Intermezzo

the joy of Beethoven

Amazon reviewers comment on various recordings of Beethoven's 9th.....

Teh Furtwängler:

• I first encountered this recording in the Franklin Mint set of the 100 greatest recordings of all time, and I was ecstatic when I saw that it was available on CD.

• This is a historic phenomenon. As you know, the orchestra is Bayreuth, which the orchestra of the famous opera house of R. Wagner. But this building was alomost collapsed in 1940's, because of Nazis!!...

• Beethoven would not approve thsi recording, perhaps the performance.

• Soloists are fine; look at the booklet and you will see the font size of the name of the soprano is a bit greater than the rest of the soloist.

• The reason I put 4 instead of 5 is that there must be a better way of performace. I dont know if this has been achieved or not.

• People drop things during the recording. Sometimes the brass is out of tune. I don't recommend this as a study CD.

• For me this version is way too slow. I blame it on Wagner.

Teh Karajan:

• Beethoven recordings are like Lays potato chips. Who can possible settle for only one?

• The timpani generally sound like dead pots.

• The soloists are indeed powerful and joyous and amazingly skilled and just unbelievably competent... but the timpani do indeed sound like tin pots. Karma, I suppose.

• Beethoven's quintessential masterpiece is performed with a rare and noble magnificents befitting The world's greatest composer.

• Forget about this pop music and this rap, this music stimulates the mind and sole.

• For all I know, old HvK may well have been a Nazi, but it certainly does not affect my opinion of his conducting, just like such things don't stop people from buying Mercedes-Benzes or Volkswagens.

Teh Solti:

• If you want to feel like a newborn wonder child, free of all jadedness in taste, buy this version NOW. And this comes from a manager of a string quintet which stresses modern classical.

• Perhaps the next lunar mission will be accompanied by this CD, to emphasize the magnitude of the accomplishment.

• The French invasions of Napoleon was taking place and Beethoven thought that there was no better time to call for a brotherhood of man.

• The scherzo was at one time used for the opening music to the NBC Evening news.

• When I checked a copy of this CD out of my library and gave it some quality time in my Mirage speakers, I knew that Georg Solti was my new favorite conductor.

• I won't bore you with my opinions on the various aspects of the performances.

• Not everyone will like the earsplitting timpani thwacks that begin the Scherzo, but others will be thrilled.

• Soprano Jessye Norman's wings always lift her to the rafters of even the most imposing concert hall.

• The whole is quite slacking indeed, as if the musicians are reluctant to perform.

• There should be many Beethovens in people's mind, and you may also like Solti's Beethoven.

Tosca time for the Cheeky Girls - Nelly and Ange return to Covent Garden

It's official - as confirmed by reader KM, below.

Opera's own answer to the Cheeky Girls, Romanians Angela Gheorghiu and Nelly Miricioiu replace Deborah Voigt in the Royal Opera House's forthcoming Tosca.

Angela takes 9, 14 and 16 July, and Nelly 11 and 18 July.

Ms. Voigt withdrew "due to an attack of acute colitis".

an education lesson

 

Philip Kennicott explains just where most opera companies are going wrong with their education programmes in July's Opera News - and what they could learn from comic book fan culture.

American opera companies I should point out are generally much more tuned in to audience requirements than British ones. Many have at least taken the first step of including synopses and other background information on their websites. But Kennicott recognises they need to do more:

"The who, what, where, when and why of opera, which is often the meat and potatoes of educational efforts, is all well and good. But the question "How good is it?" is far more compelling. And an audience driven to answer that question will learn all the rest of what it needs to know along the way, without even being aware of it as education."

Required reading for opera administrators everywhere.

La boheme in Holland Park

La bohème - Opera Holland Park, 27 June 2009

Torrential summer rain sprayed through gaps in the canvas roof as the second half began, but I barely noticed. This is not a flawless Bohème, but musically and dramatically it's one of the strongest productions OHP have come up with.

Like Jonathan Miller's recent ENO production, the action is updated to the gritty milieu of Brassaï's Paris. But unlike Miller, Elaine Kidd has imbued these characters with life and vigour. The colour scheme may be drab - the action is anything but.

She's not great with the crowd scenes - the blocking doesn't highlight the key characters nearly enough. And I think it was a mistake to make the stage so narrow and shallow - it spreads out the action too much.  But the fewer people on stage, the more their beautifully detailed interactions tell. Bohème is after all about relationships, and this production gives a stronger emphasis than usual to Marcello and Musetta, to Rodolfo and Marcello, to Colline and Schaunard. Instead of a simple romance played out against a backdrop of secondary ties, there's a real sense of interwoven lives. Purists may carp, but with Rodolfo and Mimi less central than usual, the story doesn't sag in between their scenes.

And there are some wonderful performances. Aldo Di Toro sang Rodolfo gorgeously, just occasionally dipping beneath the orchestra. Mimi's vulnerability can grate if overplayed, but Linda Richardson made her a more modern, self-sufficient character - I shared Rodolfo's surprise when she finally slipped away.

Marcello seems just as prominent as Rodolfo in this telling, with his vast smeary école de l'art menstruel canvases dominating the stage in the apartment scenes. Grant Doyle sang strongly and energetically enough to handle Hye-Youn Lee's endearingly feisty Musetta.

Robert Dean set a cracking Tour de France pace for the orchestra. Tender romantic moments suffered, and so did the pathos of the final scene, but the rest crackled with energy.

The rain brought out a plague of frogs on Holland Walk afterwards. Here's one of the little fellers:

Pen pushing in Petersburg

For a few brief weeks of summer, the sun doesn't set on St Petersburg. (So that's why Gergiev looks so shagged out....)

These 'White Nights' have given their name to a two-month music festival founded by Gergiev, which according to the Mariinsky's website "is one of the capital cities on the world´s music and theatre map and has emerged to be one of the most popular and grandiose music forums in terms of content and scale." Rite.

One of the highlights is a run out for the Mariinsky Opera's Ring cycle before they bring it to Covent Garden at the end of the month.

And last Friday, there was a gala concert featuring Gergiev, the ubiquitous Lang Lang, and two amazingly talented young Mariinsky singers who visited the Barbican last winter, Kristina Kapustinskaya and Alexei Markov. They both won young singers prizes sponsored by posh pen makers Montblanc, who brought over glamorous Eva Green (back to her natural auburn) for some belle et bête photo ops with Gergiev and others.

 

Comprehensive slide shows below, including bizarre pre-concert dinner with ballerinas pirouetting between the tables:

White Nights Festival Reception and Gala Dinner(June 25, 2009 in St. Petersburg)

White Nights Festival - Gala Concert (June 26, 2009 in St. Petersburg)

 

White Nights Festival Award Ceremony And Montblanc Press Conference (June 26, 2009 in St. Petersburg)

Un ballo in maschera at the Royal Opera House

Un ballo in maschera - Royal Opera House, 26 June 2009 (first night)

Although there's not much actively wrong with this show, very little of it really hit the nail either. It made for an unusually yawny evening by Covent Garden standards. I even toyed with the idea of walking out after the first act. Then I remembered how much I'd paid for the ticket.

Most of the problem is Mario Martone's production itself, starting with Sergio Tramonti's sets. They look like entries in a theatrical design contest. Attractive enough, but it's as if each was designed by a different person. The story doesn't have chance to get going and flow smoothly.

And although we're supposed to be in civil-war era Boston, the sense of time and place isn't clearly communicated. A room in Riccardo's house is bare, and as literally interpreted as the olde historical costumery. But it's followed by stacked scaffolding representing Ulrica's house which could have come straight out of a dodgy continental Ring cycle (not helped by Elena Manistina's timid Ulrica) . And why is the gallows scene set in what looks like a bombed-out church? Where are we supposed to be? If Martone's making a statement, it's not in a language I understand.

The direction doesn't offer many clues either. It looks as if all of the cast are just doing their own thing. Ramón Vargas comes out of it best. Riccardo is a great role for him. It capitalises his strengths - that firm, ringing tone, his innate likeability - but his weak point, dramatic rigidity, comes across here as elevated nobility. Some of his top notes were a bit thin, but otherwise he had a great night.

The audience favourite though was Anna Christy's puckish Oscar. After a nervous start, she ripped through the coloratura with ease, and impressively trod the line between irritating the rest of the cast and irritating the audience.

Angela Marambio's Amelia was more problematic. She had the ideas, but not the execution. Her phrasing was intelligent and her colouring appropriate, but they couldn't hide some unpleasantly screechy noises and a vibrato bordering on wobble. Perhaps she'll improve as the run continues, but I wouldn't count on it.

Changhan Lim in the small role of the sailor Silvano was surprisingly more impressive - strong, firm singing and a confident stage presence.

Good job I didn't leave early - the best bit of this production is the final scene. The mirrored back wall is raised and angled to reflect a second pit upstage, where the 'offstage' band play for the ball. It's almost too ingenious and fascinating - I barely noticed Renato stabbing Riccardo to death. Time to applaud the scenery?

 

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Hvorostovsky's "massive surplus" revealed

Dmitri Hvorostovsky cancelled his Wednesday Royal Opera House recital at short notice due to a "severe throat infection".

Was this what stuck in his throat? The Daily Telegraph reports his ex-wife is stalking him through the courts for an improvement in the maintenance payments negotiated ten years ago.

His annual income was found in court last year to be £1.86 million. This leaves him, according to her lawyer, with a "massive" surplus of £1 million or more after tax.

Guess he can afford to cancel the odd gig then.

No Tosca for Tubby - Deborah Voigt cancels Covent Garden run

We haven't had a cancellation for a few days, have we? Soon sort that out.

An unconfirmed (but widely spread) rumour suggests that the Royal Opera House's July Tosca will be going ahead without its planned star, Deborah Voigt.

Amanda Echalaz and - wait for it - Angela Gheorghiu are currently being floated as replacements. But who knows?

The Royal Opera House are unlikely to announce anything until the subs are lined up. So let's wait and see.

(thanks Michael, T, Sue and Carmel for the tip off)

UPDATE - rumour now (unofficially) confirmed by a very reliable source

Calleja DiDonato and Hampson pass health inspection

Joseph Calleja / Joyce DiDonato / Thomas Hampson / Vasko Vassilev / Antonio Pappano - Royal Opera House, 24 June 2009

Finally, after the cancellations of first Rolando Villazón, then just two days ago his replacement Dmitri Hvorostovsky, this recital got under way with Antonio Pappano at the piano, his concert master Vasko Vassilev, and three of the biggest names that could be arm-twisted into appearing.

The (scanned below) programme's eclecticism suggested the brief was "sing what you like, just don't throw a sickie". So Joyce DiDonato revealed her inner Judy Garland, Professor Thomas Hampson nourished our grey matter, Joseph Calleja auditioned for Malta's Got Talent - and Pappano took the whole lot in his stride, equally at home in Mahler and Arlen, as if he'd practising for weeks. Vasko Vassilev's Russian violin interlude was a bonus.

Like Arsenal's trophy cabinet, the stage was bare but for a mirrored backdrop (pinched from Un ballo in maschera, which opens later this week) - an unfortunate reminder that the house was not exactly packed.

Joseph Calleja is one of the big successes of the current La traviata, and set against the simple backdrop of the humble piano his voice is even more impressive. It's just such a gloriously big, open, honest instrument, so full of warmth and sincerity. It took talent to capture Rodrigue's aria from Le Cid so perfectly, but how much more to turn the slushy Because into a heartfelt utterance.

La regata veneziana is one of Joyce DiDonato's party pieces, and she tells the tale with such conviction ("row, Tonio!" she commanded with a wink to her sturdy pianist). She's got the jazz chops for Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man too - not the excruciating trial you might get from some opera-trained singers. But the Willow Song, where she softened that wiry edge that sometimes coarsens her tone, was the highlight. She looked stunning too, in a moss green satin gown with twinkly seaweed beading.

Thomas Hampson (known to cognoscenti as "The Hampster" due to his habit of secreting sunflower seeds in his capacious cheek pouches) just filled the stage from the first note he sang. What amazing presence. 

And I was pleased to find the geriatric tone of his Germont in the current La traviata is no more than dramatic licence. He was in robustly healthy voice here for two of his great specialities, Mahler and American song. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen was delivered with raw, unapologetic intimacy, as if we were all clustered right there on the stage with him. And it offered the chance, rare in this evening of bits and pieces, to be drawn in for more than a couple of minutes. A draining ride.

He spoke a few useful introductory words before launching into Burleigh's Ethiopia Saluting the Colors - a fascinating piece of folklore.

His Les pêcheurs de perles duet with Calleja wasn't the most delicately nuanced reading, but it underlined how well-paired they are as la famille Germont. Against the odds, a successful evening, and a fitting end to it.

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BBC Radio 3's Handel FAIL

What's Handel's Partenope all about, then?

Don't ask the BBC:

 

Verdi is better for you than Bach (claim Italians)

Italian researchers have found that heart rate, blood pressure and blood flow change in response to certain kinds of classical music reports Reuters. This means it may be useful in treating heart attack and stroke victims and in blood pressure control.

"Certain Verdi phrases seemed to synchronize participants' inherent cardiovascular rhythms. In contrast, a more "intellectual" solo singing piece by Bach had relatively little effect on cardiovascular rhythms."

The researchers point out that the cardiovascular responses were seen even in the absence of emotional responses to the music, which suggests that music somehow affects cardiovascular rhythms directly. In other words, Verdi really does touch your heart.

Valery Gergiev - opera's Johan Cruyff

Louise Jury of the Evening Standard interviews Valery Gergiev a month before he brings the Mariinsky to the Royal Opera House for a Ring cycle over four consecutive nights.

It's a gruelling marathon, so apparently musicians will 'switch parts on different nights to vary the pressure'. What does that mean? Gergiev is typically opaque:

 “It's like what was called total football',” he explains. “About 30 years ago, there was a great national team of Holland who introduced total football' where the defender was able to attack, and the forward — someone like Cristiano Ronaldo or Drogba today — was also able to defend.”

Perhaps as Johan Cruyff himself once said:

"If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better."

Scenery applauded at Covent Garden - World comes to an end

La traviata - Royal Opera House, 22 June 2009

 

Yes, the unthinkable has happened. An American import more obnoxious than Paris Hilton has found its way to WC2. Tonight, as the curtain drew back on Act 2 scene 2 of La traviata, a small but not insignificant group *applauded* the admittedly sumptuous 19th century gaming salon and its splendid array of frocks and furbelows (above). From the posh seats, too.

I have myself travelled amongst the American peoples - so like us and yet so different - and have observed that from east coast to west, it is their custom to put their hands together once the Zeffirelli coefficient (measured as the number of crinolines multiplied by the yards of drapery on stage) exceeds the number of people in the audience who are actually listening to the music.

Over there, I find it harmless and moderately amusing. Over here, it is the first omen of the apocalypse. I know the theatre this time of year is filled with people who don't go the opera when there's an R in the month, but that's no excuse. I can forgive phones, coughs, sweets, late arrivals and dropped programmes, but not this. It hasn't happened before, and it mustn't happen again.

Was that what put Pappano off his stride? I doubt it, but pit and stage drifted apart more times than I bothered to count tonight. Still, it can't be easy running an opera house, conducting a high profile production, and on top of that having to prepare yet another recital programme for the Rolando Dmitri Fab Four concert on Wednesday at 48 hours notice. Allowances can be made.

UPDATE - for those who emailed wondering wanting more detail on the production -  my first night pensées are here.

 

 

Sir Simon had a little lamb

In the weekend edition of the Financial Times, Sir Simon Rattle enjoys (or perhaps endures) 'Lunch with the FT' in the person of Andrew Clark.

No restaurant, no Barenboim-style personal chef - the versatile Sir Simon whips the whole thing up himself at the Provençal villa he makes his temporary home during the Aix Festival.

Sir Simon follows "a platter of cherry tomatoes and salami slices" with a shoulder of lamb “because they didn’t have a leg”.  The lamb we are told was marinated overnight and cooked on a low heat for four and a half hours in an "old French oven", then served up with "an aubergine ragout spiced with garlic, ginger, onions and Thai fish sauce".

Red wine (Château Yon-Figeac 2003) of course.

And he cunningly stashes the summer berry tart brought by the reporter so he can scoff the lot later. "A bowl of sliced melon" is the disappointing substitute.

Finally, he proffers coffee with the alarming rejoinder that “Every drug helps”.

Oh, and there's even some stuff about music in there too.

It's cancellitis day - Hvorostovsky OUT of Wednesday's gig

First Dmitri kindly took over when Rolando cancelled his 24 June Royal Opera House recital with Antonio Pappano.

Now the saviour of the day is sick himself. According to the latest Royal Opera House press release:

"Unfortunately Dmitri Hvorostovsky is now also under doctors' orders to completely rest his voice and it is with great regret that he has had to cancel all his current engagements."

 (UPDATE - he apparently caught a severe throat infection during his recent Russian tour).

The good news is that the concert goes ahead - with three for the price of one! Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson have stepped into the breach, with ROH concert master Vasko Vassilev providing further support.

Statistics indicate that at least one of them should still be standing by Wednesday night.

Simon Keenlyside departs from Seville

Simon Keenlyside has formally pulled out of the Royal Opera House's forthcoming Il barbiere di Siviglia revival, where he was due to play Figaro (as foretold last week by Greek Oracle, Parsifal). 

No, he hasn't come a cropper performing gymnastic routines in highly-polished corridors.

According to the ROH press release he has "received strict orders from his doctor to give his voice complete rest." Hope it's nothing too serious and he's back with us soon.

He will be replaced by Pietro Spagnoli.

Manners please

Benedict Nightingale, Times theatre critic, has drawn up a set of theatre etiquette rules which could just as well be applied to any music performance.

Apart from number 12 (pry the pen out of their hands and stab them through the heart is what I say) they appear so eminently sensible they should be printed on the front of every programme.

Here they are:

1 Don’t just switch off your mobile in response to what’s very likely a cute invitation from some fake-friendly voice. Make sure it’s off before you enter the theatre, thus making sure that you’re not publicly humiliated by Richard Griffiths or A.N. Other.

2 Never whisper, let alone talk, during the performance. If you’re hard of hearing, hire a loop rather than bother your companion for info about the plot. And don’t hum along with songs, even if they’re by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

3 Don’t bring picnics. In fact, don’t eat anything, not even your fingernails, even if the play is, well, nail-biting. If you must buy an ice cream in the interval, make sure you finish it and dispose of the carton before the restart. The scraping at remnants sounds like scratching on a wall.

4 If you fear that you’ll cough, bring a handkerchief to smother your mouth and pastilles to put in it. Considerate theatregoers would rather asphyxiate than interrupt a good actor.

5 Always apologise if someone is forced to stand as you make your way to your seat, but if you are late (and you should never be) reduce your apology to a quick, sorrowful nod.

6 Don’t clap actors’s entrances, even if they’re famous, or their exits, even if they make them in the swaggering style that half-invites applause. All this is dated and naff and makes you look like a celeb-hungry prat.

7 Have nothing to do with standing ovations unless a performance is close to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In America such ovations have become meaningless and, if they don’t occur, they indicate disapproval. We don’t want them to become regular here.

8 If a friend is on stage in a comedy or farce, or has written one, don’t pile on the laughter. The artificiality is usually transparent enough to make failure more and not less likely.

9 If you must go to that often obnoxious, spuriously glitzy occasion, the first night, don’t ponce about pretending to be an important guest, even if you are one. Think of your fellow audience members and the actors, both of whom want to get on with the show. And that show isn’t about you.

10 No need to dress up, let alone wear dinner jackets and evening gowns, as was once the case. But try to be a little better dressed than the critics, who often look as they’ve been grabbed from a washing machine that hasn’t yet been turned on.

11 If you see a sleeping critic don’t necessarily wake him or her up, as guilt is likely to ensure that his or her review is more favourable than it might otherwise be. But don’t let him sleep too deeply or he may (and this has happened) crash into or across an aisle, causing injury to the innocent. And snoring is unacceptable, whoever does it and however awful the show.

12 If critics irk you by scratching notes on a pad, be forgiving. They’re only doing their jobs. And virtually all critics accept that lighted pens, once common, are now verboten. If you see a critic turn one on, whisper something tactfully germane, like “you blind sod, switch it off”.

13 If the child you’re bringing is chatty, gag it. If it’s fidgety, handcuff and shackle it. And if you’re altruistic enough to bring a school party to a Shakespeare matinée, threaten potential wrongdoers with tickets to the next revival of Timon of Athens, to be followed by a ten-page essay on the ethics of Apemantus.

14 Try your hardest not to be tall, which means shunning headgear and primped-up hair. And if you can’t help your height, ask for a seat on the aisle or somewhere where you won’t interfere with people’s sightlines.

15 If you are maddened by a fellow member of the audience, postpone a serious or violent encounter until a suitable pause in the action, preferably the interval. But usually a schoolmarmy stare and an English sniff, followed by a reproachful smile, will suffice.

Calleja rocks out

While Renee Fleming is off guzzling beer with her Czech mates, Malta's one and only operatic superstar, Joseph Calleja, will be returning to his native isle on July 19 to show his compatriots just what they're missing.

Joining Joseph in the Bryn-style musicfest is serial hair criminal Michael Bolton (OK so he's had the chop since, but can you EVER forgive the Tim Berners-Lee of the Mullet?)

Calleja himself used to sing in a hair metal band so the possibilities are --- quite frightening when you think about it.

Also featured is Eurovision contestant Chiara, and, bravely, a no-audition-required scratch choir of local children.

Something for everyone then.

More including video here.

Operatic opportunities in Malta are limited: 
 

 

La traviata at the Royal Opera House - Renee Fleming coughs up

La traviata - Royal Opera House, 17 June 2009 (first night)

For all the prodigious technical gifts of Covent Garden's Coughing Cougar of the Camellias©, I left this show unconvinced that La traviata is the best place to display them. The steely edge that shapes Renee Fleming's luxuriantly creamy tone here becomes a coat of armour. Not a chink of vulnerability peeping through.

Every Violetta needs backbone - it is after all her iron resolve and strength of character that so impress Germont. But this becomes the defining characteristic of Renee's Violetta. It makes her proclamations of love hollow and her tragic end self-regarding. The key weapon of the courtesan - making the man believe he's in charge - is never displayed. And the act around which the whole plot pivots - Violetta's sacrifice - is rendered simply unbelievable. Why would this feisty Scarlett O'Hara give up the man she loves if there's nothing in it for her?

In her Sempre libera, Renee pauses to deliver a cheeky arse-slap to the naked lady ice sculpture (one of this production's delightfully subtle references to the evanescence of beauty). The way she lined up to the sculpture, pausing before administering the immaculately-judged tap, robbing the moment of all spontaneity, exemplified everything about her approach. I bet she irons her knickers.

The little-known Ermonela Jaho, who stepped into the part last year, has nothing like Renee's technical prowess, but her portrayal was an infinitely more touching one. That said, it was impossible to remain unimpressed by Renee's craft, her magnificent breath control, effortless trills and artfully-considered nuances of tone. A croaky start and her habitually mushy diction aside, she was a living, breathing singing lesson - impossible to imagine anyone improving on her musical choices, or executing them with greater skill.

She looks splendid too. She may be 50, but Restylane and Pilates belie the fact. When Germont sings of her youth and beauty, you believe him. The age difference is gracefully set aside in her relationship with Joseph Calleja, who is in reality young enough to be her son. It's more of a seasoned Sarandon/Robbins pairing than a cradle-snatching Madonna'n'Jesus - no suspension of disbelief required.

That's a tribute to the stature of Calleja's Alfredo as well. He's a little too easily flattened by Hurricane Renee - the second act denunciation comes off as a brave attempt to stand up for himself. But especially in his scenes with Germont, there is a growing maturity and confidence about his performance. But he's never too knowing - Alfredo's weakness and impetuousness are effectively conveyed as he cowers before his father. Calleja's singing is old-fashioned in the best possible sense - a big, powerful masculine voice with a touching lyrical side. 

He was one of the best things about the evening, alongside Thomas Hampson's Germont. Hampson's voice sounded less fresh than the last time I heard him. Whether it's an artfully-created effect for this role, or simply the toll of time, who knows, but it conveyed Germont's patrician demeanour to perfection. Hampson has never been a 'Verdi baritone', but he's a terrific singer and actor, so who cares?

One of the most gratifying aspects of this revival was the care and attention to detail taken with the smaller roles, perhaps an effect of Richard Eyre's return as director. Sarah Pring as Annina, Kostas Smoriginas as the Marquis D'Obigny and Haoyin Xue as Gastone were particularly impressive, and the chorus were well-deployed, though never fussily so.

I was pleased to see Eyre hadn't changed much. Bob Crowley's mostly tightly-packed boxy sets not only look good, they provide those all-important hard reverberent surfaces to bounce the singers' voices off. The decor may look busy, but it's mostly deceptively achieved with surface pattern and lighting. 

Only the last act, which should be the emptiest, looks over-cluttered, with too many bits'n'bobs for the singers to bash into and knock over, and too much of the action forced into the central space. I love the dressmaker's dummy with its skeletal skirt frame though, a reminder of Violetta's parties past.

The action is grippingly choreographed - I think everyone in the theatre gasped as Germont shoved Alfredo to the ground in the second act. The only failing remains Violetta's much-debated speed-lap round the bed moments before her death. The comedy is only piled on when, instead of expiring wiltingly in Alfredo's arms, Renee rams at full speed into his 'ample middle range' (thank you Edward Seckerson) like a quarterback hitting a blocker five yards from touchdown. Does she die of consumption or concussion?

The Royal Opera House orchestra have been playing splendidly recently, and this night was no exception. Pappano caressed them through the preludes like a tiny newborn kitten, as if he were trying to compensate for Renee's lack of fragility. Precious moments of introspection before red-blooded passion and champagne sparkle took over. Traviata is not generally reckoned the best of Verdi's scores, but Pappano makes you realise it's anything but routine.

Performances of this level of all-round quality don't come around often. It's a reminder that the problem with most traditional stagings of familiar operas is not the traditionalism or the familiarity, but simply that they're done without the love and care and skill and thought lavished upon this one.

********   Click over to see Renee Fleming senza makeup and more!   ********

secrets of reaching the youth audience revealed

From Aberdeen's Press and Journal:

A plan to drive youngsters away from congregating at a shop by playing classical music failed — when the children became fans. Bosses at the Co-op store in the Cove area of Aberdeen became fed up with the youngsters causing trouble outside. They invested money in a music system which played only orchestral sounds in the hope it would keep them away — but it failed.

Duty manager Craig Singers [sic!] said: 

“On nights when the music wasn't playing the kids would come into the shop and ask why it wasn't on. They grew to like it. That wasn't what we wanted to happen.

“We've decided to stop playing the music now because there was no point.”