Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Massenet's Thais

A recent concert performance at the Royal opera House gave a chance to hear Massenet's rarely performed opera "Thais" This was the opera's first performance at Covent Garden since 1926 and the first by the Royal Opera.
Although the scenes of the opera, ranging from the banks of the Nile to Alexandria and an oasis in the desert, really call for extravagant sets and exotic costumes, I was quite happy that this was a concert performance. It prevented a director transferring its setting to a Glasgow tenement and a concert performance allows everyone, performers and audience, to concentrate exclusively on the music. Massenet's music is so rich and atmospheric, scenery and costumes were hardly missed.
The opera tells of the ascetic monk Athanael who cannot stop thinking of the beautiful courtesan Thais and sets off to Alexandria to convert her. So successful is he that she decides to give up her fleshly life and retire to a convent. Having left her at the convent Athanael realises that his interest her was not as spiritual as he thought it was. Rushing to be with her, he finds her dying and as he proclaims his worldly love for her she dies, wishing only to be with God.
The theme was very popular in the nineteenth century and indeed retains a fascination even in these more secular times. Remember the story of Father Brown and his topless housekeeper?
I was very pleased to encounter again Jospeh Calleja as Nicias the 'young sybarite'. This is a voice that has appreciable weight to it and a fine cutting edge that really takes it out into the house. This was a considerable performance that made me wonder if he is not becoming ripe for some rather heavier repertoire.
The monk Athanael was to have been sung by Thomas Hampson but he was ill. Simone Alberghini substituted. He looked good and sang competently but did not really carry the vocal firepower for such a leading role in this company.
In the title role there was a star performance from Renee Fleming. This is a part that matches her talents better than any other I have heard her sing. There were moments of the throaty delivery that I know troubles some but at other times the voice absolutely soared. Everything she sang was sung with conviction and her top notes were totally thrilling. She also wore two fabulous frocks: scarlet for her days as a courtesan and restrained cream as she moved towards the cloister and death.
Andrew Davis conducted the orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera House with great elan.
This was an evening of huge enjoyment with an unforgettable performance form Fleming.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Brinkburn Festival

I really ought to love the Brinkburn Music Festival.
Brinkburn Priory is set on the banks of the River Coquet, in the midst of beautiful Northumberland countryside and is a place of intense peace and tranquillity.The priory church is the only complete surviving building of a monastery founded as a house for Augustinian canons in the twelfth century. Its original dedication was to St Peter, later modified to include St Paul. The house was never a large one and by the fourteenth century numbered only some twelve canons. In 1536 the monastery was dissolved and its buildings fell into ruin. Careful restoration work in the nineteenth century, instigated by Brinkburn's then owner Cadogan Hodgson Cadogan, restored the church building. Unlike some 'restorations' of the Victorian period the work at Brinkburn was carried out in a sensitive and restrained manner.
One of the many remarkable qualities of the building is its wonderful acoustic. This was noted by Paul McCreesh, Director of the Gabrieli Consort. He has used the priory for recording some of his liturgical reconstructions and in 1993 he founded the Brinkburn Music Festival which has brought musicians of international standing to Brinkburn. My own Schola Gregoriana of Northumbria sang at the first of those festivals in a concert with the Orlando Consort. Since 1995 Brinkburn has also been used for an annual Latin Mass celebrated using the Missal of Blessed John XXIII and the Schola has led the music at every one of those Masses.
This year the Gabrieli Consort presented a concert of music written in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There was a surprising preponderance of modern music (more than half the pieces were written in the twentieth century) and no Gregorian Chant. I enjoyed Mouton's "Nesciens mater" and Josquin's "Ave Maria ... virgo serena" but I thought Palestrina poorly represented by his rather ordinary "Stabat mater". Of the modern music I was thrilled to hear Pablo Casals's "O vos omnes" a brilliant and moving piece.
At the end of the official programme Paul McCreesh announced that the Gabrieli Consort were to be joined by the Tees Valley Youth Choir for further two pieces. These, and an unexpected interval, extended the concert by 45 minutes beyond its promised finish time. The performance of Britten's "Hymn to the Virgin", with a small group singing the refrains from the back of the Priory was something special.
The Gabrieli Consort is an outstanding choir who showed eclectic virtuosity in music ranging over more than five centuries. Ensemble was occasionally a little shaky (a lack of rehearsal perhaps?). The ladies showed the fault of a lot of similar groups, singing with a rather sharp and harsh sound - a little more roundness of tone would be very welcome. And I am afraid I don't like Paul McCreesh's practice of having his choir singing a sustained final 'n' (Amen-n-n-n-n) - to me it sounds affected.
The organisation of the Festival gets better year by year. In addition to the marquee offering drinks and meals this year there was also a picnic service. Even the dreaded 'arrangements' were better this year - at least for the gentlemen.
But there is something about this Festival that always leaves me unsatisfied. Maybe it is the seating that is crammed into the Priory to the point of discomfort. Maybe it is the 'country show' atmosphere - except with McCreesh CDs rather than dressed sticks on sale. Maybe it is the 'school concert' organisation, with sudden additions to the programme and frequent self-congratulatory speeches. Maybe it is that I have come to associate Brinkburn with the performance of great church music within the liturgical context for which it was written.
I really ought to love the Brinkburn Music Festival. But I struggle with it...