My review of Gluck's Alceste from the Chelsea Opera Group 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 Sunday , November 22, 2009 Towards a new Opera 4 Having worked through the score of the new opera two or three times , I am currently in the process of creating the piano reduction which is always a good discipline . Even though the work is currently written for only 5 accompanying instruments piano , violin , clarinet and cello creating a single piano part out of them is sometimes a bit challenging , requiring some deft jigsaw work . It also provides me with a different view of the accompaniment and helps to shape . it Once I have something approaching the vocal score I will then play it through a few times . Given that my piano playing is rather limited , this means that the neighbours have to put up with me bashing away rather slowly . It might sound primitive and limiting , but I find it enormously helpful to see how the work feels under my . fingers I am thinking of expanding the orchestration , but willMy review of the new production of Tchaikovsky's The Tsarina's Slippers at Covent Garden is here, on Music and Vision.
My review of Bach's St. John Passion from Il Fondamento and Paul Dombrecht is here, on MusicWeb International.Little to set it apart from its rivals ...
skip to main skip to sidebar home resources subscribe contact studio site Friday , November 20, 2009 The 2010 Tanglewood Season Listings For the second year in a row , here is the complete schedule for the Tanglewood Festival released one minute after the end of the press embargo . These listings are taken directly from the press release , with only some minor formatting changes made to the original text . The Mahler Symphonyies 2 and 3 look to be season highlights , but I always have a soft spot for programs like Audra MacDonald's New American Songbook on July 18th , the Brahms Schumann recital by Matthis Goerne and Andreas Haflinger on July 29th , and Bernarda Fink's August 5 song recital with Anthony Spiri . Be sure to check out the full calendar of events for more detailed info on concerts and ticket . availability The 2010 Tanglewood Season All programs and artists are subject to . change Saturday , June 26, 5:45 p.m . Shed A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood with Garrison Keillor Live broadcast Sunday June 27, times to be announced , Theatre Monday June 28 times to be announced , Theatre Tanglewood Music Center Instrumental Fellows String Quartet Marathon Three 2-hour: 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 , November 13, 2009 Recent CD Reviews My review of Guerrero's Battle Mass from Westminster Cathedral is here Performances which are of a very high calibre and extremely seductive And my review of Thomas Hampson's 2nd American song recital Wondrous Free is here both reviews are on MusicWeb . International All lovers of good singing will want to hear this Posted by Robert H at 7:26 AM Labels : cd review 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 215 Competition 1 concert review 71 diary 156 feature article 33 music news 16 opera 50 opera magazine 34 opera review 138 performance 30 preview 98 recording 5 tv programme review 2 writing music 23 Search This Blog Loading . Blog Archive 2009 224My review of the Opera Rara/Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment concert performance of Donizetti's Maria di Rohan in the Vienna version is here on Music and Vision
My review of the Tallis Scholars disc of Flemish Polyphony (including the amazing 12-part Brumel Battle Mass) is here, on MusicWeb International.Fabulous music, beautifully and intelligently sung ...
: 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 , November 03, 2009 Towards a new opera 4 Having got to the end of my new opera music theatre piece in draft form , and managed to do a fair amount of tidying up on it , I have sent copies of the score to a couple of people that I hope will be involved in the first performance . I'm hoping to do a low key concert performance next year in order to road-test the piece . So I'm now at the rather scary stage well I find it scary of having people looking at the score with me hoping that they don't dislike it , don't find it unsingable etc . Length is still an issue , it comes in at about 75 minutes which will make it a big sing for 2 principals , particularly the Man who is on stage the whole time . So here's hoping . Posted by Robert H at 5:12 PM Labels : opera 0 comments : Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to : Post Comments Atom Subscribe To Posts Atom Posts Comments Atom Comments Latest: 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 , November 02, 2009 Salad Days the contemporary opera version Tete-a-tete is an amazing opera company who , since their founding in 1997, have been mid-wife to a remarkably number of contemporary operas . Their evenings of short 1-act operas have expanded into their remarkable opera festival at Riverside Studios in August when a wide variety of groups are able to show-case their . works So it is with not a little puzzlement that I received a flyer through the post for the group's latest production Julian Slade's musical Salad Days Now , don't get me wrong , Salad Days is entirely charming but it is hardly contemporary opera . Its not opera at all and you can't really kid yourself that enticing people in to see it will persuade people to try out the group's more contemporary operatic offerings . Perhaps it is just that director Bill Bankes-Jones has a burning desire to stage Salad Days let us hope so .My review of Sunday's performance of Handel's Susanna from William Christie and Les Arts Florissants is here
My review of ETO's production of Alcina is now on-line <a href="http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2009/10/alcina.htm"here, at 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 Friday , October 23, 2009 Salomon Orchestra concert On Tuesday we went to St . John's Smith Square for the Salomon Orchestra's concert . Conducted by Philip Ellis , they gave the first public performance of John McCabe's Symphony Edward II' and Ellis's own concert scenario taken from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet I must confess that I when I saw the full ballet , I had doubts about McCabe's score for David Bintley's ballet Edward II finding the music too complex and symphonic for the dance especially as Bintley was creating a grand historical ballet in the traditional manner . In 1999, shortly after the first performance , McCabe re-worked the music into his symphony , though in fact the name symphonic suite would be better . The result is 45 minutes of extremely powerful music and it is puzzling why the work had to wait till now for its first public performance . Salomon's account of the work was compelling andTwo of my Choruses from Passion (It was for love and If this were your final day on earth received their Polish premieres on 12th September 2009 at a concert at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Katowice. The concert was given by the choir Mieszany Caecilianum directed by Jan Kaleta.
: 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 23, 2009 Alternative Views 2 A less alternative view , but one that remains relatively unexplored , is the relationship between Kurwenal and Tristan in Tristan and Isolde Generally Kurwenal is portrayed as the older retainer type , movingly devoted to his master . This is probably what Wagner wanted , but if you make him rather younger you can explore different views , including the one that Kurwenal is in love with Tristan unrequited of course I have seen one version of the opera , many years ago , where a younger Kurwenal brought this out a little without distorting the plot . Its something I'd like to see explored further , but opera productions in general seem to shy away from this sort of exploration . Posted by Robert H at 2:40 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: 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 , October 21, 2009 Where the Opera comes from A careful reading of ENO's new Opera Guide for Feb to July 2010 makes for interesting reading . The Elixir of Love comes from New York City Opera along with the leading man John Tessier But the sets were originally constructed by the Royal Swedish Opera , which seems to imply that we are getting this show third hand . One question that occurs to me , have these other companies parted with the production because they have found it unsatisfactory in some way once first produced i.e . its not really desirable to revive it Or will ENO have to compete with them for sets if they want to revive . it And Katya Kabanova is described as a co-production with Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos , Lisbon and Teatr Wielki-Opera Narodowa , Warsaw . But the costumes were built sic by The Dallas Opera Costume Workshop and the pictures of the production come from performances bymy review of From the Vaults of Westminster Cathedral, polyphony and chant sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir, is here, on MusicWeb International.<IImaginative and attractive ...
Taken while on a three o’ clock saunter around the lake:
And taken on my usually rubbish phone camera! Apparently even its paltry pixel count can’t put up a fight when faced with such a delicious increase in daily maximum temperature, and blueness of sky.