(cover image by Ian Baldwin) I started this (last) month’s series by talking about how difficult it was for me to appreciate and discover opera the way I listen to music (headphones, no visuals, no subtitles, etc.), but I discovered … Continue reading A Month of Opera in Review
performed by Anne Sophie Von Otter, Ian Bostridge, Deborah York, Bryn Terfel, et al., the London Symphony Orchestra, and Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, or below in this recording led by Kent Nagano For idle hearts and hands and … Continue reading Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress
performed by the “Soloists, Chorus & Orchestra Of The Moscow Chamber Theatre” and the Leningrad Philharmonic under Gennady Rozhdestvensky, or below (in English) by the Royal Opera conducted by Ingo Metzmacher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoC21I9YDz8 The Nose loses all meaning if it is seen just as … Continue reading Shostakovich: The Nose
performed by Taiwan’s 國家交響樂團 a.k.a. National Symphony Orchestra a.k.a. Taiwan Philharmonic, or below in a trailer for the work from The Royal Opera This is a concert (opera) review, and less so a discussion of the opera itself, but I’m … Continue reading NSO’s Il Trittico
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado and all the people in this recording (Act 1 with subtitles below, Abbado and the Vienna State Opera) Still, alles still, als wär’ die Welt tot (Still, all is still, as if the … Continue reading Berg: Wozzeck, op. 7
performed by Jessye Norman, László Polgár and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, or below by Anne Sofie von Otter, John Tomlinson and the Berlin Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink (There’s also an English version with Gwynne Howell, Sally Burgess and … Continue reading Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle
performed by Janis Martin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, or by the astoundingly talented Jessye Norman at the Metropolitan Opera under James Levine (the only one I can find with subtitles), or in a higher-quality video below featuring … Continue reading Schoenberg: Erwartung, op. 17
Performed by the Orchestre National de France under Bernard Haitink, with Anne Sofie von Otter, Wolfgang Holzmair, Laurent Naouri, et al., or below by the Vienna Philharmonic and many more under Claudio Abbado So here we are with our first opera of … Continue reading Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
I’ve spoken before about how difficult it is for me to explore and begin to enjoy opera the way I listen to most other music. For me, as for most people, it’s an auditory experience, and I’ll listen to music while I’m … Continue reading 20th Century Opera: a series
Fugue for Thought 