On 4 November, the Opéra national de Paris are screening their new production Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen (La Petite Renarde rusée) live on the internet at 19.30 French time, 6.30pm here in the UK.
It will be shown on the following sites - WWW.OPERADEPARIS.FR, WWW.MEDICI.TV and WWW.FRANCE2.FR - and available until 31 December.
More details here.
Prom 47: BBC Symphony Orchestra / Bělohlávek - Royal Albert Hall, 21 August 2008
This was a disappointing evening in many ways, with the sense of an opportunity squandered. One of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances makes an agreeable encore; a stack of eight, particularly when executed with the sort of knackered resignation that was all the BBCSO could muster last night, is about as thrilling as Olympic archery.
But I was more interested in the second half of the programme, a concert version of Janáček's rarely heard opera Osud. Although the programme credited someone for 'concert staging', this seemed to consist only of singers leaving the stage when they weren't required. Otherwise it was largely backs straight, noses in the score, in time-honoured concert performance style.
Just as well really - a large TV screen in the centre of the Arena, facing the performers, blocked a lot of the view for the large number of prommers behind it. I'm not sure why they've suddenly decided they need this for vocal performances at the RAH - there are other (large) screens showing the conductor at the sides, and I've never seen anything similar elsewhere. I'm hoping they'll manage to do without it for the rest of the season - there are enough tall people blocking the view without that to contend with as well.
Osud is an opera with an inconclusive ending about a composer who writes an opera without a last act about a composer whose life mirrors his own. Its drama is elliptical and its libretto often bizarre, but it is redeemed by music as vivid and original as anything else Janáček wrote.
Štefan Margita largely measured up to the technical challenges of the central role of the composer Živny. But there was some wavering and strain at the top, and it needed a voice with more heft and weight than Margita's light and pleasant lyric tenor.
Amanda Roocroft looked terrific in a red strappy gown, but she was barely audible, and unengaging as the composer's love interest, Mila.
Rosalind Plowright, as her crazed mother, was a great improvement - commandingly loud and convincingly bonkers.
The smaller roles, mostly doubled or tripled up, were competently taken, but only Martina Bauerová as Ms Pacovska, Fanča and Souckova really stood out. It struck me that with her native's command of Czech and a clear, resonant tone that easily rode Janáček's extravagant orchestrations, she might have made a better Mila than Roocroft.
The ubiquitous George Longworth, London opera's treble of choice for the past couple of years, took the small part of the child, Doubek - very movingly - but a couple of cracks suggested that this phase of his career may be nearing an end. Still, singers like Peter Auty, Bejun Mehta and even Simon Keenlyside started their singing careers in the short-trousered roles, so there's hope for George yet.
LSO/Harding - Barbican, 14 September 2007
Ouch my ears hurt. Daniel Harding's volume knob rarely dipped below f for the first half of tonight's concert, Janácek's Sinfonietta. My fault for sitting near the front I guess. His brash fff'd-up gallop nearly lost the reins at times. Not entirely persuasive as a whole, despite some superb individual playing, especially from the brass.
But the second half was a different matter. The LSO squeezed an impressive bunch of international soloists on to the platform for a concert rarity, Act 2 of Janácek's Jenùfa.
Anchored by the imposing Elizabeth Connell as the Kostelnicka, it was edge-of-seat thrilling but so controlled, with light, shade, and even some quiet bits.
Angela Denoke brought a touching vulnerability to the heroine, a fine-tuned complement to Elizabeth Connell's mix of bluster and doubts. It was perfectly nuanced despite the restrictions of the concert platform setting.
Christopher Ventris (who's way overdue a homepage update) as Steva and David Kuebler as Laca didn't have a great deal to do in this extract, but poured their experience into their rounded contributions. Fleshing it out, the responsive LSO engaged magnificently with the singers in the emotional peaks and troughs. What a pity the hall was half-empty.
The LSO are now off on a short US holiday tour. They're blogging it, so you can find out for a start what the principal flautist dislikes most about touring America here.
Katya Kabanova - Royal Opera House, 2 July 2007
Ashes. 1894. Edvard Munch
A few days ago, despite critical raves, maybe half of tonight's stalls seats for Katya Kabanova were unsold. A newspaper promotion reduced the price from £135 to £50, and bingo, the lot were filled. Proof that high prices keep many people away from opera - or that more people read the special offers than the reviews section?
For over fifty years it has been Sir Charles Mackerras's mission and passion to bring the work of Janácek to a wider public. Could there have been a more ideal conductor for this production? He brought all his experience and know how to bear in a nuanced interpretation of great delicacy and sensitivity, the orchestra responding immaculately in one of the best performances I have heard here for a very long time. Mackerras picked out the elusive feminine qualities in the scoring which contrast and complement its rawness.
Age always defeats beauty in Janácek, and often the singer in the matriarchal role can dominate proceedings too. Not so with Felicity Palmer's Kabanicha - although her caustic performance was magnificent, the other singers more than held their own. None more so than Janice Watson as Katya, her vulnerability and desperation tragically spotlit. Liora Grodnikaite, a late sub for the sick Linda Tuvås, was as impressive playing Varvara as she had been last week in her small role in Thaïs, finding the right note of bubbly optimism to contrast with the doomed Katya. Toby Spence's boyishly exuberant Kudrjáš was another highlight. Kurt Streit as Katya's lover Boris took a while to settle vocally, and generally gave a rather understated performance, as did Chris Merritt as Katya's husband Tichon - underlining Mackerras's emphasis on Katya at the unquestioned centre of the drama.
The set - a rough path spiralling up through a Munch-like stormy blue-black sky - certainly set the tone well enough, but it began to pall after a while. Director Trevor Nunn must have sensed this - why else the gratuitous equine finale to Act 1? Any punters who'd been nodding off of course perked up as Tichon's car arrived on stage drawn by two real, live, and slightly irritable horses. But really, unless you're doing Götterdämmerung, nothing signals a director's lack of faith in his production concept like sticking a live animal on stage. The collapsing wooden cross in Act 3 too seemed more of a confusing commentary on the drama than an attempt at interpretation. Simpler would have been better - but really anything would have worked with performances this wonderful.
Watson, Streit
Spence, Grodnikaite, Mackerras, Watson
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