76 Trombones

It is my 76th birthday today:

Meredith Willson Lyrics (Music Man)

76 Trombones Lyrics

Seventy six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos,
the cream of ev'ry famous band.

Seventy six trombones caught the morning sun,
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind.
There were more than a thousand reeds springing up like weeds,
there were horns of ev'ry shape and kind.

There were copper bottom tympani in horse platoons,
thundering, thundering, all along the way.
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons,
each bassoon having his big fat say.
There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery,
Thundering, thundering, louder than before.
Clarinets of eve'ry size and trumpeters who'd improvise
a full octave higher than the score.

Seventy six trombones led the big parade,
when the order to march rang out loud and clear.
Starting off with a big bang bong on a Chinese gong,
by a big bang bonger at the rear.

Seventy six trombones hit the counter point,
while a hundred and ten cornets played the air.
Then I modestly took my place as the one and only bass,
and I oompahed up and down the square.

250 Years of Messiah

The Glorious History of Handel's Messiah

A musical rite of the holiday season, the Baroque-era oratorio still awes listeners 250 years after the composer's death

• By Jonathan Kandell
• George Frideric Handel'sMessiahwas originally an Easter offering. It burst onto the stage of Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The audience swelled to a record 700, as ladies had heeded pleas by management to wear dresses "without Hoops" in order to make "Room for more company." Handel's superstar status was not the only draw; many also came to glimpse the contralto, Susannah Cibber, then embroiled in a scandalous divorce.

The men and women in attendance sat mesmerized from the moment the tenor followed the mournful string overture with his piercing opening line: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." Soloists alternated with wave upon wave of chorus, until, near the midway point, Cibber intoned: "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." So moved was the Rev. Patrick Delany that he leapt to his feet and cried out: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!"

Now, of course, Messiah is a fixture of the Christmas season. Woe to the concert hall in the United States or Britain that fails to schedule the piece around the holiday, when, as well, CD sales and Web downloads of the oratorio soar. For many amateur choirs, the work is the heart of their repertoire and the high point of the year. In most of Handel's oratorios, the soloists dominate and the choir sings only brief choruses. But in Messiah, says Laurence Cummings, director of the London Handel Orchestra, "the chorus propels the work forward with great emotional impact and uplifting messages."

This year, the 250th anniversary of Handel's death, has been a boon to the Baroque composer and his best-known work. The commemoration has centered in London, where Handel lived for 49 years, until his death in 1759 at age 74. The BBC has broadcast all of his operas, more than 40 in total,  and every one of the composer's keyboard suites and cantatas was performed during the annual London Handel Festival, which included concerts at St. George's Hanover Square church, where Handel worshiped, and at the Handel House Museum ("See Handel Slept Here,"), longtime residence of the man that Ludwig van Beethoven himself, citing Messiah, said was the "greatest composer that ever lived."

He was born in Halle, Germany, into a religious, affluent household. His father, Georg Händel, a celebrated surgeon in northern Germany, wanted his son to study the law. But an acquaintance, the Duke of Weissenfels, heard the prodigy, then barely 11, playing the organ. The nobleman's recognition of the boy's genius likely influenced the doctor's decision to allow his son to become a musician. By 18, Handel had composed his first opera, Almira, initially performed in Hamburg in 1705. During the next five years, he was employed as a musician, composer and conductor at courts and churches in Rome, Florence, Naples and Venice, as well as in Germany, where the Elector of Hanover, the future King George I of England, was briefly his patron.

Handel's restless independence contrasted him with the other great composer of the age, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), whom he did not meet. "Bach never moved out of the cocoon of court patronage or church employment," says Harry Bicket, a conductor, harpsichordist and London-based director of The English Concert chamber orchestra. Handel, on the other hand, rarely attached himself to any benefactor for long, although he would compose court music when asked. He wroteThe Water Music(1717), one of the few of his pieces other thanMessiahrecognizable to the average concertgoer, for George I, to be performed for the monarch as His Majesty's barge navigated through a London canal on a summer evening. "But [Handel] didn't hang around palace antechambers waiting for his lordship or royal highness," says Jonathan Keates, author ofHandel: The Man and his Music.

Such free-spirited musical entrepreneurship was more than possible in London, to which Handel moved permanently in 1710. A commercial boom underpinned by overseas trade had created a thriving new merchant and professional class that broke the monopoly on cultural patronage by the nobility. Adding zest to the London music scene were rivalries that split the audience into two broad musical camps. On one side were defenders of the more conventional Italian opera style, who idolized the composer Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) and brought him to London. Enthusiasts of Handel's new Italian operas cast their lot with the German-born composer. The partisanship was captured in a 1725 verse by poet John Byrom:

Some say compared to Bononcini,
That Mynheer Handel's but a Ninny;
Others aver, that he to Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle

Scarborough University Campus

This afternoon I have enjoyed a group visit to the university campus just up the road from where we live.

Scarborough Campus, The University of Hull, Filey Road, Scarborough YO11 3AZ, 01723 362392

Scarborough Campus provides an exciting intermate study environment, bringing together 20th and 21st century architecture with all the resources you would expect from a larger campus. The campus has a wide variety of teaching spaces, ranging from rooms which can accept 100+ students to rooms for much smaller groups.

We also have state of the art digital media labs, and recording studios, along with science labs, performance studios and a theatre workshop. We also have all the facilities you would find on a larger campus, a comprehensive library, open access ITareas, onsite accommodation and both a dining hall and cafe bar. Not only that but we also have a Student Union shop and games area.

Scarborough Campus provides a fully wireless campus, so you can access your email and the web anywhere on campus. In the cafe, library or lectures you will always be able to connect your laptop to the network, either for study, or to keep in touch with your lecturers and other students.

To get a true feel for the campus, you can either visit us on an open day, or visit ourvideo microsite. Here you'll be able to see staff and students from the different subject areas living 'the Scarborough experience'.

Across the road is a centre which brings much publicity to Scarborough.

Welcome to the School of Arts and New Media (SANM) based at the Scarborough Campus of the University of Hull.

Our range of undergraduate and postgraduate opportunities encourage students to explore and contribute to the future of music, theatre, performance, english, computingand digital media.

The programmes offered in the school are designed to respond to contemporary art and media in the world today. Studying in SANM offers artistic and intellectual skills and experience that will enable you to work in traditional arts and new media industries. Together staff and students continue to explore what it means to be a musician, composer, performance artist, web designer, games developer, digital arts maker, theatre practitioner, actor, dancer, writer.

Scarborough School of Arts and New Media is home to an innovative team of subject specialists working together to offer a range of degree courses in the following subject areas:

• Interdisciplinary Degrees
• Creative Music Technology
• Digital Media
• English
• Theatre and Performance

Throughout your years in the School of Arts and New Media, you are taught by lecturers who are practising artists, scientists, choreographers, directors, software developers, actors, designers, musicians, performers and composers. They collaborate to share their enthusiasm for their arts with you as the future artists and audiences.

Whichever degree you choose you will be able to study, experience, experiment and explore your art in professional facilities. You will also have opportunities to see professional companies both on campus and in trips to theatres and other performance venues in centres such as London, Leeds and York.

Goldie at the Proms

BBC Proms 2009: Goldie prepares for Prom night

The maestro of alchemy, Goldie, has written a seven-minute orchestral piece to be performed at the Royal Albert Hall.

By Peter Culshaw

Goldie welcomes me into his Hertfordshire house, where he lives in semi-rural bliss with his girlfriend, two large huskies, and his collection of over 2,000 trainers. Not to mention his giant Boa constrictor, which is coiled up asleep in the corner of the room. “He lives on rats – and journalists,” says Goldie, flashing me a grin with those famous gold teeth.

He’s on a fast that consists of 10 days of surviving on a horrible-tasting concoction of lemon juice and cayenne “and a few cigarettes” - the fast is, he says, making him “speedy” and he talks a mile a minute.

He bought his house 10 years ago when he decided he had to escape the world of nightclubs and drugs in London. “I’m clean now, but back in the day I used to start the day with a snort of cocaine. I could toot for England,” he confesses, cheerfully. Goldie’s CV is, to say the least, an eclectic one. His own description, “B Boy, wannabe gangbanger, graffiti artist, Miami Funk Dredd, producer, superstar DJ, actor and celebrity”, just about covers it, although an unlikely new career seems to be opening up for him in classical music.

Despite not being able to read music or play an instrument, he came second in last year’s Maestro television show where celebrities attempted to become conductors, showing natural talent, charisma and sheer brass neck in front of an orchestra, learning pieces of music such as sections of Orff’s Carmina Burana by heart. But as David Bowie said of him: “Goldie could make a go of almost anything he turns his hand to. He has got so much talent in a million different areas.” Conducting, says Goldie, is similar in a way to being a DJ; he recently played a stadium gig in Moscow to over 20,000 people.

Now comes a new project, which has raised even more eyebrows in certain musical circles - a Proms commission for a new seven-minute orchestral piece to be performed at the Royal Albert Hall, called Sine Tempore – Without Time (also the title of an autobiographical film Goldie has been developing for the last nine years) that also makes good use of the mighty Albert Hall organ. Helping him on his musical path will be his Maestro mentor, Ivor Setterfeld, and composer Anna Meredith. A two-part BBC Two film Classic Goldie, follows him as he copes with this new challenge.

For Goldie, while admitting that with the Proms commission he is “completely outside my comfort zone”, he says it’s not entirely unlike his usual electronic composing and producing. Some of the terminology was new to him “but once they explained glissando to me, I thought it’s quite like the time-stretching I do in the studio”. Goldie also points out that some of his earlier work, such as the hour-long piece Mother on his second album Saturnzreturn from 1998, was semi-orchestral in nature and was partly inspired by Björk, his girlfriend at the time “turning me on to Górecki’s Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs – we listened to it watching the sea in Iceland”.

His main musical claim to fame is as co-inventor of drum and bass, a genuinely new genre of frenetic dance music that he took into the charts with his 1995 album Timeless, a distinctive sound that “has splintered around the world now. From Tokyo to Sao Paulo. After his second album failed to sell, he became an almost full-time celebrity, had his worst drug period, became pals with the likes of Noel Gallagher and went out with a series of famous girlfriends including Björk and Naomi Campbell. He took up acting, popping up as villains in a Bond film, in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and in EastEnders, and being on reality shows like Celebrity Big Brother.

A riveting ghostwritten autobiography Nine Lives was published in 2002.

Biography

He was born Clifford Price in 1965 after a short-lived relationship between a Scottish pub singer and a Jamaican-born factory worker, who soon disappeared. His mother put him into care when he was three, where he remained for 15 years, living in foster homes and institutions. He only reunited with his mother and brother, who has had several stints in jail, when he was 17.

Goldie escaped firstly by becoming a roller skater, playing roller hockey for the England B team, and break dancing. Then he took up graffiti painting and was taken to New York, meeting famous artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, and discovering hip hop. He found his father in Miami, who “acted as if he saw me yesterday”. He was shocked to discover his father had another son with exactly the same name, Clifford, “in case one of you died”. The experience “made me feel abandoned all over again”.

Goldie says that he used to be incredibly angry, all the time. “But now I just think my mother made a mistake and now, finally, I have a great relationship with her.” A famous womaniser in the past, he says he is settled now, living with his long-term girlfriend and happy to carry on “doing what I do. Which I realise is a very modern version of the dark, ancient art of alchemy, turning lead into gold.” He says he may have been here before, possibly as a pharaoh. “This time, they decided to send me back, and they thought 'Let’s make him abandoned, love music, not be able to play a musical instrument, and see if he finds his way’.”

• 'Classic Goldie’ airs on BBC Two (transmission times tbc)

• 'Sine Tempore’, will be performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Charles Hazlewood, Aug 1

Reviewers, in the main, were pleasantly surprised. Elisa Bray in The Independent wrote:

Goldie's drum 'n' bass could be characterised by its tendency to start off slowly and burst into high-energy sound. Sine Tempore, by comparison, was full of dynamics, and focused above all on rhythm and timbre.

and

You couldn't have expected Bach's counter-point and the composition, lacking harmony, benefited from its short length. However, it was remarkable how comfortably the piece sat alongside the other 20th and 21st century compositions showcased that day.

She gave Prom 21 four out of five stars.

Neil Fisher, in The Times, also awarded four out of five stars:

...solemn cellos give a voiceless chant, and a chorus (in this case the London Philharmonic Choir) emerges with a hazily declamatory response. Rattling percussion - deftly handled, though perhaps not as inventively as one might have predicted - underpins the progress to a sonorous climax.

and

The regret, perhaps because Goldie has had to rely on mentors to orchestrate and notate the piece, is that the remaining orchestral detail seems rather vague, and occasionally swamped by the choral and percussive climaxes.

Spotify

Spotify is a new way to enjoy music. Simply download and install, before you know it you’ll be singing along to the genre, artist or song of your choice. With Spotify you are never far away from the song you want.

There are no restrictions in terms of what you can listen to or when. Forget about the hassle of waiting for files to download and fill up your hard drive before you get round to organising them. Spotify is instant, fun and simple.

Because music is social, Spotify allows you to share songs and playlists with friends, and even work together on collaborative playlists, Friday afternoon in the office might never be the same again! We’re music lovers like everyone else.

We want to connect millions of people with their favorite songs by creating a product that people love to use. We respect creativity and believe in fairly compensating artists for their work. We’ve cleared the rights to use the music you’ll listen to in Spotify.

Frequently asked questions

About Spotify

What is Spotify?

Spotify offers you legal and free access to a huge library of music. All you need to do is create an account and download our streaming music player. For more details have a look at our video or introduction page.

What is your goal?

Our dream is to let everyone listen to whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want.

Do I need to pay to use Spotify?

No, the advertising-funded version of Spotify is free of charge, however, for now it requires that you receive an invite to register unless you are in the UK. Visit ourinvitation page to sign up to the waiting list. Alternatively, you can pay for an ad-freepremium subscription to Spotify.

Can I download or buy music in Spotify?

We have links on a large number of albums and tracks that you can click to purchase mp3’s from our download partner. To purchase tracks right click on the track or album (control click on Mac OS) and select “Buy From”. Downloading is currently only available in the UK, France and Spain.

How much advertising will I be exposed to?

There should be significantly fewer ads in Spotify than you’d find on commercial radio. We are trying to strike a balance between artists who want to be paid and providing the best possible user experience.

Is paying for Spotify online safe?

Yes, Spotify’s payment partners are PCI-certified, which is the global industry standard ensuring compliance to strict security and data protection standards.

Celebrating Yorkshire Day 2009

(some of our residents have been to Ryedale Festival, 17th July - 2nd August, where today they are marking 'Yorkshire Day')

Saturday 1st August - 9.45 a.m - 4.45 p.m.

Meet at East Gate Car Park, Pickering
Ryecrawl - Yorkshire Day 2009

Following the enormous success of our first ‘RyeCrawl’ in 2008, we will again treat our audience to a magical mystery tour of seven venues; at each venue you will hear a short concert of music that is particularly suited to the venue.

Last year’s locations included Pickering Castle, an Elizabethan Manor House, Helmsley Walled Garden and Rievaulx Abbey, but 2009’s will remain a closely guarded secret!

Tickets include transportation on coaches. Please book well in advance and bring a picnic; there will be a certain amount of walking involved so please let us know when booking if mobility is an issue.

Year of birth and death

(I was born in 1934)

In 1934, three towering figures in British music died: Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst. This weekend the Proms mark the 75th anniversary with several concerts, of which BBC2 has chosen to air what looks like the pick of the bunch. It brings together three pieces that hum with a sense of place, starting with Elgar's Overture: Cockaigne, a portrait of Edwardian London via a string of musical snapshots, the themes of which come together in a typically stirring climax. By contrast, Delius's The Song of the High Hills uses a wordless chorus to evoke a summer night in the mountains of Norway. The second half of the concert is given over to Holst's The Planets, which, as one of the most beloved works of the last century, needs little introduction. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the BBC Philharmonic for what should be a rousing night.

BBC Proms 2009: 1934

Saturday 25 July
8:00pm - 9:50pm
BBC2

Free music by the sea

(enjoyed the morning and afternoon concerts in the open air sun lounge overlooking the sea)

AFTER some unfortunate confusion last week, tomorrow really is a free-for-all at the Spa.

There will be no charge for admission to the Spa Orchestra's concerts at 11am and 7.45pm, and Howard Beaumont's 2.30pm organ gig.

On Thursday mornings the orchestra plays popular music on the lighter, brighter side with swing and dance band features.

Former English National Opera baritone Andrew Tinkler will make his Scarborough début with the ensemble tomorrow evening.

Andrew has the quirky distinction of being the singing voice of the bear in the Charmin toilet-roll adverts and briefly duetted with Hugh Grant in the film Love Actually.

And he has had "major roles on stage, CD, radio and television", says promoter Stephen Walker.

On Friday, the orchestra and guest singer Jez Unwin return to Peasholm Park for an outdoor show concluding with fireworks. Bad weather forced the band's first Peasholm show of the year, on June 5, to be cancelled, as the Spa wasn't available for it to be transferred indoors. It is this time, should it rain heavily.

Swing in the Park, at 8pm, will be filmed by a TV crew for a programme called The Last Seaside Orchestra. "So it's not only a chance to enjoy great big band sounds, but also to be on the telly," says Stephen.

"Jez has sung all round the world – literally, as guest vocalist on the QE2's world cruise. One of the UK's leading swing and jazz performers, Jez headlined two years of major tours with Legends of Swing. When not singing with leading big bands, Jez has appeared in West End shows such as Joseph and the recent hugely successful revival of Evita."

Because of preparation for the filming there will be no morning concert at the Spa on Friday.

Alexander Prior

Born in London to a Russian mother and British father, Alexander Prior's passion for music stood out from a very young age.

He began composing at the age of eight and he has now written more than 40 works, including symphonies, concertos, two ballets, two operas and a Requiem for the children of Beslan. His music has been performed by respected musicians and ensembles, and Alex has been the recipient of several prestigious composition awards - at 12 he was the youngest commended in the BBC Young Composer Competition. As he began piano lessons, his musical abilities flourished and later he enrolled in the junior department of the Royal College of Music. At 13, he entered the St Petersburg Conservatory where he is currently in his third year, studying composition with Professor Boris Tichenko and conducting with Professor Alexander Alexeev.

Alexander has collaborated with many leading orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Singers, the Endymion Ensemble and the New Opera Orchestra (Moscow). Highlights include a performance of his Sonata for Cello and Piano at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the selection of a symphonic poem, Stalin's March, as part of the Arts Council funded New Music Day with the City of London Sinfonia. Other recent performances include The Prince’s Feast performed by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican (conducted by Alex) and the premiere of Svyatogor's Quest by the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio at the Wigmore Hall. In Autumn 2008, following successful performances in St Petersburg, the renowned Rossica Choir toured the UK, featuring Alex's choral cycle Sounds of the Homeland and parts of his All Night Vigil. Alex's most recent commission is by the St Petersburg Concert Society, for an oratorio based on Gogol's 'Nevsky Prospekt', which will be premiered in the Philharmonic Hall in December 2009.

His Piano Concerto No 1 was premiered at the prestigious V International Piano Festival in St Petersburg in September 2006. This work represented the 21st Century alongside Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 from 19th and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.1 from 20th Centuries. Alex was runner up in the 2008 International Prokofiev Composers Competition - his Concerto for piano and orchestra No 2 Northern Dances was performed by the State Academic Symphony orchestra of St Petersburg in the Great Philharmonic Hall. In 2006, Alexander's ballet Mowgli (based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book) was commissioned by choreographers Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vassilev of The Moscow State Classical Ballet. There have been several performances to date, all conducted by Alexander. The official premiere took place at the Kremlin theatre, Moscow in February 2008 and further performances are planned in Russia during the year.

Alexander made his UK conducting debut with The National Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and he immediately received a re-invitation. He has also conducted The State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg in a performance of his own String Symphony No.1, in a concert in the St Petersburg Philharmonic Hall entirely devoted to his own compositions. In November 2008 he conducted a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Tsar's Bride in St Petersburg, and this was followed by a performance of The Nutcracker in January 2009.

Current projects include a commission by Channel 4 to compose a concerto featuring some of the world’s most outstanding young musicians. The three-part series, culminating in a concert at The Sage Gateshead will be broadcast on prime-time television during 2009, with Alexander conducting the Northern Sinfonia.

Secular ministry?

Priests in public places

Sunday WorshipSunday 10 May 
8:10am - 8:50am 
BBC Radio 4O for the Wings of a Dove: Rev Stephen Shipley visits Leipzig

 to reflect on the faith of composer Felix Mendelssohn, on the 200th 

anniversary of his birth.

(Stephen visits his uncle frequently here at Dulverton and keeps us in touch

with his active live and rich ministry with the bbc and far beyond. Leipzig 

broadcast yesterday morning, preaching in Bury St Edmund cathedral last 

evening, to Bridlington today for his father's funeral. He preached at 

Benjamin Britten memorial in Cambridge on the eve of his death in 

Scarborough hospital. Priesthood in public places like his make an invaluable

contribution to the witness and mission of the church in our nation. 

Long may they be protected and supported).

Spartacus

(a thrilling evening at the ballet courtesy bbc tv)

The Bolshoi Ballet perform their signature work Spartacus, staged in Paris in January 2008 and featuring the Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta in the title role. This epic work by Khatchaturian tells the story of the gladiator-slave who became the leader of an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic.

CREDITS

Spartacus

Carlos Acosta

Director

Ross MacGibbon

BROADCASTS

1. Fri 24 Apr 2009
   19:30
   BBC Four
   
   
   (review of earlier performance in London)
   
   
   
   
    

   Sarah Crompton
    08 Aug 2007

   
   

   
   

   

   Sarah Crompton reviews the Bolshoi's Spartacus at the London Coliseum

   • Big, bold and thrilling, Spartacus is the Bolshoi's signature work, but it stands or falls on the charisma of the dancer playing its doomed hero.
     

   The company hasn't had a truly memorable Spartacus since Irek Mukhamedov threw off his shackles and flew.

   Now it has. Cuban Carlos Acosta has spent a month rehearsing with the company to take on this role, an epic test of stamina in so many ways. He has performed in Moscow; now he brings his interpretation to London. And he triumphs.

   The part is built on a series of stage-splitting jumps, designed by the choreographer Yuri Grigorovich to show off the athletic power of the traditional Bolshoi leading man.

   His virile antics propel the story: a slaves' revolution is won with jetés that whir round the stage; he accepts power by bounding through the massed ranks of his supporters, pushing the sky with his twisting elevation; he encounters defeat in a last despairing sequence of abandoned leaps.

   In between, there are endless pirouettes and a lot of rousing running around - all of which Acosta carries off with skill and abandon. Arguably he might have jumped an inch higher and spun a fraction faster five years ago, but then he wouldn't have brought to the part such extraordinary drama.

   Acosta's unique skill, as his career has developed, is his ability to communicate. He comes so close to the footlights, you feel he wants to break their bounds and bring the audience on to the stage.

   And he is so expressive you believe he is speaking. When he enfolds his beloved Phrygia (Anna Antonicheva) in his tender arms, you can hear the words of love he is murmuring; when he attempts to quell an uprising in his own ranks, you know the admonitions he is using.

   It is an extraordinary gift, and it creates a deep emotion and passion that help the ballet along.

   Spartacus was made in 1968, three years after MacMillan had unveiled the psychological realism of Romeo and Juliet. Grigorovich took a different path, structuring the piece as a series of striking tableaux, linked by "monologues", solos that express character rather than thought.

   Acosta's achievement is to play a Grigorovich hero like a MacMillan one.

   On Monday night, only Maria Allash as a flashingly seductive Aegina, disdain dripping from her elegant wrists, ambition stamped over her face, came anywhere near to matching his dramatic realism.

   Alexander Volchkov plays the evil Roman general Crassus as a self-dramatising hysteric; it is a pantomime performance, but effective. Antonicheva emotes hard but lacks fluency as Phrygia.

   Around them, Khachaturian's score, vividly played by the Bolshoi Orchestra under Pavel Sorokin, swirls dramatically and Grigorovich's stage pictures unfold with vigorous glamour. It's all a bit Cecil B DeMille, but utterly engrossing.

   
   
2. 
   

Handel 250

250th Anniversary: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Superstar, Philanthropist, A Musician's Musician Handel's career was an extraordinary success by any standards. He was an enormous star in his day in both Germany and England, important enough to be made an English citizen by Act of Parliament. He held the favour of royalty throughout his career. He remains the most popular baroque composer by far, with prolific output: oratorios, Italian operas, cantatas, concerti, suites, keyboard music. Handel's philanthropy is less remembered: he was a founding member of the Society of Musicians (now the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain) and was one of the early Governors of the Foundling Hospital. Above all, Handel was a composer's composer. Beethoven referred to him as "the master of us all", Bach as "the only person I would wish to be, were I not Bach".

Places to go
Top of the list for any Handel lover should be the Foundling Museum, with an outstanding collection of memorabilia; also in London is Handel House, his home for 36 years. If you're truly reverent, you could go and visit his birthplace in Halle, Germany, or his grave in Westminster Abbey in London.

The BBC is planning a "week of Handel" at Easter, together with a weekly broadcast of a Handel opera.

Hansel and Gretel

A highlight of Christmas Day courtesy of the BBC.

Background:

Is that the wind whispering or a wicked witch planning to fatten you up and eat you? Find out with Hansel and Gretel in this funny-scary-touching opera, the perfect family fare from The Royal Opera for everyone from eight years to 80 to discover something special at holiday time.

 

In this famous fairytale, two children become lost in a forest and are captured by a witch whose gingerbread house proves too much of a temptation for their hunger. In an explosive climax and with the help of some magic – the defeated witch gets a taste of her own culinary methods, and of course there is a rousing happy ending when parents and children are reunited.

This brand new production by regular favourites Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiserhas their characteristics with but a dash of deliciously black comedy too. But don’t worry, for the Sandman, the Dew Fairy and a host of protective angels bring visual and musical beauty to brighten anything lurking in the darker corners.Humperdinck’s music matches catchy folk-like songs with sumptuous instrumental colour, and here the two fine casts of singers – familiar faces on the Covent Garden stage – are truly stunning ones to bring it all alive. This is a tunefully approachable, musically memorable and visually delightful as opera gets.

Review:

Hansel & Gretel at the Royal Opera House

Hänsel & Gretel - Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 9 December 2008 (opening night)

 

Most of the 'new' productions at Covent Garden this year have been borrowed from places like Munich and Salzburg. Leiser and Caurier's Hänsel und Gretel is one of the few to be produced in-house. What's more it's about to be shown nationwide in cinemas, and even on Xmas telly. So it's not just a show. It's a mission statement, temperature gauge, and table of fare. All important these days when the Royal Opera House is scrabbling for a shrinking funding pool, not to mention bums on seats.

 

Leiser and Caurier are a safe-(ish) pair of hands. You know you're not going to get impenetrable intellectualism, half-dressed Nazis or criminal haberdashery abuse. Their ROH Turco, Cenerentola and Barbiere, were, by general consensus, 'fun', if not downright adorable. Their Zurich Clari a few months back was brilliant. Well I thought so anyway.

 

The first half was packed with sweet childlike touches - a Mogwai Sandman (actually, that one freaked me out just a tiny bit), a Princess Barbie Dew Fairy, fluffy squirrel-headed angels with light-up wings hanging from the ceiling. (Probably some people will want to stick their fingers down their throat just reading that. This production is not for you, dear grouches.) So far, so cute.

 

The biggest surprise came in the second half. The last thing I expected to see here - or indeed anywhere - wasAnja Silja, legendary Wagnerina and grandmama, entering with - gasp - !!! her bewbs out !!! At Covent Garden! A closer look revealed - heart attack over - they were merely comedy t1ts of the stag party strap-on variety (or a posh ROH makeup dept version anyway). It was naught but a flash, and it was over in moments. She swiftly rebuttoned her open cardie.

 

But it was just the shocking start the third act needed to jolt us from the comforting world of sweet dreams and gingerbread houses into her witch's horror chamber of dead children hung from meat hooks and baked in giant ovens.

 

It's still a fairytale and it's still fun and the nastiness has a comfortingly cartoonish quality. But where the first act glossed over the children's hunger and their mother's neglect (if you're in the market for psychodrama, don't shop at Leiser and Caurier) this part of the production reminded us firmly that Bad Things can happen.

 

So the production was uneven, but the casting was perfection and the performances superb. In the title roles, Angelika Kirchschlager and Diana Damrau channelled their respective inner children so effectively that they were still larking around like eight year olds long after the final curtain had dropped.

 

The ingenious first half set - a teeny wonky-walled bedroom inside a huge tree-scene box - gave them plenty of reverberent surfaces and their voices projected powerfully through the auditorium.

 

Diana Damrau took a while to settle vocally, but both found themselves in the best part of their ranges and played off each other instinctively, relishing the words and enunciating them with a truly childish glee (a shame though that the surtitles entertained some inappropriate modernisms in translation).

 

Elizabeth Connell and Thomas Allen as their parents struck just the right balance between fecklessness and heartfelt concern, and made the most of what could be a thankless first act duet with some wonderful physical comedy.

The Sandman of Pumeza Matshikiza and Dew Fairy of Anita Watson were charming, but neither could avoid the odd scratchy note. Nerves? Both are well cast and should improve as the run goes on.

But Anja Silja was the star of the show. The voice is not the most accurate or the most beautiful, though in darn good shape for someone who's been singing professionally for fifty years. Her witch has a panto look, but a disturbingly authentic menace. I know the opera, I know the story, but as with all great actors, I never quite knew what Silja was going to do next.

Or was Sir Colin Davis the star of the show? He drew a wonderful performance from the orchestra, somewhat stately in pace, but deliciously nuanced. Some people think Hänsel und Gretel is just a cute children's opera; for Sir Colin it's a gateway drug to Tristan und Isolde. The score may not have Wagnerian heft, but it has a driving narrative thrust and glimpes of real harmonic invention. Sir Colin whipped up the drama where needed - the terrifying explosion of the witch's kitchen brilliantly handled - but the gentle lyricism of the dream scene, or the bouncing mock-Viennese waltzes rang just as true. If there was magic in the air, it was all in the pit. Can Robin Ticciati and the second cast match up?