Ken Russell feted BBCTV 2

Why is it that great figures don't get respect til they're gone? Ken Russell was a phenomenom who changed so much about British film and, indeed, British attitudes to life and to art. Just as Elizabeth David changed British food by introducing tomatoes, olive oil and (horror!) garlic, Ken brought psychedelic colour to British life. So honour due. Wherever he is, Ken will be snorting and cackling that he gets a night on BBCTV 2 on Saturday 14th January starting 9 pm.

"A Bit of a  Devil", a documentary by Alan Yentob and screenings of Women in Love and The Rainbow, both based on DH Lawrence. Remember the scandal Lady Chatterley caused and how that changed things in its time? Ken's whole life pushed boundaries, all the time.  Ken's films could drive you crazy but he was never bland. And underneath the wild image, a man of knowledge, sensitivity and depth. Please see THIS for more.

Exsultate, Jubilate Anna Lucia Richter

Anna Lucia Richter, so impressive singing Hugo Wolf at the Wigmore Hall, recommended by a friend who was there, too. (My review is HERE)  She wore the same dress.  Very professionally done video, too. Here she is singing in Aachen in December 2009, when she would have been 19. Give her a few more years....!

Hugo Wolf : Mörike Goethe Prégardien Richter Wigmore Hall

Hugo Wolf is a hard sell. Technical expertise isn't enough. The secret to singing Wolf is expressing the unique personality in each song. Wolf, perhaps more than any other composer, creates miniatures that open out into mini-operas when performed well. Singing Wolf can never be generic, so true Wolf specialists are hard to find.

Christoph Prégardien started off the Wigmore Hall's new series of Hugo Wolf Songbooks with Lieder to texts by Mörike and Goethe. Prégardien is one of the best Wolf singers around, with the right combination of  timbre and individuality. At his best, he's brilliant. For whatever reason, on this occasion, he wasn't his usual self, the voice sounding tired and occluded. Nonetheless, he has years of experience to fall back on. Intelligent phrasing, the right emphases in the right places, accurate intonation. Yet not the luminous, transcendent tones he's capable of, which lift his performance way above most everyone else. Still, proof that mastery of technique pulls one through. His Feuerreiter was suitably dramatic, though not quite at the demonic level he and some others (especially baritones) can reach. But he brought real drama to Ritter Kurts Brautfahrt, a strophic ballad that can fall flat in the wrong hands (voice) (read more about Feuerreiter here). In Sankt Nepomuks Vorabend, one could hear glimmers of Prégardien's natural translucence, reflecting his youth as a choirboy. "Lichtlein, schwimmen auf dem Strom"

Listen to Prégardien's most recent recording of Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch which came out in Spring 2011 on the small label Channel Classics (reviewed here). The soprano on that disc was Julia Kleiter, a fellow Limburger, good for the ensemble work so crucial to the Italian Songbook. But the Mörike and Goethe are much more sharply defined and need great personality. When we heard that Kelier was being replaced ar minimal notice by a singer born in 1990, our hearts dropped. What could any singer that young bring to Hugo Wolf?

Yet Anna Lucia Richter turned out to be the surprise of the evening. Obviously someone aged 21 isn't going to sound polished but Richter turned her youth to advantage. In Nixe Binsefuß, bright, almost staccato notes sparkle like sharp icicles. But this Nixe is a water sprite with attitude who would like to slash the fisherman's nets and liberate the fish. Richter's voice is pure, but has a wild edge totally in keeping with the Nixe's free spirited anarchy. Then, when she sings about the fisherman's daughter, her voice warms. Icicles no more! And so the Nixe flies away as the day breaks. (read more about this song here)

It's difficult to combine the technical demands of Elfenlied with a true sense of innocence, but Richter manages well. Her elf is genuinely naive and she describes his accident with droll humour. Similarly, Richter's Begegnung is turbulent, like the wind and the emotions the young girl experiences.  I don't know how long Richter had to prepare, as the programme was printed before she was hired,  but she threw herself into the songs with unselfconscious enthusiasm, so they come over extremely well.

No-one at Richter's age, or even ten years older,  is going to have finesse, but that will come with experience. It's much better that a singer starts out with enthusiasm, and engages with what she sings, as Richter does. Her voice has colour and range, so she has plenty of potential. Definitely someone to follow. She has dramatic instincts, leaping into some songs in the second part of the programme as an opera singer might, so she will have many options. She's still studying at the Cologne Conservatory but is scheduled to  join the company of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf from 2012-13. She's also worked with Prégardien before  and recorded Schumann with him."We'd better give the poor girl some help" said Julius Drake before the encore (a Mendelssohn duet). He played gloriously, but part of a song pianist's brief is to work with singers, especially the young.

Thomas Quasthoff retires

Sad news of Thomas Quasthoff's retirement, but understandable. TQ was a regular canceller, so you always booked on the off chance that he'd show. In recent years, he's taken to talking a lot through concerts, rather than singing, so it's a wise move. Health matters more than wealth, as does his reputation. I heard his very first London recital, at the Wigmore Hall in the mid 90's. It was weeks after his UK debut at Edinburgh. TQ walked on stage and there was a moment of surprise. No-one realized he was so short. That wasn't prejudice, but realistic. Singing is a tougher profession than outsiders realize. Then he started to sing, with a ferocity you don't usually associate with Schubert. Das Fischermädchen with sly, teasing undercurrents. Erlkönig with genuine malevolence, the final "Tot" spat out with revulsion at the father's naivety,  not at the erlking.

Then, Der Zwerg. The dwarf in the song is a sex murderer. It's not a pretty song. Quasthoff sang it like an act of defiance, "Don't write people off because they're physically challenged!" And being challenged doesn't mean you have to keep up a fake "sweet" front to impress the world. Schubert's dwarf was a sexual being, who'd had an affair with the queen before she married the king. As the dwarf strangles her, she doesn't condemn him. Very kinky. Still, he's cursed never to return to shore, forced to be alone forever. But then that's the fate of many people with disabilities and even "normal" infirmities like illness, age and poverty. So TQ was confronting society's expectations. Why should the disabled "have" to be sweet to "be deserving"? They've every right to feel p'd off by fate and to be who they want to be.

Quasthoff was a stage presence who knew how to work an audience. Few singers have that charisma.  He used to end recitals in the US with pop songs, which audiences loved because it showed his populist touch.  It didn't go down so well in Europe, though he did try it in recent years. He persuaded recording companies to promote his jazz, but it really wasn't his forte however much he might have liked doing it. Recordings weren't his forte either, for somehow technology can't quite pick up the nuances you hear live, and TQ's voice sometimes sounds muffled and unrefined. But those who heard him in his prime have wonderful memories! (photo : Elke Wetzig)

Violent, explosive Má vlast. - Václav Talich

Heartfelt thank you to the reader who sent me a copy of the recent Supraphon reissue of Václav Talich's remarkable performance of Smetana Má vlast. This is no ordinary concert, it's a historic moment. It's 5th June 1939. The Germans had occupied Czechoslovakia with the blessing of the British, ending the cultural renaissance that was the first Czech Republic. Conducting Má vlast was symbolic protest and the Prague audience knew it. This performance, the second in a series, was broadcast on Czech radio, and woud have been lost forever had it not been picked up by Norwegian radio, and almost miraculously survived on a pioneer tape recording. 

It's an explosive, violent performance. Talich knows that his audience know the piece so well that they can cope with a radically different interpretation. "Our homeland", this performance seems to scream, "betrayed to Hitler"! The audience bursts spontaneously into applause between movements because they, too, are expressing rage at the situation their country faces. This isn't silly "audience participation" but part of the message the Czechs are sending the Nazis. The crowd won't stop, and perhaps some knew they'd soon be silenced forever. So listen to those roaring voices and respect.

The two final movements, Tábor and Blanik, are more than picturesque rural vistas.Tábor was the centre of the Hussite wars in the 15th century which shaped Bohemian identity. So Talich exaggerates the violence in the music, the menacing slow tempi, fast, marching tempi, thunderous timpani like cannon fire, brass that seems to spit flame. The Hussite ancestors of that audience might have used quaint muskets and leather armour. Smetana himself could never have imagined that their descendants would face tanks, planes and bombs. But it works, powerfully. Listen to the "flying" motif repeated all over the orchestra, building in confidence.

Blanik is the mountain where St Wenceslas is supposed to lie asleep until the country needs to be saved.That's the statue in St Wenceslas Square, not far from the concert hall where Talich was conducting. This final movement draws together the whole piece, the idea of the Moldau continuing to flow and fertilise the country, the Hussite hymns and the Wenceslas legend, promising hope. Then the audience spontaneously bursts into singing the Czech national anthem. This isn't a concert, it's a statement. Some of that audience would have gone home passing the statue. Few of them would have missed the significance. Seventy three years later, nearly all of them are dead but here they are preserved on tape.

This fantastic disc includes six of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances, recorded on 13th June 1939, a week after that searing  Má vlast.  Again, the performance is unusually ferocious and defiant.  Everyone is listening intently, but they are hearing more than Dvořák. So much of the way we experience any performance is coloured by what is inside ourselves. Lord no, I don't ever want to experience music in such circumstances. Nor are interpretations like this always true to the composer's intent.  But by God, we need this recording to remind us what music can mean.

---------------------------

Talich (1883-1961) was a key figure in music circles during the first Czech Republic, a friend of Josef Suk, and of Leoš Janáček, several of whose operas he premiered. Had he been American, German or British, he might be a household name. Talich's reputation isn't what it might be, thanks to internal Czech politics at the time. He didn't get on with a key politician who became culture minister in several governments and was able to stifle those he didn't like, among them Janáček. This politician is caricatured in Janáček's The Excursions of Mr. Brouček (which also refers to the Hussites).  After the German surrender, Talich walked back to Prague and was promptly arrested for collaboration. There was no evidence and he was released but Talich's career was blocked. Irony isn't it, that when even the Nazis couldn't completely silence Czech artists, some toadying beetles managed quite well.

Please also read Kapralova - songs of Czech Independence, Bílá nemoc - Hugo and Pavel Haas (Czech anti-Nazi film) and of course lots on Janáček, Smetana, Dvořák, Suk and many, many others suppressed by the Nazis. Interesting too that Má vlast was one of most popular pieces of music in 20th century China. Maybe they were responding to it like Talich did, though with different cultural landmarks?

Delius Complete Songbook 2 Mark Stone

"English music? I don't know what that is", Delius said to Eric Fenby, who very nearly aborted his self-appointed mission to help the composer. But Delius was right. Music is rarely "nationalist"and Delius himself was international.  Mark Stone's recording of the Complete Delius Songbook series is a valuable contribution to Delius studies as it includes perfomances of lesser known works and new translations, many by Stone himself.

Listen to the first volume in this series, which I reviewed HERE, where Stone and pianist Stephen Barlow perform Delius's earliest songs. Grieg's music expressed an aesthetic significantly outside the European mainstream.  The purity of Norwegian landscape was a metaphor for independence and creative renewal. Delius learned from Grieg not merely the trappings of "Scandinavian" culture, but the concept of individuality.  In this second volume in the series, Delius sets Danish, French and German poets, but the style is his own.

Included in this new disc is a piano song version of the Nietzsche setting, Noch ein mal, O Mensch, Gib acht!, which in 1904/5 became part of Delius's A Mass for Life.  A version for solo voice, chorus and orchestra was written six years before the song but the version here was found among the composr's papers after his death. It's undated, but possibly predates both other forms. Jelka Delius said it was the earliest version of all. The melodic line is already clear, surprising calm, unlike Mahler's more intense setting in his Symphony no 3. Mark Stone's deep baritone gives gravity.

Delius wrote four more Nietzsche songs around 1898, possibly sketches for large scale works, though they were published decades later as independent songs.  Stylistically they connect to A Mass for Life, but they're much stronger musically. Each is a miniature, yet powerfully felt. Although the subject matter is completely different to A Village Romeo and Juliet, completed in 1899, perhaps Delius is thinking in terms of dramatic, declamatory song? Certainly Stone's delivery suggests this. He's an opera singer and brings to these songs much more colour than some of the other songs on this disc can support. The five settings of poems by Verlaine depend more on heavy pedal rather than elegance.

Delius is more in his own element, if that's defined by watercolour lightness of touch in the paler tones of the other songs in this collection.  Two groups of songs from the Danish, eleven early songs and other individual pieces. With Autumn, Dreamy Nights, Summer Nights on the sea shore and Summer Landscape we're in that quiet, watchful mood that Delius so often evokes. It's as if time is standing still as the composer meditates on the moment. Below is Silken Shoes, an "expression" as Mark Stone says in his erudite programme notes "of the exquisite...nature of the beloved. Delius uses rising triplets throughout to underline the triumphant nature of this song...and comes to a warm, satisfied ending". Buy the recording DIRECT from Stone Records, or thru the usual sources.

Friedrich ein deutscher König

Friedrich ein deutscher König, a new film about Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Now available on arte.tv "In einem von Militarismus, Tugend und Disziplin beherrschten Mikrokosmos wächst der junge Friedrich auf. Bestrebt aus dem Sohn einen gehorsamen Blaurock zu formen, unterlässt Friedrich Wilhelm I. keinen Versuch, den Willen des Kronprinzen zu brechen. Friedrich sucht sich Weltfluchten in Musik und Literatur, um dem Drill zu entgehen. Die fortwährenden Demütigungen, die auch Königin Sophie Dorothea und Friedrichs Schwester Wilhelmine nicht mildern können, kulminieren in einem missglückten Fluchtversuch Friedrichs - seinerzeit Hochverrat und nach dem ursprünglichen Verdikt des Vaters mit der Todesstrafe zu ahnden."

Drei Könige wandern aus Morgenland

Peter Schreier aged 13 when he was an alto in the Dresdner Kreuzchor. It's the hymn by Peter Cornelius (1824-74) For the Heinrich Heine version, please see HERE


Drei Könige wandern aus Morgenland;
Ein Sternlein führt sie zum Jordanstrand.
In Juda fragen und forschen die drei,
Wo der neugeborene König sei?
Sie wollen Weihrauch, Myrrhen und Gold
Dem Kinde spenden zum Opfersold.

Und hell erglänzet des Sternes Schein:
Zum Stalle gehen die Kön’ge ein;
Das Knäblein schaun sie wonniglich,
Anbetend neigen die Könige sich;
Sie bringen Weihrauch, Myrrhen und Gold
Zum Opfer dar dem Knäblein hold.

O Menschenkind! halte treulich Schritt!
Die Kön’ge wandern, o wandre mit!
Der Stern der Liebe, der Gnade Stern
Erhelle dein Ziel, so du suchst den Herrn,
Und fehlen Weihrauch, Myrrhen und Gold,
Schenke dein Herz dem Knäblein hold!

Luca Pisaroni - the other man from Busseto

Luca Pisaroni has arrived. Eighteern months ago he sang Leporello at Glyndebourne, so impressive that I snapped up a chance to hear his Wigmore Hall debut last March.  (Read what I wrote here and what Mark Berry wrote here) Guess who was sitting behind us, trying to be incognito and out of Pisaroni's sightlines? At that time I didn't know the connection, so my praise fell on ears that appreciated it greatly. Pisaroni is very good, and he's young enough that there's lots ahead for him. One day, a supreme Don Giovanni?

HERE is a link to a new interview by Olivia Giovetti in Classical Singer. Enjoy! Please also read one of the earliest interviews with Pisaroni in Opera Today.

Furtwängler - the "lost" documentary

Might the fabled "lost" documentary about Wilhelm Furtwängler made by his son Florian be about to surface again? Jointly commissioned by Bayerischen Rundfunk and the BBC in 1970, it has circulated in an inferior copy, now withdrawn. Florian (d 1992) was a professional film maker so the film is very well made. In full, in German, it runs over 100 minutes. Although it was made over 40 years ago, it includes unique testimonies from musicians who knew Furtwängler well. Jascha Horenstein, Hans Keller, and Szymon Goldberg, leader of the Berliner Philharmoniker until 1933.

The film firmly places Furtwängler in the context of artistic circles in late 19th century Munich. Furtwängler's father was an eminent archaelogist, his mother a painter. He was home schooled, but absorbed cultural experiences closed to most boys. On a trip to an Italian chapel, in 1902, Furtwängler disaappeared, to be found inside a Michelangelo crypt, inspired to write music that was to become his Te Deum. It's hugely ambitious, with massed choirs : the film shows its first performance, in 1967. (drawing above is by Emil Orlik, 1927)

Furtwängler's first love was composition but his career progressed so rapidly that he became a conductor almost by default.  His style was idiosyncrasic. Theres a description of him, complete with action sketches, flailing his arms and legs, expressing the music with his whole being. Fundamental to his style, however, was his conception of what interpretation involved. "The stronger the structure of a piece, and the greater the comnposer's mastery of form", he said "the more clearly defined is the interpreter's task. It is only when he has studied and mastered all the details  that his real task begins, which is the weaving of all the particular parts into an organic whole."

Furtwängler's style was controversial. Hans Keller describes Furtwängler at a Toscanini Beethoven 9. After a few bars, Furtwängler stood up, shouting "Bloody time keeper!" and stormed out. Definitely not a troll, but a man who knew his music so well that it hurt him to hear it mangled. Keller then describes the passages from recordings. Toscanini takes the opening sextuplets so carefully that you can hear each note unfold.  But Furtwängler smudges the beat so you don't hear the component notes but the "tense, vague beginning before the beginning", as Keller says, expressing their meaning within the context of the passage. There's an ominous rumble, yet nimble and alert, intensifying the outburst when it comes.

Nowadays it's fashionable to judge a performance by tempi alone, but as Keller says, "Tempo in itself is nothing. It is a function of structure", He listens to a recording of Furtwängler conducting Mozart Symphony no 40. In theory, it's so fast that it seems almost impossible to maintain. "I did not believe it possible until I heard it" adds Keller. "You cannot decide tempi unless you experience the structure and understand the phrasing of the interpreter".  As for  formulaic tempi, Furtwängler himself said simply, "there is no such thing".

In the Berliner Philharmoniker archive, there's a good documentary about what happened to orchestra members when the Nazis came to power. Szymon Goldberg figures in it, though he was forced to emigrate almost immediately. Furtwängler protected those he could, though of course he couldn't protect everyone. He played Mendelssohn in public as late as 1935, and refused to accept pensions and estates from the regime.  His high profile defence of Paul Hindemith took courage. Jascha Horenstein says, stiffening up to stress his words, "I would like to say emphatically that Furtwängler was not a Nazi". Furtwängler was on an inevitable collision course with Goebbels so he withdrew from public life, only to return to the podium because he realized that music was a means of standing up to tyranny. The photo above, from the Bundesarkiv shows Furtwängler conducting for factory workers in 1942. Some of them may have been Nazis, but not all and in any case, all were human. The film includes the famous clip of Furtwängler playing Beethoven 9 to the Nazi bigwigs. They're too stupid to know what Beethoven was getting at. Goebbels, who knew his Schiller, must have squirmed in suppressed rage.

By February 1945, Furtwängler heard that he was about to be arrested. He fled to Switzerland and turned again to composition, supported financially by Swiss music lovers. The film emphasizes how much Furtwängler's own music meant to him. A few years ago there were a number of recordings, which I wrote about at the time. The juveniila was surprisingly interesting and the incomplete Symphony no 3 (1954), heard here, is impressive. One day, perhaps, Furtwängler's music will be heard more often.

Aged 12, Daniel Barenboim worked with Furtwängler. It was mutual admiration. "There was always an element of improvisation and surprise in his work", says Barenboim. A member of the Philharmonia who worked with Furtwängler tells how he communicated with the players.  He didn't tell them what to do. If he didn't like something, he'd be thinking why, and the orchestra would do so too. "I don't like the word working "under" a conductor. It wasn't like that with Furtwängler". Not mentioned in this film is the anecdote of how Furtwängler walked into a rehearsal and the orchestra lifted their game even though he wasn't conducting.

What made Furtwängler so good? "He risked a lot, as every great artist must", Keller sums up. "It is the easiest thing in the world to always play well. Composers, too. Mozart excepting, their greatness is in direct proportion to their ability to take risks". Furtwängler admired Arnold Schoenberg and sensed in him something exceptional, though he didn't relate to 12 tone theory. But he played Schoenberg, who admired him in return. "Better than all those Toscaninis". One of my conductor friends was given one of Furtwängler's batons as a gesture of respect. Furtwängler had given it to someone he admired, who then passed it on. 

Szymanowski broadcast - Antoni Wit

"Superbly filmed for Polish Television, Antoni Wit's performances of Karol Szymanowski's third and fourth symphonies embody the distinguished and idiomatic conducting style for which he is widely recognised....An outstanding communicator, Wit exhibits exceptional attention to detail in his rendition of these two great works, recorded while Wit was principal conductor or the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir."

Soloist in the Third Symphony is Rafał Bartmiński, He's very good indeed. HERE is the link on medici.tv

The English Oratorio : a Celebration, Barbican

The Barbican celebrates the Englsih oratorio tradition, but in a bold new way. Handel of course is at the heart of the tradition, so the series started with Handel's Saul (read more here) and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast (read here). On 14th January, it includes Haydn's Seasons and continues with Elgar, Mendelssohn and Sir Michael Tippett. So the tradition hasn't stood still. Baroque aesthetics gave way to Victorian gigantism, as seen in this 1857 etching of a Handel experience at the Crystal Palace, London. "Concert" is hardly the right word.  At the Barbican, we'll be able to hear English oratorio in a setting that might favour the music rather than scale for its own sake, and perhaps gain new perspectives. Please read Claire Seymour's article on English Oratorio and the Barbican season.

Coming up, busy January

Lots to look forward to in January in London! The new season starts today (2/1) with another cast of La Traviata at the Royal Opera House. This time, Ermonela Jaho sings Violetta. Jaho stole the show last time she sang the part in this production, and has continued to impress - remember her Suor Angelica?  Violetta is a courtesan and hasn't reached the top of her profession by being a moribund victim.  In any case, could someone dying of TB sing like that? Paolo Cavanelli's dark Germont will be a good foil to Jaho's passion. Alfredos are Stephen Costello and Vittorio Grigolo.

The Royal Opera House also offers a mini-Mozart festival : Don Giovanni, Le nozze de Figaro and Così fan tutte, all revivals but worth catching for the casts (best prob. Le nozze). See Gerald Finley naked, or hear Erwin Schrott.  In February, a controversial new Rusalka!

At the ENO, Der Rosenkavalier revived with big English stars. Or should one say "The Rose Knight"? Strictly Gershwin, an interesting Gershwin themed ballet from English National Ballet starts 4th Jan to extend the party season. Gershwin's a good composer, who should be taken more seriously.

At the South Bank, an important series curated by Vladimir Jurowski, Sergei Prokofiev : a man of the people? Notice the question mark. Why did Prokofiev turn his back on the west and success to return to the Soviet Union? What were his artistic, as well as personal motivations?  Hopefully this won't be yet another bland retrospecrive of greatest hits but more stimulating. Jurowski's choice of repertoire is intriguing and indicates a strong line of thought. I've spent time watching Eisenstein's saga of Ivan the Terrible, for which Prokofiev wrote the score, and will be writing about that here soon.  Simon Callow is doing readings from Prokofiev's diaries. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the final night on 1st Feb

Extremely important London Sinfonietta gig Wolfgang Rihm at 60, QEH 24/1. Rihm is one of the seminal modern German composers, though sadlu underrated in Britain. Four UK premieres, no less. It will be a great chance to hear the London Sinfonietta in meaty repertoire again, and to prepare for the ENO production of Rihm's very early opera Jakob Lenz in the summer. Indeed, the opera may seem pale compared with what Rihm is doing now, 35 years later.

Much stronger opera-wise will be Luigi Dallapiccola's Il prigioniero at RFH on 26th January. Dallapiccola was writing when Mussolini's alliance with Hitler reached its peak in the last years of the war. Il prigioniero is  Fidelio without false optimism and contrived happy end. Perhaps that's why Esa Pekka Salonen is conducting Beethoven's Fifth as a kind of extended overture.  

Lots on at the Wigmore Hall, too, leading up to Schubert's Birthday on 31/1 which is always a highlight of the WH year. This year, Werner Güra does the honours. William Lyne discovered him 15 years ago, on the recommedation of Peter Schreier. Some pedigree! Güra was so young then that he froze, but since then he's blossomed. Güra shows what Lieder singing is really about. Starting on 10th January is another Wigmore Hall speciality, a three day intensive workshop which really gets to grip with a subject. Focus this time is on is Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale.  Nine hours study, one hour concert (2/2) But if something's worth doing, do it well. Also highly recommended: Christoph Prégardien singing Hugo Wolf on 10/1 and a concert with, among others, Stuart Jackson, a very original and distinctive young singer who won 2nd prize at the Wigmore Hall Song Competition. (read more HERE) 

The English Oratorio Celebration continues at the Barbican (read more HERE) with Haydn The Seasons with Paul McCreesh. There's a big Total Immersion on Jonathan Harvey, culminating in his Wagner Dream which had extreme notices when it premiered in Amsterdam two years ago. It's not Wagner per se but Harvey, re-examining Wagner through Harvey's Buddhist beliefs. Oliver Knussen doesn't conduct as often as he used to or should, so make a point of going to his Barbican date on 13/1. Excellent programme - Castiglioni, Schoenberg Kammersymphonie, Sandy Goehr premiere and  Miakovsky's Symphony no 10. Typical Knussen passions, should be fun.

And if that's not enough, Pau Badura-Skoda makes a rare appearance at Kings Place on 18/1!

Zum neuen Jahr new translation

Wie heimlicher Weise
Ein Engelein leise
Mit rosigen Füßen
Die Erde betritt,
So nahte der Morgen.
Jauchzt ihm, ihr Frommen,
Ein heilig Willkommen,
Ein heilig Willkommen!
Herz, jauchze du mit!
In Ihm sei's begonnen,
Der Monde und Sonnen
An blauen Gezelten
Des Himmels bewegt.
Du, Vater, du rate!
Lenke du und wende!
Herr, dir in die Hände
Sei Anfang und Ende,
Sei alles gelegt!
 
From Heaven's meadows, a gentle angel, with rosy pink feet, descends to earth. Thus came the Morning. Praise him, godly people, a holy welcome ! Hearts, praise Him together.
In Him are all beginnings, the earth and the planets, the blue Universe where Heaven moves. You, Father, you source of wisdom. Guide us, protect us. Lord, in your hands are Beginning and End, and everything between.

Happy New Year from China

New Year's Eve in Hong Kong just a few hours ago. This clip is specially atmospheric as it's taken by a local person in the midst of the crowd that throngs the streets. Yet the quality is better than many professionals. Learn to count in Cantonese ! 5 is tricky as it's "Nggg".  Hong Kong fireworks are famous, but Beijing might yet top HK. Everyone in Asia envies the HK display but Beijing decided to go anotherr route. This year saw Beijing's first "countdown" with laser and 3D projections on The Temple of Heaven, where the Emperors used to go and give thanks. What is even more significant though, is the rationale behind the Beijing celebrations. Relatively few fireworks, because they're not "green". Instead, light shows, electricty supplied by thousands of students on bicycles. China's environmental record is pretty bad since it's such a vast country and hard to govern.  Fireworks have always been part of Chinese culture, so it's an amazing, high profile statement of intent.