Skip to content

Fugue for Thought

an amateur does classical music

  • Blog
  • Listening Guides
    • Short and Sweet
    • Tell Me a Story
    • Pretty, Please
    • Challenge Me
    • Epic
    • The Gems
    • Something Different
  • Series
    • The Old Series
    • String Quartet Series (SQS)
    • Editor’s Choice
    • French Symphony
    • Finnish Symphony
    • American Symphony
    • The English Symphony
    • The Horn
    • Danish December
    • Swedish Series 2016
  • Concerts
  • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Influential People
    • Intro to Serialism
  • Miscellany
  • About/Contact

Tag: opera

concert review, operaLeave a comment

NSO’s Tosca

February 22, 2019March 7, 2019 Fugue for Thought

Deception. Rebellion. Jealousy. Betrayal. Lust. Torture. Murder. Suicide. Catholicism. It’s all here. I finally saw Tosca! It was an opera concert, but honestly was as fully staged as you could expect it to be and still be in a concert hall … Continue reading NSO’s Tosca

concert review, operaLeave a comment

NSO’s Parsifal

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 Fugue for Thought

featuring lots of people; more details below Wagner’s music is great. Like, great in the same way that saying Mt. Everest is large. I don’t know how the man could stand himself, though, really, or how anyone else could even … Continue reading NSO’s Parsifal

concert review, opera1 Comment

Ningbo Symphony’s Carmen

January 13, 2018January 14, 2018 Fugue for Thought

featuring the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra, Creation Opera Institute, and more I have opined before that opera is a rarity here, so I wasn’t going to miss the chance to see one of the more famous pieces in the repertoire being … Continue reading Ningbo Symphony’s Carmen

concert review, operaLeave a comment

Glass’s The Photographer

December 2, 2017December 2, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring: Annapaola Leso Samuel Déniz Falcón David Pallant Director/Choreographer: 孫尚綺 (Sun Shang-chi) Music Director and Conductor: Manuel Nawri Ensemble KNM Berlin (Violin soloist: Theodor Flindell) Taipei Chamber Singers …and more. I’ve been mesmerized by Glass’s Einstein on the Beach now for some … Continue reading Glass’s The Photographer

concert review, operaLeave a comment

NSO’s Die Walküre

October 14, 2017October 14, 2017 Fugue for Thought

Featuring: Taiwan’s 國家交響樂團 (NSO) Wotan- Jukka Rasilainen Fricka- Jamie Barton Hunding- Andrea Silvestrelli Sieglinde- Anja Kampe Siegmund- Simon O’Neill Brünnhilde- Jennifer Wilson (and more) Carlus Padrissa, Esteban Muñoz, Roland Olbeter, Chu Uroz, and the crew of La Fura dels Baus … Continue reading NSO’s Die Walküre

concert review, operaLeave a comment

TSO’s Der Mond

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 Fugue for Thought

The TSO continues their presentation of Carl Orff’s operatic works, which began with last year’s performance of Die Kluge in their old stomping grounds the Zhong Shan Hall. That was the primary reason I didn’t go… But tonight we got Der Mond, a … Continue reading TSO’s Der Mond

20th Century Opera, thoughtsLeave a comment

A Month of Opera in Review

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 Fugue for Thought

(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

20th Century Opera, Music, operaLeave a comment

Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress

August 3, 2017July 29, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

20th Century Opera, Music, operaLeave a comment

Shostakovich: The Nose

July 27, 2017July 15, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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 The Nose loses all meaning if it is seen just as a … Continue reading Shostakovich: The Nose

20th Century Opera, concert review, Music, opera1 Comment

NSO’s Il Trittico

July 21, 2017July 22, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

20th Century Opera, Music, opera1 Comment

Berg: Wozzeck, op. 7

July 19, 2017July 20, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

20th Century Opera, Music, operaLeave a comment

Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

20th Century Opera, Music, opera1 Comment

Schoenberg: Erwartung, op. 17

July 11, 2017June 19, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

20th Century Opera, Music, operaLeave a comment

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

July 6, 2017June 17, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

20th Century Opera, Music, operaLeave a comment

20th Century Opera: a series

June 30, 2017June 24, 2017 Fugue for Thought

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

Music, opera2 Comments

Glass: Einstein on the Beach

March 3, 2017February 27, 2017 Fugue for Thought

in this recording, by lots of people, for a long time (The above video is just before the first scene from Act I, and is called Knee Play 1. I’ll discuss the knee plays and the form of the piece below, … Continue reading Glass: Einstein on the Beach

podcastLeave a comment

Podcast: Otello (and opera) Overseas

December 4, 2016December 3, 2016 Fugue for Thought

featuring Mary Birnbaum, available here or in iTunes Opera is kind of like, I don’t know, let’s say foie gras, or olives, or port wine, or good whiskey… It’s not something you enjoy every day (well, maybe that last one), … Continue reading Podcast: Otello (and opera) Overseas

concert review, opera, thoughts2 Comments

Wagner’s Das Rheingold

October 2, 2016October 2, 2016 Fugue for Thought

Is there any other? with Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra (國家交響樂團) under Maestro Shao-Chia Lü (呂紹嘉), stage director Carlus Padrissa, a co-production of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, with full credits shown below This performance on … Continue reading Wagner’s Das Rheingold

concert review, Music, operaLeave a comment

Opera: Verdi’s Otello

July 9, 2016July 10, 2016 Fugue for Thought

as below: The end. Opera is one of the best things ever. And it’s something we don’t get nearly enough of here in Taipei. Unfortunately, we’ll likely be getting even less of it now that the opera house, built in … Continue reading Opera: Verdi’s Otello

concert review, operaLeave a comment

ESO’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail

January 25, 2016January 25, 2016 Fugue for Thought

This will be a short one. Salient points as follows: Mozart in Mandarin and Min nan (instead of German recitative) No English (or even German) marquee (the former I understand why not) Local political issues infused into centuries old German opera … Continue reading ESO’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail

concert review, opera2 Comments

Opera Review: Eugene Onegin

November 6, 2015November 21, 2015 Fugue for Thought

This is only my third opera, but after my incredibly awesome experience with Fidelio back in the summer, I was eager to revisit the National Theatre. This time, we enjoyed Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the Taiwanese premiere, with the never-ceasing-to-impress Taipei Symphony Orchestra and lots of other … Continue reading Opera Review: Eugene Onegin

Posts navigation

Older posts

FYI

© 2022 fugueforthought

Follow Fugue for Thought on WordPress.com
Website Powered by WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • Fugue for Thought
    • Join 633 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Fugue for Thought
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...