Animal instincts : Gatti RCOA Mahler 4 Haydn Prom

Daniele Gatti, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, credit Annedokter

 Danielle Gatti and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam  with Haydn Symphony No. 82 in C major, 'The Bear' and Mahler Symphony no 4 at Prom 66 at the Royal Albert Hall.  A combination which enhanced both parts of the programme.  A lively, agile Haydn bringing out its warm hearted humour.  Two hundred and fifty years ago, people thought bear dancing was entertainment. Wild animals tamed and controlled by man!  Nowadays, we realize that the wild animals were the men and the bears victims of torture.  Since bears can't actually dance, the music they danced to was  bucolic. Hence the Dudelsack (bagpipes) with its earthy drone. A top-flight composer, writing for rich folks, (who probably laughed at the peasants, too)  and now, a top-flight  orchestra playing for the Proms. What irony!  But better that than reality.

And so to Mahler's Symphony no 4, the last true Wunderhorn symphony,  which connects to a world long past, where barbarism against people was normal, even admired. It's often assumed that this symphony is cheerful and sunny, and in some contexts it does work very well that way. But beneath the bucolic charm, there's horror. Elftausend Jungfrauen zu tanzen sich trauen, Sankt Ursula selbst dazu Lacht. But St. Ursula caused the death of 11,000 virgins, who followed her in a Crusade across Europe. Most never got to the Holy Land, and even if they had, for what purpose? More irony - sainthood and delusion, the message still relevant in our supposedly more enlightened times.  But it's OK ! the dead kids are singing in Heaven, and there's lots to eat. The animals, like the children,  are happy to die. Wir führen ein geduldig's, Unschuldig's, geduldig's, Ein liebliches Lämmlein zu Tod.  (Please see my article Why Greedy Kids in Mahler 4) 

Mahler, Mengelberg and Diepenbrook, 1904

The interpretation of the final movement in this symphony has a bearing on performance, though there are many possible ways of doing it. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam have been doing it since 1904, when it was radical New Music. Yet music is endlessly reborn anew in each performance - different players, different listeners, always something new to discover.  That's yet another hidden message embedded in Mahler's Fourth Symphony.  Das himmlisches Leben  connects to Das irdische Leben, where a child starves because its mother keeps promising to feed it, but doesn't.  And so the dilemma of being an artist with integrity, who creates whether the public gets it or not.  Mahler's sympathies lie with the artist..  

Fortunately some listeners do get it.  Gatti's approach to the symphony is refined but purposeful, never losing sight of the ultimate goal. Bedächtig. Nicht eilen and In gemächlicher bewungen. Ohne hast :  No need to rush, but rather linger in the present, or more accurately, perhaps, in memories of a sunnier past.  Because good things will end. Just as in  Mahler's Symphony no 2, we linger as long as possible, resisting the inevitable. Gatti doesn't drag though, and his pace is sunlit. The Ländler rhythms suggest folk music, peasants - and peasant children - dancing. The RCOA can do rustic with elegance. For all we know, to a Dudelsack or similar middle-European instrument : nothing sophisticated.  Mahler pushes forth with the theme for solo violin, a reference to Freund Hein, the Fiddler whose presence leads to Death.  The Pied Piper, like St Ursula, leading the innocent to doom.  Thus the macabre scordatura tuning.  In deliberate contrast, the third movement, marked Ruhevoll, was particularly well defined. The cataclysmic final section, with its blazing trumpets, timpani and cymbals resolving back to the gentler theme highlighted with harps was good too, preparing the way for the all-important last movement.  

The soloist here was Chen Reiss. A pleasant voice, on the lighter side, which often works well in this part.  though it's not essential, since it can support quite  a lot of sensuality, which is important, since the text refers to earthly, earthy pleasures, like red meat.  It has been done extremely well by heftier voices and even by mezzos.  Gatti and the orchestra supplied the humour. Wonderful "animal" noises like the bleating of sheep and the wailing of oxen.  The orchestra also supplied the colour and drama - sharp, focused playing, reminding us that the knife-like edge is never far away, even in this pastoral vision. 


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Divine Haitink, Vienna Philharmonic Strauss Haydn Prom 75

They left the best for last at this year's BBC Proms. Bernard Haitink conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Prom 75, Haydn Symphony no 104 (London) and Richard Strauss Ein Alpensinfonie. The previous evening, they'd played Bruckner Symphony no 9 so wonderfully that I was transfixed. And I don't normally get Bruckner.  With Strauss and Haydn, Haitink and the Viennese ended the 2012 Proms season in a kind of apotheosis.

Haitink as conductor is philosophical, sometimes to the extent that you can't follow where he's goiing. For Haydn, he needed only a small ensemble, but from these he brought forth great richness and warmth. Benevolence, even, if such things can be expressed in music. Haydn was one of the last composers to endure servitude status, yet his Symphony no 104 exudes equanimity. To the Vienna Philharmonic elegance is second nature.  Their Andante moved with grave dignity, a reminder that the state of grace of grace to come in the final movement was built on firm foundations. The melodic themes sounded truly "spiritoso", dancing with energy. Yet in the quieter passages,a  moment of clean, pure joy. Someone once raged that  Mahler never had a light-hearted moment in his life, which is nonsense. No normal, sane human being is an automaton. Haitink and the Viennese proved that happiness is a perfectly valid, even essential state of the soul. I heard echoes of The Messiah, and its exuberant, positive  faith.

Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie op 64 was written in 1915 when Germany and Austria were at war. Yet it's no escapist fantasie. Anyone who knows mountains knows that they can be dangerous, and that nature doesn't smile on mortals. It is fashionable these days to knock programmatic music, but only a fool would be trapped by literal readings of abstract sound. Eine Alpensinfonie operates on a metaphysical level. The Wanderer of the Romantic ideal is recreated in 20th century terms. The 22 "scenes" in this tone poem could represent a Hero's journey, as might the scenes in an opera. Yet the protagonist here isn't the literal embodiment of a personality but a much more sophisticated way of expressing theorteical concepts through music.

In the "Meadows" sequence, we hear quiet, metallic cowbells, but they aren't merely decorative. In harsh alpine conditions, communities depend on cows, not farmland, Strauss writes long, flowing lines that suggest calm timelessness. But don't be lulled by the flute and horn melodies. Summer in alpine pastures is short. Significantly Strauss follows the "Meadows" with "Thickets". Darker, tenser sounds, suggesting anxiety. Fall from defined paths and you could be lost forever, down a ravine.

 The Glacier looms up. Low rumbling brass suggest something impenetrable; staccato, sibilant strings suggest tumbling, sliding surfaces. The section rises to an imposing crescendo. We are Auf dem Gipfel, on the peak, with nothing above but infinite sky.  A glorious panorama in sound that suggest infinite possibilities. Then Strauss pulls a quiet oboe solo that emerges playing a poignant melody, a counterpoint to the massive walls of sound that came before. Expansive, majestic harmonies seem to reach into infinity. I thought of a time I stood surrounded by the great circle of peaks in the Hoher Dachstein. (photo shows the Hallstättergletscher, surrounded by the peaks of the Dachstein). Haitink and the Vienna Philharmonic give these magnificent moments a hymn-like quality, emphasized by sonorous organ, Trumpet and trombone figures like celestial fanfare, reminding us that we are mortal. Is this the "Vision" Strauss is referring to? Not in a literal sense, but a moment in which we comprehend our place in nature and the scheme of whoever created it.

Glorious "peaks" in the music, then a sudden cutting off, which Haitink emphaises with great dramatic effect, for it is part of the meaning. We are plunged back into uncertainity. "Mist" rises from the deep valleys. In the eastern Alps the weather is treacherous, being caught on the slopes in a thuderstorm can kill. A brief moment of unnatural calm. In this wonderful playing, I could almost visualize the strange colour of light that precedes a storm. Electrifying rashes, hurrying passages. the huge Royal Albert Hall organ blasts menace. A percussionist winds the Wind Machine, other beat metal plates to suggest thunder and driving rain. Absolutely atmospheric.

Yet there's more to this than weather. In the rapid descent from the peak, we hear te music of the "waterfall", driving, fast-paced figures (xylophone, harps, strings) sparkle, Beautiful, yet sinister. Haitink and his orchestra conjure up a kind of psychic madness in these scurrying decelerandos, whipped by the organ and metallic non-wind "wind" instruments.  Then "rays", shafts of warm, glowing sound, evoking something gentler. The plucking of harps, delicious string textures. Led by the organ, another hymn-like theme arises, and the horns play a kind of counter reveille. Woodwind melodies remind us of the serene Alpine pastures of noon. Haitink makes the nocturnal mood sound just as serene, for Night is as important as Day in the life of the mountains.

Incredibly beautiful playing, yet with emotional depth and humanity. The encore was a Johann Strauss II Waltz, designed to please the public for whom Vienna is a symbol of sugar-coated frivolity. After that amazing Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie, it sounded pretty but trite. I wanted to stay forever with Haitink and the orchestra in the Alps.

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.

Haydn L'isola disabitata revisited

Haydn's L'Isola disabitata at  the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House was superb. Reading about the 2009 Gotham City Opera production  I suspect that the Jette Parker Young Artists production in London was significantly better. "Young" the Young Artists may be, but they are most certainly talented. This proves why schemes like the YA programme are vital for the health of opera. The same old revived blockbusters bring in an income, but the Young Artists are an investment in the future.

The London L'isola disabitata worked well because it kept generating ideas even after it was over. It wasn't recorded for posterity, so please read this analysis in Opera Today of how and why it was such a success.  This is Haydn for modern audiences. Alienation, moral dilemmas, and the idea of faith in adversity. Even the suggestion of social revolution. No wonder it's become a cult. Being compact and chamber, it's easy to stage. We'll hear more Hadyn L'isola disabitata in coming years but the London Young Artists production is a masterclass in how it can be done.

"Although L’isola disabitata is set on an island, the island is in fact no more than a structural concept indicating a situation cut off from the reality of normal society. Haydn uses a contemporary text, by Pietro Metastasio, which refers to barren rocks and smoke — metaphors of oppression, and of Constanza’s moral confusion"  The designs "reflect Constanza’s emotional landscape. She’s desolate, ruined, shattered. She’s lost faith because she invested in the trappings of marriage, rather than love."

Photo of  Elisabeth Meister as Constanza, Steven Ebel as Gernando, courtesy Royal Opera House

Haydn L'isola disabitata - Young Artists

Joseph Haydn's operas are hardly unknown - even the genuinely obscure Il ritorno di Tobias has  several times in the last few years - in Rome and in London. L'isola disabitata,  a Young Artists presentation in the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House proves decisively that the idea of Haydn being box office "unsexy" is ironic.

Full review in Opera Today HERE  It's MUCH better than this, so read the link. I wasn't feeling well when I wrote this so it's pretty basic. The "real" review is infinitely better. And production photos too. There's a review of the 2009 Gotham City Opera L'isola disabitata on Opera Today HERE. Although that involved Mark Morris,  it seems less successful production than the Young Artists in London, I think.

Written in 1799, just before the three best known operas, L'isola disabitata is enjoying a major revival all of its own,  thanks to the 2007 edition used here. This is Haydn for those who think they don't like the composer or don't even like baroque. It's short, snappy, and no high voices!

Because the programme notes cite the opening Sinfonia  as "an impressive example of Sturm und Drang", everyone's quoting that verbatim. What it means is that Haydn is responding to what were then modern ideas. Classical poise tempered high baroque opulence. Then, the turbulence of Sturm und Drang stirred up what was to become what we now call Romanticism. No wonder it's easier for modern audiences to relate to.

L'isola disabitata uses only four voices, distinctly defined and characterized.  Until they're united at the end, they sing alone, reflecting the characters' inability to link up. The orchestra's small - mainly strings, with only two horns, two oboes, bassoon and flute. Minimalist by 18th century standards. Perfect for the modern trend towards chamber opera. The plot's minimal, too. But that's its strength.

As with so much pre 19th century music, avoid long, elaborate libretti which confuse the real issues. In this case the plot's simple : keeping faith. Constanza (Elisabeth Meister) has been on a island for 13 years with her then infant sister Silvia (Anna Devin). Note her name - Constanza means "constancy".  Yet she's no doormat like Penelope who put up with Ulysses's wanderings. Constanza thinks she's been deserted so she gets mad. She spends the years carving deep graffiti into a rock, cursing her husband .

Just as she's about to give up and die, Gernando (Steven Ebel), her husband, turns up on the island. He didn't run off, he was kidnapped and he's come back to save her. So faith conquers adversity, no matter how ludicrous the plotline. Silvia and Enrico (Daniel Grice), Enrico's sidekick, form a romantic subplot that jazzes up the almost existentialist anomie of the basic Constanza story.

Even the island's only a framing device to the basic idea. Jamie Vartan's set reflects Constanza's emotional landscape - she's desolate, ruined, shattered because she put so much faith in marriage.  The smoke, the rocks - all there in the text. Silvia on the other hand is completely feral, having grown up in isolation. She's shocked about Enrico's anatomy, (though Hadyn doesn't make this too explicit) because she's known nothing but Constanza's bitterness against men. But nature wins over nurture.

It's a surprisingly modern storyline, once you get away from mythical trappings which even Hadyn doesn't indulge in. Musically, it's also "modern", the voice parts direct and communicative, without excess adornment. The orchestra follows the words intimately. Sometimes one instrument shadowing a voice. In the Sinfonia that serves as overture, you can hear glimpses of Haydn as symphonist. He doesn't need to overpower to make his point. Prototype Mozart, rather than musical dead end.

Elisabeth Meister and Steven Ebel excel. Both have been  prominent in the Jette Parker Young Artists scheme for some time, and have been heard many times in smaller roles in the main House. Meister memorably stepped in at short notice to sing the Fox in the Cunning Little Vixen. She sang with Ebel in Ebel's The Truth about Love at the Linbury last year. (read Steven Ebel's interview on Rilke). He also sang Rimenes in Arne's Atarxerxes.

Daniel Grice's Enrico was also good - I'd like to hear more of him. Anna Devin's singing was rather obscured because she had to jump about so much. It's in keeping with the idea of Silvia as a feral child unfettered by society, so director Rodula Gaitanou and movement director Mandy Demetriou  are making a valid point,  but even wild animals aren't manic.

But the point of Young Artists presentations is learning through experience. There's more to performance than technical prowess. Life skills count too. Please read "Polishing gemstones" where Simona Mihai and Kai Rüütel speak on the benefits of the Programme, one of the most highly regarded in Europe. The scheme also trains people in all aspects of opera, such as the conductor Volker Krafft, the director, designer, lighting and fighting. It's tough being a creative artist especially in this financial climate. But if this excellent performance of Haydn L'isola disabitata is anything to go by, the Young Artists have proved themselves.


Photo credits : Elisabeth Meister : Brian Tarr, Steven Ebel : Novo Artists

Haydn - sexier now ?

Earlier this year there was a talk at the South Bank with the title "Haydn : deeply unsexy ?" The idea was that Haydn doesn't sell the way Mahler or Mozart sells to audiences that don't normally listen to classical music. It's not Haydn himself but the way he doesn't fit the temper of modern times. "Who does he think he is writing baroque!" as someone said of Handel.

Andrew Clark in the Financial Times takes the Farewell Symphony as his starting point. Why do the musicians quietly remove themselves? Clark hears it as an elegant, but forceful response to the overbearing Prince Esterházy. Fortunately the Prince was astute enough to get the message. A suppressed rebel, then FJ Haydn ? But consider the times, when men could get disappeared for life if they upset the powers that were. And have things really changed so much?

Harrison Birtwistle did much the same thing in his Tree of Life (2008) but with less pointed portent.

Clark recommends Richard Wigmore's new book, The Faber Pocket Guide to Hadyn. Wigmore needs no introduction, he's original and perceptive. "...the Faber guides are a more substantial undertaking than the “pocket” appellation suggests. Wigmore’s lightly worn erudition is deceptive: without over-simplifying he has a knack of clarifying and contextualising all the relevant material, and is not afraid to give us the benefit of his own opinion. In his magisterial guide to individual works, he offers more insights than any other Haydn authority, signing off his chapter on The Seasons with the observation that the work “is killed by an excess of solemnity in performance”.

"Wigmore demonstrates that it is not enough for today’s scholars to know the territory through and through. They have to be able to sift and communicate it in a way that makes the reader drop the book and run to the music." Of course that presupposes people read to learn, not necessarily a given in this day and age.

Full article HERE

Prom 2 Haydn The Creation McCreesh

Another gift from the BBC Proms to the world – a new English text to Haydn's grand Creation. This must be the first baroque libretto created by text message and email. It was compiled by the conductor Paul McCreesh and Timothy Roberts, with input from singers, so it's specially kind for voice. The new words really do make a difference. At first, you don't notice as most remain the same. Then you realize that phrases are flowing more naturally, more in keeping with the music. Meaning, too, becomes more direct, like clear speech.

"Great swarms of insects" sings Raphael, on the 6th Day. It's more vivid than the prosaic "a host of insects". "The room with air with fowl is fill'd" becomes "the air is filled with feather'd fowl". Sing that to the German "Der Luft erfüllt das weiche Gelieder". It works! And you can "see" them flapping their wings and taking off.

The Creation is full of lively incident. How witty Haydn can be! When Gabriel sings about the nightingale and her "soft enchanting lays", the composer throws in decorative trills, like birdsong. Then when the Leviathan looms into view, dark winds boom solemnly like whale song. Rhythms bounce jauntily, like waves on the ocean.

It's good to hear the images revealed clearly, without a cloak of verbiage. This is vivacious, exuberant good fun, so Paul McCreesh conducts with a light touch. Adam and Eve keep their clothes on, but they sing with the innocence of nudity. The new words are much simpler. Instead of the formal, clumsy "and from obedience grows, my pride and happiness", Eve now sings "Oh, such obedience brings me joy and honour". She's a normal girl in love, not an automaton churning out cliches. This shows the value of the new text.

Very good performance, Rosemary Joshua, Mark Padmore, Neal Davies and the Gabrieli Consort, baroque specialists, with massed choirs, including from Wroclaw. Unusually, Adam and Eve are sung by young singers, Sophie Bevan and Peter Harvey, not the big names. This gives the delicate tracery of their duet more freshness, even though the singers aren't as polished as the stars. They're a "new creation" after all !

The duet's delicate tracery of "with thee, with thee" flutters merrily. Adam and Eve are like two butterflies in the sunshine. Of course we know what happens nexr in the Bible, but for a moment they dance in unsullied bliss.

Partenope on Sunday. Read about the ENO and Vienna productions by clicking on the Handel labels at right or scrolling down to the post below "BBC Proms 2009 starting this week" where the links are embedded.

BBC Proms 2009 - starting this week!

This year's Proms start on Friday 17th July. Live, broadcast on radio, TV, online and available for repeat on demand listening.

This year's Proms are solid good value. The First Night starts with fireworks, of course! – a short burst of Stravinsky's Fireworks, op 4. The music in the video comes from The Firebird, which it eventually inspired, but visually this clip is fun! This concert has an all-star line=up: Alice Coote singing Brahms's Alto Rhapsody (the reason I'm going), Stephen Hough and the sisters Labèque, heralding this year's emphasis on music for the piano; Ailish Tynan and Jiřì Bélohlávek. The atmosphere on the First Night, though, is what makes it special. Even if you can't be there in person, crack open the champagne or at least a cold beer and imagine!

Next night, Paul McCreesh conducts Haydn The Creation with a new, revised text.

This year's earlier Handel Partenopes have been covered on this blog – ENO HERE and Theatre an der Wien HERE. The BBC broadcast the Vienna performance with Christine Schäfer and Patricia Bardon earlier this year – it was excellent! This Proms version on 19th July has Lars Ulrik Mortensen conducting Concerto Copenhagen. This one should stand up to the more elaborate staged performances by sheer musical quality, since CoCo is one of the top specialist baroque orchestras in Europe. With Andreas Scholl, Christophe Dumaux, and Inger Dam-Jensen singing, you can bet this is going to be good. I heard Inger sing songs by Grieg, Stenhammer and Sibelius ten days ago at the City of London Festival. She's in good form.

That's the first weekend, three concerts of nearly 80. The Proms are fun because they're a communal event. Even if you listen alone on your PC you are part of what is happening perhaps thousands of miles away. Most years I listen to nearly every Prom, live and on the radio. Last year I wrote about 45 of the concerts, so please keep coming back to this blog for more. There's a button "Subscribe" top right which enables automatic updates. Here you won't get much cliché. Contributions and suggestions are welcome. I've already done a preview about new music at this year's Proms HERE. Being a mass audience festival supported by the taxpayer, it's pretty remarkable how much new music gets into the Proms.

Since 1715, the Three Choirs Festival

The 3 Choirs Festival started around 1715. So this year is Festival number 284!

Three Choirs came about when the choirs of three cathedrals, Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, agreed to come together and sing in each other's home city every year. Who is the man in the statue, with the bike? No less than Edward Elgar, born in Worcester, and a regular visitor to the Festival most of his adult life.

Over the last three centuries, the Festival has been the epicentre of the British choral tradition. Indeed, its influence is so great that it has shaped the very nature of British music. In the 19th century, Germans used to call Britain Das Land ohne Musik because the British didn't do symphonies or operas. But think Handel, Mendelsssohn, Bach, and the whole perspective changes. We wouldn't have had Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Finzi etc without that tradition. It's Three Choirs that defines so much of the British musical heritage. For that reason alone, visiting at least once connects to the ambience.

This year's Festival is in Hereford, starting 8 August, with Elgar's Dream of Gerontius. This is always a festival keynote, carrying all kinds of emotional resonance. Geraint Bowen, the Festival director. conducts the Philharmonia and a cast including Catherine Wyn-Rogers. It's followed by a fireworks display and a reception in the Bishop's Palace Gardens, making the most of the long summer evening. This evening is the biggie everyone goes to, so book early.

Sunday morning starts with Haydn's Heiligemesse and ends with a very late night (2215hr!) Happy Hour with the Lay Clerks where the Cathdral singers let it hang out with songs old and new. Monday's big evening concert includes Haydn, Finzi and Britten, who inhabited a completely different world from Three Choirs, though he is known to have attended. The late night concert is interesting - the Philharmonia Brass play Gabrieli and Michael Berkeley.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons appears earlier in the programme, but Haydn's Four Seasons on Tuesday 11th will be a better treat. Performers include James Gilchrist, Roderick Williams, and Gillian Keith. I've heard them sing this in London with another orchestra and conductor, so it should be very good indeed. Next night it's Handel, Israel in Egypt, in a new edition by Stephen Layton, who conducts. Iestyn Davies sings! Handel operas, for me, work well when there's something to look at. Interestingly, when Mendelssohn conducted this in 1833, he staged it, even using transparencies of Durer and Raphael.) The last night is a famous and much enjoyed communal song fest, but the next to last night is Mendelssohn's Elijah. Unlike so many choral bonanzas, there are parts in this where really top class singing makes all the difference. Sarah Fox gets to do the killer high parts! That's why Three Choirs is way above the "average" choir festival. The singing here is altogether another league.

Three Choirs isn't just song though. Lots of other music to keep you busy all day, every day, and talks, generally of a high calibre. Plenty of open-air Shakespeare performances too. The Festival is also a big social occasion for those into British music – everyone converges for reunions like the Elgar, RVW and Finzi societies etc. Many people stay all week and party because this is a lovely, atmospheric part of England, still rural in many places. Lots of excursions if you travel by car (but parking in town is difficult) Plus, no likelihood of snow in August.

http://www.3choirs.org/home.html
(photo above by Tony Hodges on flickr)

Sparkling Haydn Orlando Berlin

Currently I'm luxuriating in the superb performance of Haydn's Orlando Paladino as heard on 22 March at the Philharmonie, Berlin, conducted by Nicholas Harnoncourt, perhaps its most passionate champion. Kurt Streit is Orlando, Jane Archibald (lovely), James Taylor(real personality), Michelle Breedt and Jonathan Lemalu and others. Sparkling, sharp playing, stunning sound quality, excellent video.... It "feels" almost as close to being there live.

One of the things I like about this performance is that it's period in spirit, not form. Modernish instruments (apart from harpsichord and "tinny" percussion) and no counter tenors. Yet it's baroque in the sense of inventive playfulness. Having watched it nearly three times now what 's grown on me is the lively pace. Yes, the opera goes on and on but the slapstick moments are deft : James Taylor's face is wonderfully mobile, he's wonderful to watch. There's a mind inside this man, he's a natural comic. Jane Archibald, too, has an expressive face which lights up as she sings. Finally I got round to watching the interview with Harnoncourt. The music, he says, comments on what's being said, on different levels. Haydn's a country boy who grew up with different types of music around him. So when he goes off to the city, he can wow with the most deliciously inventive arias, but he's natural and down to earth.

Harnoncourt goes on to describe Orlando Paladino as a nuthouse where Alcina is the boss shrink who uses drugs to snuff stuff out. That and more interesting comments about the value of creative free thinking etc. Three hours of fun which you can listen to over and over for two days and it costs less than 10 Euro !

Catch it too on the Berliner Philharmoniker website http://dch.berliner-philharmoniker.de
Go to "Digital concert hall". The site is very professional and polished, but, like a BMW, it drives you, not the other way round. Takes some getting used to its torque but extremely good value! Please keep following this blog for more Berliner-phil concerts. Thganks to the site the Philharmonie is now my "local" concert hall !

Haydn "deeply unsexy" ? The Return of Tobias

Is Haydn "deeply unsexy" as he's been described or is he a "radical, genius, entertainer" as the bicentenary celebrations at the South Bank would have it ? To challenge our assumptions, the series starts off with a rarity, The Return of Tobias.

Tobias was such a smash hit in 1775 that it raised the equivalent today of £100,000. All Vienna turned out to hear Nancy Storace and Stefano Mandini, now remembered for premiering Mozart, singing gorgeously before 180 musicians and choir. What an extravaganza, it must have been spectacular. Yet, when it was revived in 1808, it flopped and fell into obscurity. Audiences had discovered Mozart, who changed the whole way opera is heard. Haydn's reputation was firmly defined by The Creation, the symphonies, the chamber music. Mendelssohn's Elijah and Paulus revived the genre for a while, but biblical oratorio was eclipsed by more "modern" opera. Two hundred years later perhaps we can hear things from a different perspective.

Drama there is aplenty in Tobias, but the action takes place only in memory: when Tobias returns home he tells his parents about his adventures, which include killing a sea monster and the demon who strangled all 7 other bridegrooms his new wife Sara married before him. Stories told in reverse aren't necessarily a problem – Wagner did this often. Indeed, because there's no need for narrative action as such, the device affords opportunities to indulge in glorious arias and recitatives. Eighteenth century audiences weren't much bothered by characterization or psychological insight as long as the tunes were good.

And in Tobias, there are glorious moments indeed. Each singer has a showpiece to display his or her vocal prowess to stunning effect, wowing the listener into abject wonder. Anna, Tobias's mother, has some of the loveliest pieces, like Sudò il guerriero. She's just nagging her blind, old husband, but who cares when it's done with this much panache ? Later, Tobias brings the magic potion he got from the serpent he killed. "Delay could prove fatal", he urges, launching into a ten minute aria, followed by another elaborate aria by Anna and extended choral effusions. Tobit, of course, refuses the potion at first, giving rise to a very long recitative where the various singers can indulge in deliciously beautiful interchanges, though they're describing Tobit's agonized suffering as the poison takes hold. He gets cured, eventually, but 18th century audiences already knew the story and were more interested in extending the moment with trills and cadenzas.

Perhaps the best arias are written for Raffaelle, the angel, who accompanies Tobias on his adventure, disguised a traveller. The lines soar and glow. "Come se a voi parlasse un messagier del cielo" like a messenger from Heaven has spoken. It's amazingly effective, as theatre, as ideally the sound should project like rays of light.

What we heard last night was the tightened-up 1784 version, not that anyone was complaining it wasn't the even longer original. Music like this stands or falls on the quality of the singing, since it was designed primarily to display technical glory. Fortunately, that's what we got, too. Full review below
http://www.musicomh.com/classical/oae-norrington_0209.htm