The Magic Flute - WMC 24th of September

Ever since its premiere scientists, mathematicians and statisticians have argued over the exact ratio of ZACKY present in Die Zauberflöte / The Magic Flute. Arguments have raged, punches have been thrown and abaci throwdowns have been swift and violent with tiny wooden balls marking the places where much ZACKY has been spilled. General consensus among ZACKY scholars had been thought impossible, until recent happenings brought about a nodding of heads and puffing of pipes at the 218th International ZACKY Conference in London, where I, dear fellow zachies, was, of course, the fulcrum of events. After much debate, it was decided, following my daring speech, in which I used my pearl handled comb and Fabergé mirror to demonstrate my calculations, that The Magic Flute is indeed nine tenths zany and one tenth wacky. In purely scientific terms it is known simply as the far catchier 9ZA1CKY.

Armed with my superb new discovery I blew dried my hair with exultant fervour and headed towards the Armadillo eager to see if WNO's The Magic Flute would be 9ZA1CKY or its poorer relation 7ZA3CKY.

Fellow ZACKY scholars, for the duration of this paper I shall have to talk to those less fortunate than you or, especially, I, in a manner that their sadly undeveloped ZACKY minds can understand...

Okay, a giant lobster, a set made of a corridor situated among blue skies and fluffy clouds with the addition of high heel wearing birds (oh come on, the feathered variety) and bowler hat wearing Oranje chorus rates as bona fide 9ZA1CKY. Dominic Cooke (director), Julian Crouch (set designer) and Kevin Pollard (costume designer) give us a Flute that lives up to the fantastical nature of the plot with heavy doses of Magritte and Monty Python(?). Of course there are more than enough nods towards the Masonic threads that framework the opera but this is a Flute that can live on many levels, especially as a visual treat for any children who find themselves dragged along by their parents.



Photo by Bill Cooper taken from MusicWeb International


On a personal level I have to admit that although I like The Magic Flute, it's not my favourite bit of Mozart, so if I was going to enjoy myself a lot would depend, not only on the look of the production, but also on the sound of the production.

Peter Wedd (Tamino) is a muscular sounding tenor, and it was the strength of his voice (no pun intended) that threatened to waylay his performance, but as he settled down his singing softened (maybe not as much as I would have liked) and he gave an all out performance. I quite liked the way he played Tamino with a touch of the berk of the role included, and fair damsels and dudels among the audience do not fear, he looks the part of a dashing prince.

As his dame in distress Elizabeth Watts (Song Prize champeen of BBC Cardiff Singer 2007) brought a burgeoning reputation to the stage and showed what the fuss is all about with a superb role debut as Pamina. Gloriously moreish like a box of Lindt Lindor Truffles her Ach, ich fuhl's, es ist verschwunden* was the recipient of my Golden Lock of the Night Award™ in recognition of the pin drop moment of the performance.

But Watts wasn't the only BBC Cardiff Song Prize winner on stage, and in Neal Davies (1991 champeen) Papageno was brought to life with elegantly crafted singing that on times had the intimacy of lieder to my ears. Of all the singers he seemed most at ease with his character and was not only my personal favourite of the evening, but also the audience in general judging by his reception at curtain call time.

The rest of the cast weren't lacking in substance on the night either. Laure Meloy looked, and sounded, the part of the Queen of the Night, managing her thunderfoot / tippy toe Der Holle Rache with the same confidence as she did her dress / ballgown / tent. The Three Ladies (Camilla Roberts, Carolyn Dobbin and Joanne Thomas) dressed as Victorian maids, in keeping with the vibe of the production, served their mistress finely and played the production's comedic angle with aplomb. Pa-pa-paing her way quite nicely Claire Hampton (Papagena) once again showed the quality of WNO chorus members, as did Howard Kirk, who was suitably booable as Monostatos. Tim Mirfin's Sarastro was elegantly delivered but lacked in vocal heft on the night. A special mention too for the three boys, who blended together to achieve that admittedly creepy harmony that works so well in the opera. They were three of these six listed Guy Roberts / Rory Turnbull, Robert Field / Henry Payne, Erwan Hughes / Josh Morgan.

The chorus, as usual, did their bit with aplomb from the most unlikely of places – often with only their heads poking up from the stage floor. The orchestra, under the batonage of Gareth Jones played nicely, if a little tame at times for my liking – but this could well be more to do with Mozart than those in the pit.

A quick recap is that this Flute is suitably bizarre, playing up to the pantomime feel of the work, with performances from the cast, especially Davies and Watts, making it a night worth trekking out for.



*Although the opera is sung in English I prefer to stick to the original German when discussing arias.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's not Wotan...

Torso inspired by frozen chicken

True story time. Really.

Back when newspapers were in black and white, The Red Hand Gang flared on my family's mercurial Grundig during summer holiday mornings and a packet of crisps cost 7p I became bewitched by something that has drifted in and out of my life ever since. Comics. Batman and Green Lantern to be more specific – quit the sniggering, Wotan and co aren't exactly of this realm.

...In case you're wondering this does lead to an opera related post, but you'll have to buy a ticket to my train of thought to reach journey's end...

I became gripped by the stories on the soft, colourful pages and spent my pocket money trying to keep up with storylines that I usually followed out of synch because my local newsagent wasn't a firm believer in customer service. Despite finding out the end of a story before I reached the middle I kept on buying the comics because I loved the enjoyment they gave me but, as in most comic stories, things hit the skids when my local newsagent went from not believing in customer service to giving no customer service when he stopped ordering my Batman and Green Lantern comics. Holy cow poo! To say I had a pwdi lip the size of a saucer for several weeks would not be an overstatement. My world had come to a shuddering halt.

Then, as I was at my lowest superheroless ebb, salvation came from the most unexpected source. A neighbour, a man I thought of as being a mean old so and so, who worked in the far off metropolis of Cardiff heard about my plight (okay, he saw me having a right old strop that involved kicking and screaming) and took it upon himself to buy me my Batman and Green Lantern comics from a newsagent close to where he worked. I never knew why he did this, perhaps because he was afraid my next strop session could see me hacking his shin, but whatever his reason it allowed me to get back to enjoying my comics and the worlds in the stories I had come to love.

Fast-forward a few decades and to the point of this post. Preferring to walk the walk, rather than talking the talk, WNO actively go out into communities and try to make opera as accessible to as many people as possible, this includes providing performances that are geared towards operagoers who are blind or have a visual impairment. But isn't opera an aural entertainment? Not really, otherwise companies would only put on concert performances. Opera is theatre, it's stories told by singers wearing costumes and acting roles on stages full of sets. WNO provides the opportunity for blind or visually impaired audience members to have the physical drama on the stage described to them through their free Audio Description service. In addition to this they also run a free Touch Tour prior to performances allowing blind or visually impaired operagoers to get their hands on the set and costumes before a performance.

And now this is really the journey's end of this post – although the Audio Description / Touch Tours are quite rightly provided free of charge WNO does need a little bit of help towards the running costs of this fabulous service. Although most of us (okay me) would like to think that we (me) are a Batman-in-waiting, we (I) know deep down that we're (I'm) more of a Kick Ass, which is quite alright by me because he got things done by hook or by crook. So if you're feeling like being a superhero today (minus Kick Ass' corpse riddled storyline of course), or an enigmatic neighbour, you can do so from the comfort of your computer room chair / sofa / train seat by following this link where you can help towards WNO's £5, 000 target. Whether the amount you can afford is £3.50 or £350 both will come with cape attached.

Fidelio and, if my research is correct, Die Fledermaus and Turandot are the Audio Description / Touch Tour operas in the 2010 / 2011 season.

The Fidelio Audio Description / Touch Tour performance venues and dates are as follows (but check with theatres to be on the safe side):

8th October WMC
22nd October Bristol Hippodrome
5th November Liverpool Empire Theatre
12th November Birmingham Hippodrome
19th November Venue Cymru Llandudno
3rd December New Theatre Oxford

Fancy Being a Singer of the World?

Ekaterina Scherbachenko 2009 Winner Photo BBC

With a nod towards the highly unlikely scenario that a singer (aged 18-32 on the 1st of June 2011), marooned in a hotel room, staving off boredom by surfing the web for hairdressers has come across this blog I thought it best to draw their attention to the news that the deadline for registering interest in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition 2011 is the 30th of September. By my reckoning that's next Thursday. Not long. Especially if you're reading this on the 29th of September. To get in touch with the people who are running the competition simply click here for contact details.

The competition, which also incorporates a Song (Lieder) Prize, runs from the 11th to the 19th of June 2011. Visitors will be glad to hear that a swanky new set-up, sated with plenty of restaurants, has replaced the Mad Max building site outside St David's Hall.

Fidelio - WMC 17th of September 2010

Ah...the plaintive call of seagulls, the breeze coming off the bay playing my hair like an ethereal harpist, the sound of stomp-stomp-stomp-bugger-bugger-bugger-slop-slop-slop as I raced across the bridge towards the Armadillo, knocking grannies, children and mimes all to the floor meant only three things. It was the opening night of WNO's 2010 / 11 season, I was late...and I was dribbling.

I know what's crossing your mind my dear readers – were the multiple grazed knees and hands caused by your hirsute host worth it? Did Fid give me some elio? Did I forget about the curling tongs I'd left on? Were my toes-a-tapping and my hips-a-grooving, giving the complete stranger next to me the wrong idea who swapped with her burly beau after the interval?

That last bit probably gives the answer away.

Meistersinger was always going to be an impossible act to follow, and while the professional reviews (when they come out) may not be as ecstatic for Fidelio the effect on this man with hair was enough to put some zing in my locks. The reasons for this are three fold, and happy that I've decided on the best way to go about this review I'll carry on with...


Fold one – The production

Dominated by separate rows of mobile prison bars, which could be joined to make a cage, to look at Giuseppe Frigeni’s Fidelio is the sombre coloured affair you’d expect of a prison set story. The sets are minimal, although not lacking in detail. From my vantage point the stage floor had an architectural map of the prison drawn on it that played nicely with a bit of spotlight action towards the end of the first act between Rocco and Pizarro's knocking off Florestan discussion scene. The costumes too, by Amélie Haas, add little in the way of hope with colours, in the main, subdued and Pizarro wearing a Gestapo style leather trench coat and black leather gloves as befits his bad boy image – though things did get confusing for some audience members at the curtain call when they booed Fernando who happened to be wearing similar garb.

Whether you take to the production depends on how much you’re prepared to buy into Frigeni’s approach to direction. Unlike a large number of directors he comes to opera not as a theatre director but as a dance director and there was certainly a sense of stylised chorographical movement on show that evoked in me a sense of a dream like state gone bad with characters sometimes adopting exaggerated poses.

In the main I enjoyed his approach as the staccato nature of the first act, despite its gorgeous music, deters a naturalistic flow to the drama . However, there were one or two occasions where I felt more rational direction wouldn't have gone amiss. A slightly longer pause between O wär' ich schon and Mir ist so wunderbar would have helped to pause the conveyor belt of tunes hitting my ears and give audience members, unused to the story, an extra bit of time to clue into the relationships between the dudes and dudettes on the stage and help glue the action together more securely. Similarly I would have liked Pizarro and Leonore to have been packing a pointy weapon and some heat between them when things began to get a bit dicey in the dungeon.


Fold two – The performances onstage

There seems to have been a run of debut roles at WNO in recent productions and Fidelio was another night for some young, and not so young singers, to make their role debuts. As far as I could work out the debutants were Scottish soprano Lisa Milne as Leonore, and veteran Welsh tenor Dennis O'Neill as Florestan – though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that one or two others were taking their characters out into public for the first time (due to ages rather than quality of performance).

As the heart and soul of the work Leonore was well served by Milne, employing her light, yet strong, soprano (it makes sense believe me) to good effect and her performance gained in authority as the evening wore on. If there was one thing that Milne lacked on the evening it was a greater presence in her lower register, but this is only a small detraction from what was a very enjoyable and promising debut.

As Florestan O'Neill was given the double-edged sword of having to impress with half the opera already gone and with a demanding aria that requires lungpower set at Desperation Mark 10 from the get-go. Thundering out the opening of Gott, welch Dunkel hier! he succeeded in conveying the desolation of his character and navigated the remainder of the aria with sure footedness. I've been debating whether or not to include the next observation but as I value honesty over empty platitudes I've decided to go with it. As impressive a performance as he gave (and believe me, it was a good performance) on one or two occasions I felt a younger O'Neill would have grasped the aria with more comfortable passion, as the Verdi in his voice is undoubtedly well suited to the role.



Opera de Bordeaux Fidelio photo by Frédéric Desmesure Canvas Management


So what of the remainder of the cast?

Deserving of his applause at the curtain call Clive Bayley was at home in Rocco's skin, giving a confident performance as the jailer. As his daughter, Marzelline, Elizabeth Donovan was my personal favourite on the night. A bright colourful soprano she was a perfect fit for her role. As her would be wooer Robin Tritschler looks the part, unfortunately his elegant voice failed to reach me through the orchestra, a shame as he possesses an intelligent instrument – I think he'll be more suited to the role of Ferrando when he returns in Cosi later in the season. Robert Hayward (Pizarro) was in a similar position as O'Neill with his opening aria and he certainly went for it like a man possessed. A difficult role to sing, as it demands Psycho Singing throughout, he managed to carry off the role and was suitably booed at the curtain call – I would have liked a little bit more relaxation in his voice but I think the tempo employed made this a challenging effect to achieve. A special mention also for the ensemble singing as it really hits the mark.

And the chorus? I have to admit that their O welche Lust was slightly disappointing with their normal cohesion off by an inch or so with individual voices poking through, but come the closing chorusfest I was tingling and feeling the urge to jump up and join in, which would have been a disaster for everyone involved, so normal service was resumed. On a closing note it was pleasing to see the first and second prisoners sung assuredly by chorus members Simon Curtis and Stephen Wells.


Fold three – The performances offstage

Ugh. I've doggy paddled like crazy so far, and now I'm at the Niagara Falls of my reviewing – the orchestra and conductor. Deep breath and off I go...

After a slightly shaky beginning I felt the orchestra found their stride soon thereafter. Lothar Koenigs drove the orchestra forwards at a quick tempo that paid off in the dramatic passages, although I felt that on a small number of occasions the singers were being asked to keep to an uncomfortable pace. Despite my slight reservations about the tempi I would take Koenigs' approach over a slower one as the beauty of Beethoven's score loses its sublime nature when slowed to walking pace. And in case anyone is thinking (if you're still with me that is) that Koenigs doesn't allow for a slowing of the tempo when needed he does, most of the time.


So for a quick recap – a few first night glitches aside it was a hugely satisfying evening as evidenced by the audience reaction (sorry burly beau for elbowing you), and I'm looking forward to catching a later performance. The production may not float everyone's boat but then I doubt there's been a production of Fidelio that has. Usually the key to any successful performance, in my eyes, is if I'm humming bits and pieces the following morning. Not this time. The marker for me was would I be able to forget my numbed face (with a hint of pain) from a visit to the dentist in the late afternoon (slobbery jaw reference)? By the end of the night the answer was a resounding yes, and if you're wondering, I was also humming tunes when I woke the following morning.

What to Wear?

Being this fashionable is a natural born gift

With just a few hours to go until WNO's season opening Fidelio I'm stuck with what to wear. Hoping to avoid last year's debacle of wearing shorts and a beige plastic mac I've narrowed down my options to one of the two outfits above. But whether you turn up as fashionably chic as moi, or if you opt for something less glamorous I hope you all enjoy a grand night.

Thoughts, responses, musings, reflections and general babbling on the night's events will appear here tomorrow, or Sunday depending how quickly I can return my clothes...you didn't think I'd bought them? Oh, and don't expect any miracles – my reviewing is still at Richmond Tests level.

St David's Hall 2010 / 2011 Part 2

Photo sort of came from here

The International Concert Series begins on the 7th of October with a visit from the LPO and pianist Jean-Hawt Boy Bavouzet, but pressed for space I've jumped ahead to next year for my picks of the series. A note on my slightly peculiar programme layouts – as much as I am in awe from the tips of my toes to the roots of my hair at the musicianship skillz on display I think that sometimes it's nice to big up the composers responsible for the notes on the pages.


Sat 15 January 2011
Bartók Suite, The Miraculous Mandarin Shostakovich Piano Concerto No 2 Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Piano Kirill Gerstein
Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen
Philharmonia Orchestra


Wed 16 March 2011
Mendelssohn Overture, The Hebrides Dvořák Cello Concerto Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4
Cello Steven Isserlis
Conductor / piano Andras Schiff
Philharmonia Orchestra


Fri 8 April 2011
Nielsen Aladdin Suite Sibelius Violin Concerto Grieg arr. Kristjan Järvi Suite, Peer Gynt
Violin Julia Fischer
Narrator Tbc
Conductor Kristjan Järvi
London Symphony Orchestra


Fri 29 April 2011
Wagner Siegfried Idyll Bruckner Symphony No 7
Conductor Lothar Koenigs
Orchestra of Welsh National Opera (okay, so they're not exactly strangers)


Thu 12 May 2011
Schumann Overture, The Bride of Messina Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations (again, I know) Brahms Symphony No 1
Cello Leonard Elschenbroich
Conductor Christoph Eschenbach
The Staatskapelle Dresden


Sun 29 May 2011
Beethoven Piano sonata No 3 in C,Op.2 Beethoven Piano sonata No 23 Op.57 ('Appassionata') Albeniz Iberia Book I Prokofiev Piano sonata No 7 in B flat major Op.83
Piano Lang Lang


For a full ICS pdf brochure click here.

St David's Hall 2010 / 2011 Part 1

Photo

Visitors to this blog may be mistaken in thinking that I only accompany my hair, pearl handled tangle tamer and compact mirror to the opera, but from time to time I like to take in such things as Man v Pigeon racing (waiting for my first victory after thirty-one contests: 30 losses 1 dead heat), Breakfast Cereal Night Classes (oxymoronic class on the hazards of mixing your Snap with your Bix) and Correct Oxymoron Quiz Nights (held at The Quiet Night pub on Elm Street).

I also find time to fret over my hair at St David's Hall, where the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is the band in residence. But it's not only BBC NOW who appear at St David's Hall. Throughout the year a mixture of international orchestras and soloists ply their wares under the guise of the International Concert Series.

So what's on at Neuadd Dewi Sant over the 2010 / 2011 season?

Quite a bit. I failed at narrowing down both BBC NOW's concerts and the ICS concerts to a-typical Top 5s, settling instead for Top 5s + 1s. To avoid confusion I've split my highlights with BBC NOW appearing in this post, and the ICS highlights appearing in the next post.

In a refreshing break with celebrity culture the ticket availability is the opposite of what you would expect. The BBC NOW concerts are heavily booked (with tickets still available) and the ICS concerts are moderately booked with plenty of tickets left in all price bands, despite including the likes of Lang Lang, Julia Fischer and Steven Isserlis. Not that the BBC NOW season suffers from an inferiority complex with Gautier Capuçon, Katarina Karnéus (BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Winner 1995), Viktoria Mullova and Miah Persson on the team sheet. The reasons for this bucking of trends is a mixture of long standing audience loyalty to BBC NOW and a reflection of their more affordable pricing with tickets ranging from £6* - £25.

Without further delay, the highlights of BBC NOW, according to my uneducated taste buds:


Fri 17 Sep 2010
Mussorgsky Night on a Bare Mountain Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme Rimsky-Korsakov Overture, May Night Shostakovich Symphony No 6
Cello Gautier Capuçon
Conductor Thierry Fischer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales


Fri 1 Oct 2010
Mahler Symphony No 3
Mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus
Conductor Tadaaki Otaka
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
BBC National Chorus of Wales
Gloucester, Hereford & Worcester Cathedral Boys


Sat 5 Feb 2011
Liszt Mazeppa Beethoven Violin Concerto Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Violin Viktoria Mullova
Conductor François-Xavier Roth
BBC National Orchestra of Wales


Fri 15 Apr 2011
Berlioz Roméo et Juliette
Mezzo-soprano Susan Bickley
Tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt
Bass Jonathan Lemalu
Conductor Thierry Fischer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
BBC National Chorus of Wales


Fri 27 May 2011
Strauss Four Last Songs Bruckner Symphony No 9
Mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus
Conductor Jac van Steen
BBC National Orchestra of Wales


Fri 24 June 2011
Fauré Pavane Dutilleux L'arbre des songes Ravel Daphnis et Chloé (Complete)
Soprano Miah Persson
Mezzo-soprano Pamela Helen Stephen
Tenor James Gilchrist
Bass Peter Rose
Conductor Thierry Fischer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
BBC National Chorus of Wales


You can download a full BBC NOW St David's Hall pdf season brochure by clicking here. For details of BBC NOW BBC Hoddinott Hall events rest your finger here. For Brangwyn Hall (Swansea) events slide your arrow here, and for further concerts around Wales drop in here.


* Student rate