Clive Paget is a former Limelight Editor, now Editor-at-Large, and a tour leader for Limelight Arts Travel. Based in London after three years in New York, he writes for The Guardian, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, Musical America and Opera News. Before moving to Australia, he directed and developed new musical theatre for London’s National Theatre.
The Polish-born Met Opera star is very much flavour of the month but beware of his famous black-list. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Keith Pascoe, violinist of the Vanbrugh Quartet, stands down for upcoming Moscow trip. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
A torturous text but there’s much to admire in the telling of this torrid tale of the Argentinian underworld. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
For many, English song means the late flowering that was Warlock, Gurney, Quilter, Butterworth and Vaughan Williams. But where were they coming from, and were they reacting against a tradition or developing out of one? The latter, I would suggest, if you listen to Parry’s contribution to the genre, and this generous selection of his finest proves as good a place as any to begin. Our guide is the admirable Iain Burnside, an accompanist and programmer on a mission it would seem, and one who has done more for the byways of British song over the last decade than pretty much anyone else. This beautifully programmed recital reveals Parry combining an innately English sensibility with the fastidious craft of the great German lieder composers. Sincerity and proper declamation of text are clearly paramount, and if the melodic invention doesn’t always rise to quite the same level, this is still an enjoyable and important survey. Highlights include better- known numbers like the arch- romantic To Lucasta on Going to the Wars, the winsome Julia (echoes of Gurney or Warlock) and the chipper My Heart is Like a Singing Bird. For genuine depths of inspiration though, turn to the haunting Nightfall in…
With Kaufmann, Sir David McVicar and Kasper Holten, Lyndon Terracini pulls out the big guns for Opera Australia’s 2014 season. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Opera Australia will give Puccini’s classic a contemporary makeover for 2014’s Handa Opera season. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Veteran bass Richard Angas, made famous as Jonathan Miller’s Mikado, has passed away at 71. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Ten maestros discuss the music they are passionate about, Isserlis on his newest recording, Ibragimova on hers and the stories behind the most famous musical portraits.
From Haydn's rheumatics to Hindson's supernova, this young quartet is an object lesson in ensemble.
Flu lays low both leads but this tale of municipal committees and May Kings is still quids in.
Jonathan Meese claims a triumph of art over bureaucracy, as court finds him not guilty. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Parry and Stanford seem to have emerged at last from the shadow of stuffy Victorianism to take their places as respected contemporaries and, in some instances, equals of Elgar. This recording, however, is special in two particulars. Firstly, it offers rich and rare orchestral versions of sacred music more familiarly accompanied on the organ. And second – and I can’t think of a previous instance – the music is played on period instruments; that is, those in use 100 years ago. Stanford’s first setting of the Morning and Evening Service hails from 1879 and is a remarkable achievement for a 27-year-old. Conceived orchestrally, with the rules of symphonic development underpinning the whole edifice, the work was a breath of fresh air blowing through the Victorian Church of England. Three more of Stanford’s services are included here showing the level of melodic invention and sheer variety of this considerable contrapuntalist. Parry is represented by Elgar’s orchestration of Jerusalem, the Coronation Te Deum from 1911, the refulgent Blest Pair of Sirens (his ode to music for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee), and I Was Glad, the coronation anthem to end them all. The players and singers of the King’s Consort have this music…
80-year-old Gija elder wins prestigious art prize for Moon Dreaming.
