My review of ETO's <span style="font-weight:bold;"Tolomeo is here on Music and Vision.
: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Saturday , October 17, 2009 Review of Flavio My review of ETO's Flavia is now on-line here along with some very striking pictures . Posted by Robert H at 9:35 AM Labels : cd review 1 comments : Fan . said . Though you are right about having seen Iestyn DAVIES as Flavio at the Barbican he is not in fact the same Iestyn who is an alumnus of ETO , that is Iestyn . Morris 6:14 PM Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to : Post Comments Atom Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts Comments Atom Comments Latest CD The Testament of Dr . Cranmer CD out now at Divine Art Labels ballet review 7 book review 14 cd news 13 cd review 211 Competition 1 concert review 68 diary 152 feature article 33 music news 15 opera 48 opera magazine 34 opera review 132 performance 30 preview 98 recording 5 tv programme review 2 writing music 23 Search This Blog Loading . Blog Archive 2009 199 October 17 Review of Tolomeo Review of FlavioMy review of the disc of Penderecki's unaccompanied choral music is here, on MusicWeb International.Despite some very fine singing, rather fragmented and etiolated ...
My review of Saturday's performance of Dido and Aeneas by Les Arts Florissants is here on Music and Vision.
Tonight is the premiere of my motet Thou, O Christ, which sets words by St. Symeon the New Theologian. The work is being performed during Evensong at St. Botolph without Bishopgate, London where the choir will be conducted by Timothy Storey.
: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Monday , October 12, 2009 Henze preview We are having something of a mini Henze opera festival next year . ENO are performing his Elegy for Young Lovers at the Young Vic directed by Fiona Shaw . And the Ensemble Modern are bringing Phaedra to the Barbican in January , with a cast which includes Axel Kohler as Artemis , Marlis Petersen as Aphrodite and John Mark Ainsley as Hippolytus . The clip above is a Barbican preview for Phaedra Further info here Posted by Robert H at 8:00 AM Labels : preview 0 comments : Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to : Post Comments Atom Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts Comments Atom Comments Latest CD The Testament of Dr . Cranmer CD out now at Divine Art Labels ballet review 7 book review 14 cd news 13 cd review 211 Competition 1 concert review 68 diary 152 feature article 33 music news 15 opera 48 opera magazine 34 opera review 132 performance 30 preview 98 recording: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Sunday , October 11, 2009 Dido and Aeneas To the Barbican yesterday to see Les Arts Florissants perform Dido and Aeneas in the Barbican Hall . The performance was based on a staged version , but we saw a reduced but no less impressive version with no sets and a simplified lighting . plot I was lucky enough to attend the rehearsal before hand , where it was fascinating watching Christie and his performers fitting the performance to the new space . All were impressive both in rehearsal and in performance . It is always amazing to watch the transformation that comes over a cast between rehearsal and performance , the magic of live theatre . For musical director who seems to keep to a minimum what he does in a performance , Christie proved to be highly articulate and keenly aware of all the details which he required , from orchestral articulation through to lighting and the pronunciation of awkward English . vowelsOff to see Les Arts Florissants doing Dido tonight and getting in to the dress rehearsal this afternoon. So expect further reports.
: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Thursday , October 08, 2009 Oriental music in an orientalist setting Some time ago I reviewed a fascinating disc which reconstructed the sort of music which was used by the Jesuit Mission in 18th century Peking . This involved fairly traditional 18th French settings of the ordinary of the mass , along with motets and psalms which used Chinese translations for the words and Chinese traditional . music Now you can hear for yourself , in the Oriental splendour of the music room of the Brighton Pavilion . Because on Nov 7th La Baroque Nomade director Jean-Christophe Frisch , along with some Chinese musicians , will be presenting an evening of music resulting from the contacts between the Jesuits and the Chinese in 17th and 18th century . Peking The concert is part of the Brighton Early Music festival . Their brochure is here It is a positive cornucopia , including performances of Handel's Solomon with Catherine Kingskip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Wednesday , October 07, 2009 Off to the Barbican on Saturday to see Dido and Aeneas performed by Les Arts Florissants as part of their 30th birthday celebrations . We can expect William Christie to bring out the French influences in Purcell's music , but I will be interested to hear how the cast handle things . Especially given that the Dido , Malena Ernman , is Swedish the Aeneas , Luca Pisaroni , is Italian and the Sorceress , Judith van Wanroij is Dutch . Still , I should not be chauvinistic there was some superb diction at the ENO's Le Grand Macabre and not all of it came from Anglophone singers . I'm getting to go to the dress rehearsal of Dido as well as the performance which should certainly be illuminating will report back . Posted by Robert H at 10:00 AM Labels : preview 0 comments : Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to : Post Comments Atom Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts Comments Atom: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Tuesday , October 06, 2009 Offenbach's Rheinnixen The enterprising New Sussex Opera are giving the UK premiere of Offenbach's opera Die Rheinnixen This was a grand , romantic opera which Offenbach wrote for Vienna . After the premiere in 1864, when it was performed in truncated form , Offenbach withdrew it and re-used some of the music in The Tales of Hoffmann The opera received its premiere in its original form in 2002. Besides being his first grand opera , the piece is his only operatic setting of a German text . It sounds quite a big piece , with well over 3 hours of music and Offenbach seems to occupy the musical realms of . Weber It is an important pre-cursor to Hoffmann and we must be grateful to conductor Nicholas Jenkins for giving us the opportunity to hear it . There are performances at Lewes town hall on 21st October , Eastbourne Winter Gardens on 25th October and Cadogan Hall , London , on 27thMy review of a disc of Moniuszko Masses is here, on MusicWeb International.Charming performances of music with insufficient interest ...
My review of Rigoletto from Grange Park Opera is here, on Music and Vision.
Here is Beatrix, the newest member of our household:
She likes charging around the U shaped corridor of our apartment carrying her new squishy blue ball. And hiding behind the radiator.
: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Sunday , October 04, 2009 Towards a new Opera 3 I am now over 60 minutes through and am steadily working my way down the penultimate page of the libretto . The piece is based on a play by Alan Richardson called When a man knows which has a distinguished performance history , so I hope the opera lives up to it . Just to give you an idea of the differences between opera and the stage , the play is estimated to last 35 minutes whereas the opera will last around 70 minutes , despite having the text trimmed down to the . bone This still leaves me with the worry that the baritone part might be too long . I think that I need to be more radical in my use of the chorus to provide a pause in the long dialogue between the man and the woman . The problem with this is that it means I need some new text , so I will have to think about it . Having got this far with the piece I have started to think about performance and will: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Friday , October 02, 2009 Preview review of Einaudi's Nightbook Ludovico Einaudi trained in composition at the Milan conservatory and studied with Luciano Berio . Since then his compositional style has moved somewhat he composes music which mixes ambient , minimalism and contemporary pop . His new album , Nightbook , is based around his own piano playing though the disc also features the cello playing of Marco Decimo and the viola of Antonio . Leofreddi I previewed a copy of the album , reviewing 5 tracks on download from Decca Lady Labyrinth Nightbook Indaco Eros Reverie Though his music is billed as being ambient and meditative , there is something rather strongly dynamic about the music on these tracks . Though he uses the techniques of minimalism , so that the musical figures are repetitive and the musical argument often circular , they are combined with a muscularity of utterance which belies the ambient .: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Wednesday , September 30, 2009 Autumn premieres Rather excitingly I've got two premières coming up in London this autumn . An introit motet , Thou , O Christ will be premiered at 6pm Evensong on Monday 12th October at the church of St . Botolph without Bishopsgate , Bishopsgate , London EC2M 3TL . The motet will be sung by the choir of St . Botolph’s church , conductor Timothy Storey . Thou , O Christ is a setting of an English translation prayer by St . Symeon the New Theologian , a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church who lived in the 10 th century . I was commissioned to specifically write a setting by St . Symeon for the choir of St . Botolph's . Church On Saturday 19th December , the Latin motet Videte Miraculum will be premiered by Chapelle du Roi , conductor Alistair Dixon , at St . John’s Smith Square , London , SW1P 3HA . The performance forms part of their concert , New Lamps for Old which takes place: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Tuesday , September 29, 2009 Buxton Festival 2010 An interesting trio of works are being planned as the festival's own productions in Buxton in 2010. Stephen Medcalf will be directing Verdi's Luisa Miller Alessandro Talevi will direct Cornelius's The Barber of Baghdad plus Richard Strauss's arrangement of Mozart's Idomeneo Peter Cornelius was friendly with Liszt and Wagner and his comic opera The Barber of Baghdad was written whilst he was staying in Weimar , where Liszt conducted the première which was a failure The opera is unusual for a German comic opera in that it is through composed , rather than using spoken dialogue . Posted by Robert H at 6:01 PM Labels : preview 0 comments : Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to : Post Comments Atom Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts Comments Atom Comments Latest CD The Testament of Dr . Cranmer CD out now at Divine Art Labels ballet review 7 book review 14My review of the recent revival of Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House is here, on Music and Vision.
: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Monday , September 28, 2009 Don Carlo To the Royal Opera House on Sunday for a Matinee performance of Verdi's Don Carlo This seems and eminently sensible way to perform such operas as the evening lasted from 3pm to 7.25pm . We have attended many such matinees in Paris but so far , London has failed to follow suit thank goodness the Royal Opera have twigged . As might be expected , the performance was popular with older people with the Amphitheatre seemingly full of elderly opera lovers . The only cloud on the horizon was the absence of Jonas Kaufman due to illness full review will follow in due course We will be following this up with a visit to the matinee of the new production of Tristan und Isolde in a few weeks time . Posted by Robert H at 12:50 PM Labels : diary 0 comments : Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to : Post Comments Atom Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts Comments Atom Comments Latestskip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Monday , September 28, 2009 Music Theatre Wales are premiering a new opera this week , a co-commission with the Royal Opera House . Eleanor Alberga and Donald Sturrock's opera Letters of a Love Betrayed receives its premiere at the Royal Opera House on Friday 2nd October and after 3 more performances there goes on tour to Oxford , Cardiff , Manchester , Huddersfield , Mold , Edinburgh and Aberystwyth a total of 10 performances being admirable exposure for a new opera . It seems to be Alberga's first opera , though her period as Music Director of London Contemporary Dance Theatre will have given her the sort of experience . necessary The piece is based on a short story by Isabel Allende , adapted by librettist Donald Sturrock . Sturrock is Artistic Director of the Roald Dahl Foundation , which perhaps seems a strange qualification for a librettist . But Sturrock is trying to accumulate a library of orchestral pieces: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Monday , September 28, 2009 Not just for porn A new web-site has been launched , ClassicalTV.com which allows you to stream videos of Opera direct to your PC . In a market where streaming video seems to be dominated by fluff , let us hope that ClassicalTV manages to make find its niche . The site is pay per view , and generally reasonable . A quick glance at their offerings suggests a reliance on the broadcasts from the Met , but this does mean that anyone who is curious about Anthony Minghella's Madama Butterfly which had its origins at the London Coliseum , could easily find out what the production was like . There's also Jonathan Miller's new La Boheme from the London Coliseum , Gluck's Orfee and Offenbach's La Belle Helene from the . Chatelet According to a recent article in the LA Times , the site features some 20 of their content at anyone time . So it sounds worth giving it a go . Posted by Robert H at: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Saturday , September 26, 2009 Dove Birthday celebrations in Cambridge Jonathan Dove is 50 this year and as part of the celebrations , the Cambridge Music Festival is performing one of his recent works . On 17th November , in King's College Chapel , his 2003 Far Theatricals of Day of 2003 will be performed by three Cambridge choirs and Onyx Brass , conducted by Christopher Robinson . The work was commissioned by the estimable John Armitage Memorial Trust , who are co-sponsors of this performance . For those unable to get to Cambridge , the work is being repeated at St . Margaret's Church , Westminster on 18th November . The work sets verses by Emily Dickinson and the title comes from a line from one of her poems , the work represents the gradual unfolding of a . day Looking further ahead London Concord Singers performance of Dove's I am the day on Dec 17th at the Grosvenor Chapel forms a further little celebration: skip to main skip to sidebar Planet Hugill Classical Music blog from Robert Hugill Classical Music Blog from London based singer and classical music composer , Robert Hugill News , Views and opera reviews , CD reviews musings on contemporary music and writing new . music Friday , September 25, 2009 Towards a new opera 2 Reached the 50 minute mark in the new opera and got over the hurdle of the first really big emotional moment . Currently wrestling with whether quarter tones are acceptable or not whether they will make the piece a bit too fearsome . Do violinists routinely play quarter tones What about singers Here I have a confession to make , I'm actually not entirely sure how to notate them and definitely have no idea how to make my music writing program play quarter tones back to me . I know that it all OUGHT to be in my head , but I do find it useful to play stuff back repeatedly and this helps generate the new ideas . In the old days this required a great deal of bashing on the piano luckily I have usually had tolerant neighbours My problem at the moment is that I am torn between giving the dialogue the weight it needs which means delaying the flow of the piece , or keeping
Recording features the Nashville Symphony and its new Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero
This month the Nashville Symphony releases its latest recording on Naxos American Classics, featuring two works by American composer Michael Daugherty. Scheduled for release on September 29, the recording is the Symphony’s first with new Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero.
According to the League of [...]
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I semi-spurofthemomently bought one of the badboys on the left this last weekend. It is loud. What I failed to appreciate while daydreaming off in a land of little Irish lullabies, is that you have to blow like nuts to play to thing properly. The second octave is produced using the next highest up resonance [...]
On September 29, Naxos begins distribution of Gabriel Prokofiev’s genre-busting label NonClassical Records. The U.K.-based Prokofiev-grandson of the composer-has been at the forefront of the new music scene in his country since 2003. He began by producing events across the U.K. in both traditional and non-traditional venues before founding NonClassical Records, a unique label that [...]
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