tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416983732847060845.post2255398210866507868..comments2024-03-05T10:14:38.181+00:00Comments on CLASSICAL ICONOCLAST: Philip Langridge has passed awayDoundou Tchilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07469682216179706743noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416983732847060845.post-91917321019301293952010-03-07T11:16:44.071+00:002010-03-07T11:16:44.071+00:00That role in the Minotaur was amazing, again a sig...That role in the Minotaur was amazing, again a sign of how Birtwistle writes to the strengths of voices he knows well. In fact I think that scene was the absiolute turning point in the whole opera, "confronting the truth". , just as Theseus faces his fear, and the Minotaur faces his otherness. The Oracle as as other and as truthful as it gets! Langridge, like Sir Thomas Allen and Sir Joihn Tomlinson are the pillars on which British singing is built (no offence to anyone left out)Pity Langridge didn't get a knighthood, he'd have liked that I think.Doundou Tchilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07469682216179706743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416983732847060845.post-53002850424557921582010-03-07T09:14:05.828+00:002010-03-07T09:14:05.828+00:00I was so sorry - and surprised - to hear this. The...I was so sorry - and surprised - to hear this. The last time I saw him, I think, was in The Minotaur. I have just checked what I wrote at the time: 'One does not have to shout to beheard in Birtwistle; one simply has to sing well. Philip Langridge and Andrew Watts were both outstanding in the extraordinary tenth scene ("The Oracle at Psychro"). Every aspect of their performances - whether musical or acted, or both - seemed both accurate and idiomatic.'<br /><br />A great loss.Mark Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693194967620507933noreply@blogger.com