tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post7327674362842590401..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Early Spring in ChichesterDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-10509754906406827772017-03-14T09:58:36.241+00:002017-03-14T09:58:36.241+00:00Nolan also painted a portrait of Britten, which I ...Nolan also painted a portrait of Britten, which I haven't seen.<br /><br />Paul Sonabend, for readers of this blog who haven't read the entry on him some way back, is a genius (and so is Deborah, who has done wonderful Ned Kelly sculptures).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-55932090002267604482017-03-14T09:52:26.156+00:002017-03-14T09:52:26.156+00:00Thank you for alerting me to those Nolans. Your pi...Thank you for alerting me to those Nolans. Your pictures confirmed that we must try and make the effort to go. And as a Grimes fan I am also surprised by that one.<br />I recently gave Paul Sonabend the Peter Carey book, which he loved and has done a couple of new Ned Kelly pictures. I had to describe the armour over the phone as he has no access to computer.Deborah vdBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07789643327148986487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-12948012118780365072017-03-14T08:51:35.334+00:002017-03-14T08:51:35.334+00:00Well, that has nothing to do with the post, and is...Well, that has nothing to do with the post, and is obscure to me.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-43607324274505711682017-03-14T08:42:14.620+00:002017-03-14T08:42:14.620+00:00My Chichesterial comment is that Bishop Bell's...My Chichesterial comment is that Bishop Bell's views - on the conduct of the war and the British attitude to such resistance to Hitler as there was in Germany - were on the whole naive. I hardly ever said so ( to my one contact at the Cathedral) and now it is even more of a delicate subject in view of the personal accusations made against himDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-26558040279164522972017-03-14T08:13:22.155+00:002017-03-14T08:13:22.155+00:00Sue - interesting Russian sop/English tenor/German...Sue - interesting Russian sop/English tenor/German baritone disposition. I don't think you will get John Mark, though, as he has (we hope temporarily) retired from singing due to health issues. Unusual choice for Dutoit.<br /><br />But the Damant approach would mean me becoming an old reactionary, Sir David. I happen to have admired Johannes Schaaf's production of Idomeneo. You may have hated the approach, but it wasn't a mess. But in any case the director's attitude infects the singers to the extent, in this case, of not giving the warm and generous performances they would have done under a director confident of the work, like Richard Jones. I have never experienced an operatic performance where directorial ineptitude so crushed fine musical values.<br /><br />Excellent that you were at such a significant premiere. And the only danger with War Requiem performances these days is which to select, and how often to hear such a very special piece (I'd say once every five years would be about right). Last one I heard was Rattle's in Berlin, with Goerne, and it was a bitter disappointment. But do you have a word for anything Chichesterial?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-55397804721102361702017-03-14T07:07:12.742+00:002017-03-14T07:07:12.742+00:00Dear David, you should adopt the Damant approach t...Dear David, you should adopt the Damant approach to operatic productions. Take your sun glasses. This allows one, if the production turns out to be bizarre, to see the broad movements on the stage as the singing progresses, but little more. Then one can listen to the music undistracted by the goings on on the stage. Difficult if you are reviewing the piece, I would agree. Renee Fleming said the other day that in opera the production and the acting have now risen in importance, with the musical side no longer in the prime position it used to hold. I think my prize for the biggest mess was years ago at the ROH when in the last act of Idomeneo there were corpses being thrown into lime pits in the ruins of a bombed city.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-87007609452724542172017-03-14T06:56:33.052+00:002017-03-14T06:56:33.052+00:00I went to the world premiere of the War Requiem at...I went to the world premiere of the War Requiem at Coventry....Britten conducting, Dieskau for Germany Pears for UK and Heather Harper in place of Vishnevskaya who was not allowed out. As we ( group from Cambridge) left the Cathedral it was said that very clearly this was not a performance that would often be put on,in view of the forces involved..... !!!!David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-4602670697458983242017-03-14T03:11:03.827+00:002017-03-14T03:11:03.827+00:00Dutoit is conducting. The soloists are Tatiana Pa...Dutoit is conducting. The soloists are Tatiana Pavlovskaya, John Mark Ainsley, and Matthias Goerne.<br />Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-7753001764304613722017-03-13T23:16:44.545+00:002017-03-13T23:16:44.545+00:00I know what you mean. I think they're eucalypt...I know what you mean. I think they're eucalyptus trees.<br /><br />Culture didn't save me on Saturday, when Kasper Holten's new Royal Opera production - if one may so describe it - of Wagner's Meistersinger so overwhelmed the excellence of the musical side that I wanted to run away after Act 2, the biggest mess I think I've ever seen on an operatic stage. If I hadn't had to review it, I would have gone. 3 was marginally better, but still - hard to convey the apoplexy into which I found myself falling.<br /><br />Britten's War Requiem will be more timely than ever, and undeniably harrowing, but it should pull you through to some sort of catharsis. Is the fabulous Nezet-Seguin conducting?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-36740329970652278012017-03-13T23:04:06.649+00:002017-03-13T23:04:06.649+00:00Well, it's all magnificent. Lovely to see the ...Well, it's all magnificent. Lovely to see the first signs of spring--particularly as frigid air has returned where we are, with a major snow storm expected tomorrow. Is it totally bizarre for me to see leeks in Nolan's Convict in a Billabong? (You needn't deign to answer such a silly question.) Culture is what saves us, don't you think? Or at least keeps us afloat. We've decided a short stateside trip is in order, so we cast around to see what was on in Philadelphia, and discovered Britten's War Requiem is on next week. So off we go, that is, after I see Idomeneo at the Met.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-48336307219956022032017-03-13T22:51:56.856+00:002017-03-13T22:51:56.856+00:00More anon of those, from Gloucester Cathedral whic...More anon of those, from Gloucester Cathedral which has a VERY artistic set of 52 (though I think some of the shinier ones were replacements by George Gilbert Scott). I always think it's a privilege to be allowed to sit regally below the canopies in the back row for that best of all services/meditations, sermon-free Evensong, and then tip up one's own and neighbouring seats to get a good look. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-76409727555171938232017-03-13T21:06:59.594+00:002017-03-13T21:06:59.594+00:00Thank you for the weekend jaunt. I love the miser...Thank you for the weekend jaunt. I love the misericords - always a source of amusement and amazement.Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.com