A Howler from the Vatican

The news organisation Zenit (http://www.zenit.org) reports that Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the Pontifical Household preacher no less, said the following in his commentary on the readings for the third Sunday of Advent:-

'This Sunday is traditionally called "Laetare" Sunday, that is, the Sunday of "rejoicing," from the words of St. Paul in the second reading: "Rejoice in the Lord always; I say again, rejoice." '

Oh dear oh dear.

Poor old Father C seems to have got his penitential seasons mixed up...

"Laetare Sunday" is the name given to the fourth Sunday in Lent. The third Sunday in Advent is commonly called "Gaudete Sunday", from the opening word of the Introit, which is indeed taken from the words of St Paul to the Philippians.

Something Old, Something New

These words are part of a good luck mantra for a wedding day but also sum up the opera CD releases for 2006. The old is the extraordinary recording of Wagner’s Ring cycle, recorded live at Bayreuth in 1955 and now being released opera by opera (I have the “Siegfried” only so far). Other live recordings from that period are usually in mono and often in very muddy sound. This is full clear 1950s stereo. The recordings were suppressed for many years by John Culshaw, chief producer at Decca, because he did not like live recordings and was bent on his studio recording conducted by Solti being the first complete Ring to be released. It has taken more than fifty years then for this first stereo Ring to reach the catalogue. The sound is excellent, the performances amazing (Windgassen, Hotter and Varnay, the greatest Wagner singers of their time, all at the height of their powers) and Josef Keilberth’s conducting is electric.

For the new I cannot do any better than Rossini’s “Matilde di Shabran”, recorded live at the Pesaro Festival in 2004. Loyal readers of this blog will recall my ecstatic review of the performance I attended at the time. This recording faithfully represents that performance with a lovely Matilde from Annick Massis and a spectacular tenor hero from Juan Diego Florez.

In recital CDs, it has been very much a year for the men. Bryn Terfel’s “Tutto Mozart” shows that his ventures into Wagner and Puccini have blunted none of his expertise in the more gentle if less exciting music of the eighteenth century. I have not heard the whole of Simon Keenlyside’s “Tales of Opera” but what I have heard has been impressive. It has had universally warm reviews and he was in top form when I heard him at the Edinburgh Festival.

Another of my “Edinburgh Men” was the enormously gifted Jonas Kaufmann. I heard him there as Walther in Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger” and this year he has produced an excellent recital disc of songs by Richard Strauss.

Finally the singer I heard just days ago at the Barbican in London and whom I rate as one of the most special singers I have ever heard. Juan Diego Florez’s “Sentimiento Latino” takes us away from opera to popular songs from his native South America. Some of the orchestral arrangements are in less than the best possible taste but the singing is gorgeous. The greatest singer in the world? I can think of none better.

Opera North in Newcastle

Three operas at the Theatre Royal all showed Opera North at pretty close to its best.

The first I saw was "La Voix Humaine", Poulenc's extraordinary and harrowing one act opera for a solo singer. It portrays the last minutes of a woman intent on suicide after her lover has deserted her for another. There was an excellent vocal and dramatic performance from Joan Rodgers as The Woman, who had me hanging on her every word - assisted by her excellent diction. She was not assisted by the loud and intrusive orchestral playing under Paul Watkins. The production by Deborah Warner was generally very good, although I could not understand the significance of the large white screen over the stage. And why did it start to tilt in the opera's final moments?

The following night was "Peter Grimes", which had gathered florid critical praise, including being described as 'the operatic event of the year'. If not finding it quite that, this was an excellent production and performance. Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts was a shaven-headed brute of a Grimes complemented by a feminine and gentle Ellen from Giselle Allen. Christopher Purves was an excellent Balstrode and the show was almost stolen by a wonderfully sleazy wide-boy Ned Keene from Roderick Williams.

Phyllida Lloyd's production started before the music and continued after it finished. That rather set the tone, with constant activity on stage, characters often on stage who should not be and action bustling through all the interludes. As always with this producer there was much that was clever and full of insight (and even wit - the wonderful 'tango' moment between Balstrode and Auntie), I just wish that there could have been the occasional moment of calm. And why did we have an elaborate scene of the villagers building Grimes's hut during the Passacaglia and the apprentice falling to his death in full view of the village inspection party?

Opera North's music director, Richard Farnes, conducted and produced a generally fast and fiery account of the score. He also produced moments of calm and quietness and the singers could always be heard. Diction was generally of a very high standard.

My third night was another new production: "Rigoletto". Alan Opie was listed to sing the title role but was unwell and so Olafur Sigurdarson sang instead and did very well indeed. A good firm baritone voice (without the extra high notes, it must be said) and excellent projection of text and character. Another find was the Gilda, Henriette Bonde-Hansen. A fine lyric soprano, she looked good, acted well and even had a proper trill. The Duke was Rafael Rojas, a bit rough and ready but he had all the notes for this very difficult part.

The conductor was Martin Andre and, again, I am happy to report a good deal of sensitivity accompanying the singers while not being in the least afraid of letting the orchestra 'sing out' when appropriate. The orchestral playing in both this and in Grimes was excellent.

The production was by Charles Edwards, more noted as a designer. It was modern (set in a 1950s world of porn and organized crime). It provided no great new insights but nor did it do any damage to the story. Maybe I am a bit unshockable where Rigoletto is concerned: the last performance I saw was Doris Doerrie's absurd Munich production set on the Planet of the Apes...

One or two quibbles aside, three very satisfying nights from Opera North.