The most surprising aspect of this CD is that it took until now to happen. Natalie Dessay’s light, nimble soprano has always seemed a natural fit for French art song, yet she has shied away from it on disc, focusing her recorded efforts instead on aria discs and Baroque repertoire. Enter pianist Philippe Cassard, who was so impressed by Dessay’s performance as Mélisande that he wrote to her to suggest this recital of early songs by Debussy. Delicate and dreamy heroines have long been Dessay’s forte onstage, and she conveys those qualities deftly in these lyrical miniatures too – with just a dash of gamine mischief to spice up the proceedings. Her voice has lost a little of its lustre: her upper register sounds threadbare in spots, and there is, as always, a brittle quality to her singing which can be an acquired taste. Yet she evokes the fin-de-siècle milieu of these songs – a heady cocktail of languor and quivering passion – with impeccable style: shimmering in Nuit d’étoiles and Les cloches, trilling her way perkily through Pierrot and turning in a melancholy tour de force in the cantata La damoiselle élue, which features a ravishing cameo by mezzo…

For any recording artist, one of the most exciting moments of the process of making an album is the moment when you’re presented with a cardboard box full of freshly baked CDs. Yes, yes, yes, I know the future (present?) is digital downloads, but the feeling of finality when you receive an hard copy simply cannot be replicated! When I walked away from the ABC Centre in Ultimo with 25 copies of The Good, the Bad and the Awkward I found myself taking a moment to consider all the people who were so vital to its production. One of the most important people in this process is the recording engineer. I have had the great pleasure and privilege of working on this album with ABC Classics engineer Virginia Read, and spoke to her about her thoughts on the recording process. Sally: You’ve had quite a few years’ experience working in the classical music recording industry, with a great variety of artists both here and abroad. What would you say are the most important qualities for a recording engineer who specialises in classical music, as opposed to those working in other genres? Virginia: The most important skill an engineer needs to…

My introduction to Rachmaninov’ s Second Symphony was a welcome distraction from Camus, Jane Austen and Virgil studies for my HSC. I loved it from the start. My introduction to Tadaaki Otaka’s first splendid version, with the BBC Welsh National Orchestra, came many years later and I was equally impressed. He continues to acquit himself as a masterful and instinctive Rachmaninov interpreter in a rendition which wins hands down, in both performance and recording, against Ashkenazy’s tepid, enervated reading with the Sydney Symphony, itself a mere epigone of that conductor’s radiant Concertgebouw version. The secret in this potentially sprawling work is to gauge the pulse of the opening movement, making the ebb and flow convincing and grading the climaxes – in other words, keeping your powder dry. No other symphony I know radiates such a powerfully Russian sense of yearning amid the glamorous scoring, enriched by Otaka’s haunting, affectionate (without appearing to milk every bar of emotion) and ultimately stirring insights. Tempi are well judged – I particularly responded to the precision in the Prokofiev-like spikiness of the Scherzo and the tenuto used to great effect just before the final climax.  A colleague whom I… Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

I always found Christoph Eschenbach a much better pianist than conductor: his 1968 recording of Beethoven’s First Concerto with Karajan was unforgettable and his insights into the Op 111 Sonata many years later ranks among the best. By contrast, his conducting often seems stodgy. So this stunning performance and recording of the Missa Solemnis came as a revelation. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is in sizzling and quite virtuosic form. Running to just over 80 minutes, tempos are mainstream. I was hurtled backward in my chair – like, I imagine, most of the audience – with the velocity and ferocity of the choral fugue in the Gloria. The (appropriately) manic sound of the choir in Beethoven’s cruel tessitura of this paroxysm remind me that he may well have been mad when he composed it. The singing is largely undiffereniated and unnuanced and the diction is pretty unclear, but the result is impressive nonetheless. No one will ever eclipse Klemperer’s implacable juggernaut (EMI) here. The soloists are more than satisfactory, although the soprano Anne Schwanewilms and Nicolai Schukoff are the most distinguished of the four. Dietrich Henschel is no Martti Talvela. Pieter Schoeman’s solo violin in the Benedictus is balm… Continue reading…

I am not a morning person. I am, however, a card-carrying member of the Peter Coleman-Wright fan club, which is how it came to pass that on my last full day on London — with a late night of Wagner and of post-Wagner revels ahead of me — I dragged myself out of bed several hours ahead of schedule in order to be at the final dress rehearsal of the English National Opera’s production of Detlev Glanert’s opera Caligula. But anyway, who was I to complain? I only had to sit back and listen; the cast had to sing a seriously demanding opera at 10am — and sing it they most certainly did. The opera, which premiered in 2006, is based on a play by Albert Camus. It’s a disturbing trip into the mind of a burgeoning tyrant: Caligula, stricken with grief at the death of his sister (and lover…but somehow their incest is far less picturesque than Siegmund and Sieglinde) Drusilla, turns into, well, the Caligula we all know and love to detest. Raping, pillaging, murdering and so on, all the while haunted by his sister and his own continuing struggle with the notions of freedom and of happiness….

Before looking at the actual selection process, it’s important to consider why we need to make a selection at all. As each Steinway & Sons piano is hand-crafted, they each have their own unique identity, with subtle differences in feel and tone. Due to the differences in each piano, we are able to select the instruments based on their intended use; for example, the characteristics of a piano destined for a large concert hall would be different from those required for a smaller, more intimate venue. Different acoustic environments will represent each piano in a unique way. For the Sydney International Piano Competition, there were some considerations that we needed to take into account. The competitors don’t get time to really practise and familiarise themselves with the instrument; rather, they just have to be ready to jump in and play their best. Also, as you could imagine, the competitors can be quite nervous by the time they get to playing the pianos, so it’s important to have an instrument that is instantly comfortable for them to play, and can easily deliver a big sound, with a large dynamic range. Selecting the pianos with Alexander Gavrylyuk was a real pleasure. Alexander…

They say it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated work to become an expert. I would argue that many classical musicians bring this level of commitment to their craft before they even begin university studies. For the majority, studying music at university is an opportunity to refine skills, immerse oneself in rigorous practice schemes and transform from being “that kid who played music at school” to being a musician with creative vision, ideas and the skills to make a difference in the community. Integral to this stage of developing a young musician’s career is their instrumental teacher – someone who provides inspiration, guidance, musical expertise and often an approach to performing that has been handed down from one generation to the next.   It was with great sadness that I read this morning on a flight from London about the severe cuts the Australian National University is making to its revered School of Music. Flying in the face of logic, a decision to remove one-on-one tuition seems to me to be taking away the most essential and important aspect of a classical musician’s training. It’s not unlike removing the practical component in the training of a surgeon. A decision of this…

For a small seaside town with a population of no more than 3,000, there’s an unusual buzz in the air in Aldeburgh. Once home to the legendary English composer Benjamin Britten, Aldeburgh and nearby Snape are annual hosts for the renowned Aldeburgh Festival and Britten-Pears Young Artist Programs. But this year marks an exciting new project which will see the world sharpen its focus on England like never before. I’m not just talking about the Olympics though; rather the 2012 London Festival and Cultural Olympiad, for which Aldeburgh is playing host to a new world orchestra.  124 young musicians from across the globe will come together in July, led by acclaimed conductor Sir Mark Elder in a thrilling program of Britten, Mahler, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. Performances will take place in a number of European locations including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Ingolstadt’s Audi Festival, culminating in a final performance in London at Royal Albert Hall.  This past week I’ve been fortunate to get a glimpse into this exciting project as a member of the Britten-Pears Orchestra. A steady stream of media has filtered through the small town of Aldeburgh to catch a glimpse of rehearsals and a 40-piece contingent of the…

View exclusive photos here. It’s been an unusual morning. Unusual for the water taxi driver, who probably doesn’t get “follow that barge!” fares very often. Unusual for the photographers jostling one another on deck, who are probably more used to issuing directions like “give me poutier lips” than “hold the boat straight” and “put her on her bow so she’s coming at us with the Opera House behind her”. And an unusual sight to behold on Sydney Harbour: a gargantuan 9m-high chandelier, its 10,000 Swarovski crystal elements glinting in the weak early morning sun as it was ferried underneath the Harbour Bridge to its resting place at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair. There, it will be the centerpiece of Opera Australia’s outdoor La Traviata extravaganza, suspended in mid-air by a crane sitting on its own barge next to the main stage. “Then,” says one female publicist wistfully, “I think we have to give all the crystals back.” Meanwhile, the other publicist is having harsh words with the weather. She raises her arms to the heavens in frustration: we need skies of brilliant azure, not limp grey clouds, to set off the Swarovski sparkle and trigger the inevitable oohing and ahhhing. “Can we…

An alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and Adler Fellowship, Joshua Bloom is a firm favourite among Australian audiences – and also one of our brightest overseas talents. I asked him about the show, his ever starrier career, and how he manages to divide himself between Australia and the Big Wide Operatic World. Joshua Bloom (Figaro) and Taryn Fiebig (Susanna) (Photo: Branco Gaica/Opera Australia) You previously sang Figaro for Opera Australia in Neil Armfield’s production. How different has the experience with this new production been? The two productions could not be more dissimilar. While I have worked with Neil in the past and he is a wonderful director and terrific colleague, he was not available to revive his Figaro when I performed in it in 2007. So doing a new production with Benedict Andrews has been a completely different experience. Aesthetically Benedict’s production is starker, and it is darker in mood than Neil’s. The rehearsal process was quite intense and challenging too, but also rewarding. Audiences seem to be responding to the new production with great enthusiasm. Having sung Mozart in both Italian and English, what do you think are the challenges – and advantages – of singing in…

Baritone Michael Lewis is one of Australia’s favourite singers and one of its most distinguished international artists. He’s particularly acclaimed as one of that rare and glorious breed, the genuine Verdi baritone, with twelve – count ’em, twelve – of that composer’s operas to his name. But right now he’s in Sydney singing a rather different signature role: Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, in Benedict Andrews’s much anticipated and very contemporary production (read Limelight’s review here). I managed to corner Michael with a few questions about this thoroughly modern Figaro. Michael Lewis as Count Almaviva Without giving any secrets away, can you tell us a bit about Benedict Andrews’ production? How have Count Almaviva and the concept of droit du seigneur been adapted to a modern setting? As the reviews are in, and most of the issues peculiar to this new production have been freely discussed, I can say that in essence, the droit du seigneur, has been largely ignored. Yes, we refer to it in the text, but we play with the inevitability of a man wielding absolute power, to have what he wants at any time. The environment of the setting highlights the emotional and sexual tensions that exist across the social layers…

Warm weather, great restaurants, friendly people, a man-made lagoon, the fantastic Queensland Pops Orchestra… Talk about an advertisement for Brisbane! We had a fabulous time giving a masterclass to some local ensembles (including the Birili Blokes) and finishing our Australian leg of the tour in style. We even managed to squeeze in Land of Hope and Glory as an encore, complete with flag-waving and whatnot… You would’ve forgiven anyone for thinking they were at a Last Night of The Proms concert! With conductor Barrie Gott at the helm we were in good hands, and I hope Brisvegas music lovers keep supporting the terrific group of musicians at the Queensland Pops Orchestra. As I mentioned in my first blog, I distinctly remember the aerial view of the Southern Alps as I left the land of the long white cloud back in June 2010. Upon re-entry to New Zealand for The King’s Singers concerts here, I was greeted by a lovely Auckland day across the Waitakere Ranges and all the little inlets and bays that dot the Manukau Harbour. It was a really special feeling and I couldn’t wait to be surrounded by people that really knew how to pronounce English! We…