broadcasts of the Ring from Covent Garden and now the nightly heats of this year's Cardiff competition.  As readers of this blog well know, I am a total devotee of Bryn Terfel who I first spotted on this competition when he was 24.  He came out and sang the first act aria of the Flying Dutchman and just nailed the audience to the floor.  I decided then and there that when he sang his first Wotan, which I knew he would do some day, I would be there to see it and I was, some 20 years later.  His Brunnhilde was Lisa Gasteen, another winner of this competition, who when she came out on the final night and sang Pace Pace from La Forza del Destino by Verdi, produced such a terrific performance that there was no doubt that she would win. I met her backstage last year after Die Walkure and a more down to earth, chatty person you could not hope to meet.  I told her that I had seen her win this competition and she said it was, and always would be, one of the most exciting evenings of her life.

Another winner was Karitta Mattila, who I saw in Un Ballo in Maschera at Covent Garden last year and of course, the wonderfully gorgeous Dmitri (gosh aren't I the most sexy thing you have ever seen and don't I know it) Hvorostovsky who I have seen as Onegin and stunning he is too.  Just wish he preened a little less.

So far, every time I have watched I have picked the winner, except one year when the jury made a decision that left everyone aghast.  That singer has since sunk without trace.  I am not boasting or saying that I have any special talent for spotting the winner.  Quite simply, what it boils down to in the end, is IT.  Singers either have it or they do not.  You can have the most wonderful voice in the world, but lack IT. What IT does is make you tingle, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, makes you leap about with excitement.  And the thing is, that at home watching on television, when you feel this, you just know the audience feels the same. 

Tonight's winner was Elizabeth Watts a wonderful British singer with a creamy voice, great personality and a marvelous performer.  One of the commentators said he felt the 'tingle' when he listened to her.  I did not though I thought she would get through tonight.  So, this week is going to be really interesting and I shall see if I can pick the winner again. 

I shall be very honest and tell you if I am wrong.  promise.

Booking Ahead

I have had a good relaxing day today and have been on line booking up interesting things to see at the theatre and opera.  I have loads of Covent Garden vouchers burning a hole in my pocket (Christmas and birthday presents) so have just received the latest Friends of Covent Garden magazine, House, and it is full of goodies for this booking period and lots to come.

First of all though, I now have nestling in my dressing table top drawer, whence resides my tickets box, two seats for a performance in July of Sweeney Todd at the Royal Festival Hall starring the Mighty Bryn.  Both my daughters saw this Sondheim show several times when they were younger (they were huge Sondheim fans but as my daughter said to me the other day, it was highly unsuitable for small children and she was right!) and I asked if they wanted to see it.  My elder daughter is very irritated she is away, but as she is island hopping in Croatia at the time I think she can bear the disappointment, but Helen (the Bride) is thrilled to bits and so we have two seats for that. 

I have also purchased two seats for The Magic Flute at the English National Opera.  I saw this production last year. Nicholas Hynter of the Royal Shakespeare Company and director of the film Madness of King George, turned his talents to opera and the result was a Magic Flute that has been in the repertoire for some 11 years.  This is the last time they are going to show it, which is a shame.  If the Royal Opera House used a Tosca (Zeffirelli) for over 30 years and are still showing a Boheme (Carola Oman 25 years) then why not keep this one going?  It sells out every single time it is shown. 

Then I turned my attention to Covent Garden.  I have sent off ticket applications for Romeo and Juliet,  my favourite ballet, the Kenneth Macmillan production, another one going strong for over 25 years (in fact I first saw it around 1970 with Nureyev and Fonteyn) this time it is Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo starring so fingers crossed for that.  Yes and I know that this is not a picture of him as Romeo but I could not track one down that Typepad would accept so I had to make do with this one instead which I think illustrates without any further explanation why I wish to see his Romeo.....

Then two tickets applied for an opera, L'Elisir d'amore by Donizetti which is witty and delightful and fun and contains one of the most famous tenor arias ever Una Furtiva Lagrima.  Rolando Villazon will be singing Nemorino so that will be a super evening if I am successful.

And finally, a friend of mine is taking me to see Aida, again at the English National Opera.  This has not been put on at the Colly for over 20 years and I saw the last production there and it was an utter disaster, lambasted by the critics and was never seen again after the one run.  Expensive opera to bin.  All those lions and tigers in the Triumphal Scene (only kidding not allowed any more, the Health and Safety people have intervened).  This new productions has sets and costumes designed by Vivienne Westwood so visually it is going to be pretty amazing, and I choose that word very carefully, and hopefully the singing will too.

So lots to look forward to when the nights are dark and the lamps are lit.

Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Some months ago I noticed I had had a visitor on my blog who was unfamiliar to me so I clicked onto his link and found myself reading the blog of Brian Dickie, General Manager, of the Chicago Opera Theatre.  This was last year and as Chicago was on the horizon in 2007 I kept in touch and visited.  I mentioned I was coming over in April but was sad to see that I would be there before the opera season (either here or at the Lyric Opera).  Brian responded by sending me an email and asking me to contact him when I knew the dates I would be in town.  I duly did, but with a caveat that he was under no obligation to actually do anything at all - we all know what it is like to throw out an invitation and perhaps be surprised when it is taken up.

However, when I gave him my dates, he gave me his cell number and urged me to call him when I hit town which I duly did.  Brian then said I could come along to the piano dress rehearsal of Duke Bluebeard's Castle.  This is a one act opera by Bartok, sung straight through and is usually performed with another such length opera in one evening.  In this case it was Erwartung (Expectation) by Schoenberg which I was not at all sure about so was very glad to see the Bartok instead.  It is not an opera I am overly familiar with, have only seen it once in the theatre and once on TV many years ago, but I do remember its wonderful orchestration and its tense and gripping atmosphere. 

 

I arrived at the Harris Theatre at the appointed time and totally got lost trying to find the stage door in a maze of underground passages (most of the theatre is underground in order that the building does not obtrude and spoil the view in Millennium Park where it is located) and in the end the long suffering Mr Dickie came and collected me from the front of the house and escorted me into the theatre just in time to see the rehearsal.

It was a full dress with lighting, scenery, props etc though it was a pretty bare and stark stage with the atmosphere being created by the lighting as Judith opened each of the doors and found the terrible secrets behind them.  Samuel Ramey was singing Bluebeard and is an opera singer of world class stature and fame so was thrilled to bits when I recognised him from where I was sitting.  Krisztina Szabo, who I am not familiar with, was singing Judith and I found her portrayal of the far too curious wife very convincing. 

You will not leave the opera house after seeing Duke Bluebeard's Castle whistling the tunes, it is not that kind of work.  As you all know by now I am a massive Wagner fan, so find it no problem to sit and listen to an opera where most of the music is conversational and no great sweeping choruses and arias to keep you going.  I always remember one marvelously sumptuous outburst of music when Judith opens one door and reveals Bluebeard's empire - even on the piano it sounded stupendous.

This work is gripping and gradually draws you in to the tense dread feeling of horror at Judith's fate at the end of the opera when she opens the Seventh Door and sees what is inside....

I feel enormously privileged to have been allowed to see this rehearsal and this all came about through blogging.  I have had the most wonderful few days in Chicago and the people I have met there and experiences I have had are the direct result of this simply amazing world of internet access and emails we live in.  I know there are times when modern technology can seem to take the heart out of life and can appear cold and clinical, but the friends I have made over the last few years through this medium would never been known to me otherwise and I deem that a great privilege and joy.

So, back to Chicago next year.   Perhaps a little later this time so I can catch some opera.  May 2008 - anybody want to join me and Lisa and Sharon hit the town again?

New Season

I have just downloaded a whole file of bumpf on next year's season at the Royal Opera House and there are lots of goodies in store.  Thanks to Christmas and birthday presents from generous and lovely people I have a whole wodge of Covent Garden vouchers to be spent and I intend to splurge. 

I am going to have to be very strict with myself and see if I can save some for next year as there is a new production of Don Carlos in June 2008.  The last time I saw Don Carlos at the opera house was when I was a mere teenager and it was the legendary performance conducted by Carlo Maria Guilini with Tito Gobbi, Jon Vickers and Boris Christoff amongst the starry cast.  I have blogged about this before so will not make you suffer again.  I also saw this opera at the Coliseum back in the 80s when Elizabeth was sung, superbly I might add, by Rita Hunter, a stunning Brunhilde in their ring cycle.  Not even Rita's biggest and most devoted fans could say that she had a graceful stage presence as she was simply HUGE and appearing as Elizabeth de Valois in cloth of gleaming gold was not a good idea.  One simply closed one's eyes and listened to the voice, and what a voice she had too.

Don Carlos is being sung by Rolando Villazon who would seem to me to be ideal for the part and Posa, who is one of those marvelously warm Verdi baritone roles, is being sung by Simon Keenlyside, a British baritone.  (And I know this picture here of him is hardly Verdian but could not resist it.  He looks rather fetching don't you think?)

This new production will be directed by Nicholas Hytner, whose directorial work ranges from the film The Madness of King George and The History boys, to Xerxes and the Magic Flute for English National Opera.  I saw this Magic Flute last year and was totally enchanted by it.  Quite magical as well as being very very funny.  In Papageno's aria in the first act when he plays his bells to call the birds, a pure white dove flew from the wings at each call.  The audience was full of children when I saw it that Saturday evening and the oohs and aaahs at the sight of these pure white elegant and graceful birds added to the feeling of delight that pervaded the house.

So on these grounds, this is a MUST for me.

The Ballet season looks equally promising with a terrific double bill for Christmas of Les Patineurs/Tales of Beatrix Potter which I shall definitely be booking for.  I have the DVD of the Beatrix Potter ballet and well remember my two daughters watching our old video of this so often it ended up looking like a lace doily and had to be thrown out.  Jeremy Fisher was our firm favourite with his great leaps and bounds across the lilies on the pond, closely followed by the Tale of the Two Bad Mice.

Then my favourite ballet of all - Romeo and Juliet.  I have seen this Kenneth Macmillan production so many times I have lost count.  It must have been in the repertoire now for nearly forty years as I remember seeing it back in the 60s with Margot Fontey and Rudolf Nureyev (never to be forgotten) and it is still going strong.  I also saw Nureyev dance in this with Lesley Collier, and later in the 1970s I saw a performance which, in my opinion, eclipsed even Margot and Rudi. 

The two lead roles were taken by Anthony Dowell and Natalia Makarova (who had defected from the then Soviet Union and fled to the West from the Kirov ballet) and it was quite simply the most breathtakingly stunning performance I have ever attended of any ballet.  The sheer beauty of the pas de deux, the Balcony Scene, at the end of Act One just hurt to watch and was so beautiful I found it difficult to speak when the curtain came down.  I was with a party of ten that night and we all staggered speechless to the bar for a drink totally unable to articulate our feelings about what we had just seen.  I have to say that when the curtains closed there was a stunned silence throughout the entire house and the applause started in a very subdued manner, so it had affected everyone.

I have seen various partnerings since, all of whom have been wonderful, it is a ballet which seems to bring out the best in dancers because of the deep emotions they are called upon to portray.  This season Carlos Acosta is Romeo and as I have never seen him do it before, this is the one I am going to go for. He is partnered with Tamara Rojo who is exquisite (I saw them both in Manon last year) so this augurs well.  I feel my vouchers stirring in the corner of my jewelry box where they are being stored.  One entrechat and they will soon be centre stage and pirouetting all the way to the Opera House box office.

Can't wait!