Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Puccini: Gianni Schicchi (LA Opera)

Gianni Schicchi, Puccini’s only comedy, was the last in his penultimate opera, Il Trittico, premiered in New York in 1918.Schicchi, often performed separately, tells of a money-grabbing family undone by an unscrupulous lawyer. Apart from the lawyer, the only people to emerge unscathed are Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta (she of O mio babbino caro fame) and her lover Rinuccio. Puccini was an entertainer. He didn’t moralise in the way Verdi did, but his operas, despite years of sniffing from the musical establishment remain brilliant creations, with remarkable melodies and superb orchestrations. His flair for the dramatic is ever present and the matching of music to text is remarkable. Rinuccio’s glorious aria in praise of Florence, for example, is tucked seamlessly into the narrative. Woody Allan directs adroitly, his added treats in no way undermining the work. The busy cast perform well, and although the days are long gone when opera singers could stand like statues, opera ‘acting’ still hovers. This is especially noticeable when the camera closes in on the action. Sadly, the audio recording is dead dull and the orchestra under Grant Gershon, performs perfunctorily. So buy it for Domingo’s saturnine Schicchi and Allen’s clever production. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from…

December 21, 2016
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Bryony Marks: The Happiness Box (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)

Sergeant David Griffin was just 27-years old when he wrote The Happiness Box in wartime Singapore. The year was 1942, and the POW wished to create a story for Changi Jail’s child prisoners. Griffin’s fellow inmate Leslie Greener crafted illustrations (which form the cover of this release). Before the final product could be confiscated by the Japanese, the book was buried in an ammunition container for safekeeping, arriving in Australia after the war. It was published in 1947 and now almost seven decades later has been set to music by composer Bryony Marks. Quite a story, right? But despite its heavy history, this is a work that will reach many a child’s heart. It opens with conductor Brett Kelly introducing the instruments and their roles in shaping the characters, and then the Melbourne Symphony begins to tell the story with narration from Stephen Curry. It’s charming and frolicking, and rings with the memories of an Australian countryside Griffin may have yearned for during his captivity and creation of the book. The work is fast-paced and inspires us to visualise Griffin’s story (without ever lingering for too long on any musical idea). Even for an adult listener, it’s… Continue reading Get…

December 21, 2016
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Weingärtner: Die Dorfschule (Deutschen Oper Berlin)

The Austrian Felix Weingartner (1863-1942) is nowadays best known for conducting the first recordings of the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies. In his own day, though, he was equally renowned as a composer, especially of symphonic music and opera. Die Dorfschule (The Temple School) was his tenth out of a grand total of 12. The plot comes from a gripping Kabuki play about 10th-century Japanese feudal politics. An exiled chancellor’s son, Kwan Shusai, has been secretly brought up by Genzo, a loyal samurai who, along with his long-suffering wife, is now running a school. When the noble, Matsuo, demands the boy’s severed head, Genzo murders a recently enrolled pupil instead. Only at the end do we discover the dead boy is actually Matsuo’s own son who he enrolled in Genzo’s school as a decoy to save the life of Kwan Shusai. A contemporary of Strauss, Weingartner’s music sounds a little leaner, yet he’s very much a student of the post-Wagner school. But where the symphonies are often sumptuous, Die Dorfschule has an austerity that marries perfectly with its grim tale of honour and sacrifice. Only in the Imperial march does the composer let his hair down. The cast are… Continue reading…

December 21, 2016