tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53161924429886649352024-03-05T04:26:41.976+00:00Girl, LondonPontificating since '95Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-46380495972897774262017-06-14T12:43:00.001+01:002017-06-17T21:35:31.789+01:00Memories of late Beethoven at Midnight<u><b>In which Igor Levit concludes his Beethoven sonata cycle at the Wigmore Hall</b></u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-hiNbr8aXY0l-AQ-N4Jh27GReqb_f8dsbHY-dv6hyphenhyphennTjRdQqC2o1U2-8TLrEOoz2Bg-a52NKL0JPIS2lX6wiHboYpG0s7ITZbITFWoeQhWVUnjGepWjaN-gXc3hSUpWQDmjMVsJ6iOU/s1600/2_Igor-Levit_Felix-Broede.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="800" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-hiNbr8aXY0l-AQ-N4Jh27GReqb_f8dsbHY-dv6hyphenhyphennTjRdQqC2o1U2-8TLrEOoz2Bg-a52NKL0JPIS2lX6wiHboYpG0s7ITZbITFWoeQhWVUnjGepWjaN-gXc3hSUpWQDmjMVsJ6iOU/s400/2_Igor-Levit_Felix-Broede.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We did not begin until ten o’ clock at night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The crowd was buoyant, cheered by dinner and wine. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I, arriving with one newly close and full of
Chassagne-Montrachet, instinctively felt that things were as
they ought. The pale navy overhead, the grand dames wrapped in summer shawls
emerging with their husbands from the Venetian restaurant down the way, the
burnished scent of Cubans lingering about the awning. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I turned to him and I said: “<i>This feels right</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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He, who knows a lot about old world charm but understands little of the contrapuntal
or the 30<sup>th</sup>’s intrinsically wonderfully free adaption of the
sonata form, gave a little smile. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I did not need him to understand but it mattered not. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It was in the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-Igor-Levit/dp/B00DTLOCW4/ref=tmm_acd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1497731653&sr=8-2" target="_blank">late Beethoven sonatas</a> – the very items that
comprised his programme tonight – that I first heard the ideas of Igor Levit;
the imagination, the surety, the intellect and surprising riposte. I lay in
garden quad rooms at Merton, reading <i>Vernon
Subutex</i> in a pool of scholar’s gold on hardwood flooring. I listened, agape
and piqued, with increasing astonishment at the new subtexts of the <i>Hammerklavier </i>were made apparent with
prideful ease never before unveiled. I sat upright, book forgotten, as he
approached the 30<sup>th</sup>, that mark of intimacy which tugs more deeply on
my subconscious than all others combined and – oh! The <i>gesangvoll</i> exposed its full lyricism like it had never done before.</div>
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The late recital at the Wigmore Hall exposed all this
marvellous ingenuity, in a manner that is all too rare. How is it that few
young performers are inclined to foray into the realm of late Beethoven,
preferring instead the shores of the technically easier early sonatas or the
soaring power of the middle-aged great Romantics? Levit exposes how very
foolish this oversight is. He has an affecting manner of reaching inside
himself, slightly lewdly pressed against the keyboard, and unravelling
fascinating intellect together with imposing posture. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I did not realise until a pressed handkerchief was nudged
atop my clasped hands that I was silently weeping. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“<i>I’m sorry,</i>” I
apologised. We stood on the north side of Wigmore Street, which was still balmy
in summer heat. It was nearly midnight. “<i>I
had no idea I was.</i>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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With a serious expression, he looked at me directly. “<i>It’s alright. I think I understand. It’s the
cerebral collective. This is your world</i>. <i>Come,</i>” – he offered me his arm – “<i>let’s walk.” </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-22512538407737932102017-05-03T11:52:00.000+01:002017-05-04T10:47:48.210+01:00Hockney Hookah: The Tate Britain David Hockney Retrospective<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh-_Rzv5pY-7fXXXC9HgI2CGL6ZnPucd2M10SXmmfVieCCc8855thpkNakbc2Mvv-tqSv2Ag-Ez397-RREWsvXoGpV25P1PzWTLTA14dhl2Wv7xegliWoAHmQ6OYia0-iiqg8ZK5KSA-s/s1600/David_Hockney_model_with_unfinished_self_portrait_1977.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh-_Rzv5pY-7fXXXC9HgI2CGL6ZnPucd2M10SXmmfVieCCc8855thpkNakbc2Mvv-tqSv2Ag-Ez397-RREWsvXoGpV25P1PzWTLTA14dhl2Wv7xegliWoAHmQ6OYia0-iiqg8ZK5KSA-s/s320/David_Hockney_model_with_unfinished_self_portrait_1977.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Model with Unfinished Self Portrait, </i>1977</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Isn’t it
peculiar that, for the longest time, I thought David Hockney nothing more than
a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/may/15/art.smoking" target="_blank">pro-tobacco campaigner</a>?
To this day, when I think of “<i>our greatest living artist”</i> (the slightly
grovelling title now commonly attributed to him in the post Lucian Freud world),
I first picture a Pall Mall ciggy with a mop of blond hair and the trademark sartorial
tortoiseshell specs. Perish the thought. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">London
can’t get enough of Hockney, the prodigal Northern son. This was the repeated
lament of my Sunday companion, who protested most heartily at being dragged to
<a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/david-hockney" target="_blank">yet another Hockney retrospective</a>. I can certainly see his point of view. Just
a few months ago, the Royal Academy paraded eighty Hockney portraits – and, a
mere three years prior to that, hosted a swaggering show of his late
landscapes. It seems barely a few months ever go by without something of good
old David’s gracing some grand, colonnaded space between the Mall and Pimlico.
He has infiltrated the national consciousness in the manner of his own icons –
everyone can recognise the figure in the pool, the flecks of chlorine froth
upon the Mondrian-esque abstraction. City bourgeoisie yuppies defend a
favourite print over Napa shiraz at dinner gatherings. We can see his ‘Wolds
beaming guilelessly during the otherwise grey traipse from cubicle to loo. It
is certainly no surprise that the current retrospective is the fastest selling
exhibit in Tate history; after all, it is for the same reasons of foggy
familiarity that La Traviata continuously sells out season after season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Why, then,
are we not sick to the teeth of his sun-soaked frolics? The answer (to me) seems
simple: joy, sheer and unadulterated. Hockney’s art inhabits a curious world
where even moroseness and abandonment are veiled by a gossamer haze of mischief
and abstract placidity. It stands out as decidedly un-British and, in lazy
comparison to his most significant peer in Freud, Hockney’s art has a primary
humanity and visceral heartwarmth that Freud’s more relentless approach cannot
match (for direct comparison, proceed downstairs at Tate Britain to the final
room of the <i><a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/queer-british-art-1861-1967" target="_blank">Queer British Art</a></i> exhibit, where works of both glare across
the walls and you can “<i>smell the balls”</i>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">When I
entered the Hockney exhibit, it was with a dreamy eye and induced serenity. The
first room is an exorbitant overture; the grand prologue. Alive here the
components of the possible impossibility that comprises the gentle, post-coital
glow of Hockney’s art. It is present in the breathtakingly tender male beauty
of the supine figure in <i>Model with Unfinished Self-Portrait</i>, the
intrusive warmth of which is later re-seen in Schlesinger’s detached profile (<i>Portrait
of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures))</i> and the coy archness of Ossie Clark’s
gaze. It is in the gentle teasing of the absurd and preposterous, which is
manifest even in the near childlike graffiti of his Royal College days. Disbelief is suspended, the improbable is bare but unquestioned; because in one fell swoop, we stop being playthings of memory and hateful of the marvellous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5qGgiu_lFP0d41jb42dbuV1PJR3Cv-S4vjkbbfxQvaJqxbWzA9MLXRxeFWIBWytIGgJcho8PqbfIH0E0xt52jBfybxNw2uhSP24sR_YwyRev6k6SoKyzixmPNXPeTz-_aPdc3MvC79g/s1600/play_play_63.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5qGgiu_lFP0d41jb42dbuV1PJR3Cv-S4vjkbbfxQvaJqxbWzA9MLXRxeFWIBWytIGgJcho8PqbfIH0E0xt52jBfybxNw2uhSP24sR_YwyRev6k6SoKyzixmPNXPeTz-_aPdc3MvC79g/s1600/play_play_63.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Play within a Play</i>, 1963</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It is the
abiding themes which are irrevocably Hockney that stay in my mind. It’s like
that much-abused Allen question; what are the things that make life worth
living? Hockney provides his own tailored answer in the luxuriant sweep of his
brushstroke, persistently throughout his voyage through adolescent
semi-abstract protest, to Californian masturbatory abstraction, to naturalism
and late Cubism. It is:</span></div>
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<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The indulgent sink of Ossie’s feet into the
gleaming white rug</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The wild spangle of pink and turquoise adorning
the Californian hills behind Peter Schlesinger</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-GB" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The thirsty delirium of the Canyon-side dirt
paths</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The demonic phallic possibility of a </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Play
within a Play</i></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The cackling derision of Colgate and Vaseline</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The unreal pre-Raphaelite and glazed depiction
of Celia Birtwell, at once discordant and fecund against her partner’s
immediacy</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The rebirth and reinvigoration of beauty in the
inanimate dually alongside an abstraction of the distance between human
subjects</span> </li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sz93P77cdYL9pHyGJUmFWExA0Dns9WtmyT1b0vGz0dLOVEaLI0br_a4xcUy2L0mzeimI421JSYjK9irPKWqloUTOa6h_BPsbnwWF1i20HLnn-s7Xcg5TDo4L3y7OqPstYIcMqmPmbl4/s1600/66B21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sz93P77cdYL9pHyGJUmFWExA0Dns9WtmyT1b0vGz0dLOVEaLI0br_a4xcUy2L0mzeimI421JSYjK9irPKWqloUTOa6h_BPsbnwWF1i20HLnn-s7Xcg5TDo4L3y7OqPstYIcMqmPmbl4/s1600/66B21.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Peter Getting out of Nick's Pool</i>, 1966</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">As for Hockney’s
later works, there is perhaps some credence to the view that, “<i>In some
senses, the subsequent 40 years of Hockney’s career look like a series of
heroic attempts and strategies to manufacture the intensity of his early years</i>”.
Yet, this dismissal might be too unilateralist. With advancing age, Hockney’s
art seems to assume increased sanguineness, abandoning the shackles of
gleeful contrivement that mars the unproven and unrecognised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a wonderful, almost lyrical, arc to
the two mid-sized paintings of <i>Breakfast at Malibu</i>,<i> Wednesday and
Sunday, 1989</i>. In both, a window flanked veranda is set for tea. Wednesday
has two chairs and allegorical fussiness. Beyond the floor length glass lurks an ocean; vast, uncontained, ribbed. Its seizures melt into the greenish sky.
On Sunday, the chairs are withdrawn. The surface has been covered with sheened
titian. There is only the smallest strip of navy sky, below which stirs placid
crests. I moved from one to the other. And back. It was magnetically
compelling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Days later,
I recalled the Malibu waves to a close friend on a transatlantic phone call,
though words were a poor imitation. They, recently sobered by the departure of loved
one, looked at the prints. Their perception was altogether different. Where I
had been assuaged by the calm of <i>Sunday</i>, they found artificial freedom
and a locked-up dream. The human activity of <i>Wednesday</i>, the milk jug
slightly off line, to them signalled comfort, as did the febrile activity of
the waves. Our conversation wandered, to an old man who feared death with spiteful
acuteness. We never returned to Hockney, but the understanding was clear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">As for my begrudging
Sunday companion – well, he stood over my shoulder watching the Malibu waves
for a good twenty minutes and didn’t complain once. I daresay he even rather
enjoyed it, as gauche and mainstream as he had previously made it sound. That encapsulates, I think, the enduring strength of Hockney's appeal; few can worm their way into public affections in such easy, unassuming manner. Even after all these years, it is easy to simply fall in love again. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBV4hn6H6yxZuhbke2HCSUBz87FewFhis2zOHHL_IGjVaWeu6Q7XzaGM_-xbitspBMLx-Hpl3UqXPl9UyTAdCfupMoqK9T0nJcKtHrGitC3I57CFBt3Bn8DN9ZBf7IHGWXpe_MOZm-Yys/s1600/IMG_20170423_150802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBV4hn6H6yxZuhbke2HCSUBz87FewFhis2zOHHL_IGjVaWeu6Q7XzaGM_-xbitspBMLx-Hpl3UqXPl9UyTAdCfupMoqK9T0nJcKtHrGitC3I57CFBt3Bn8DN9ZBf7IHGWXpe_MOZm-Yys/s320/IMG_20170423_150802.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Breakfast at Malibu, Wednesday, </i>1989</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvxedS_o_Rh-4kahvRCZg6Brt9CQWfdCgDVa7J8xztAJ-3AgebrT6o0uc3MJC839hfFQQsZfhVxFBNLozoph-mtZ8vsyv1L6QSzlGATcoBn8b2wWkZrXz7TKCm99wog5QiScRtoaUsN28/s1600/IMG_20170426_091808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvxedS_o_Rh-4kahvRCZg6Brt9CQWfdCgDVa7J8xztAJ-3AgebrT6o0uc3MJC839hfFQQsZfhVxFBNLozoph-mtZ8vsyv1L6QSzlGATcoBn8b2wWkZrXz7TKCm99wog5QiScRtoaUsN28/s320/IMG_20170426_091808.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Breakfast at Malibu, Sunday</i>, 1989</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-45678826784740020632017-04-29T12:39:00.000+01:002017-04-29T18:24:34.522+01:00Mayerling: Watson, Osipova, Yanowsky and a cast to end all days<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRI0Rj7g7Kp6fcqjAZhbVeqOCGjeNfMQhsu-8mWr-yCbYTwvSuo_IqB6-xzcIm8oxSSYlFuRrMne4pwr_JSjJFFq_g5rJQxeUPMFrzpB6a40h8O8UTkMmkH9xIHkvx2qHnpSzTdjHBZj4/s1600/C-ctzhnWAAAxNBS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRI0Rj7g7Kp6fcqjAZhbVeqOCGjeNfMQhsu-8mWr-yCbYTwvSuo_IqB6-xzcIm8oxSSYlFuRrMne4pwr_JSjJFFq_g5rJQxeUPMFrzpB6a40h8O8UTkMmkH9xIHkvx2qHnpSzTdjHBZj4/s640/C-ctzhnWAAAxNBS.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: DanceTabs</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Ed Watson
is now so synonymous with the role of Crown Prince Rudolf, the making of
Macmillan’s mad male masterpiece, that during a recent sojourn to Vienna, I was
disappointed to stumble upon a portrait of the Prince in which he wasn’t even
redhead. More fool me – but the opening night of the Royal Ballet’s latest run
of <i>Mayerling</i> has only cemented this impression more firmly in my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Some of the
quickest impressions of Friday night’s performance before an action-packed bank
holiday weekend whizzes me away:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The first
cast is perhaps the strongest <i>Mayerling</i> cast ever fielded. Eight
principals: Watson’s Rudolf; Osipova as his Mary (role debut); Lamb as Countess
Larisch; young starlets Hayward and Campbell as Princess Stephanie and
Bratfisch respectively; the soon-departing Yanowsky as the Empress, and; even
principals in comparatively marginal roles of Mitzi Kasper (Nunez) and the lead
Hungarian soldier (Hirano). For a discipline often stereotyped as intensely
political, it is remarkable to see the coherent and united front presented by
the highest rank of the company. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Watson as Rudolf
– what is left to say? What more can possibly be added? The very build of his
body seems ideally suited – lanky, pale, long-limbed, slightly waif-like and
tragic. No-one tells a story quite like Ed Watson. Rudolf’s internal monologue
throughout is clear and loud; his wavering over the strong-arm opinions of the
Hungarian soldiers, his maniacal desperation when left alone. There is
vulnerability and insanity in his solo variation upon spying the Empress with
her lover, </span>and ferocious negative capability in every pas de deux with Mary.
Also exceedingly well acted is the slightly vague nature of his feelings
towards his doomed mistress. History dictates that while Rudolf was certainly
the great love of Mary’s short life, his affections did not extend quite so
deeply. It wasn’t Mary’s “<i>deep, black eyes,</i>” that drove him to seek
respite, but a more grandiose obsession with the macabre. This is expressed
beautifully and devastatingly in both Act Three pas de deuxs. The first, in
Rudolf’s apartments, is disturbingly harrowing to observe. When his Mary
approaches to coax him out of catatonic stupor, Rudolf is slow to react but
then snatches blindly, ferocious, the very upturned tilt of his palms angular
and detached. Too often does the final pas de deux, in the Mayerling lodge, verge
upon a great lovetorn farewell. There is nothing to suggest that here; Watson’s
Rudolf is lavish with the physical, but mentally depraved and already departed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">If previous
experiences with this dancer have taught anything is that you <i>must</i>
endeavour to catch his final performance of the run. Such is the gruelling
nature of the role that – pragmatically – there may have been a slight tinge of
calculation in his Act One portrayal, a need to pace himself early on. Rudolf
requires complete, immersive abandon – so, see it on the 11<sup>th</sup> and
weep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Now to
Mary. I think the moment the casting announcement was made, it was instinctively
apparent that Osipova’s Mary was going to be something different. Indeed, it
was. Let us ruminate upon the Baroness Vetsera herself. We know that Rudolf
comprised her world. While she perhaps lacked the intellectual savant that the
Crown Prince valued so highly, her adoration for his person was limitless and
fanatical; she both bought into and channelled anew Rudolf’s unhinged
world-weariness. On Osipova, this latter aspect was disconcertingly wonderful. She
is the first Mary, in a long time, who seems to amplify Rudolf’s intense
obsessions and triumphs, not luxuriates, in his physical attentions. She has her
own perverse afflictions, separate from his – in the bedroom pas de deux, she
seemed to break free of convention and entered a state of frenzied hedonism.
Rudolf, weakened and world weary, is almost prone before such a sybarite
display. In this interpretation, while Mary was not perhaps the love he chose
to take to death, she was the catalyst without whom it never would have materialised.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The other
emotional standout of the evening was Yanowsky’s Empress, a complex cool icon.
The strength of her gaze alone conveys the unhappiness that seems to overshadow
her person. Her Act One pas de deux with Rudolf was heartrendingly uncomfortable
to observe; yet, she facilitates the character’s internal conflicts so
convincingly with the stolen pas de deux with Gary Avis as her lover a snatched,
suspended moment. There is an elegance about Yanowsky few can emulate; she has
time, she has reason, under all of which simmers tremendous dramatic
capability. I shall miss her something terrible.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It should
perhaps suffice to say that all roles, across the board where beautifully conveyed
(one nervous moment with a costume mishap in Act One aside), and time is not on
my side to lavish sufficient attention on each. Sarah Lamb’s Larisch is
grand, coy and authoritative – when she circles Rudolf, together with Mary,
there is a marvellous internal gravity underpinning the interchange of the two
women. With every shared bouree, Osipova’s Mary seems to be guided from and
learn from this much more worldly being. I long to perhaps one day see Ryoichi
Hirano’s Rudolf, such is the depth of his style and I believe that
dramatically, he has much to give. Most of all, I long to see this cast
immortalised to the end of days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-81937081804217619722017-04-25T12:12:00.000+01:002017-05-10T12:14:25.392+01:00Live from the Met: Eugene Onegin with Netrebko and Mattei<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.theatrclwyd.com/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/07/met-eugen-fet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://www.theatrclwyd.com/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/07/met-eugen-fet.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: Metropolitan Opera</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I rarely
see opera cinema broadcasts because the purist in me believes nothing quite emulates
the live experience and I end up stewing with irrational jealousy that I am not
present in person. But there are certain operas and singers that encourage me
to discard such snobbisms. The combination of Tchaikovsky’s <i>Eugene Onegin</i>,
one of my favourite operas and Anna Netrebko’s Tatiana inspired such a
cinematic trip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">First of
all we must mention an absence sorely felt onstage; Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who
was to perform the role of Onegin, has temporarily retreated yet again from the
stage as he continues his battle with illness. Onegin is a role fortuitously
interwoven with his starry career; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/arts/music/12oneg.html?ex=1172466000&en=95f404056a79b74f&ei=5070" target="_blank">his showing opposite Renee Fleming</a> is widely considered one of the definitive interpretations of the difficult
role and it was again as the diffident Eugene that he graced the Covent Garden
stage for his <a href="http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/eugene-onegin-by-kasper-holten" target="_blank">first London appearance post-diagnosis</a>.
Such is his deep mastery of the character and unique velvet-coated-iron voice
that mere mention of him coaxed a scattered applause from the cinema audience. Dima,
get well soon and return once more to the frost-ridden dawn!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The opera
may be named after the St Petersburg cad but make no mistake, such is
Tchaikovsky’s adoration of the pensive Tatiana that it is difficult to stage
any production which provides more than a cursory understanding of the titular Byronic
character (curiously, the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky-Hvorostovsky-Metropolitan/dp/B000YCLRBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493047915&sr=8-1&keywords=hvorostovsky+onegin" target="_blank">preceding minimalist Met Opera production</a>
achieved this remarkably well). <a href="https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2013/9/Features/The_Man_in_the_Margins.html" target="_blank">Tchaikovsky declared himself madly in love with Tatiana</a> during the opera’s creation, and it is upon her (and the idealist Lensky) that
he bestows his most lyrical arias. This is the template of both score and
libretto – and with Anna Netrebko, perhaps the single most charismatic soprano
alive, as the older Larina daughter, Tatiana is inevitably the opera’s
pulsating core.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And how marvellous
she is! Suspend the disbelief that, under the unforgiving glare of HD cinema,
our Tatiana is a few springs over seventeen. Forget the annoyance that she
writes her doomed lovesick missive in a conservatory, a clunky and
unimaginative space. Luxuriate instead in her intense charisma, the changeling dark eyes, the dark timbre hinting at otherworldly wonder when she soars to the
episodic refrains the letter scene aria. Her Tatiana is less knowing than some
others. Unusually, against the flow of modern interpretation, Tatiana’s Act One
appearance is not tainted by pensive melancholy. Rather, this Tatiana looks to
tomorrow with optimism and is congenial, if a little shy. Under this filter, we
too experience the confused flush of this early Tatiana – the sudden rush of
impulse of adolescent adoration, the gawkish shyness and agonising over social
failings. Netrebko also succeeds in drawing to the forefront musical
interchanges that can be lost; I have never found Tatiana’s exchanges with her
nurse (Diadkova) that bookend the letter scene particularly illuminating, but
she draws out the adolescence of the girl’s curiosity and the dearth of
romantic fulfilment that surrounds her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Special
mention must be made of the letter scene, a self-contained ten-minute exploration
of adolescent yearning. It is symbolic of the entire opera; seemingly placid
and uncomplicated (if strong) emotions on the surface which are contained by a
crust of reserve under which churns a torrent of bated afflictions. Netrebko,
alone and exposed, is bigger than both stage and life. She recognises that the
power of the aria lies in its arc, both vocal and theatrical, and captures both
ecstasy and pain in the same descending scale <span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">(“</span></span><i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">Вообрази<span style="background: white;">: </span>я здесь одна<span style="background: white;">, </span>Никто меня не понимает</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">” / Remember,
I am here all alone! </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><i>Nobody
understands me</i>”). Netrebko was not perfect (still retaining that life-long intonation problem including a tendency to be sharp) but she <i>was</i> magnificent.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Our
second replacement Onegin was Peter Mattei (taking over from Mariusz Kwiecien, who
sang the opening nights of this run). Theatrically, he is pure and his grave
deportment successfully drew clean characterisations opposite Dolgov’s fidgety Lensky.
If this Onegin appears of little incidence opposite a powerful Tatiana, it is
hardly his fault, such is Netrebko’s vocal fortitude. But he was hampered in
other regards; his tone, though pleasingly stately, has introvert tendencies. This
worked handsomely for his Act One closing aria of paternalistic condescension,
but left the final duet rather flat and lacking power. And, in a completely
personal gripe, he committed that cardinal tenor sin of falling dramatic to his
knees and pounding the earth under the apparent romantic agony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The rest of
the Russian cast was largely well-balanced. As Lensky, Alexei Dolgov was
invigorated, if not entirely lyrical and slightly reedy, presenting an
affectingly pathetic and earnest character. Elena Maximova’s flighty Olga made
the most of a limited role. Our Gremin, one of the great bass operatic roles,
was curiously baby-faced and lacked the grizzled gravitas of the soldier that
ought to draw effective comparison to the dark Onegin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This is the
second outing for the Met’s new production, and it does not seem to improve
upon revival. The pageantry interrupting the peasant chorus sits ill with the
mournful weariness of the folk song, the dancers cluttering an already fussy
space. The sets, the work of Tom Pye, are disconnected, with the near-abstraction
of the final Act meshing oddly with the homely reality that preceded it. In the
final scene, with repressed emotions laid bare across the bleak Russian
landscape, it is in the unmatched realism of Netrebko’s Tatiana that we take
wing, with or without Onegin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-37531534155807946682017-04-10T11:42:00.000+01:002017-04-14T13:14:32.553+01:00Overheard at the Opera House (Jan - March 2017)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">NB: May
also include non-opera classical venues, but who’s really complaining?
(Spoiler, the following disgruntled punters are).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>I think the
provenance of the opera </b>[Adriana Lecouvreur]<b> is rather remarkable. </b>[After being
pressed]<b> – I mean, Mascagni is just genius!</b></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>For
non-opera geeks, Adriana Lecouvreur was the brainchild of Francesco Cilea not
Pietro Mascagni.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>If it’s not
Callas, I just don’t care</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Words of a
person who I cannot understand being inside any opera house at all post 1964.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>Those
rather bright lights in the second act </b>[Woolf Works] <b>were rather intriguing.
What are they called? The disco-like flares! Ah, yes – <i>lasers</i>. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>You’d think
they would have promoted Yuhui by now! That vision scene <i>pas de deux</i> was
so luscious, if I were Kevin O’Hare, I’d promote her to principal at the end of
the show.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Issued
during the interval of a Sleeping Beauty performance starring Japanese
principal <a href="http://www.roh.org.uk/people/akane-takada" target="_blank">Akane Takada</a>, not the (admittedly overlooked and deserving of
promotion) first soloist <a href="http://www.roh.org.uk/people/yuhui-choe" target="_blank">Yuhui Choe</a>, who is her compatriot. #everydayracism
#checkyoprivilege #oratleastchecktheprogramme</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>And then
Harriet got so squiffy when her daughter failed to get into White Lodge yet <i>again</i>
</b>[NB: the Royal Ballet’s lower school].<b> It’s those <i>broad shoulders</i>, you
see. You’d think Harriet would know full well the poor girl’s limitations,
seeing as the bulldog physique comes from the maternal line…</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>I just don’t
believe that Giorgio Germont really had a daughter.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>This is not
so much funny as it is depressing and begrudgingly possible. What if, instead
of being society’s creature much like Violetta (as I always read it), old
Germont was just a huge bastard? It rather shatters the romantic ideal I – and
a good chunk of the classical world – always held La Travs to.</li>
<li>This is the
pallid horror I get in return for asking a casual opera-goer for their opinion. But it is precisely
this sort of discourse that convinces me puritans are the worst things to
happen to any art, ever. Open mind, folks. Open mind.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>I’m rather
surprised I wasn’t bored. I was expecting to be bored. In fact, I’m rather
upset I’m not bored. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>My surprised companion at the end of a six hour Wagner opera.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-17782816587083273312017-03-30T01:10:00.000+01:002017-05-02T23:12:42.668+01:00Yulianna Avdeeva Astounds at St John's Smith Square<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBCoLPfS2doflYp_-O3oMSf_a13mveOSUIwrRuQz_wKmoF_mI71Xn0sbUz95t6pR0IAb17FKNFDy5crqRQ0P8EPs9CRMewTpEn78KSAg9MjkBTILFt__cBQ8XNPdR4NiMfMt2FR5puFhE/s1600/yulianna_avdeeva_high_res_5_-_credit_harald_hoffman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBCoLPfS2doflYp_-O3oMSf_a13mveOSUIwrRuQz_wKmoF_mI71Xn0sbUz95t6pR0IAb17FKNFDy5crqRQ0P8EPs9CRMewTpEn78KSAg9MjkBTILFt__cBQ8XNPdR4NiMfMt2FR5puFhE/s400/yulianna_avdeeva_high_res_5_-_credit_harald_hoffman.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I last saw Yulianna Avdeeva in September at the
Wigmore Hall but in truth, I spied her mere weeks ago, amongst Elton’s muses
in the <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/radical-eye-modernist-photography-sir-elton-john-collection" target="_blank">Radical Eye exhibit</a> at the Tate Modern. I cannot remember the
photographer’s name, but its subject was a young woman arching away from the
camera, with the supplest neck and quiet humour. Avdeeva herself has one of
those tempestuous auras, replete with a gamine countenance and such expressive eyes.
Her very presence exudes a radiance that is almost otherworldly; and, luckily
for us all, this inwards glow translates ardently to her music.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Avdeeva is an artist who can inspire the most violent
reactions from my person. The combination of her soft deftness an immense
academic understanding of the keyboard’s possibilities make me lose my mind
entirely. The 2010 International Chopin Competition birthed three immensely
successful medallists who have all gone on to forge notable careers. In fact, I
have had the wondrous luck of hearing all three perform in the past four
months. <b>It is odd to call the winner of (arguably) the most prestigious
piano competition in the world a maverick character. Yet this is a label that
has plagued Avdeeva since the prize</b>, the award of which was accompanied by
<a href="http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/22677/article" target="_blank">considerable controversy</a>.
But there is a candour in Avdeeva’s playing and a modern ferocity that turns my
head more than any other. The <a href="http://londonroomwithaview.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/new-russians-on-cult-of-trifonov-and.html" target="_blank">virtuoso and curious charisma of Daniil Trifonov</a> is
now applauded worldwide and Ingolf Wunder constantly astounds with brazen
technique. Avdeeva, however, is arguably the most rewarding to behold and when
she connects with the stool, the possibilities are endless. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first half of the programme was entirely devoted
to Beethoven, with his Sonatas 26-27 curiously inverted in order. The 26<sup>th</sup>,
the <i>Piano Sonata in E Flat Major (‘Les Adieux’),</i> was miraculously
realised, drawn tightly together by an inner surety. Avdeeva’s instinctive
fecundity is one of her defining traits; it cast a grave filter over the adagio
of <i>Das Lebenswohl</i>, realising the dark drama behind the composition’s
creation. Too often is the third movement (<i>Das Wiedersehen)</i> taken with
brazenly meaningless joy, but on Avdeeva, its natural <i>vivacissimente</i> is accompanied
with real introspect, the interplay of subjects between hands telling of the
politically programmatic intention Beethoven endowed it. Yet, her labours aren’t
imposingly obvious and her interpretation can soar on even a superficial
level of mere radiance – such is the roundness of her tone and archness of her
phrasing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But the chief reason I had rushed so impatiently
through my day was in anticipation of the final item on the programme; Liszt’s </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Piano
Sonata in B Minor</i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, the only piece he wrote in pure sonata form. It is the finest example of
Liszt’s greatest legacy on composition; the concept of</span><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thematic_transformation" target="_blank">thematic </a></span><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thematic_transformation" target="_blank">transformation</a></span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">,
which purports to undertake the listener through a constantly evolving
metamorphosis of motifs and themes, in a much freer form fashion than the
classical variations which preceded it. It is a sonata in a single movement –
thirty minutes of unbroken “<i>blind </i></span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">noise</i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">” (as Clara Schumann disparagingly
said) – which nevertheless contains distinctly divisible parts and the
traditional scheme of exposition, development and recapitulation. Structure
aside, its visceral power has held me in thrall since my first hearing; it has
Liszt’s trademark virtuosity but also desperate Romantic gentility, paradoxical
conflict and ravishing passages. For all those who find Liszt unaccountably bolshy
and meaninglessly indulgent – I direct them to this carriage into the sublime
which is, in the words of Wagner, “</span><i style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g3OnyUSS9JgC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=wagner+liszt+beyond+all+conception&source=bl&ots=maCNgfJ1-1&sig=a3hBhSnL2jWFu4JMX0RdIEssC44&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-3qD0wvvSAhXLLMAKHUs4BfoQ6AEIJDAD#v=onepage&q=wagner%20liszt%20beyond%20all%20conception&f=false" target="_blank">beyond all conception</a></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">”.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Such is my endless admiration for the composition that
I have listened to nearly every recording made. Where many exponents suffer is
in conflating Romantic rush with haste, a heinous fault to befall any Liszt
composition. It is one of those pieces in which the contrast between its
youthful and wizened interpreters is magnificently intriguing. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arrau-Plays-Liszt-Piano-Concertos/dp/B004OUFSU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490954178&sr=8-1&keywords=arrau+liszt" target="_blank">Claudio Arrau’s late recording</a> is perhaps the most complete, with a stateliness and roundness of
tone that endows the delirium with contemplation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Avdeeva’s reading is much more eager and premised on
the vehemence of youth and febrile reasoning. She courts the dangerous rumble
of the opening <i>Allegro Assai</i> with such hedonistic abandon that, when the
climatic <i>Grandioso</i> is reached, the opening chord is perversely almost
‘sotto voce’. It is a mark of instinct against form, of journey over destination.
The same treatment is applied throughout. Lyricism flirts with grandeur and the
ebb of the thematic transmutations is dispatched with such glee that it snatches
wickedly. But, as ever with this pianist, nothing is ragged nor rushed. It is
not the most elucidating rendition, but it is quite consistently brilliant,
with such exquisite taste championing reckless feeling. Avdeeva’s Liszt Sonata
is so charmingly accessible that the very rise and fall of the <i>Dolce</i>
passages were instinctively mimicked by the collective worldly sigh of the
audience, who succumbed to sheer purity of feeling. Deceptively simple, it is a
wise reading – too many young exponents have attempted to impart grand,
sonorous themes upon this layered creature. Yet, their keenness belies haste
and exposes a psychological want and lack of gravitas. Avdeeva’s currently
dabbles with the precipice of abandon rather than opulence – and I look forward
to hearing its evolution over time, if I should be so lucky.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was under such enchantment that I gave what was
only my second standing ovation in a recital hall this season – alongside, it
seemed, everybody else. Our gratitude was handsomely repaid with a return to
Chopin, whose genius first thrust this young phenom into public consciousness.
The aching simplicity of the <i>Nocturne in C Sharp </i>stood in stark contrast
to the twisted splendour of Liszt that preceded it, deployed with a free hand
and murmuring rubatos. Yet, there was more garlanded wonder to come, with a
ferocious and glowing <i>Polonaise in A Flat Major (Heroic)</i>. Curious
comparison can be made to Ingolf Wunder, the silver medallist at the 2010
contest, who played the same piece in the same hall, a mere four months
earlier. The Heroic was projected shamelessly then, flamboyant and concrete.
Male, tense and percussive, it coaxed its applause from awe but left without a
sense of Chopin’s warmth. Once so disarmingly 'bel canto', his understanding of the composer has faltered since those competition days. But – oh, Avdeeva! Here is a Heroic Polonaise that
breathes, that exudes synergy and thought amongst its very great brilliance. It
is a testament to her style, vivacity and depth of consideration – and of
course, to Chopin himself. And to think that the critics <a href="http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/22677/article" target="_blank">once cruelly disparaged</a> hers as “<i>a vision of Chopin [which] takes a step back to the concept
of Chopin as a composer of ladies’ music – ladies who are as rich as they are
talentless.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What curiously unfitting censure! Warsaw Voice, eat
your stolid little heart out – we’ll keep her gladly. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">(</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;">NB: <a href="https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1371649508&disposition=inline" target="_blank">Excellent reading on thematic transformation for all Liszt boffins</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;">Edit: Many thanks to a Samaritan commenter, who has brought this (potentially illegal) recording of Avdeeva's Liszt Sonata to my attention!</span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
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<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-76690677452691871622017-03-29T14:54:00.000+01:002017-04-25T12:12:37.456+01:00Onegin with the Wiener Staatsballett<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi125ztk-nTFZXfU3UjDcXdr_c4EkIXwIyZRK95sblmxXV9yM64qy7tP2CKc1xFMQHq2KttJ4SJXXcZqY08l6FbBqlk1bdWXLflLl6RNfMr34WFipwIm4aqKFYrMxuZ1Cr4TProT-VUwzA/s1600/csm_04_Onegin_P3220146_Dato-Lazik-Fogo_c3f7b4abd5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi125ztk-nTFZXfU3UjDcXdr_c4EkIXwIyZRK95sblmxXV9yM64qy7tP2CKc1xFMQHq2KttJ4SJXXcZqY08l6FbBqlk1bdWXLflLl6RNfMr34WFipwIm4aqKFYrMxuZ1Cr4TProT-VUwzA/s400/csm_04_Onegin_P3220146_Dato-Lazik-Fogo_c3f7b4abd5.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: Wiener Staatsoper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
On a short
break where I spent most of my time tearfully fawning over various classical
giants (I like to think that the tears were a by-product of the amount of
champagne I consumed daily, but I might just be that uselessly maudlin), I don’t
think I would have been able to forgive myself if I went all the way to Vienna
without spending at least a few hours rhapsodising at the Wiener Staatsoper. I
resolutely refused to see the production of Werther with a baritone Werther
(seriously, stop that right now), so my rapturously blonde Viennese friend
booked tickets to the ballet and off we went in search of the proud Onegin.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I have seen
Cranko’s ballet a worrisome amount of times in London, all with exemplary casts
who are amongst the best in the world. <a href="http://londonroomwithaview.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/a-definitive-eugene-onegin-with.html" target="_blank">Thiago Soares remains the finest Onegin I have encountered</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9e47bbe0-b690-11e4-95dc-00144feab7de" target="_blank">Natalia Osipova’s role debut</a> two years ago as Tatiana
was enough to leave goosepimples for a week. I know each solo variation and anguished
step of every pas de deux so well that I was probably amongst the toughest
critics in the house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">When Cranko’s
balletic interpretation of Onegin was finally staged in Russia in 2013, nearly
fifty years after its creation, it was met with a general sense of indulgent
amusement. Pushkin’s poetic epic is engrained into the national subconscious in
ways that we can’t even begin to fathom; Tatiana is a national icon of strength
and every Russian schoolchild knows a few stanzas by heart. Cranko, a South
African upstart, took liberties with the plot and characterisation and the
rather piecemeal Tchaikovsky score inspired mirth in some quarters. Yet, the
novel remains at the ballet’s core and <b>every interpreter, regardless of
balletic or operatic manifestation, should endeavour to remember Pushkin’s core
lessons</b>.</span><br />
<br />
This was
not entirely prudently done by the <i>Staatsballett</i>. Here are a few key
examples.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">First, in
Tatiana and Onegin’s first pas de deux in the garden, Onegin should lift
Tatiana up in a stationary lift, place her gently down and <i>then</i> look
away. It signals his engrained society mannerisms against his underlying
indifference, the stark contrast to Lensky’s country exuberance mere minutes
ago. The timing of the turn of the head should convey not callousness but
danger. Our Onegin on the night (Roman Lazik) turned before Tatiana had touched
the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Second,
Pushkin’s Lensky is no hot-headed fool. Pushkin writes him as a scholar of German
Idealism – not quite Kantian, his heroes are Goethe and Schiller. He pursues
his Romantic Ideals not thoughtlessly, but with the joy and languor of youth
with purpose and vision. This ardency was absent from Davide Dato’s
interpretation of the doomed poet – Dato appeared onstage with such bounding,
compact energy, he seemed focussed on technical prowess than gentility. Under
his awkward stewardship, Lensky became a caricature of the youth who died for
Romanticism – he was sulky, small-minded and impetuous, hardly a foil to Onegin’s
Byronic self. When he was felled during the duel, it was with an exasperating
sense of happenstence, rather than a boyish defence of the ideals on which he
has crafted his entire existence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Thirdly,
the entire core of the story’s conclusion was lost in one single moment, even
before the final meeting between our two leads. The curtain rises on Act Three
several years after the duel and away from small country society. We are in St
Petersburg, amongst grand dames and Princes. In comes Onegin, eyed with
scepticism by his peers. His years of travel, a self-imposed exile, have
changed him from the easy-going young dandy whose company they once enjoyed.
Then enters Tatiana and Prince Gremin, her elderly husband. They dance the
gentlest pas de deux, yearning but tempered. Onegin is shaken badly:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;">``Can it be
she?'' Eugene in wonder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>demanded. ``Yes, she looks... And yet...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from deepest backwood, furthest under...''<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And every minute his lorgnette<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stays fixed and focused on a vision<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which has recalled, without precision,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>forgotten features. ``Can you say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prince, who in that dark-red béret,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just there, is talking to the Spanish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ambassador?'' In some surprise<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the prince looks at him, and replies:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>``Wait, I'll present you -- but you banish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>yourself too long from social life.''<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>``But tell me who she is.'' ``My wife.''<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>``You're married? No idea whatever...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since when is this?'' ``Two years or
more.''<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>``To...?'' ``Larina.'' ``Tatyana? never!''<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>``She knows you?'' ``Why, we lived next
door.''<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So to his wife for presentation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the prince bring up his own relation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and friend Evgeny. <span style="background-color: white;"><b>The princess<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gazes at
him... and nonetheless,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>however much
her soul has faltered,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>however
strongly she has been<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>moved and
surprised, she stays serene,<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and nothing in
her look is altered:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her manner is
no less contained;<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her bow, as
calm and as restrained.</b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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It follows that the whole story is crippled and loses its force if Tatiana run offstage in tears upon meeting her former idol. This profligacy is
not Cranko’s, but the dancer’s. Perhaps nothing I see this year will irritate
me this much. The reason Tatiana is a Russian icon is for her resilience and strength,
for her knowledge of oneself. This single act of fleeing unnerves because it
renders the sacrifice she makes completely redundant – Pushkin’s Tatiana ultimately spurns Onegin not so much for society, but also for herself. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
----------------------------------</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These are, of course, the gripes of someone who has spent
too many hours with Pushkin. There was much to admire in the dancing,
regardless of such inconsistencies. Yakovleva’s acting as Tatiana was
crystalline and projected well throughout – in particular, her Act Two ball
variation was wonderfully executed, those great leaps containing all the
desperation of a spurned young girl. The nuances she noted with the final pas
de deux were superb; for instance, when she lands flat footed from his lifts,
it is clear that, in her heart, she has already rejected him. Tcacencoa’s
Gremin showed some very able partnering in the Act Three pas de deux, which he
paced regally; I would go as far to say that it was the most enjoyable part of
the evening Yet, I question the choice of Onegin – Lazik is both physically and
emotionally too slight for the role. He struggled immensely with the famous ‘bum
lifts’ in the mirror pas de deux and he has none of Onegin’s manifest cruelty.
Onegin is not malicious, but he is cold – but when interpreted by Lazik, it is
difficult to draw a coherent narrative between the Onegin first arrived at the
Larina’s estate, with the tormented suitor at the end. We finish without
knowing his story – does Lazik envisage him a cad who learns how to feel too
late? Or a dangerously haunted individual? What about a man of true merit that
has been marred by societal temptation? The lack of narrative finesse is
unfortunate.<br />
<br />
I was however hugely impressed with the corps de ballet of
the <i>Staatsballett</i>, who do everything with great unison, as most evident
in the Act Three polonaise, which is too often scrappy and lethargic. There is
a Slavic lilt to the company that manifests pleasingly across this Russian
tale. An imbalanced evening it may have been, but one well worth experiencing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-54393634183931485482017-03-18T15:21:00.000+00:002017-03-20T16:53:42.955+00:00Wining over Whining (Wine, Wine, Wine!)<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>In which I am perpetually 70% tipsy</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tmtpgfm8TrfJKXHftaDmciMEDA7JcH6fo7i4rtabmQuWNIT4LqIAvYkdTqYq5w09BKzjRtdQtsJ0P6Q-EFOHzHn1d28EU-kAiv_qNy8Yxhyphenhyphen8CghPAbBqYQSldbt6oPaJHTVNYMiy-ew/s1600/16880906_1679788332037144_1477211096_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tmtpgfm8TrfJKXHftaDmciMEDA7JcH6fo7i4rtabmQuWNIT4LqIAvYkdTqYq5w09BKzjRtdQtsJ0P6Q-EFOHzHn1d28EU-kAiv_qNy8Yxhyphenhyphen8CghPAbBqYQSldbt6oPaJHTVNYMiy-ew/s400/16880906_1679788332037144_1477211096_o.jpg" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One spectacular February night</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
</div>
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<br />
There are days when I feel like <i>the shit</i>, in the big leagues and generally smug (more so than even usual). This boost of unwarranted confidence is normally accompanied by equally insufferable company, a good dose of charm and, invariably, a sleekly enticing bottle, its tinted glass promising layers of yummy secrets. You see, I have been in search of a new past-time of late and boy, I
did not have to wait long. A series of plum coincidences fell into my lap
almost immediately, all to do with one rather heady topic – <b>wine</b>.</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I can already
hear the collective groan from friends who have endured years of opera
diatribes. <i>Of course she has choose yet another completely masturbatory hobby</i>.
It is perhaps a deserved reputation, but allow me to present my case!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I have
drunk wine flagrantly for many years. More precisely, I have quaffed torrid
wine very quickly for more evenings than I can recall. Somewhere along the way,
it stopped being a horrible drink designed to facilitate long evenings of shrieking
in Camden town and became rather enjoyable in its own right</span>. I
began to drink it civilly at mealtimes, always with dinner and sometimes in the
cheeky lunch in-between lectures (it is inadvisable to attend corporate
insolvency completely sober). I started to choose my cheap bottles with care,
fancying I could detect some imperceptible difference between the bottles
lurking the second lowest shelf at Sainsbury’s (unlikely, for they were all complete
plonk). </div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Then came a
series of new acquaintances who are absolutely wine mad. They are adult,
clever, slick and totally have their shit together. Chief amongst them is a
millionaire psycho with a cellar stuffed full of first growth clarets (I have
often been exceedingly lucky with interesting friends and I fear I am not
nearly titillating enough in return). I drank some exceptional bottles in this
able company, including the full range of Ch. Margaux from 1980-89 and a
dizzyingly scrummy vertical of ’85 left bank Premier Crus (the Latour won out). I gorged my way through the entire history of Maison Guigal, I got wankered exclusively on Krug, I spent an entire twelve hour period drinking nothing but forty year old Barolo. Wine
seemed cool. Wine seemed sexy. I wanted to be able to properly vocalise just <i>why</i>
the ’86 Margaux was so majestic upon my palate (my initial note being the
rather cheerful – <i>hey, this tastes exactly like a Montecristo Edmundo cigar!</i>
Cue instant face-palming from two somms).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">At first, I
desired nothing more than to know my Pinot Noir from my Grenache so I wouldn’t
appear such a prize plonker when surrounded by the symphonic ecstasy of sniffs
and slurps that characterised so many gatherings. I reasoned that to both learn
<i>properly</i> about wine and still gallivant to the opera on a weekly basis
was too indulgent. Besides, I quite liked being able to stomach mediocre grapes
without pulling a face. It was an unfortunate acquired taste of sorts, but also
a wondrously cheap pastime. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But therein
lay my fatal flaw – once you start learning about wine at all, you uncover the romance.
And I am, unabashedly, a complete fool for romance. It was at one such informal
dinner where I found myself chatting to a rather gorgeous gentleman. We talked,
of course, about the drink, and I gave my usual spiel (<i>Oh I’d terribly like
to learn more about wine but it’s all rather overwhelming for a novice, blah
blah</i>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">He fixed me
with such a terrible stare. “<i>Learn?! Bah! You love, not learn.</i> <i>Here-</i>“
and he pushed a glass of white bourgogne to my face “<i>-take a good whiff of
this.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I obliged
and as usual, could sense nothing but alcohol. But before I could fabricate
some vague notes, he spoke again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“<i>That’s
the smell of my childhood.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“You
were bottle fed white burgundy? Quite an education.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“You’re
not far off. I was brought up on a vineyard in Gevrey.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Curiously,
after all this time, and even after learning my grapes, I had never really
thought about vines or vineyards or producers themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“<i>Sounds
an idyllic childhood.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“It was.
And that’s why Burgundy means the most to me. I don’t care whether its
fashionable or not. I love that I can taste the geography, the history, the
soil in the bottle. It is something that speaks to my very soul.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br />
--------------<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I did not
know why, but I was touched. He hadn’t attempted to regale me with superior
tasting notes, or why the nose was tapered with dollops of caramel. He gave me
the story – and that’s sucked me in. We didn’t speak much beyond that (it was a large group and such was my
enthralment that had we spoken at greater length, I would probably have asked
him to marry me) but his words struck me deeply. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><b>Wine can transport you to a time before your own</b>. It is this kind of gloriously retrospective romance that I turn a total fool for. As vocalised by another wine fiend about my recent unexpected possession of a '61 Dom Perignon; "<i>Think about what's happened to those grapes since!</i>" You don't have to be able to pick out the precise minerality of the liquid (although it helps) to sense the garlanded history it encompasses.</span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I realised
I had already unintentionally created little wine milestones of my own. There
was a bottle of ’95 Lafite I was given at graduation, which I duly got jolly over
with the giver without much knowledge of its prestige (a story that I now tell
to bring a grimace to any wine lover’s face. This is what happens when you give
fine wine to the uninitiated – they <i>will</i> just open it). There was also
my first champagne (Pol and, unusually for a beginner, a vintage 2002 blanc de
blancs). <o:p></o:p></span>I had it
again recently and the fresh wave of unripe green apple conjured images of
giggly teenage afternoons.<br />
<br />
I enjoy
wine, I realised. I like drinking it and I like the ritual that comes with it –
cradling the Zalto, pulling it towards one so as not to disturb the surface,
holding the bulb against the candle to see the pale orange rim of aged
Pauillac, the initial inhale followed by the sudden flare of aroma that can
issue with two brisk swirls, the gentle progression of ruby from glass to lips,
where it rolls back and forth and side to side over the palate, puckering the
inside cheek with austerity or a little tannic tingle. I like that it is an
eminently social pastime, not nearly as taciturn as opera, and it is much more
visceral.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">That is not to say that wine is not pompous - the wine snob is still well and truly alive. I now understand (and repent) all the hours I have spent flamboyantly debating about opera, which is equally overbearing.</span> And the vocabulary! This is where the masturbatory element of the
profession truly comes out. I will perhaps one day agree that wines can taste
like gunpowder or wet stones or a <i>narrow waisted lady</i> (genuinely, I read
this in a reputable publication) but in the meantime, it is difficult not to scoff. I have gone past the point of no return when it comes to opera, but wine I hope to merely enjoy sedately, relaxedly and sociably. If I ever catch myself in a shouting match over <strike>the role of coloratura in Verdi</strike> the sanctity of the Loire, I will be aggrieved indeed.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, I am very blessed that several people are happy to point me through this
soupy jargon, that they are glad to help my education. The past month or so has
been unaccountably jolly, with spontaneous L’Angelus-inspired
marriage proposals to amused MWs in a delectable wine private members' club
(seriously, I need to stop proposing when tipsy). And of course, as my oldest
friends realise with dread, I have a terrible penchant for dragging as many
people as possible down into whatever new rabbit hole I’ve unearthed. I can
already hear excuses being made over London not to attend the latest Alsace
tasting.</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">My happy
initiation into (good) wine continues with a gift recently delivered from the millionaire psycho who seems happier than I that I have succumbed to the honest grape. It
is a handsome case of <a href="http://www.frw.co.uk/wine/haut-bailly-2009/16353?FRS=ws" target="_blank">Ch. Haut-Bailly 2009</a>, by all accounts an admirable
vintage, alongside a short note – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Wine to
drink now</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-43104773228669841142017-03-12T19:38:00.000+00:002017-03-28T14:38:25.612+01:00Die Meistersinger: Holten departs with soaring (and pointed) triumph<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR5i1hdDw1FYZE0J6NrSMc5bEK2TDoy07FWxs6EriiREx_3lTCQo9omIeuIZ5irzGkbjUf1F9fJ-xHkTKWm4_rf8rolrs3lzb7n__C5Xm8zWWm2C5Vh5hkXopkcYD7ypTdeZWOvWNvhJ4/s1600/17268928_1702053666477277_639531776_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR5i1hdDw1FYZE0J6NrSMc5bEK2TDoy07FWxs6EriiREx_3lTCQo9omIeuIZ5irzGkbjUf1F9fJ-xHkTKWm4_rf8rolrs3lzb7n__C5Xm8zWWm2C5Vh5hkXopkcYD7ypTdeZWOvWNvhJ4/s400/17268928_1702053666477277_639531776_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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It was the rapturous success of Kasper Holten's Copenhagen staging of Wagner's <i>Ring Cycle</i> that propelled him to the helm of Covent Garden in 2011. It is thus a neat and rather sardonic bookend that Wagner again provides his swan-song with the company, in the form of <i>Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, </i>the classic exposition of living art triumphing over the academic. </div>
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A bold farewell, it was rewarded and garlanded in every way that Hans Sachs - and indeed Wagner - holds in high esteem.</div>
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<i>Kunst! Wahn! Liebe!</i> This is Holten's <i>Meistersinger</i> in more ways than one; this is the twitch of the thread designed to draw all fractures from his short tenure to that orphic conclusion to which Hans Sachs also guides the blind, structured and obstinate. Music is the solace and the escape. <b>Politics, tradition and the insular have no command here - here, we draw in broadstrokes, where power lords over finesse.</b></div>
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Terfel's Hans Sachs is a creation of immense control and beauty. More importantly, he is entirely human. Under Holten's direction, he does not embody the martyred wisdom many directors seem to interpret as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/738390?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank">divinely Schopenhauer</a>. His renunciation of courting Eva is not as beatific as it is wry and Walther's song does not so much affirm his belief in <i>kunst</i> as it perplexes him. He too journeys to reject form and the apotheosis of reason through the three act behemoth; a realisation most delicately shaped by Terfel, who never mistakes pathos for sentiment. The famous Act 3 quintet, the emotional heart of <i>Die Meistersinger</i>, touches precisely because the conclusion is not glorious and inevitable. This Hans Sachs is no saint and his renunciation of <i>wille</i> to overcome madness (<i>Wahn! W</i><i>ahn!</i>) is not so much an adherence to an overarching philosophy as it is an acquiescence to the system of things and exigencies of life. Rather than simply changing the two lovers and popular opinion, Holten places Sachs' own demons on the frontline, with the famous Act 2 brawl of tempered madness seemingly drawn out of his subconscious, with a cloven-hoofed Nightwatchman standing silently sentinel. Terfel's Sachs is a creature of the era as opposed to the wizened overlord, an interpretation which ties in with the maniacal dogma that colours Sachs' closing aria; a uniquely nationalist defence of German aesthetics.</div>
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Willis-Sorensen's Eva is also unpredictable. There is a pervading sense that she <i>would</i> accept the cobbler, and her love for Walther is neither final nor exact. This Eva doesn't undertake a transformation; or if she does, it is internalised. She is modern in the way Eva normally is not and her indignant departure at the end, renouncing Sachs' grand orchestration of events is entirely political and devoid of romantic sensibility.</div>
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<b>Here, Holten's staging achieves curious genius</b>. The seed has been sown; Hans Sachs is unsaintly and Eva is unsure. Holten overcomes the barbed and problematic closing section by not appeasing at all - he revels in the extremity of the <i>Meistersinger's</i> national pride with macabre and glee that warns uncomfortably at the geopolitical reality of current times. In this production, Sachs' loving and guiding influence does not result in a happy German union. Rather, though touched by supreme song flouting the rigidity of academic reason, Sachs falters at the final barrier by choosing to channel this euphoria towards collective sentiment. What he achieves is hysteria, pride and arrogance to which Eva, the most modern of all constituents, blanches. She has also been touched the <i>Meisterlied</i> and emerges changed - but, impervious to tradition, she understands at last the unfailing ways of the guild and man and chooses to flee. It is subtly done, but this addition is rather remarkable.</div>
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Vocally, the depth of the cast is staggering. Terfel's vocal ability remains unchallenged, but nearly stealing the plaudits is Kranzle's Beckmesser, that long abused creature. Surely absurd, even hateful, his song nevertheless retains majesty beneath its comic trills. Onstage, his presence is unmatched. But there is gravitas to every member of the guild and <b>I have scarcely, if ever, heard a cast of this magnitude which is so equally matched and united in vocal fortitude</b>. Another delectable surprise is the affinity Pappano seems to have suddenly developed for Wagnerian repertoire, in which he has rarely achieved such authority and wit as that eked out of the orchestra on Saturday evening. It is a monstrous task to pace the Act 3 just right, so the climatic quintet wrenches as excruciatingly as it did.</div>
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The only place where energy perhaps flagged was the odd gloom inspired by the set for Act 3, Scene 1, set backstage at the festival pageant. This setting did not conjoin easily with the abstract concept preceding it, a versatile mahogany set, oppressive and austere with occasional glimpses of art deco elegance (but might it be possible to reduce to clinking of cutlery during Act 1?) We do away with the church, the street outside Sachs' abode for this delirium inducing ode to rigour, with pleasing effect. No doubt, the traditionalists will rail and rage as the Guild themselves are wont to do (indeed, as I type, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opera/what-to-see/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-royal-opera-house-review/" target="_blank">the first broadsheet review is out and predictably miffed</a>) but if you read it as I do, and love it as I did, this tension is the lifeblood of Holten's greatest creation at Covent Garden to date.</div>
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Kasper, we shall be sorry to see you go!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-73158067328900070712017-03-07T16:46:00.001+00:002017-03-20T13:48:09.728+00:00Opolais Revels as Madama Butterfly <div style="text-align: justify;">
(Written March 2015)</div>
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On the opening night of the Royal Opera's <i>Madama Butterfly</i>, I entered the amphitheatre to find the occupants to my immediate right already in place - a dear elderly couple, aged ninety, dressed very smartly, hands folded atop their canes. After squeezing past, the gentleman immediately said; "Good evening. Have you seen the opera before?"</div>
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It soon transpired that he was quite the Puccini enthusiast, a lifelong devotee to the art of opera. It was with bright enthusiasm that he regaled recollected stories from decades ago, of starry sopranos and majestic nights.</div>
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"Puccini is, to the utmost, <i>incomparable</i>," he mused, with great sincerity. "When it is sung just right, everything just <i>flows</i> - a beautiful string of silver with no beginning and no end. From the first note of the love duet - just that one note alone! - I fall, completely."</div>
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"It seems to take so little for Puccini to create magic," I agreed, having recently been changed by an affecting <i>Il Trittico</i>. </div>
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"Magic!" he cried. "<i>Magic</i>! Now there's the word."</div>
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His fervency seemed to set the tone for the evening. I had initially come with relatively low expectations. <i>Madama Butterfly</i> was the spectacle for the first opera I ever attended - at the age of seven in the local Caird Hall, with a company hailing from a rather obscure part of Eastern Europe. Being altogether too young, I was ecstatic when Cio-Cio san finally copped it. Since that first encounter, <i>Butterfly</i> has failed to become more endearing; I often find it a capricious creation. The plot is simple, and Puccini's orchestration at his luscious best - a real lesson in tranquility and inner strength, with a dash of humour thrown in at surprising points. Yet, the characters frustrate; Pinkerton's insincerity is all too evident from the outset, that it becomes almost impossible to identify with Butterfly's love - at points, you simply desire to shake her hard, when she descends into histrionics over such an unworthy idol. Played with the slightest wrong nuance, the entire heart of the tale - a heart crafted of <b>resilience, belief and hope</b> - is inextricably lost.</div>
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There is no such fear with the Royal Opera's cast. Opolais' Butterfly is, possibly, the finest performance at the Royal Opera House this season. A tall woman with a powerful voice, Opolais showed remarkable control to thin her tone, particularly in Act I, to convey the winsome child. The task of portraying a fifteen year old girl, from a culture of great reserve and tradition, has always been a difficult one. Opolais showed her vocal power last season as Manon Lescaut; this time, she gave a sustained smooth tone, as shimmering and as breakable as gossamer, that still carried great resonance along with its purity. Upon her first appearance onstage, and introducing herself to Sharpless, Opolais' Butterfly is unapologetic and guilelessly frank. She becomes an eccentric child, one who seems, with her spontaneity and brightly unquenchable spark, slightly removed from the world around her - a dreamer ascending to the 'house made of air' on the hilltop. Rather than a mere slip of a child, giddy for marriage and security, under Opolais' guidance she takes on new meaning. While some may think this approach lacks the power, it ought to be remembered that this isn't some great Italianate tale of woe and misfortune. Butterfly's charm lies not in her passion, but in her femininity. Puccini endows her with dozens of lilting passages, stark in their simplicity - merely one reedy voice soaring out alone. When she turns to Jagde's Pinkerton at the beginning of '<i>Vogliateme bene', </i>and entreats him to 'love her a little' it was so saturated with need and adoration that it takes the breath away.</div>
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The final two acts showcased a Butterfly unlike any other I have seen before. I state the triumvirate again - <b>resilience, belief and hope</b> - <i>that</i> is the making of the finest Butterflies. It is too lofty an aim to treat it as a great paragon of love or devotion; he is a fool and she is bl<span style="font-family: inherit;">ind (and only fifteen). But Puccini wins when this unsavoury setup ceases to matter. He triumphs in the strength of her gaze, tempered by resolution not shrill adoration; he lives on the wings of Opolais' indignation, not doubt, when she utters in that terrible way; '<span style="background-color: white;"><i>Ah! m'ha scordata? / Ah! Has he forgotten me?</i>'.</span> Opolais reduces us to tears precisely because <b>her Butterfly walks on the side of Triumph</b>; buffered by e</span>ccentricity, led by perceived kindness, her supposed misfortune and abandonment does not burden her. And, for that reason, Puccini's orchestration thrives - it is freed from the forerunner of tragedy and the apotheosis of reason. </div>
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To all Butterflies who march dutifully to the drum of Melancholy; observe Opolais and understand that a girl who gave her heart to faith could not have lived thus!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-32620395890529799252015-12-08T04:00:00.001+00:002017-03-07T21:06:11.107+00:00Veritably Verismo: Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Simply put, Damiano Michieletto's new production of opera's most beloved double bill is superb. Set in a dusty and slightly impoverished South Italian town in the 1980s, Michieletto's set is '<i>verismo</i>' in its truest sense; it accentuates the grittiness of Mascagni's score in particular and, amongst the unadorned and ungilded, the toxic cesspool of human emotions that forms the core of both operas is permitted to explode in the melodramatic and sensual way we have come to expect. I found myself recalling the vulgar, beautiful and wounded Italian youth 'Gino'* amongst the San Gimignano hills, untaught and untamed, driven only by brutish instinct. Michieletto's presentation has such an effect; the muted palette of greys and browns only serves to accentuate the wild lushness of the orchestration and the mounting delirium. The linking of the two operas through the production (with characters overlapping in both interludes) is not novel, but it is neatly and seamlessly incorporated, serving an interesting outlook on idiosyncratically human troubles. It is thus with no small degree of resentment that I think of opening night reports of boos from a section of audience who have not yet soothed their affronted feathers at Michieletto's Guillaume Tell. Not only does it show horrid disrespect to the artists currently onstage, it also belies the petty small-mindedness of a certain faction of the Covent Garden crowd who seem to desire the same tyrannical power as La Scala's <i>loggionisti; </i>how one could muster the energy to surface old grudges after such a sublime double bill is quite beyond my reckoning. As for Guillaume Tell itself, it suffices to say that I thought it the finest ensemble production and performance of the rather disappointing 2014/15 season. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As Santuzza, Eva Maria Westbroek delivered what was unanimously declared as the performance of the evening. Although her range seems to now waiver towards mezzo, her Santuzza was delectable; at once indignant and wretched. Westbroek inhabited the role in a way that we have come to expect (her final act Maddalena was bright spot in an otherwise tepid Andrea Chenier) but vocally she has grown exponentially. Gone is the strain and harshness that used to envelope her phrases; here, she opens her voice to an alluringly bright tone that penetrates the deepest corners of the hall. As with the other characters of this goldfish bowl view of Italian life, Santuzza is virilely majestic in her impetuosity; Westbroek conveys this profoundly, in a particularly startling choreographed passage where the wax figure of the Virgin Mary, carried aloft a baying crowd in the Easter procession seemingly comes alive and berates Santuzza for her sins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Her Santuzza had a match in Elena Zilio's Mamma Lucia, a magpie figure of matronly affection. Aleksandres Antonenko's Turiddu gave an admirable effort but I perhaps question the limits of his capacity for verismo opera; his tone, while beguilingly in its own way, is not quite full and is at danger of being too self-restrained. With the effervescent Tony Pappano coaxing the best sounds out of the orchestra that I have for long time from the pit below, the audience long to be swept away by an indescribable plethora of bloody colours, to hear the roar from the stage coincide the rising tempers. As Turiddu, he fell slightly short of such euphoria. But ultimately, it mattered very little; being the jewel that it is, Cavalleria Rusticana is an easy charmer. It benefits from having no 'central' number such as <i>Vesti la giubba - </i>after which everything and anything appears necessarily anti-climatic. There is no wasted exchanges, no 'filler' moments; everything flows, simple yet riveting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pagliacci had more shortcomings; though they were widely casting issues. Carmen Giannattasio I unfortunately failed to warm to; her Nedda had a barren and desiccant quality, oscillating uncomfortably from vulnerable to cruel to wanton. The contrast with Westbroek before her was illustrative; neither characters are truly sympathetic, but we lived Santuzza's despair, whereas Nedda's was disconnected. Antonenko gave a much improved turn as Canio; aside from slightly pre-empting his entries in <i>vesti la giubba</i>, there was a real maniacal edge to his performance and his final breakdown (<i>no, Pagliaccio non son</i>) was petrifyingly electric, laid bare on a converted gym hall stage. Tonio (Dimitri Platanias) was invigorating, if slightly unremarkable, and Dionysios Sourbis' Silvio was a pleasant surprise, adding weight and pathos to the role. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet, there was much to admire in the staging, which was more adventurous than Cavalleria Rusticana. There was something perversely gripping about the school gym / village hall set up that seemed to grasp the bleakness of the drama. The faint ridiculousness that this great, sordid story is unravelling amidst monkey bars and school assembly rooms only accentuates the sense of voyeurism that pervades the opera, further knowingly directed at the end when Tonio, speaking to the real life, not stage, audience, declares with twisted triumph "<i>the comedy is finished!" </i>and we realise that it is in <i>our</i> faces that the lights are directed.<i> </i> In the pit, Pappano continued his wonderful work, finding joy and voice in one of opera's most ravishing scores, truly embodying every ounce of Italianate blood within him. He, together with Michieletto and Westbroek, are the makings of these alluring new productions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* E.M Foster's </span><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where Angels Fear to Trea</span>d</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0Royal Opera house, London, UK51.5128996 -0.1225527000000283851.511664599999996 -0.12507420000002839 51.5141346 -0.12003120000002838tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-79222008405654999962015-10-21T03:08:00.000+01:002017-02-21T13:50:54.043+00:00New Russians: On the Cult of Trifonov and Discovering Kozhukhin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trifonov with Philharmonia, <a href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/philharmonia-081015-88406" target="_blank">08/10/2015</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kozhukhin, International Piano Series, <a href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/denis-kozhukhin-piano-90421" target="_blank">13/10/2015</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trifonov with Philharmonia, <a href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/philharmonia-151015-88409" target="_blank">15/10/2015</a></span></li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniil Trifonov with the Philharmonia, conducted by Hrusa, 15/10/2015</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Here he comes - like a five year old boy!</i>" was the jovial cry of the patron on my right, banging his hands together in frenzy. He had just spied Daniil Trifonov emerging onstage from our lavish second row seats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Those around him smiled and chuckled in shared understanding at the good gentleman's exclamation, a mark of the initiated. Trifonov's somewhat gauche stage mannerisms are now well-known and, inexplicably, part of his immense charisma.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A mainstay of the international piano circuit since his resounding triumph at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Trifonov, aged only twenty-four, is a formidable force, as well as a walking paradox. His rise has been astronomical, garnering the kind of critical adulation and popular acclaim that is rarely seen in this age of musicians. Just over a year ago, in the September of last year, I attended a solo piano recital at the Royal Festival Hall, lured by a 'platform seat' that would place me within five feet of performer. The programme informed me that the pianist was 'supreme young Russian, Daniil Trifonov', accompanied by a shot of an awkward looking boy and a list of competition accolades. <i>Ah - another Russian virtuoso</i>, I mused, unexpectant. I sat back and awaited the drama, the stoic confidence and - forgive me - the <i>Bolshoi. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instead, I was humbled. There is something that immediately piques the attention about Trifonov; from his unchangingly awkward scurrying jog onstage, he defies categorisation. Seemingly so painfully aware of the crowd when bowing, he suddenly seems to forget us all upon connecting with the stool and transforms into music itself. Argerich famously described his playing as 'demonic', and I must insist that there is no term more fitting. On that evening, I sat transfixed as he brushed aside Rachmaninov's Chopin variations with fascinating depth and proceeded to unravel Liszt's devilish Transcendental Etudes with such purity of tone, rapture and deference that I was quite changed. That recital, performed to a half empty hall, remains the the finest concert I have ever attended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It thus gave me great pleasure, upon entering the same hall on both the 8th and 15th of this month, to see it packed to the rafters, and most punters having travelled there with the sole purpose of seeing Trifonov, so unlike my clueless stumbling in a year prior. Had I not yet been initiated, I would never have gained entry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The theme of his two week London residence was Rachmaninov. Very rarely have the composer's works been so articulately and imaginatively told of late. For instance, take his Russsian compatriot, Denis Matsuev, who two weeks ago and on the same stage presented Tchaikovsky's first concerto but whom I have also heard attempt Rachmaninov. Both pieces he dispatched with a compellingly haughty righteousness - a Russian playing the Russian - and industrially sound percussive technique, but all the delicacy of a grape. It is this bravado we have come to expect over the last decade or so, from the Matsuevs, Kissins and, more divisively, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalconcertreviews/11434417/Ivo-Pogorelich-Royal-Festival-Hall-review-the-piano-seemed-to-have-gone-out-of-tune.html" target="_blank">Pogorelic</a>s of the piano world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trifonov retains the pride and haughtiness of the modern Russian school, but marries it with humility. In his every touch is a conversation, a searching deference to the composer. He seeks guidance, he ponders the phrasing of every fleeting passage so deeply that he nearly always unearths, from deep within, something so wondrously imaginative it astounds. Such was the case, most clearly, with Rachmaninov's second concerto. Taken at a tempo a breath slower than most, Trifonov was unafraid to strike chords stridently, with a commandingly percussive ring, but also retreated and ebbed to a somewhat internal voice, convincingly poetic. The first movement rendered him unusually sombre, sat back straight, stripping back the layers of rolling melodies for a naturalistic and striking portrayal, commanding in its respect. The same pious offering to the composer was touchingly displayed in the second. Slow and measured, head up and eyes tightly shut, Trifonov seemed embroiled not with the sonorous theme, but a higher discourse. Yet, it is not mindlessly submissive nor onerously devout. His eccentric persona leaks through, sometimes at the expense of linear melody, culminating in some magnificent rubatos and a <i>possessed</i> third movement. The beast reared its fearsomely fascinating head as he hunched, channelling lewdly through the shoulders in the manner of the similarly wilful Gould, and he snatched at the strident chords with perverse glee, lifting his entire body off the stool. It was magnificent. It was Rachmaninov before his association with motion picture. It was grand, it was effacing, it was destined, all in one harrowingly ecstatic sob. Bravo indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But perhaps the most remarkable thing to note of Trifonov's two concerts is that, once the last note has been triumphantly dispatched, he reverts immediately to that endearingly gauche young boy with the pale and pinched face. Yet, it is not the same. His audience have been touched; their eyes, both spring and wizened, hold a drop of the supreme rapture that is only now beginning to diffuse from him countenance. They are perplexed, but much gladder for it, even if their newfound icon seems to start from the piano bench, surprised by sudden reappearance of such frenzied crowds. He had not <i>exhibited</i> his world; we had trespassed in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The cult of Trifonov, I wager, is very real. What is truly extraordinary is that the artist at its heart constantly forgets that we are here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Onwards. There is more good fortune to relay. As always, the good concerts seem to all arrive at once, making schedules fearsome to behold. On the Tuesday between the two Trifonov dates, sandwiched alongside a slightly grating appointment with Strauss' </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, a bitter October day found an unlikely hero. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That evening, the close of a very <i>long</i> day, saw the quiet and unassuming Denis Kozhukhin descend upon a dreary looking Westminster as the second item on this year's International Piano series. A name known to me only very distantly, I arrived chiefly to hear Liszt's crystalline <i>Bénédiction </i>and instead, uncovered glory.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZiMVtWGDTmtkOsMV28qG42gxjKdAUl4U8sRtiqqVEwJ57vfa7yxo5KlUobqpQ1N2jKbIz0n27SF4RNqUo8DvXod2KmDjPDCiMYs2-rXuvGN5z18bUHm8tCV7VT7e6k8la-tz2cW6Asc/s1600/DK_news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZiMVtWGDTmtkOsMV28qG42gxjKdAUl4U8sRtiqqVEwJ57vfa7yxo5KlUobqpQ1N2jKbIz0n27SF4RNqUo8DvXod2KmDjPDCiMYs2-rXuvGN5z18bUHm8tCV7VT7e6k8la-tz2cW6Asc/s320/DK_news.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I knew not what I expected from the cherubic blond pianist, but it was not a superior reading of Haydn. I have rarely heard Haydn more attractively presented, with the exact balance of gravity and light precociousness that found a comfortable home in the B minor sonata. There is the ardency of a student that surrounds Kozhukhin still, a sense of study and constant strive for betterment. But it is flattering on him; it casts a sincere filter over his fleet and crisp music, the nimbleness of his touch allowing an array of sympathetic nuance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A whole other piece could be written on Kozhukhin's Liszt. <i>Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude</i> is perhaps the composor's most enlightened creation; dulcet, lingering and possessing a subdued introspection that escapes so many Liszt compositions. Kozhukhin's delivery was a myriad of compulsions, attracted not to overarching rapture, but the luxuriant contrast of sweeping ravishment, to the pensive and self-chastising. Underlying it was a supreme sense of calm surety; while not taken as stately slow as Arrau's famous reading, there was no haste marring the lyrical cry of the <i>piu sostenuto quasi preludio, </i>just as the subdued decline into the nothing was a resolute hum that lingered in the chest, long after the evening had passed. In Kozhukhin, we found a pianist of most marvellous judgement and impeccable capability who, if things transpire as they <i>ought</i>, has great capacity to become a London favourite, for he is already one of mine. </span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-61438992526586143452015-09-27T04:21:00.001+01:002017-04-25T12:19:58.263+01:00Lamb and Muntagirov Convince with Youthful Lustre in Macmillan's 'Romeo & Juliet'<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigD4zRQeyeP0mypfKWDxipLxPs0cxY5Z0cy3-vHhzjvEdJ30M0bXtQRscLK9rEp0PrdHXQ1yEwWmoNlEurA9eVwasO0RjdYWLjJy27s_rfAIRou4YzyTWaRmMdVyR3CA64RF_doS9uag0/s1600/IMG_20150927_002319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigD4zRQeyeP0mypfKWDxipLxPs0cxY5Z0cy3-vHhzjvEdJ30M0bXtQRscLK9rEp0PrdHXQ1yEwWmoNlEurA9eVwasO0RjdYWLjJy27s_rfAIRou4YzyTWaRmMdVyR3CA64RF_doS9uag0/s320/IMG_20150927_002319.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: justify;">To see Vadim Muntagirov is reward enough; to have Natalia Osipova as his Juliet is cause for jubilation. In was in this fervour that I too entreated well-placed friends to find me a ticket - and find they did - only to have her injured (a broken foot of sorts, if the grapevine informs correctly) and to have Sarah Lamb to step into the breach.</span><br />
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Audiences may quibble back and forth as to the qualities of the Royal Ballet's principal roster; but having seen the two paired with <a href="http://londonroomwithaview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/lamb-muntagirov-in-macmillans-manon-at.html" target="_blank">sublime results in last year's <i>Manon</i></a>, I embraced the replacement cast with keen anticipation. </div>
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To start with the obvious. Vadim Muntagirov is, unequivocally, a spectacularly convincing Romeo - that long enchanting, long abused character whose foppish and wavering tendencies so oft pose a terrible challenge. Muntagirov's interpretation is deceptively simple; one may think the sheer classicism of his lines, long extolled, can convey all worldly ardour without much concerted effort. From my perch in the stalls circle, close enough to see every facial shift, I witnessed the supreme commitment and inimitable devotion that Muntagirov emitted from every detail. On his refined limbs, Romeo assumed an earthy realism. Muntagirov has the immense and rare ability to emote as a boy; we watched no ballet, no masque, but the progress to love and despair of a very real youth. Act I, for Romeo, is a fiend - yet no exertion was betrayed. Starting from boyish rapport with Mercutio and Benvolio, this Romeo's movements contained a yearning and hope. Both his solo variations were dispatched with the utmost ease - and upon spying Juliet, any awareness of the audience seemed to vanish as love unfurled, his ever attitude declaring: youth eternal - youth triumphant! Upon wandering the Paul Hamlyn hall in search of acquaintances during the first interval, I heard the wonderfully perceptive comment; "The whole audience are dancing <i>with</i> him, aren't they?" Reader, such was the convincing quality of his spell that I felt the statement deeply.</div>
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Aesthetically, Lamb is slight and girlish, enabling her to skitter along the stage in her first appearance in a manner most convincing of a young maiden. My past experiences with this dancer has conveyed the importance of her partner; with a natural poise that is sometimes perceived as slightly cold or unemotive, with the right partner, she blooms quite decadently. Muntagirov is such a catalyst, as is to be expected; Lamb is feminine and dreamy, not ardent and impulsive. It is natural that she would respond most becomingly in the arms of a Romeo embodying sincerity above all else. As evident in the <i>stupendous</i> balcony pas de deux, there can be no pairing in this run sweeter and as flush with first love as these two. 'Enraptured' is a term that ought not be used lightly - yet only upon the curtain's descending over the first Act did the audience seem to simultaneously, incandescently, exhale. </div>
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Lamb individually has also grown exponentially. Her rejection of Nicol Edmond's Paris saw her come into her own; assertive, emotive and lined with a piercing quality I had not known her capable of. As she sat on the edge of her childhood bed, open and vulnerable to the world, sailing on the wings of the gritty Tchaikovsky score with an achingly potent combination of newfound steel and timidity that even Osipova cannot exude, we thought wildly of Juliet in that moment - here is a girl on the edge of something tremendous! </div>
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Alas, it was only at the final tableau that the dreaded question that had thereto been impressively suppressed - what would Osipova have done? - bubbled to the fore. Such musings are inevitable in an audience so closely tied to the Russian's interests. The tragedy in the crypt wept for a sudden rush of impetuosity and blind grief that beckons the sacrifice of life. It was not to be. Lamb's outstanding feature is her sweetness and Muntagirov is a creature of day - the peculiar flush of adult sorrow lies further ahead this superlative artist's career, in the same way that he overflows with languid idealism as Lensky but should not yet attempt the complex Onegin. He is a prince amongst fairytales who has still more to learn of the human psychology. Romeo may have died in the tomb, but he died kindly, unobtrusively. It was the first and only sense in the entire performance that they were playing parts; thus, it stood out disconcertingly. Lamb too shunned wild outpourings of grief - but neither was her internalised resolution entirely convincing. That famous scream, when Juliet holds the still warm Romeo in her young arms, became a short broken cry and when she plunged the dagger into her abdomen, it was done with all the politeness of a schoolgirl - you wondered, in that moment, how such a docile creature could have been swept up in a tale of unshakeable passion. With the right nuance, perhaps within their next two performances, it may make for an evocative interpretation built on the same lines of youth - the purity of their enacted end embodying adolescents consumed and defeated by all too adult emotions - and indeed, their potential is bountiful. In spite of imperfections, the lasting impression of Lamb and Muntagirov is crystalline and unadulterated; a beauty so simple it almost appears unadorned but is in fact, in the lasting memory, the most heartfelt and tremendously moving kind. </div>
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Across the company, there were equally engrossing performances. The Royal Ballet were deprived of Valentino Zucchetti's services for a large part of the previous season, and his return as Mercutio made that absence felt. Charming and dapper, thankfully without wandering too far into 'cheeky chappie' territory as most Mercutios are wont to do, he together with Hay were the fleetest and ablest of companions. Nimble and quick-footed, their sly disruptions to the Capulets were delightful to behold. Where Muntagirov excels in languor and finesse, Zucchetti ensures the trio remain tied to the heart of the company within the crowded marketplace scenes and his death at the hands of Tybalt was painful to watch in its excellent execution of human bravado and desperation.</div>
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Encompassing it all is the synergy between the company and Macmillan's most lauded creation. Though ostensibly remembered for its star-crossed lovers, Romeo & Juliet, in any medium, conveys profound messages of power and dignity. Upon this, we feasted royally; the haughtiness of the Capulet's masque, Christopher Saunders' prowling walk, Thiago Soares' mercurial Tybalt adding the effrontery so needed as the foil to the lovers' aching tenderness and the harlots' glee all served one purpose. It exemplified where the Royal Ballet most excel - not as mythical dryads, shades or even mindlessly jolly village folk. It is the study of human interaction, principally pride, that lends the production its appropriate gravitas, underscored by a Prokofiev orchestration that abandons lyricism for structure. In this, the company remains unrivalled.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-22516757715099151342015-08-22T02:07:00.001+01:002017-03-07T17:15:09.130+00:00Nocturne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of my most unfailing friends in adolesence was a beautiful, sleek Yamaha upright; one that required a soft touch and had great aptitude for romantic repertoire. We bonded easily and became fast confidants; my first port in times of outrage and euphoria alike. I was never fond of following proscribed lessons; instead, I played what I pleased - sometimes Rachmaninov, perhaps Chopin, a sprinkling of Bendel, but always Debussy - and my friend always yielded without a note of reproach.</div>
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And to the present day. London has many distractions; but the greatest motivator (and source of stress) in recent years has been the quest for professional fulfilment. A legal degree was always a forerunner to a precursory shadow who turns the corner always a pace or two ahead, of a quest whispering droll promises of metropolitan grandeur. I wrestle with the financial news, I undertake internships in glassy offices, I enjoy champagne parties in lounges suspended high above the City. Of those indulgences I have left by the wayside, I think (fleetingly): ah, the luxury of youthful fantasy! the exotic extravagance of musical ache! I believed, perhaps indolently, that such personal weaknesses are the mould of formative years and thus serve little purpose now. On one particular evening, goaded to play a few notes on a wondrously full-bodied grand during an ignoble reception, the droll beckoned and a jazzy, insincere but well received rendition of 'somewhere over the rainbow' was duly dispatched. <i>There</i>, was my smug thought, <i>see - those years of tutelage are a means to the same end as well!</i></div>
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But the summer season has a disruptive quality. The City empties, universities wind down - the weather is even balmy. Forced to stay put by regretted commitments, I spend my days wandering listlessly and wishing for rain, disrupted every now and then by menial tasks, one of which is the arduous process of changing digs. Our new abode - an aesthetically pleasing and dignified townhouse conversion - has the added attribute of being near to St Pancras Station, a destination I often think of with the greatest fondness; the building's colonnaded arches where the first thing I spied when, wide-eyed, the train arriving from Scotland terminated and we tumbled out coltishly into a new life. It was with the same sudden twist of nostalgia that, one warm evening, spurred by itching impulse, I walked the small distance to the station, an hour before midnight.</div>
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A train had arrived just as I entered; people streamed past, some irate, some jovial, most wearied by travelling on a Friday eve. The shops lining the long corridors had closed for some time yet a few things remained; friendly round tables around which groups laughed, a perpetually open Starbucks and - most surprisingly - three pianos, lined just out of earshot of each other, facing north.</div>
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The first was empty when I approached, the black and yellowing keys friendly. Buoyed by a stab of loyalty, I chose to play. Yet, I found the first few notes embarrassing, like arthritic feet trying to remember a youthful jig. I heard phrases and melodies in my mind, but those dratted fingers that had fallen out of properly proficient practice - they refused to cooperate to the same accomplished level I had once been so securely capable. Aggrieved, I stopped after two stilted Mendelssohn pieces - only to notice three prone figures to my right. I turned to see three young men holding backpacks and listening with interest.</div>
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At once, I felt regretful, feeling the odd compulsion to explain myself. <i>I was once much more proficient!</i> I wanted to call. Apologetic, I raised my fingers to the keys once more - and they found, of their own accord, the low B flat octave that marked the beginning of the most treasured piece in my repertoire; a little known Debussy nocturne, a fearsomely complex piece I had not attempted in a year. That first silken octave note, no more than a low murmur, was transportive. At once, I was sixteen. Emboldened, I continued - it is an odd thing, muscle memory! My mind no longer held a perfect score, but the fingers continued unbidden. They knew, not only the notes, but the touch - the caress that is applied to the muted opening arpeggios, the interchange of phrase between passages. They needed no direction, no thought to mar a bittersweet reunion with a fickly abandoned friend. The body can sometimes identify needs more pertinently than the mind; something innate released at that moment, a breath after holding still underwater for so long. It was then I remembered dreams that are chased away by dawn - the feeling of painted wood beneath the very tips of the fingers, the medium of control snapping at anticipating wrists, the curl of the fourth and fifth digits. I mourned in penitence; how could I have left you so?</div>
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I continued to play for an hour or so as the last trains pulled in, occasionally stopping an eclectic crowd, some of who spoke to me: a businessman who, having missed his train, bought a sandwich and sat around the corner to listen; Chinese tourists who, awkwardly, pulled out their smartphones to film; a PhD student at the same university, on his way home for the weekend; a slightly inebriated but talented young businessman who insisted on playing the left hand to my right hand for the Pathetique sonata. Demonstrating the strange pull of music, some spoke of their own musical experiences, their affinity for certain composers; they wished to share, it seemed, to relate, to articulate certain feelings. But most memorable of all was a middle-aged, mullet bearing European migrant who, plopping on the bench next to me with an almighty groan, proceeded to pull out several very crumpled and smudged sheets papers, while listening to heavy rock blasting from his earphones. I paid him no heed at first, thinking he was rooting through his bag for some lost item. But after several pieces, and a return to the Debussy nocturne, he turned and said (in a thick, almost impenetrable, accent);</div>
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"<i>That's Debussy, isn't it?</i>"</div>
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I told him I was surprised he recognised the obscure piece.</div>
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"<i>I like it," </i>he said simply. "<i>You play it particularly well."</i></div>
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It was only then that I realised that the extremely tattered pieces of paper he had been perusing was sheet music. I asked him if he wished to play.</div>
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"<i>I come here often - I have no piano. I can wait.</i>"</div>
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And so he did. I finished fairly quickly after that, partly out of courtesy, and partly because it was now past midnight. We exchanged a few words - it transpired (or so I think, beneath that accent) he was a manual labourer of sorts, not having been in the country for very long.</div>
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He had deep lines on his countenance, but they softened when he played.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0St Pancras International, Euston Road, Kings Cross, London N1C 4QP, UK51.531427 -0.1261329999999816251.511673 -0.16647349999998162 51.551181 -0.08579249999998162tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-38072564431962673392015-05-25T21:34:00.001+01:002015-05-25T23:50:04.351+01:00'Woolf Works': The Ultimate Modern Masterpiece<div style="text-align: justify;">
Upon leaving the Royal Opera House, mid-Saturday afternoon, I was immensely and irrevocably </div>
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moved. Woolf Works is, I mused, quite possibly the bravest and most profound work I've seen the Royal Ballet perform.</div>
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Unlike many others, I had no prior qualms about either choreographer or subject. Several amongst my acquaintance had previously waxed lyrical of McGregor's deficiencies - how inept they made him seem. From word alone, Raven Girl seemed dismal failure, and Tetractys a nightmare better forgotten. Yet, I was undeterred - more than once in my short tenure have I discovered that certain tastes lie very traditional indeed. Studies and the terrible May onslaught prevented me from catching what, by all accounts, seemed to be a most triumphant opening night - indeed, it was only for the final performance of the first cast that I found myself, once more, on that well-trodden path down to Soho. </div>
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As prudently advised, I had conducted my diligent research before-hand. Woolf I was scarcely familiar with; with a self-proclaimed history of preferring flowery prose, decadent in descriptors, the deconstructed nature of her writing seemed a fresh challenge. Yet, the more I read, the more intrigued I became; I could see it already - the abruptness, almost rudeness of unmitigated, unfettered thought - the flow and cadence of the subconscious - yes, it would suit McGregor very well indeed. There is an everlasting forlornness that dictates her words; a brevity and soliloquy to one's self. What a challenge lay before him! I waited for lights to dim with thinly veiled impatience.</div>
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It was a challenge most intimately and supremely met. I do not wish to delve into great depth and intricacies of the abstract tapestries McGregor slowly unfolded. If Woolf is to be taken in her true form, our view should be expansive, not detailed. Scrutiny of microcosms distort and deviate; McGregor presents theory, introspect and <i>instinct</i> as the supplanters of form and narrative. Movement pulses in one sinuous flow, each act bearing its own purpose and weight, but inextricably, undoubtedly bounded together in one heady vision.</div>
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Pulsating at the core is the luminous Alessandra Ferri, whom I finally had the pleasure of watching for the first time. I have seen many stars grace the stage; in the presence of many a illustrious artists have I sat, enthralled. Yet, there was no experience quite like this one, no immersion quite so recondite. Words fail to convey her power - the carriage of her shoulders, upon the first rise of the curtain in <i>I Now, I Then</i>; what a curious weight they bore! Every line of that sinuous body seemed erudite, achingly languid. Her gaze alone, watching her effervescent young self (Stix-Brunell) coquet with Sally Seton (Hayward) is terrible in its power, wistful as youth skitters and coltishly play in amongst the wood formations. Equally matched in power and emotional strain was Mrs Dalloway's 'twin' - the war-ridden Septimus Warren, who found a natural home in Edward Watson. How empty and pinched was his countenance; how jerked and paroxysmal his movements! Those long, marble limbs wept with unsaid misery - the plight of so many veterans. The interchange between Watson and Dyer as his departed friend, augmented so wondrously by Richter's score, is surely the single most magnetic modern pas de deux I have witnessed</div>
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<i>Orlando</i> moves away once more into more familiar McGregor terrain; sharp, acrobatic with a need for scissor-like accuracy. Yet, it was a necessary respite; the harsh and inhospitable new environment, the barely discernible figures shrouded in lasers and smoke were all deeply evocative of audacious and faintly hysterical world of Woolf's text. And then there was Osipova; so fearsomely, formidably extreme, a body truly <i>made</i> for McGregor choreography. Extreme pliancy, coated in icy metal, she dives and distorts into the most unforgiving positions, moulded by Watson and Mcrae. The passage between Watson and Osipova, right in the centre of the stage was serpentine and vagrant - most powerfully so. Yet, <i>Orlando</i> is without doubt a group creation - each dancer came forth with the same wild conviction and increasingly breathless audacity. The finale, mere shadows of gold and grey flitting through puddles of clear light at breakneck speed was intoxicating in its revelry. If anything, one must applaud McGregor for inspiring utter conviction out of such a wide array of contrasting dancers.</div>
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<i>Thursday</i>, however, marked a return to the dual world of Ferri and Woolf - indeed, it is more of a tribute of Woolf herself than <i>Waves</i>. There can be no other muse than Ferri herself; buffeted first by Bonelli, she is never reticent - even in the slowest, stillest movement, she undulates to the hypnotic rhythm of the tides - a trailing finger here, a worldly sigh there. McGregor focuses not on the inevitability of death, but the urgency of life; Lamb leads a bubbling gaggle of children daintily in languid patterns as Ferri looks on in wonder. And then there are the waves, made of the corps, rolling, rhythmic and almost extolling Ferri as she glides and slips from one watery embrace to another, dispersing into the restless depths until finally, she is laid to rest by Bonelli as the onrushing waves retreat.</div>
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Let it be known; this is, without peer a modern masterpiece of the most impeccable creation, the likes of which I have never witnessed before, complemented by a cast united with a shared vision. Rest assured. The future of ballet is in safe hands.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0Royal Opera house, Bow Street, London WC2E, UK51.512893 -0.1225021999999853551.511658 -0.12502369999998536 51.514128 -0.11998069999998535tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-4083114825019674182015-05-24T19:38:00.002+01:002017-02-21T13:50:00.809+00:00'La Boheme' with Netrebko and Calleja<div style="text-align: justify;">
This run of La Boheme marks the final time Copely's handsomely dishevelled production graces the Covent Garden stage before it is retired for good. In a protracted farewell, this final cast is one of starry quality, headed by the elusive Anna Netrebko and Joseph Calleja.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUsZT4X2YRmtpZXL5ZfWIlt-FW6EpKPG2oGajALHnXPXsZHE0VrH7cJM5KZfMUY5jdqvQSwCp2SelJL3MzZZYeqHA3eKlwL94uOlZQ4xuzPfkFwMhR0XEyrkBs1W3aTqC40AISh6tPIxo/s1600/IMG_20150523_222318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUsZT4X2YRmtpZXL5ZfWIlt-FW6EpKPG2oGajALHnXPXsZHE0VrH7cJM5KZfMUY5jdqvQSwCp2SelJL3MzZZYeqHA3eKlwL94uOlZQ4xuzPfkFwMhR0XEyrkBs1W3aTqC40AISh6tPIxo/s320/IMG_20150523_222318.jpg" width="320" /></a>It would be a while before the warm lushness of Puccini's most indulgent score penetrated the chill of the Parisian garrett. An odd sense of displacement interrupted the famous first act. Full of sparkling little jokes, shining like gems, the ponderous disconnect between stage and pit produced a ragged tempo which tampers most disconcertingly with Puccini. In La Boheme, where the orchestration is organic, mimicking the nuances and rises of speech, such liberal conducting is prone to elongate already extended passages, creating a general sense of sluggishness. Part of the fault must be chalked up to brief rehearsals; it was most apparent in <i>Che gelida manina</i> and <i>O soave fanciulla</i> that conductor and singer struggled to anticipate the other. Ettinger must refrain from waiting for the singer a guide them instead; the greatest vice that can befall a Puccini opera is over-indulgence - it can become unbearable in its saturation. I do not doubt that this fault that will dissipate over the run. </div>
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Even working with such drawbacks, the quality of the cast cannot be overlooked. Beyond his overcooked Act 1 aria, Calleja was in good voice, clear and penetrating, although he must learn to connect more with the production. However, the making of the evening, as ever in La Boheme, lay with our Mimi, where Netrebko brought lustre and charm, if not quite the weight of believability. Yet, one must put their qualms about Netrebko's vocal suitability to one side and forget it outright, for it is inevitable. Any person who considers themselves to have any ounce of operatic knowledge will know that this magnificent singer has, in recent years, openly embraced the full thickness of her voice. She has traversed far and wide, Iolanta once minute, Lady Macbeth the next; she has already left the days where she could thin her voice to match Mimi's gentle tone far behind. Yet, there is still much to enjoy in her Mimi, even in the absence of youthful incandescence. Her voice remains hugely expressive, now endowed with both volume and gravitas. Her Mimi in Act 3 was a thing of great majesty; it is with eager ears and glad heart that Covent Garden welcomes her return and I can only hope that her next sojourn in London enables her to showcase her newfound tone to its most devastating effect. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-9725367416359655922015-04-24T14:56:00.001+01:002015-05-09T02:38:09.698+01:00Osipova and McRae Sparkle in 'La Fille mal Gardee', but Morera and Muntagirov Steal the PlauditsSurely, Ashton's sunny, giggly confection of perpetual radiance that is <i>La Fille mal Gardée </i>is the happiest thing in the Royal Ballet's repertory. Filled with comedy galore, yet with an aching wistfulness that detracts any garishness, this gloriously clever eulogy of the old English countryside is as heartening as they come.<br />
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Thursday eve saw the Russian firecracker Natalia Osipova's debut in the most quintessentially English of English roles. There was no faulting her pyrotechnic agility - her great leap and frothy bourees filled the compact stage with great bursts of joy. Lise was a role she comfortably grew into as the evening went on; the first pas de deux, being so early, was a little tentative, as the debutant concentrated hard on mastering the ribbons and lifts, but as the evening progressed, she relaxed to embrace the nuanced comedy of the piece and was virtually faultless in the second act. </div>
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Her Colas, Steven McRae, matched her in temperament; cheeky and possessing equally combustible jumping ability, complemented by an array of dazzling spins. Together, they conquered the stage admirably. However, as is my common complaint with McRae, his self-focussed dancing often forgets the heart of the ballet - that of a simple, rose-filled English country life, which glows without need for adornment. While some have, at the start of Osipova's London residency, noted the self-exhibitionist quality of her interpretations (an inevitable trait of a Bolshoi upbringing), she has improved remarkably in this regard, and is visibly integrating into the Royal Ballet culture. For McRae, however, after several years in the company, subtlety is still not a lesson well-learnt. Seemingly with intentions of raising his international profile, he has become increasingly profligate with his astounding technique, but very often fails to reach the point of poignancy.</div>
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Technical excellence and sincerity need not be mutually exclusive; one need only look to the opening night cast of the wonderfully Ashtonian Laura Morera and the other Russian debutant, Vadim Muntagirov, for confirmation of that. Muntagirov is surely headed for stardom of the loftiest sort; so eloquent is his arabesque and supple are his extensions that he need not really put on an 'act' - his Colas was as green and tender as the springtime grass, emanating sheer happiness. A strange pairing on paper, this Lise and Colas were ardent, coy and glowed internally, which is infinitely more rewarding. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0London, UK51.5073509 -0.1277582999999822351.1912379 -0.77320529999998222 51.8234639 0.51768870000001777tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-45667022818075482762015-02-22T04:06:00.000+00:002015-02-22T04:06:14.333+00:00Osipova & Golding 'Come-of-Age' with the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake<div dir="ltr" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
If one were to take away a single thing from this evening, it must be the maturing of the previously much maligned Osipova/Golding partnership. It is a partnership that started on shaky grounds, but has shown superlative results as of late, with the recent run of 'Onegin' bringing the kind of stalls-shaking, foot-stamping reception that is rarely witnessed at Covent Garden. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykWhAzie9KxSY5vSmrP7MYvq3EJr0a8JfKpRX68gHZicV1tesEARn1krDAWpegQXbVdfv1kwByQKegiad7QLnEzWCSfcqIHWSY4QOxolVrqxTlj5N9yZB89N9-XHKGO0CNmJEPYT5WQM/s1600/IMG_20150222_035648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykWhAzie9KxSY5vSmrP7MYvq3EJr0a8JfKpRX68gHZicV1tesEARn1krDAWpegQXbVdfv1kwByQKegiad7QLnEzWCSfcqIHWSY4QOxolVrqxTlj5N9yZB89N9-XHKGO0CNmJEPYT5WQM/s1600/IMG_20150222_035648.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a>This is a point I wish to express strongly. It has seemed to me, many times over the past year, that the rather aggressive vendetta fought against them by ROH regulars has verged on petty and childish. With such a coveted acquisition as the immensely technically and artistically gifted Osipova, a defector from the Bolshoi and a new breed of ballerina, nepotist hopes were high for a homegrown partnership between one of the Royal's established stars, with McCrae and Watson frequently and hopefully named. Yet, the subsequent acquisition of Golding, impliedly to partner Osipova, left many cold. His name, while well respected in ballet circles, carries far less weight than hers, which has reached starry echelons. Apparently, this was enough to ruin his favour and opinion turned against him before he had even arrived. It became not uncommon to hear in the Covent Garden corridors people recounting their performances with the repeated anecdote "Oh, <i>she</i> was marvellous, of course - all the marks of the Bolshoi - but he, <i>dreadful</i>!"</div>
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Yet, I find this early accusation carried little substance. Many of these preconceived notions were vented despite no full-length productions being performed by the pair in the 2013-14 season (Osipova remained injured for the entire 'Sleeping Beauty' run and their only joint performances took place in Ashton's 'The Dream', which, as a thoroughly English fare, was never likely to achieve widespread acclaim for two new principals). Similarly, this season has seen an onstage fall claim Osipova for the entirety of 'Don Quixote', leaving 'Onegin' as their first full-length ballet - and of course, we now know it to be a great success. To qualify the accusations a little, it must be noted that despite not dancing together, audience critics have failed to warm to Golding in any of his earlier performances with other dancers - but I hope I will now hear less of the deplorably condescending remark that; "Well, he's just not on her <i>level</i>, is he?" In all honesty, while Osipova has stunned repeatedly since her arrival, she has yet to lay down any truly remarkable partnerships - tonight is the closest she has come to achieving that euphoria. </div>
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The best artists augment the performance of those around them; and that was evident today, but perhaps not from the quarter that we were expecting. Osipova is physically and emotionally hampered when it comes to Odette. She has the coveted Russian arms, to be sure, those willowy limbs which seem to have two joints more than anyone else. But she is not made in the way of the great Odettes, such as Makhalina and Zakharova, who are lithe and gracefully tall. Their Odette will carry an everlasting air of restraint and tragedy, the very length of their arms cradling all the sorrow in the world. Osipova is not so delicately conditioned. She is athletic and strong, with an impish smile and fiendishly fiery mannerisms. So profound is her technique that it exudes power; this Odette can balance just as well without any prince. Odette, that layered role which has to show reserve, grace, cold beauty and forlornness is challenging for her from the outset.</div>
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Thus, it is telling that Osipova's Odette is at its strongest in the presence of Golding's Siegfried. Her first appearance on stage was a little too skitterish, her alarm at his presence a little too abrupt that one wondered how she might contain her mighty energy for the still, marble like beauty of the white pas de deux. Yet, in Golding's grip she was transformed. Gone was the impetuosity and child slight dramatic flair. The white pas de deux passed beautifully and showed real feeling between the two leads, with his steadying presence carrying her through beatifically.</div>
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Yet, entirely predictably, Act III was where the electricity really lit the stage. The reason, I believe, that Osipova has difficulties embracing Odette is because she artistically operates best where there is human folly. As shown by her Manon and Tatiana, no one portrays the power of human fallibility better than Natalia Osipova - she is able to canvas perniciousness, longing and regret with the most vivid brush. She immerses herself so entirely in character flaws, that the audience feel that the dancer and the character have completely assimilated and we fail to tell where one ends and the other begins. Odette, in a truly romantic fashion, represents an ideal. She is perfect like a deity, poised and regal. Osipova on stage hungers to <i>feel</i> - she arches her neck all the way back and unfurls powerful swan wings - Odette is a cold creature and ill-met by such fire. </div>
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Odile is much more <i>real</i> in a worldly sense and as her, Osipova becomes breathtaking. She is wicked - unapologetically so - but also dazzlingly unattainable and gloriously sexy. There is a fiercely fiery spark about her Odile, so much so that it is altogether too easy to see why Siegfried falls so helplessly into the trap. And of course, <i>those</i> fouettes - taken at such breakneck, incredible speed, doubled to start with and completely in time with the orchestra who almost sounded like they ran themselves ragged trying to keep up with the dancer on stage. It was virtuosic, powerful and utterly, utterly glorious. Golding's Act III variations were also executed with the marvellous bravado of a foolish young lover - truly wonderful. </div>
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There were several other standout performances in the long cast. The two swans of Hamilton and Medizabal were wonderfully nuanced and added some much needed grace; I should think that Hamilton will have her own Odette opportunity before long. Avis' Rothbart was, as always, an utter joy to watch (although a little girl in my nearby vicinity did refer to his white Act getup as that of 'a big, dirty pigeon'.) Rather than a menace, he was a conniving opponent, most notably when skilfully manipulating the dangerous Odile to his gleeful bidding. Another high point came in the form of the effervescent Naghidi, who recently absolutely burst into Covent Garden's affections with her brilliant Olga, accompanied by Kay, who gave us a cheerfully wonderful rendition of the Neapolitan Dance. The corps in the white acts gave valiant efforts, making the most of a small stage and very fussy costuming.</div>
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Whatever grievances remain are completely removed from the dancers, and are all to do with the production which, if rumours are true, will be retired in the near future - and not a moment too soon! There is not enough that can be said against it. Despite the utter zeal of Act III, nothing will forgive the fact that the set resembles Harrods at Christmastime, fairy lights and all. The costumes in the busy Acts I and III are headache inducing, with too many colours and style reverberating off all the gaudy gold slathered ornaments. Despite so many runs, controversy still wages over the lack of 'pancake' tutus for the swans - in the right seats, the feathery effect of the current choice is passable, but from others, it looks like very cheap netting. Besides, it is this viewer's opinion that there is just something so otherworldly fantastical about the white swans in their great white tutus standby sculpturally still, against a dreamy, minimalist backdrop - it is a classical balletic symbol of grace, beauty and mystery. The Royal Ballet production is, in every scene, entirely too cluttered, noisy and simply detracts from the sheer beauty of the artistry at work, from Tchaikovsky's rampaging score to the outlandish but beloved tale. It becomes a showpiece, a gilded ornament as opposed to a living, breathing work of art. </div>
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Such annoyances aside, with two Osipova/Golding dates remaining, one should make every concerted effort to catch what appears to be a enormously exciting trip to the lake. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0Royal Opera house, Bow Street, London WC2E, UK51.512893 -0.1225021999999853551.511658 -0.12502369999998536 51.514128 -0.11998069999998535tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-76759335596571744032015-01-25T06:01:00.000+00:002017-04-25T12:12:53.063+01:00A Definitive 'Onegin' with Marianela Nunez and Thiago Soares<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6onpLJ-efg2yXooJUX7wRDF7umwtumrCrGYcqn6raWq1xRhutQJqL6q6ts1UIuv6CR_sTlwaNLjRcz7QbsjZaIUFBnk0PG2RYppuouJREN4RSbUmAhpQBOtWMc7tPwt3QPefGmRGtCOs/s1600/IMG_20150124_212729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6onpLJ-efg2yXooJUX7wRDF7umwtumrCrGYcqn6raWq1xRhutQJqL6q6ts1UIuv6CR_sTlwaNLjRcz7QbsjZaIUFBnk0PG2RYppuouJREN4RSbUmAhpQBOtWMc7tPwt3QPefGmRGtCOs/s1600/IMG_20150124_212729.jpg" width="320" /></a>Before the opening night of the Royal Ballet's 'Onegin', the assembled audience - largely comprised of Covent Garden regulars - were abuzz for two main reasons; the reunification of husband-wife couple Thiago Soares and Marianela Nunez on stage for the first time this season and for the imperious young talent Vadim Muntagirov's debut as Lensky. Both would go on to reward the crowd handsomely for their interest.<br />
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On the face of it, Cranko's adaption of the Russian epic is not immediately gripping. Despite several beautifully flowing pas des deux and a remarkable production replete with whimsical sets and a Slavic grandeur, the lack of choreographed vulnerability to any character but Tatyana has the potential to leave the audience a little cold. Moreover, despite a well-chosen Tchaikovsky score, only the music for the mirror and final pas de deux are truly arresting, with several climatic passages failing to rouse - the unfortunate arrangement of the Lensky's Act 2 solo orchestration remains a point of personal displeasure for me. Thus, much depends on the cast's interpretation of their bare tools, more so than many other ballets. </div>
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What then of our eponymous anti-hero? Thiago Soares has played the mercurial noble many times to much acclaim - it is a role he portrays perhaps better than most, if not all, in the world. His very appearance is striking as that of the brooding figure who captures the young Tatyana's fancy as if straight from the realms of folklore. His look is strong and greatly mysterious and his manner imperious and rather abrupt. Such is his comfort that both of his solos were executed with breathtaking - almost flippant - ease. There is a self-contained poise about his Onegin that truly befits this shadowy character; the original poem contains scarce insight into his character other than what the wide-eyed, breathless Tatyana bequeaths of him. In his Act 1 solo, the exacting and domineering presence he exudes and he spins again and again exactly matches the nervous flutter of Tatyana in the wings, scared to meet his gaze. Indeed, it is not until Act 3, where she has become an elegant and less fanciful young woman that we truly get a glimpse of insight into his character; his utter surprise and pain at her transformation was very real.</div>
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Nunez is, in every role, a generously supple and achingly tender dancer - her technique is so secure that it is now very much taken for granted and rarely commented upon. Her Tatyana was crafted from the softest, most silken cloth. With an honest, open face and naturally sunny disposition, it is this kind of role in which she truly soars; as a Manon, she is too <i>kind</i>, as a Kitri, she is too structured. Tatyana, however, fits her like a dream. In Act 1, she shone and quivered as a pale slip of a young girl, only now unfurling to the world. It was truly quite remarkable; she was luminous, intoxicated by newfound desires and dreams. On the whole, it was an extremely naturalistic rendition from Nunez - in a role easily tempted by histrionics, she was acutely beatific. The mirror pas de deux passed by in one languorous simultaneous flow, as silken and trance-like as a real dream, hushed by a young girl's awe. And when she awakens from the secretive dreamworld, no actions are needed by Nunez to express the pivotally profound effect this experience has wrought upon her - all that is needed are her lustrous eyes and flushed skin staring out.<br />
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This delectable sense of a reverie that pervaded the first two acts make the third all the more striking. A key point of Pushkin's poem was the unassailable interchange between fiction and life, the boundaries of which are often blurred in Tatyana's dreamy mind. We see this onstage with Onegin's unexplained nature and mystery, with the often dark and indistinct backdrops, the picture-perfect poises of the corps de ballet, who stay perfectly still behind the 'E.O' monogrammed mesh, waiting for a chapter to begin before they whirl into a stately ball waltz. Even the death of Lensky, who falls silently and poetically is somewhat demure. Yet, in Act 3, this is abandoned. Years have passed, and Tatyana has matured. She arrives on the arm of her husband (Ryoichi Hirano as Prince Gremin - so wonderfully stately and the antithesis to Onegin) and is resplendent as the adored princess - yet we see restrain and reserve about her that was so markedly absent in her adolescence. When she spies Onegin, who is profoundly shaken by her transformation, she displays intelligence in maintaining social courtesy and turning away to devote her attention to her husband, who is gracious and has treated her well. Yet, alone, she holds the remnants of the letter her tremulous self once wrote him and is greatly disturbed. Here, Tatyana and Onegin meet for the first time as mental equals. The result is thoroughly breathtaking; the final pas de deux is complex and transforming in the depths of its sorrow and repent. Yet despite the highly charged setting, there is no impetuosity in their movements - rather, Nunez's arms seem to fleetingly cradle Soares to her chest in a burst of unassailable longing before sadly releasing him. Soares' Onegin is desperate and bitterly repentant - he now sees the unmistakable virtue of the girl, but his own actions have removed her forever. Tatyana's youthful dreams of romance have ended and the two must part in the thrust of reality.<br />
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As strong as the unbreakable bond and understanding between the two artists is, it is only amplified and augmented by the audience. The Royal Opera House is a peculiar place of tradition and reward; Nunez's services and complete devotion to Covent Garden is a point of pride - she is the prodigal, shining daughter and following the exits of Rojo and Cojocaru, the undisputed sweetheart, the one that embodies the Royal Ballet like no other. It is hard to overstate the depth of their love for Marianela Nunez; even starry additions to the principal roster have not dampened their interest. Where others can stun the audience into a frenzy and inspire awe, the tenderness that Nunez exudes has a poignancy that only the Covent Garden crowd can understand. Such a naturalistic, honest portrayal might not work in other houses, but here, its power is indescribable. The ovation she and Soares received upon their repeated curtain calls was well earned and honestly deserved - a real show of adoration for a remarkable artist.<br />
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The other remarkable performance of the night belonged to Muntagirov's Lensky, who made a most successful debut. He seems to come from the school of pure romance - every extension and line of his body has a noble mien, and there is a softness to the great elasticity of his leaps that commands attention. While his Act 1 solo perhaps lacked the charm that comes with experience in the role, his Act 2 passage of sorrow and disillusionment was a thing of pure beauty. His aching long limbs, boyish countenance and transparency provided the perfect foil to Soares' arrogance - he, more than anyone else, played into Cranko's vision of Tatyana's storybook romance. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-62814567281633299042015-01-21T06:36:00.000+00:002017-03-12T21:55:47.272+00:00'Andrea Chénier' with Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek at the Royal Opera House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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A new year at the Royal Opera House hails a new production of a rarely performed opera - Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier, in its first Covent Garden appearance in thirty years. More hung on the opening night than imagined - in what has, so far, been an anticlimactic season for opera, with new productions of Un Ballo in Maschera and Idomeneo spectacularly failing to please.</div>
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The scene is set well enough. The curtain rises on a backdrop so opulent, so ostentatious, with every available surface slathered in gold, it is more overwhelming than aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps this is the intended effect, given the predicament of the Parisian aristocrats crowding the stage - studiously ignoring the rumblings of civilian unrest flooding the city streets. In comes our Maddalena, suitably petulant, and her mother, appropriately aggrieved. The guests flock in, all carefully attired if airy and insubstantial in pale pastels, determined to continue vapidly fluttering in their rapidly crumbling sphere of hierarchy prestige. At the edge hovers Andrea Chénier, a surly browed youth discomfited by such outrageous luxury. Teased, scolded and baited, he unfurls with righteousness - and an outpour of reproach, so affecting in its gravity and rectitude. Kaufmann's "<i>Un dì all'azzuro spazio</i>" was wondrous in its invigorated lament. </div>
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And yet, for the best part of three acts, the glory of his vocal fortitude was unmatched in believability. Andrea Chenier is a character perhaps singularly affecting as the embodiment of compelled, virile youth - the child of ideals and brevity. This conviction colours his first meeting with Maddalena - she is profoundly shaken by the purity of his hope; while the sharpness of his reprimand strikes her and wounds her like a blow, affecting far deeper than any stimulant in her small gilded world. Kaufmann's Chenier is stately and self-assured, but wanting in passion. His voice is indisputably superb and unsurpassed - the torment in there is real - but he outwardly expresses no such full-bodied commitment. </div>
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Within this drawback lies a more deep-rooted complaint about the production at large. Perhaps abashed and suffering from the criticisms plaguing most new productions at the ROH over the past year or so - notable examples being last season's Manon Lescaut and Don Giovanni - there is an air of caution that permeates the company. They tell us, on the promotional material, that this is a tale of glory! Liberty! Grand passion! Yet, nowhere is it evident. The sets are inoffensive, but lacking character - in particular, the expansive pale wood of Act 3 stripped the trial scene of much of its high tension, unfortunately denouncing it as the least gripping instalment of the tale. The orchestra play rousingly, but themselves fail to rouse the singers out of their refined shells (though Pappano tried so hard, I am told, that he nearly went through the boards in the final act). The characters are feelingly sung, but much defies emotional attachment. When Chénier and Maddalena unite in the heart of war-ridden Paris in Act 2, the climatic love scene whereupon two souls find idealistic solace in the midst of tragedy, we see not the abandon of passion that cannot be contained even in the face of danger, which precipitates their deaths. Chénier has searched blindly for a love that he has felt "brushing by him on the street", which he has chased with all the dogged determination of an artist in delirium. Yet, why does he recline on the table in such a stately and assured manner, calmly waiting for Maddalena to finish professing her sad story? Their first love duet was dispatched beautifully, but why did the audience not sigh collectively together with the crossed lovers? Why, in Act 3, does he not decry the parody of justice facing him, with the indignation and sorrow he expressed in the Contessa's drawing room, a parody which goes against his very ideals? The caution is not only his; the entire company had very much an air of 'getting the job done' rather than exuding the fiery fervour of a country overhauling its entire social regime. We are presented with Paris in the dirt, Paris in the dust, a Paris run by urchins - yet why does everything seem so orderly and undefiled? The result verges on disappointing.</div>
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Save, however, for Act 4, where <i>something </i>completely intangible seemed to fall into place. Call it first night teething problems, but at the bleak, cold end, Chénier and Maddalena seemed to truly<i> </i>reconcile for the first time. And what a stupendously wondrous effect it had! From his rousing solo "<i>Come un bel dì di maggio</i>" we heard what we had so long desired - profundity and conviction. A revolutionary, an idealist, an artist - the conviction, so solid and wrapped beguilingly in wistfully poetic language is manifest. Kaufmann's naturally magnetic open tone assumed profound new gravitas. The momentum continued, together with a gleeful Pappano. Westbroek's Maddalena too rose to the challenge. Their final duet, "<i>Vicino a te" </i>is gripping in its stark, steely grit - these lovers who walk towards death with a relieved heart and iron will are the embodiment of the liberty and passion we were promised. Their fascination of freedom extends to surpass mortal fear - they sing of death with such intensity, verging on piety, that it is darkly fascinating and truly gripping. Their end is not quite noble, but it is orphic and glorious.</div>
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Kaufmann & Westbroek curtatin call</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-44685133010535207722014-10-26T01:46:00.002+01:002017-04-25T12:20:38.014+01:00A Spellbinding 'Manon' with Osipova and Acosta <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I steadfastly believe that the reason I persevere with the performing arts, why I rush through hours of coursework and reading just so I can head down to Covent Garden or the Southbank or the Barbican at all hours of the evening, is my faith in the magic that accompanies moments of sheer nirvana. 'Magic' is surely the only true word to describe the unassailable sensation that accompanies such a moment - where all senses are overcome in a tidal wave. And magic is what we got today, in the ecstatic dying embrace of Manon and her des Grieux.<br />
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I was in attendance, three weeks ago, for Osipova's role rebut as a magnetically flawed girl-woman. There, <a href="http://londonroomwithaview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/osipova-in-macmillans-manon-at-royal.html" target="_blank">her genius soared gaily, but its flight was marred by some incongruently heavy factors</a> - her lack of chemistry with Acosta being the main detractor. I feel it would be a gross disservice to both wonderful artistes if that was the last written evidence of my opinion against them. For this second final performance was completely and utterly transfigured.<br />
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If one saw Osipova and Acosta tonight, they would think it unbelievable that the same two had come under severe criticisms of unattachment mere weeks before. <i>She </i>retained all the wondrous qualities of her stupendous characterisation from the first evening - from loveliness personified, to the sensuous, to the macabre, all interlinked into one fiercely burning spark. But this time, her head was turned to her des Grieux and her narcism offset by longing. Whereas before, this life-loving Manon plunged off the precipice to embrace hedonism, tonight's incarnation brought us a Manon genuinely torn and worn ragged by love and greed, redeemed by the unbreakable thread that holds her to des Grieux.<br />
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From the very first of the three hugely impressive pas des deux, everything was tighter, fast and with heightened tension. It had the sensation of blossoming, a hushed adoration that was beguiling in its believability. They canvassed the stage as if buoyed by nothing but the purest exhilaration, luxuriating in stolen moments - an lingering glance here, a tremulous touch there - so much so that the audience almost felt invasive. Manon's growth from young girl to wanton courtesan no longer feels like an internal transformation to which des Grieux is nothing but an accessory. Now, we believe in the steadfastness of their love, which survives the harshest of conditions. Importantly however, Osipova did not forsake intensity for delicacy. Her Manon still retains its gritty, overly-vivacious edge that makes her so comprehensively believable. Their love is strong, not pure - even the first pas de deux is tinged with hints of sexual power, which later blooms and drives the bedroom pas de deux with an urgency unparalleled. Osipova, who once could be accused to dancing to the maxim 'bigger is better', has evolved. Everything she does remains impressive in theatricality and electric in intensity - but now, the big and wonderful in accompanied by heart. And tonight, she gave hers to des Grieux completely. There were points in the second pas des deux where she seemed giddy, reckless and overcome with sheer bliss.<br />
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Indeed, Acosta made perhaps the biggest transformation. He is, and always has been, a fantastically powerful dancer and able actor, although his powers have been said to wane with age. Tonight was something of a renaissance. His opening solo adagio was softer and crafted with a languid gentility conspicuously absent from the first night. Moreover, his partnership with Osipova was perfect in its synchronisation. There was never an unreciprocated touch, nor a glance that did not elicit a reaction, be it joy, lust or, as the ballet wore on, uneasiness and despair. Though he has not the puppyish physique that makes the role of des Grieux come as naturally as it does to younger dancers, he turns his strength to his advantage to find a more authoritative Chevalier that suits Osipova's decadent Manon. In the Act II, when he is distraught by Manon's fickleness, his steps were punctuated not with virile frustration, and his anger towards her when she refuses to discard of the bracelet and her weakness for wealth is formidable. Together, Acosta and Osipova create a more virile and fervent pairing, both adopting a no-holds-barred approach. The end result assaults the senses mercilessly - they attack their roles with rabid rapaciousness, riding the highs of Massenet's soaring score without being afraid of the depths of the falls. Where Lamb and Muntagirov were gentle and Nunez and Bonelli were tender, Osipova and Muntagirov were reckless and in this gruesome tale, recklessness is infinitely more rewarding.<br />
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The depths they reached were encompassed entirely in the final Act, where our hapless pair seemed weighed down with exhaustion (perhaps not acted, given their complete immersion in the acts prior). She, already trembling in death's grasp, could hardly turn her head to face him - yet, her entire body gravitated towards him. When they step onto the dock, to be harassed by Avis' fascinatingly ghoulish gaoler, they lean on each other - she for strength, and he for sanity. When they are forcibly separated by Avis, we see her vulnerable and preyed upon, so graphically it is upsetting (although, once again, Avis is a real gem). Yet, even when she is thus violated and this helpless Manon grasps blindly for the jewels, it is a more wrenching moment than ever before - it is this greed and consumption that has torn her so convincingly apart.<br />
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The final pas de deux was a moment of suspended of wonder. I have spoken admiringly before of Osipova's courage in embracing the gruesome and angular sides of death. Here, it was augmented by true regret. We feel that she wants desperately to live and that she is clinging onto des Grieux in fear - when she runs to him for the devilish throws, there is no sense of bracing herself for the technical demand. Instead, she seems to open her body and completely launch herself into his arms without reserve, trusting and willing him to carry her on. And every move of his is tormented - he is rough, he grasps her fiercely, and he seems to shake with convulsive sorrow. At the close, when he throws her one final time and she plunges straight into his arms, all fight seems to leave both bodies. It is an emotionally destructive performance; they scale heights far too immense to leave room for anything but utter devastation. The end result is quite magnificent.<br />
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The entire cast, thankfully, seemed to rise to the occasion with relish. Special mention must go to Thiago Soares, who seemed to improve on his already excellent Lescaut. He performs the part with such security now, and he has a naturally roguish charm which makes the role doubly compelling. Every character in Manon has a flaw - his, most prominently, is cowardice and when the dashing mien peels away to reveal the scrambling, frightened and pitifully pleading Lescaut at the end, it is a disarming contrast. Of all the Lescauts of this run, Soares is the only one that truly commands the role with the swagger and ease that brings it life. Moreover, I was once again struck by the complexity and scale of the Manon production, which truly showcases what able actors the Royal Ballet are. Each harlot has their own personality, each gentleman customer at the brothel has his own taste. This depth of personality makes the entire production echo with poignancy, particularly at the end when, while Manon is lying in delirium in the wasteland, these phantoms of an condemning past flit behind her - telling of her short life.<br />
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All in all, it was the type of evening that simply resonates hours and hours after the curtain has dropped. The Royal Opera House's extended Manon run is quickly coming to an end. With only one couple left (the nuanced Zenaida Yanowsky and international hunk Roberto Bolle), I defy them to produce anything close to the magic of this night.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-4538644247357180752014-10-23T21:37:00.000+01:002017-02-21T13:49:06.047+00:00Ashton Mixed Programme with the Royal Ballet - Choe, Zucchetti, Padjak, Muntagirov, Osipova and more.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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The rich variation and frequency of triple (or, in this case, quadruple) bills by the Royal Ballet puts a wealth of talent on display all at once. Accordingly, this evening's offerings of Frederick Ashton involved an impressive array of artists, from the starry Natalia Osipova and Vadim Muntagirov, to rapidly rising stars Francesca Hayward and Melissa Hamilton, to solid house favourites Yuhui Choe and Valentino Zucchetti.<br />
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The first offering of '<i>Scenes de Balle</i>t' presents a ballet visualised from almost purely geometric perspectives. Described as Ashton's answer to the Rose Adagio, it needs to be cool, calculated and dramatically sharp. In this regard, the delivery was not perfect. Sloppiness marred impact of the corps, forsaking collective regimentation for unevenness. Even so, the four men in Matthew Ball, David Donnelly, Tomas Mock and Donald Thom performed excellently, with good understanding of Ashton's vision. The two principles. Choe and Zucchetti, danced valiantly, with Zucchetti perhaps stretched to his technical limit. Yet, they still lacked the air of authority that gives this ballet personality. No doubt their partnership is an effective one - they have recently shone as Lescaut and his mistress and in leading the Giselle pas de six. But this ballet suits neither - where Zucchetti lacked the dynamism (most notably in the spins), Choe needed to curtail her natural softness for a harder geometrical edge.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scenes de Ballet</td></tr>
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Immediately following was the curious '<i>Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan</i>", starring Romany Pajdak in place of the injured Lauren Cuthbertson. With a show of great maturity, Pajdak danced with real sensitivity, and feeling for the piece's namesake - the feeling of a free-spirit who simply loves to dance. Her steps when she crossed the stage were not languid, but excited and hyper feminine. Along with Kate Shipway's tender accompaniment on the piano, the entire performance had a sort of velvet smoothness, an inwards intensity. On pure aesthetics, it was luxurious; the plain background with the solitary piano and swathes of silken scarves dappled in the spotlight. It was an introversive performance by Pajdak as she conveyed a smooth feeling of progression from bohemian freedom to compulsive decadence to the emotional frailty that characterised the dancer's late life. The <i>Five Waltzes</i> is not a piece to 'wow', but it was performed as well as could be.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Five Waltzes - </i>Pajdak, Shipway & rose petals</td></tr>
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Next was '<i>Symphonic Variations'</i>, based on music of the same name by Franck, and perhaps the most lauded of Ashton's considerable body of work. The curtain rose on the sinewy silhouettes of the six dancers, poised and assured in front of a lurid yellow background stamped with accents of black. We are bereft of all contextual indicators - neither time nor place nor situation has been conveyed. Yet, it is a powerful sight, potent in its display of solidarity and strength - 'utopia' was the word that sprung to mind. In this vein it continued, most prominently buoyed by Vadim Muntagirov, who seems to have taken to classic roles at Covent Garden with great relish (<a href="http://londonroomwithaview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/lamb-muntagirov-in-macmillans-manon-at.html" target="_blank">his recent des Grieux was superb</a>.) With Muntagirov, everything seems to flow seamlessly as a constant harmony of movement and art. Each movement of his is beautifully articulated, with his elegant line cutting an imposing figure. There is never any apparent tenacity or grit required in his dancing; everything seems to be in moving in one continuous languid movement from beginning to end, relying on momentum and the natural grace of the human body to illicit wonder. And indeed, this is what <i>Symphonic Variations</i> embodies; there are very few, if any, dazzling leaps. Extraordinary gravity defying lifts are thin on the ground, and there is a distinct lack of emotional trauma. In their stead, Ashton feasts handsomely upon a celebration of the beauty of movement. That is not to say that the piece is purely aesthetic and hence devoid of emotional attachment; rather, that the emotions that pass between dancer and audience is that of infinite intangibles. What matters is not the lofty jump - it is the tilt of the head, the arch of the foot that makes this piece lend its radiant joy. Overall, tonight's <i>Symphonic Variations</i> perhaps faltered short of its full climatic potential. While the partnership between Muntagirov and the delightful Melissa Hamilton was surprisingly effective, the overall synchrony between the six dancers was not quite as exuberant as it could have been. More authority was required to grasp nirvana fully.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Symphonic Variations</td></tr>
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<i>A Month in the Country</i>, the final ballet billed, is a stark contrast to the minimalism of <i>Symphonic Variations</i>, with bonnets, armchairs and miscellaneous props aplenty. The only plot-driven ballet on the programme, it also starred the superlative Natalia Osipova in her role debut as the voracious and lonely mistress, with Federico Bonelli's Beliaev, Francesca Hayward's Vera and James Hay's Kolia completely an impressively strong cast. But among them, one star shone brightest - Osipova, whose acting prowess is once again confirmed. Very few play the imperfect woman better than Osipova; she caries with her a complexed pool of emotions from coquettishness to vengeance to, ultimately, vulnerability.<br />
Here, it is interesting to consider the trajectory of Osipova's career, which has altered significantly since her move to Covent Garden, seen by many as the ultimate coup given her lack of experience with the English style. An undisputed heavyweight in the ballet world, she is one of those rare dancers who could perform nothing but her signature role of <i>Don Quixote</i> every night for the rest of her career, and still be met with a standing ovation night after night. Yet, such is her appetite for a challenge, her time with the Royal Ballet has transfigured her dancing with much more finesse. Her dazzling technique remains thankfully intact, but now it is augmented by real depth of character. In <i>A Month in the Country</i>, which aims to highlight the nuances of drawing-room politics, her character conveys a myriad of conflicting emotions through an arabesque alone. The pas de deux with Bonelli was delightful in its illicitness, and drew the audience wholly into their small world within a world.<br />
Alongside Osipova, there were several performances of the highest calibre. Hayward as her young ward was girlish and unaffected, truly a potent contrast to Osipova's womanly conflict. James Hay as her son spun faster and faster around the stage in a blaze of gold. The entire cast seemed to move in perfect tandem, conveying the minutia of the tale perfectly. It is a story of stolen caresses and missed moments, told through blazing glances of secret longing. In this regard, the cast delivered in its entirety, painting a realistic and tender picture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Month in the Country</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-88356787577239060192014-10-18T03:57:00.002+01:002017-02-21T13:48:53.356+00:00Leonidas Kavakos & Yuja Wang at the Barbican Centre<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ARkgK0q_fA8/VEHATyGm7XI/AAAAAAAAH7s/uIOguNpyM3g/s1600/IMG_20141017_212150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ARkgK0q_fA8/VEHATyGm7XI/AAAAAAAAH7s/uIOguNpyM3g/s1600/IMG_20141017_212150.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kavakos/Wang from the Circle</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Given the star power of Wang, it came as something of a surprise to me that despite the balcony level not opening, there was a sparse crowd. The circle level, where I sat, was only half full, prompting a mass exodus to the empty front seats once the lights dimmed. Indeed, the Barbican centre seemed to be a rather clumsy venue for Brahm's works of lyricism, lacking the intimacy that often causes the works to glow from the inside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first offering from Kavakos and Wang, the G Major sonata, was a tentative affair. A beguilingly personal sonata, in which nothing is self-proclaiming and relies upon and gentle phrasing, it requires th</span>e performers to bring out the musical ability of their respective instruments and be led not virtuosic skill, but voice. In this respect, Kavakos/Wang's rendition failed to capture this whimsically organic spirit. The first movement felt rushed in critical moments, and the rigidity of their approach was demonstrated by Kavakos' tense posture - for the first sonata, he hardly moved from the spot. While Brahms' sonatas are to be played sweetly and naturalistic, that does not mean that should linger not on phrases. The first two sonatas are pervaded with an ethereal whisper, secret and tender, almost cloying in its simplicity. Sent by Brahms to comfort Clara Schumann after the loss of her child, it uses themes from her favourite <i>Riegenlied</i> in all three movements. Given the private nature of this origin, and the regretful circumstances accompanying its creation, this maturely quiet wistfulness was absent from the night's performance (perhaps not surprisingly so, given the comparative youth of both Kavakos and Wang). The success of this sonata relies heavily on phrasing, and often throughout all three movements, Kavakos seemed a little hasty and curt, curtailing themes before their natural end. These works leave both violin and piano extremely exposed - even more so in a cavernous hall such as the Barbican. During the climatic passage of the third moment, it felt very much like it was <i>Brahms </i>coaxing the euphoria, not Kavakos/Wang.<br />
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The A Major sonata was much improved. Both performers (Kavakos in particular) took a much freer approach, and allowed the melody to soar. Brahms' second sonata is much less troubled than the first, with a sense of real tranquility. It is also in this sonata that Brahms' extensive knowledge of choral work really shines. Accordingly, both performers took on a much stronger voice, with Wang in particular playing with sensitivity. Titled "Sonata for Piano and Violin" rather than "Violin and Piano", Brahms gives the piano a real sense of lyricism, and allows it to introduce most themes. Kavakos, increasingly comfortable, complemented this role realignment well in the <i>Allegro amabile. </i>In the <i>andante tranquil, </i>they were careful not to be over-empathetic, but perhaps more care could have been taken with the <i>Andante </i>theme. It was only in the third movement, however, that Kavakos seemed to truly relax and demonstrate the full scale of his remarkable ability. Taking great relish in the gregarious and stately <i>Allegretto</i>, Kavakos played with confidence, with a more open sound, revelling in the more structured movement. He seemed more at home with grandeur than the introversive nature of the preceding movements, and finished the first half of the recital with full voice.<br />
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Given this clear preference of style, the final D minor sonata gave us a Kavakos transformed. The change was remarkable; from the first bar, his body moved along with the music, no longer rigidly still as before. The drama of the D minor sonata gave him a yellow-brick road to follow, and he traversed it gladly. He and Wang conjured a heady sense of urgency, ripe and mature, and the voices of the instruments sang in perfect harmony at last, with both the <i>Allegro</i> and <i>Presto agitato</i> reminding us of their astounding abilities.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-73386362323048682652014-10-15T01:20:00.003+01:002017-02-21T13:48:32.839+00:00Rolando Villazon Opera Gala at the Royal Festival Hall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Villazon, Matshikiza & Voronkov</td></tr>
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There are certain singers whom I will always reserve a special place for, artists I credit for instigating my prolonged love affair with the art of opera. Rolando Villazon is one such person - his impassioned performance with Anna Netrebko made Massenet's Manon the first opera I fell in love with. Since then, my knowledge of the classical arts has expanded considerably, a growth which unfortunately coincided with Villazon's various health issues and his slight vocal decline from the heights of 2006-07. Nevertheless, it has long been my ardent wish to see him perform in the flesh, for what this artist has to offer stretches far beyond the confines of opera. His natural gaiety I have long since admired, and no matter the condition of his throat, there is a frankness to his tone that lends his performances beautiful heart.<br />
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The programme could be easily divided into quarters, the first of which paid tribute to French expression and was heavily dominated by the songs of Jules Massenet. Massenet, in any form, is lyric music, lyrical to the very extreme. Hence, it does not seem a natural choice for Villazon, whose voice is coloured with plenty of warmth but very little reserve. A purist (and the average Frenchman) would disagree with his approach and pronunciation; but in terms of passion, he delivered strongly. His opening aria, '<i>Ah! Tout est bien fini</i>' was a prime example of this; he took what was, in its original conception, a beseeching prayer of piety and transfigured it into a vigorous outpour of torment.<br />
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Yet the effect was nevertheless, profoundly riveting. His gift is for sincerity is immense, and it has a great capacity to impart joy, sweeping all concerns over detail aside. I am, perhaps, a perfect example of the generation who relies on Youtube to further their classical education, but absolutely nothing is even comparable to his effect live. Appearing onstage with a broad maverick's smile, he furrowed that heavy brow and the first notes out his throat were so fantastically warm and emotive. Belief seemed to weigh down every phrase, right through to the ecclesiastical end. So earthy and wondrous is his sound that all one can do is close their eyes in ecstasy and revel in its glory. In doing so, we understood and accepted; Villazon strives not for authenticity nor perfection but to compel with his earnestness.<br />
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Following on from the loud cheer he earned, burgeoning young talent Matshikiza gave her first appearance of the evening, with Massenet's <i>Elegie</i> (a song which has coincidentally been heavily featured these weeks as the music accompanying the first pas de deux MacMillan's ballet at the Royal Opera House). She showed a clear voice and natural expression, but there were some intonation problems that would continue to plague her throughout the first half. <br />
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The grand duet of this first quarter was disappointingly underwhelming, particularly given this the lusciousness of Bizet's orchestration. Neither voice seemed to have truly warmed up yet, and while Villazon was clearly comfortable in a role he has sung many times before, Matshikiza's inexperience showed. Not entirely convincing as the spiry priestess, she also missed the high note before the final refrain of the climatic <i>ainsi que toi je me souviens</i>.<br />
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By contrast, the Italian quarter was much improved. Villazon's solo '<i>E la solita storia del pastore</i>' showcased the true power of his voice. The Italianate school requires none of the nuanced restraint of the French, and accordingly, Villazon soared with a great sense of relief. Whatever he feels, he seems to feel more keenly than any other - he sings like a man who lives life with grand relish. As his arms gesticulated grandly, the glorious richness of his voice, almost velvety in its flight, permeated the large hall with remarkable ease. When he is anguished, there is no plane of his face that is not distorted in distress and when he is overjoyed he, quite simply, <i>glows</i>. The transfixed audience gave him his due reward. Matshikiza's '<i>Signore Ascolta'</i> displayed her renewed confidence; however she still lacks an edge of credibility to her performances. While Villazon's level of immersion is perhaps excessive, Matshikiza could do with emoting more, even if it is only a gala rendition. Nevertheless, their climatic '<i>O Soave Fanciulla</i>' which closed the first half was headily intoxicating in its dashing passion.<br />
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We proceeded, then, to the light-hearted, humorous third quarter, where both Villazon and Matshikiza excelled. Any person at all familiar with Villazon's repertoire will know how he has made the role of Nemorino in Donizetti's '<i>L'elisir D'amore</i>' his own, as both performer and director. When he bounded out after the interval, beer and juggling props in hand, he was completely in his element. In his infectious exuberance, Villazon dotes upon the crowd; his head turns to look at the audience on every tier, he laughs freely and smiles with the room at large. His Nemorino was pandering, playful and, most importantly, lovable. In an art that is often berated for taking itself too seriously and of having jokes too secular for a wider audience, Villazon straddles the world of entertainment and artistic clarity with apparent ease. His entire approach can be summarised by his rendition of the famous aria '<i>Una furtiva lagrima</i>' - in the beginning, his voice was slightly raspy and in his earnestness, he leant heavily on every note like a crutch, which slightly distorted the beginnings of his phrases. Yet, the emotion rang true. In the place of sobriety was desperation and when his hand, trembling slightly, reached out before him, it was a gesture of deep-rooted tenderness. His rendition betrays not vulnerability (for Nemorino is far too stupid for that) but pernicious hope, radiating in a sweet sigh of longing that held the audience spellbound. When his Nemorino declares "<i>Si puo morir d'amor!</i>" ("I could die of love!") with such simple yearning, it is delectably irresistible. <br />
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The final quarter of the programme was a feast of Spanish song, giving Mexican born Villazon a rare chance perform in his native language. He did so with vigour; his '<i>Ya mis horas felices</i>' was my personal highlight of the evening with its unapologetically dark drama. The final duet on the programme, '<i>Si, torero quiero se</i>,' complete with little sashays across the stage from both singers, seemed a great love letter from stage to audience. It is such a gift, this blessing of both song and happiness. He exudes sunshine, this man. When he performs, there is no gap between him and his audience, save his immense talent. By the time they finished their last high notes, arms outstretched as if to embrace the entire world, the audience had succumbed entirely to their combined charms. Together, they produced the kind of evening where one has to simply forget all technical expectations and requirements and just luxuriate in the incandescent expression of the art. Indeed, after the three roaring encores, the stranger in the seat next to mine turned, with a dreamy expression suffused on his countenance, and murmured in awe; "what a wonderful, <i>wonderful</i> evening!"<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Receiving the adulation</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5316192442988664935.post-45457373494264555642014-10-10T05:29:00.000+01:002017-04-25T12:24:20.820+01:00Lamb & Muntagirov in MacMillan's Manon at the Royal Opera House<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from Amphitheatre C:80, seated</td></tr>
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It seems that since my move to London one year ago, the story of Manon Lescaut has imprinted itself firmly upon my being. Massenet's opera was the first production I saw at Covent Garden, Puccini's the closing chapter of my first season and now, in this new season, the Royal Ballet's extended run of Manon has been eating up my schedule considerably. Add onto that the recent purchase of the original novel, you have something akin to overexposure.<br />
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Thus, over the past few performances (with Nunez/Bonelli & Osipova/Acosta) I fancied myself immune to the harrowing effects of the sorrowful story. I thought back to the strength of feelings I had experienced upon my first encounter with the story, and felt rather regretful.<br />
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Yet, on this evening, a beautifully poignant and earnest performance by <b>Sarah Lamb </b>and <b>Vadim Muntagirov</b> moved me, as if it was my first time encountering this tale of great woe and passion.<br />
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I have already spoken at length about the long-awaited <a href="http://londonroomwithaview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/osipova-in-macmillans-manon-at-royal.html" target="_blank">role debut of Natalia Osipova</a> a few days ago, in which I gave high praise to her believable, self-aware and gregarious portrayal of the complex role. Yet, something lacked that evening, outside of her superlative skill. This was the general consensus; as aptly put by Judith Mackrell's Guardian review: "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/oct/08/royal-ballet-manon-review-natalia-osipova-carlos-acosta-striking" target="_blank">we feel it's life she can't bear to leave, not des Grieux</a>." The more I reflected upon this, the more I felt disappointed that the heart of both production and story had been considerably diminished; for what is Manon Lescaut without the helpless and impassioned ardor that exists between the two lovers?<br />
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Part of this problem stems from the difficulty of the role of des Grieux. A technically demanding part, from the subtlety to his Act 1 solo to the multitude of lifts, it is also hampered by having none of Manon's obvious vulnerabilities in which the dancer may build character. Thus, it has been unfortunate but understandable that most of its canvassers this season have faltered in the emotional aspect of their portrayal.<br />
Not so for Muntagirov. Aesthetically, he is different; he exudes natural youthfulness (being only twenty-four), with his pale and pinched face and almost coltish legs. Yet, he commands the stage wholesomely and with easy grace. He is at perhaps the perfect age and maturity for this role. His des Grieux has a sweetly cloying, aching gentility. Somehow, in his Act 1 solo, he seemed to have half a second more time than the others, time to elongate his incredibly long limbs in a way that exuded nobility - while the spritely candour of his steps betrayed the tremulous first dawn of romance. There is a Russian lilt to his hands still (he himself says he is a product of both the English and Russian schools) and he exudes a lyricism that is both refreshing and captivating. It was one of those moments where the whole house seemed to sigh a little whenever that graceful line appeared.<br />
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He and Lamb, though an unexpected partnership, make a devastatingly earnest couple. Both exude youth and awe - their love in the first pas de deux is uncomplicated and ardent, as if neither can scarcely believe the new sensations awash within them. The lifts were performed as if she weighed nothing at all; so fluid and languidly they moved across the stage, entranced by their own spell. Even more delicious was their bedroom pas de deux - more than anything else, they radiated joy and candid sensuality. They moved entirely as one, with Muntagirov's sensitive partnering complimenting Lamb's sweetness.<br />
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With such a languidly beautiful Act 1, perfect in its incredulity and trance-like dreaminess, there were fears amongst the audience that such a portrayal could not be sustained, and the momentum would burn out before the final act. Thankfully, it was not to be thus, most predominantly thanks to Vadim Muntagirov. Never before have I seen des Grieux so convincing as the spurned lover. When he entreats Manon to return to him at the party, he is frantic and messy in his pleas. His solo passage when she retreats from him has a faintly wild edge, an outpouring of youthful anguish and frustration. In their pas de deux in his lodgings, his anger as he looks at her bracelet with remorseful eyes is virile. Muntagirov was, in every respect, the heart of this Manon production. Much like des Grieux's resolve in following Manon "to the ends of the earth", Muntagirov would not be swayed. His immersion (in what has, in this run, been an one-dimensional character) was total - and ultimately, heartbreaking. Even in the famous final pas de deux, he shone another light. Like all other interpreters before him, he is willing Manon to live; but the tenderness shines through - his arms cradle her even more gently and every step of his is laced not with desperation but true sorrow.<br />
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Lamb's Manon is a good girl; perhaps <i>too </i>good, some might argue. It is hard to reconcile the warmth flowing from the gentle arms in the Act 1 to the brazen courtesan she became, and even less so the the violated woman of the final Act. It is difficult to imagine that such a prudent Manon would ever take to the gambling table, let alone succumb to material trappings. But the gentleness of Lamb's Manon is also significant and it goes some way to explain the gulf in emotional connection between tonight's performance and its predecessors. It held us understand <i>why</i> she invokes such sincerity and passion from des Grieux. She has to be more than a fickle, vain creature - for a des Grieux to have adored her to the extent that Muntagirov's did, he must have responded to something more than her sensuality. In this respect, we, the audience, fell deeply for their tragedy.<br />
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Here is where the true triumph of the night lay. Where Muntagirov and Lamb are at their most magical is in the true depth of feeling between them. They have reminded us what we never should have forgot - that Manon, in any incarnation, is first and foremost above love, love that blooms and survives even under the most sordid of conditions. Lamb and Muntagirov embraced this in its entirety, and thus they soared soared. No lift seemed to trouble them, no manoeuvre broke the flow of movement between two bodies in complete understanding. At the ending, where Muntagirov's des Grieux looks down upon his beloved's dead body, his shoulders seemed to heave with not the exaggerated torment we have come to expect, but a true outpouring of anguish.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lamb & Muntagirov receiving their rapturous applause</td></tr>
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This ballet showcases, like no other, what a fine body of actors the corps de ballet are. Many of the scenes are crammed full of bodies and like a great, intricate tapestry, there is always something new to discover. Each prostitute under the Madame's charge has their own individual flair and charms; even the beggars at the dockside quarrel heatedly, regardless of the solos being performed in their midst. This kind of headily immersive acting was embodied by Gary Avis and Thomas Whitehead in their unsavoury roles as Monsieur GM and the Gaoler respectively, which they seemed to dispatch with real relish.<br />
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Yuhui Choe, a perennial crowd favourite, (and bizarrely, not yet a principal dancer) was superb once more as Lescaut's mistress, a role in which she only recently made her debut. She gave the role appropriate complexity and importantly, beneath all the flirtations and boisterous behaviour of the character, she doesn't forget to remain beautiful, with excellent willowy arms that I could watch forever. She and Zucchetti seemed to have formed a rather delightful understanding, both radiating a natural lyricism that they aren't afraid to manipulate in search of wanton pleasure.<br />
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But in this ballet that is only as strong as its central pairing, all eyes must go to the heartfelt des Grieux and his accommodating Manon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lamb & Muntagirov</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12570733615913811312noreply@blogger.com0