The Staatskapelle Dresden have arranged a memorial concert to honour the late Sir Colin Davis, their conductor laureate. On 9 May, Sir Colin's protege Robin Ticciati will conduct an apposite selection of Elgar, Berlioz and Mozart.
All tickets are free.
Although a number of UK concerts have been or will be dedicated to Sir Colin, no equivalent event has as yet been announced in the country of his birth, residence and career.
"Conducting is really staggering from one humiliation to the next," Sir Colin Davis once said. In a profession traditionally riddled with autocrats, he will be remembered for the humility and humanity that pervaded his work.
The London Symphony Orchestra report that the greatest Mozart conductor of his generation passed away earlier this evening after illness.
You can leave a message of condolence on the LSO website.
Der Freischütz (in concert) - LSO / Davis - Barbican Hall, 19 & 21 April 2012
As a music drama, Der Freischütz is problematical, inherently fractured by the interpolated speech sections. In the theatre, the visual element provides some compensatory continuity - it's this basic structural issue as much as the content of the story that encourages contemporary directors to lard the work in Konzept. But in concert, it's almost inevitable that the talky bits come across as mere chat between numbers. The English language narration commissioned here to replace the original German dialogue only magnified that effect, breaking the spell with unfortunate regularity. And so, despite high musical values, these two performances failed to gather any real dramatic momentum.
Die Zauberflöte - Royal Opera House, 1 February 2011
While no performance of Die Zauberflöte ever really disappoints, this latest revival of David McVicar's bitty production is strangely deflated.
Continue reading "Royal Opera House Flute needs more Magic" »
LSO / Colin Davis / Anne-Sophie Mutter - Barbican, 10 October 2010
Riccardo Muti's off sick till who knows when. James Levine looked frailer than a baby at Saturday's Wagnerthon. Sir Colin Davis is senior to both but seems, remarkably, in the rudest of health. He scampered up the stage steps, sprang on to the podium with a kittenish leap and carved his baton through the air like an Italian traffic cop. Asked recently what kept him in shape for conducting, he replied "conducting". I believe him.
Le nozze di Figaro - Royal Opera House, 31 May 2010 (first night)
Just some hit and run impressions from the first night before I embark on a solid week of opera. This latest revival of David McVicar’s 2006 production doesn’t always deliver the goods vocally, but the casting couldn’t be bettered theatrically. Back in person to direct (he left the last revival to someone else), McVicar has tweaked and tightened the dramatic screws. The master-servant relationship is more effectively defined than ever before, and the shenanigans of the final act much easier to follow.
Continue reading "Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House" »
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