From Russia with love

All hail the opera divas of Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky! Bringing charm and glamour to London’s Royal Festival Hall, as part of its ‘International Voices Series’, the pair took us on a journey of ‘favourite classics and hidden gems from the most popular composers of opera’.

And with neither wanting to be outdone by the other, both displayed flamboyant dress changes that would have put the costume department of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ to shame – and those shoes! Whoever knew Hvorostovsky could look so good in heels? And need we mention the Katherine Jenkins’ Barbie Doll pass-me-down dress for Netrebko?

Clothing aside, this was a concert of the highest calibre with both singers on top form. However, concerts of opera appetizers such as this can all too often turn into a ragbag, and it took a while for things to settle into place here as well, with both singers making surprising choices for their opening arias. First up was Dmitri Hvorostovsky with a highly challenging ‘Wolfram’s Aria’ from Tannhäuser, and not even his dazzling Colgate grin could mask the difficulty of this aria, with its traitorous legato lines and phrases that sit right on the pasaggio of the voice.

It wasn’t long though before the gems were brought out and things were able to really get going. Both chose arias from Gounod’s Faust to wow the audience; Hvorostovsky first displaying graceful legato lines in ‘Avant de quitter ces lieux’ before Netrebko glittered with the ‘Jewel Song’. There’s no doubt that Netrebko has an incredibly warm pallet of colours and tones but in some of the more spritly repertoire, her covered tone can sometimes seem to thicken the sound when it really needs to ping like light on jewel. Notably, it was the Jewel Song from Faust in this programme which lacked the sparkle this aria requires but her charisma and presence still made this a charming performance.

After the interval, came a selection of Italian and Russian pieces and it was Arditi’s ‘Il bacio’ by Netrebko and Verdi’s ‘Cortigiani vil razza’ which showed the singers at their best.

The icing on the cake came in the form of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Closing Duet’ which was emotionally and beautifully performed, drawing the audience in to every nuance of this touching piece.

Who you calling A Pariah?

The classical music world, in Britain at least, is getting its knickers in a twist about the appointment of Alexander Prior as assistant to the guest conductors (does that sound slightly contrived to you?) at the Seattle Symphony, an orchestra which, conspiracy fans, is both going through a period of industrial dispute and on the hunt for a new music director to take over from current boss Gerard Schwarz when he steps down as music director in 2011 and which therefore might just possibly welcome some positive publicity.

We'll leave others to decide just how graceless were his reported remarks on his job offer and only offer the advice that people are more likely to want to work with you if a) you do not make them feel that they are exploitable footsoldiers in your quest for world domination and b) that you have a musical vision which does not totally conflict with the aims of the orchestras you are hoping will hire you.

Instead, we'll chuckle ruefully about the fact that the loser - let's call him the loser - of last year's Leeds International Conductors Competition is getting the press, when the actual winner, Geoffrey Paterson isn't, at least for the time being. Since his success (he was awarded the audience prize as well as the main jury prize), Paterson has been working on projects at the Royal Opera (he is, as a repetiteur, a graduate of its opera studio) and Opera North - so much for that good old British institutional ageism Prior blubs about. And we also hear rumours of a new chamber group to be launched in April, a crack band of young professionals under his direction that will focus on classics of modern music - the first programme will feature music by Ligeti and Boulez. The contrast with Prior's avowed musical conservatism really needs no comment.

Coming to a TV near you!

Entitled Pop star to Opera star, ITV’s new classical ‘reality’ show has already managed to cause a substantial stir in the media, even before it hits our screens on 15 January. The mere thought of it causes my pulse to race, teeth to clench and arguments to commence, with many people trying to fathom the intended result for the creation of such a programme.

Firstly, to call this programme a ‘reality’ show is simply obscured – for what exactly are they suggesting is ‘real’, or for that matter, truly reflective of the opera singing? I can see that the intention behind this programme is good enough – pop singers from Kym Marsh to Jimmy Osmond, who, I’m assuming have an interest in classical music – are given some first-rate tuition (in some cases) to help them use their voices in a classical way. But I can’t help but think that this is all one big plug to encourage ‘opera for the masses’. Not that I’m suggesting this isn’t appropriate, in principle. I still believe that, in many cases, opera is assumed to be a form of entertainment reserved for the elite and therefore inaccessible to many, but this isn’t to say that there isn’t equally a lot of initiative being taken by opera companies, from small amateur groups right through to the international establishments to encourage a wider audience. However, I’m reserved to think that creating a show of this sort will do anything to support this ideal. On the contrary, surely it will only prove the point that opera is a specialist art and that it is damn well hard to perform.

And if the thought of celebrities bashing out their renditions of opera favourites wasn’t enough to encourage you to take up an evening class, or read a good book, it has been rumoured that the judging panel will include the likes of Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson and even Paul Potts – none of whom have notably sung in a professional opera production! However, the show will also see contestants coached by Mexican tenor, Ronaldo Villazón, the one genuine operatic singer in the line-up.

I’m intrigued to see how well this programme will be received and the response it creates. If anything, it is bound to encourage an interest in opera to a wider audience, but I can’t help but think that it’s just another money-making programme following this current media frenzy for music-based reality shows.

Taras Blubber

It was after a performance of Janacek's gutsy triptych of death Taras Bulba that I let slip to my friends in the audience my embarrassing condition. It's one that is shared by many other musicians and it's time to confront the stigma.



For despite our reputation for hard-nosed cynicism and lack of sentimentality, many of us are afflicted by an inclination to tearfulness at certain passages of music - and I mean real jerked tears of the most pathetic kind. It's not easy reading music through misty eyes (let alone the sheer indignity of it all) so you'd have thought it preferable to prevent it happening. But the only cure I know is to disengage from the music and go through the motions a little, robbing the performer of a uniquely intense experience. Damn you, music!

So now Taras Bulba - rather, a specific passage towards the end of the superb coda - can be added to my personal list of music to get all emotional about. This includes the end of Sibelius 2 (another coda); a 2-bar passage in Sibelius 4 (in which dread turns to hope which turns to rapture which ebbs away to desolation. 2 bars!); the end of the 1st movement of Brahms 4 (another coda!); the insane fugue in Shostakovich 4; 'Erbame dich' from Bach's St Matthew Passion.

My list could go on. But it's time for others to fess up. What's guaranteed to get your ducts to water?

Truly unbelievable

Check out this story about a £560,000 hole in the LPO's accounts. The industry can do without these characters, and there is a worrying string of these stories this year, with the alleged fraud perpetrated against the King's Music website, and Peter Maxwell Davies's agent making off with a similar sum in the approach to the composer's 75th birthday.
Equally we can do without the Evening Standard claiming the Star Wars soundtrack as one of the LPO's big successes. I mean, they have almost certainly recorded it at some point, but you don't mess with the LSO on this one:

Seminal, fluid piano

All hail the freely-tempered and hairy-armed Geoff Smith, who has battled what he describes as 'complacency, conservatism and cultural prejudice' to get the backing to develop his fluid piano. Well done Smith, the Guardian, and, we have to say, us, for getting it out there. Watch this space.

Omnes una manet Knox

It's tough, learning to play contemporary music, so those who make it a specialism are tough people. All of which clearly makes Garth Knox - for 8 years the viola player with the Arditti Quartet, former member of Boulez's Ensemble Intercontemporain, and collaborator as a soloist with contemporary composers both well-known and not - some kind of muscled brute.

But Knox is not one to keep it all to himself. As well as his diverse teaching and performing activies (which include work in dance and theatre projects), he is also the composer of Viola Spaces, a set of studies whose admirable aim is to give students a way of practising contemporary techniques. You never know, I may even get hold of a copy myself.

Anyway, on his website Knox gives some sample performances of the studies. Here's a good one:



You can also watch him (or is it John Malkovich?), together with 3 fresh-faced apostles, run through his version of Marin Marais's Les Folies d'Espagne in which each variation demonstrates one of the techniques practised in the studies.

As I said, it's tough learning to play contemporary music. But Knox's website makes it easy to create your own contemporary viola masterpiece simply by playing the examples simultaneously. I recommend setting off the Marais variations first, then turning on the studies ad libitum to create a veritable palimpsest of viola sounds.