Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Rameau: Castor et Pollux (Pinchgut Opera)

Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Tragédie en musique Castor et Pollux received merely a lukewarm reception when it was first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1737. However, its 1754 revision turned out to be a complete triumph. That’s the version Australia’s Pinchgut Opera presented in Sydney, December 2012, from which live performances this recording was assembled. One of Rameau’s most popular operas, containing music of exceptional quality and beauty, it’s surprising this was the first time the work had been performed in Australia in its entirety. Better 258 years later than never, I suppose. It is also of great comfort that this is such a fine interpretation. The story is straightforward. The immortal Pollux offers to marry his deceased mortal brother’s widow, Télaïre. She’d rather have her husband back, which request Jupiter agrees to grant providing Pollux takes his slain brother’s place in Hades. Castor’s filial love is too strong, however, and he insists on spending one day only with the grieving Télaïre. Impressed, Jupiter makes Castor immortal as well and both brothers are placed among the constellations as the heavenly twins. Conductor Antony Walker and harpsichord continuo player Erin Helyard are fully conversant with the style of the French Baroque, and…

May 8, 2014
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Tonight (Fleming, Vogt, Staatskapelle Dresden/Thielemann)

Celebratory concerts such as this are always a mixed bag. Those who like American songs will often be at odds with those who prefer the sounds of old Vienna. The days are long gone when a traditional German orchestra sounded stiff and formal playing a Broadway tune. The fabulous Dresdeners are quite at ease in this music and play it better than most. The deliciously slinky way they have with Gershwin’s Strike up the Band Overture would match all comers. Thielemann is on top of all musical styles, even though the first half of the concert is clearly the better half. Renée Fleming’s voice is best suited to operatic items; she sounds as if she’s slumming it in the American material. Her version of I Could Have Danced All Night is breathlessly over the top. She is simply too heavy for those parts and tries too hard to be ‘cool’. Vogt, with his superb voice and matinee good looks is a charmer. Although in Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better by Irving Berlin, he is under par and Fleming is simply wrong. The alternate verses are sung in German, which is a treat for us Anglos. The overtures from many of… Continue…

April 22, 2014
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Wagner: Arias (Rutherford, Bergen Philharmonic/Litton)

If you are not all Wagnered out by the blitzkrieg of bicentennial CDs, DVDs and live performances, you might find room on your shelf for one more addition featuring British baritone James Rutherford. He has already sung Sachs (at Bayreuth no less), the Dutchman, Wolfram, Kurwenal and Wotan in Die Walküre, next up is Amfortas. This album is by way of his portfolio. He is joined here by the excellent Bergen Philharmonic under their American principal conductor Andrew Litton who gives the band a good workout in the Overture to The Flying Dutchman and the Prelude to Act III of Die Meistersinger. Indeed, Litton proves himself to be something of an inspired Wagnerian here, constantly generating electricity. Rutherford has a generous vibrato which hopefully won’t develop into an uncontrolled mannerism, but he is alert to the textual nuances and there is dramatic depth aplenty. He clearly shows in the closing track, Wotan’s Abscheid, that he can handle the heavy-duty roles. Recorded last year at the Grieg Hall,in Bergen, the production quality is outstanding as you would expect from Swedish label BIS. Highlights include a lovely O du mein holder Abendstern and two lashings of Hans Sachs where his attention to text really……

April 17, 2014