How soon will we all be sick of the bi-bicententennial I wonder? Opera is of course a peripheral activity for the LSO, but they're still doing their bit to celebrate Wagner and Verdi's joint 200th birthday.
Their 2013/14 season opens on 15 September with a concert performance of Rigoletto, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. The underrated Dimitri Platanias takes the title role, with Desirée Rancatore as Gilda and Giuseppe Filianoti as the Duke.
On 28 November, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony is paired with the second act of Tristan und Isolde. Daniel Harding conducts Katarina Dalayman, Peter Seiffert and Christianne Stotijn. A major influence on Wagner's work was Roméo et Juliette. which turns up on 6 and 13 November with soloists Olga Borodina and Ildar Abdrazakov. Gergiev conducts as part of a Berlioz series running throughout the season.
The LSO's year is otherwise, as you might expect, light on opera, though Mark Elder's extracts from Der Rosenkavalier sung by Anne Schwanewilms, Sarah Connolly and Lucy Crowe should not be missed (8 May 2014).
Full season details to be released later this month.
Does anyone have any recent insight into how Anne Schwanewilms' voice is doing?
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Intermezzo replies - Anne Schwanewilms sounded fine last time I heard her. But all singers' voices vary from day to day, some more than others, and she is one who has always been somewhat unpredictable. I wouldn't make/cancel a booking for next week (let alone next year) on the basis of problems with previous performances, unless there is evidence of irreversible decline. Punters can be excused for not understanding this, but certain journalists' practice of writing off singers on the basis of a couple of dodgy nights is misguided and damages careers unnecessarily.
Posted by: EC | 04 January 2013 at 04:46 PM
I heard her three times in Sept/oct as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and she was quite good in the second act and excellent in the third. The high h in the Hallenaria might not be as easy or secure as with others but there are very few who can sing the music as beautifully and as musicial with detailed insights as she can. What I also admire about her is that even when she is not singing it is fascinating to watch her since she is so in tune with what is happening on stage and with the other singers. I look forward very much to her last Elisabeth during the Festspiele.
Posted by: marco | 04 January 2013 at 06:20 PM
Thanks for the reply IM. I was just curious as to whether there has been any reason for 'irreversible decline'.. sounds like there hasn't. I thought her Strauss (at the Proms) felt a little bit worse than an off-night.. but I haven't really seen (/looked for) any more info since..
Posted by: EC | 04 January 2013 at 07:21 PM
She was ill, and would have cancelled if it weren't for the unstoppable momentum of a live TV relay.
I've heard her singing sublimely only last year. Yet I've also heard her have complete catastrophes and bad memory lapses in repertory she must know backwards, like Ariadne and the Vier Letzte Lieder, some ten years apart. Clearly it's not a reliable instrument: and there are technical issues (all of which remind me strongly of Janowitz: it has something to do with the typically German squeeze-'n-push silvery soprano method). But at her best, and on her night, she's wonderful, and still is.
As for the season-opening LSO Rigoletto, I think my reaction is: EEEKK! Platanias has a fine voice but absolutely no expression or role insight, as witness his woeful walk-through the part at Covent Garden. Rancatore I last heard singing Adina next to Pavarotti's Nemorino: yes, THAT long ago. She must be the oldest soubrette in the business.
As for poor Filianoti, I heard him live at the MET last year in the role (with Damrau and Lucic) and it was grim going, the voice crack-prone and unpredictably produced, going horribly haywire in the offstage reminiscence of Donna e mobile (his recent MET Tito was better, but still bore traces of the same ongoing problems, alas). Can't say this line-up inspires much enthusiasm or hope...
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Intermezzo replies - Don't worry, it's the Barbican, so no doubt the entire lineup will have changed by the time we actually get to the date.
Posted by: SJT | 05 January 2013 at 04:14 AM
Why bother with an indifferently-cast concert performance of an absolutely mainstream Verdi opera which every major company presents fully-staged every two or three years? Surely concert performances are a great opportunity to put on neglected masterpieces which are rarely performed due to scale, unstageability, or similar considerations. For the Verdi centenary I'd suggest Les vepres siciliennes if I didn't know there was a production imminent at the ROH... how about a French Don Carlos, which we haven't had in London for what, 15 years?
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Intermezzo replies - The LSO is not an opera company, and they have to consider what can be presented readily for a one-off performance - and what will sell. It's understandable that they choose to present mostly mainstream works.
Posted by: Ruth | 07 January 2013 at 04:33 PM