Cavalli in Munich
The second opera in my recent visit to Munich was Cavalli’s “La Calisto”, again at the Staatsoper. I am not a great lover of early opera and find Cavalli’s musical style rather monotonous. There is no chorus, very few arias and most of the music consists of long passages of accompanied recitative. I managed to keep my interest alive for the first act but it sagged during the second half.
There was much to admire in the performance. The production, by David Alden, was light, colourful and witty. There were many ‘modern’ touches in it but they were there to clarify or amplify the story rather than to get in its way. Musical direction was in the experienced hands of Ivor Bolton with a small instrumental group on a specially raised platform in the middle of the orchestra pit.
The singing ranged from good to excellent. I expected memorable performances from Veronique Gens (as Giunone) and the noted character counter tenor Dominque Visse (as the satyr Satirino). The vocal discoveries for me were the counter tenor Lawrence Zazzo (as Endimione), revealing a beautiful soft-grained voice but which carried well into a large theatre and Sally Matthews, who sang the title role. She has a warm lyric soprano and I note that she is not only a former ROH Young Artist but also a former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Prize.
Despite getting a bit bored in the second half, this was an enjoyable evening and it received a rapturous reception from a capacity audience.
In between the two operas I went to a concert of Schumann and Beethoven given in the Gasteig by the Munich Philharmonic under their Music Director Christian Thielemann. Schumann’s cello concerto was played by the young German cellist Johannes Moser, who gave us also a Bach sarabande as an encore. The Beethoven was his seventh symphony and what a thrill to hear it played with such verve by a full symphony orchestra: sixteen first violins and eight double basses!
Finally I am happy to report that the beer in Munich is as good as ever and the Ludwig Beck department store on Marienplatz still has its huge CD section on the fourth floor.
There was much to admire in the performance. The production, by David Alden, was light, colourful and witty. There were many ‘modern’ touches in it but they were there to clarify or amplify the story rather than to get in its way. Musical direction was in the experienced hands of Ivor Bolton with a small instrumental group on a specially raised platform in the middle of the orchestra pit.
The singing ranged from good to excellent. I expected memorable performances from Veronique Gens (as Giunone) and the noted character counter tenor Dominque Visse (as the satyr Satirino). The vocal discoveries for me were the counter tenor Lawrence Zazzo (as Endimione), revealing a beautiful soft-grained voice but which carried well into a large theatre and Sally Matthews, who sang the title role. She has a warm lyric soprano and I note that she is not only a former ROH Young Artist but also a former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Prize.
Despite getting a bit bored in the second half, this was an enjoyable evening and it received a rapturous reception from a capacity audience.
In between the two operas I went to a concert of Schumann and Beethoven given in the Gasteig by the Munich Philharmonic under their Music Director Christian Thielemann. Schumann’s cello concerto was played by the young German cellist Johannes Moser, who gave us also a Bach sarabande as an encore. The Beethoven was his seventh symphony and what a thrill to hear it played with such verve by a full symphony orchestra: sixteen first violins and eight double basses!
Finally I am happy to report that the beer in Munich is as good as ever and the Ludwig Beck department store on Marienplatz still has its huge CD section on the fourth floor.
posted by Alnwickian at 6:51 pm
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