Star tenor and director Rolando Villazón has staged probably Verdi’s best known masterpiece in colourful, lively and emotion-packed form at the Festspielhaus in Baden Baden, so he made for “an enthusiastic reception for the premiere” (Stuttgarter Zeitung)! Villazón’s signature, both as singer and director, is unmistakable. He made his international breakthrough as Alfredo Germont and now, 10 years later, the Mexican-born singer has produced a Traviata full of energy, attention to detail and even a hint of melancholy. Villazón chooses an unusual approach by relocating the action of the great and tragic love affair between Alfredo and the courtesan Violetta to the colourful and noisy world of the circus. Olga Peretyatko as Violetta delivers “a fantastic portrait of the title role wavering between adolescent joie de vivre, mature insight and anguish” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Her partner is the young Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan as the jealous Alfredo, who delivers a “beguiling interpretation with a dark, warm timbre and rich top notes” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Simone Piazzolla as Alfredo’s strict father Giorgio Germont adds fine vocal lines to provide a strong sense of “Italianità” on stage (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Directing the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble is the young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado.
Tannhäuser
“A real feast of music! Where to begin, where to end with praise for this Tannhäuser at the Berlin Staatsoper in the Schillertheater? It sounds the way one has always dreamt of it
but all too rarely heard it”, reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung with considerable enthusiasm. This was due above all to Barenboim’s musical magic: “It is with nuance and fine balance that Richard Wagner’s music now rises from the orchestra pit” (FAZ), borne aloft by brilliant singers. Peter Seiffert in particular as Tannhäuser celebrates a true “triumph”, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Staged by choreographer Sasha Waltz on a fantastic stage by Pia Maier Schriever with a circular tunnel of light in the manner
of Hieronymus Bosch, the Berlin Tannhäuser deserves to be described as “world-class” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Aida
Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairo’s new opera house, Verdi’s Egyptian epic Aida is here seen in a spectacular new staging specially mounted by the Teatro Regio Torino to celebrate the re-opening of Turin’s historic Museo Egizio, home to the world’s largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside of the Cairo Museum. Conducted by the Teatro Regio’s Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda – one of the world’s finest Verdians and Musical America’s Conductor of the Year 2015 – Turin’s authentically Egyptian staging is directed in true Hollywood style by the Oscar-winning American film director William Friedkin, creator of such famous movies as “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection”. Amongst the first-rate cast, critics singled out the American soprano Kristin Lewis, who exhibits “a remarkable voice, which she uses with powerful dramatic instinct” (La Stampa), and the Georgian mezzosoprano Anita Rachvelishvili, whose Amneris “dominates the stage with her dark, rounded, irrestistible voice and extraordinary stage presence” (La Gazzetta Musicale).
Marc Minkowski at Mozartwoche
Under the direction of the principal conductor and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week, Marc Minkowski, the Musiciens du Louvre perform on two of Mozart’s original instruments. Mozart’s Violin Concerto and his Piano Concerto in A major are played on instruments that were once in the composer’s possession. Thibault Noally plays the Violin Concerto on a violin from the workshop of Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa and “conjures up Romantic brilliance from the well maintained instrument”, then Francesco Corti brings Mozart’s fortepiano to life again, thereby spreading “collective Mozart happiness all round” (Salzburger Nachrichten).
Aida
Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairo’s new opera house, Verdi’s Egyptian epic Aida is here seen in a spectacular new staging in the Teatro Regio Torino by the Oscar-winning American film director William Friedkin, creator of such famous movies as The Exorcist and The French Connection. The cast featuring the American soprano Kristin Lewis, who exhibits “a remarkable voice, which she uses with powerful dramatic instinct” (La Stampa), and the Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, whose Amneris “dominates the stage with her dark, rounded, irrestistible voice and extraordinary stage presence” (La Gazzetta Musicale) is first-rate. All were united in praise of Noseda: “he controls everything – orchestra, singers, chorus, dancers, acrobats – with an all-encompassing overview” (La Stampa); “he knows exactly when it’s time to linger over a timbre, a colour, an expressive chord” (Corriere della Sera).
Julia Fischer plays Martinu Violin Concerto
This concert was a quite special occasion for Julia Fischer, who was presented with the Martinu Medal of the Bohuslav Martinu Foundation following the concert in the Rudolfinum in Prague. Julia Fischer had just thrilled her audience with her interpretation of Martinu’s Violin Concerto. “Technically everything was perfect with the utmost fullness of sound. Thanks to her rich and full sound, which she deployed with great taste and imagination, Fischer displayed exceptional talent for the Czech and Slav repertoire. It was a serious matinee, at which Fischer brought out virtuoso ornamentation seldom to be heard in this context.” Such was the admiring press comment. Fischer’s solo performance was the centrepiece of a concert that also featured works by Dvorák (Concert Overture) and Beethoven (Symphony No. 6), which wonderfully portray the world of nature.
Brahms: The Complete String Quartets – Belcea Quartet
Founded in London in 1994, the Belcea Quartet is now seen as one of the world’s most renowned string quartets. The quartet’s broadly based repertoire ranges from the works of the Viennese Classical era to premieres of contemporary compositions. Here the Belcea Quartet devotes itself to the three string quartets by Johannes Brahms: “The three quartets are of great beauty and refined sophistication, which never fails to inspire us”, says Corina Belcea. It is a beauty and refinement that radiates from the brilliant and nuanced interpretation to be heard on this studio recording.
Barenboim conducts Mozart
In order to celebrate the declaration of the “Human Rights” Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra perform an all-Mozart programme at the heart of the United Nations in Geneva in the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. The performance under the title Concert for the Understanding of Civilizations and Human Rights featured W.A. Mozart’s last three Symphonies, No. 39, No. 40 and No. 41 (Jupiter). The imposing setting of the Human Rights Hall at the Palace of Nations, which houses the Miquel Barceló dome, provides a stunning backdrop for the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in this concert that aimes at promoting peace efforts around the world and highlights the principles contained in the Universal Declaration.
The Carl Nielsen Gala
Carl Nielsen was unquestionably Denmark’s most important composer, commanding great respect already during his lifetime in Denmark and throughout Scandinavia. The Koncerthuset in Copenhagen marked the composer’s 150th anniversary with a grand gala under the musical direction of Juanjo Mena, in the presence of Queen Margarethe herself. The programme features the Clarinet Concerto, Nielsen’s last and one of his most famous orchestra works, which soloist Olli Leppäniemi executes with verve and virtuosity, his Fourth Symphony, “The Inextinguishable”, and also “Hymnus amoris”.
RCO: Nelsons conducts Sibelius with Anne-Sophie Mutter
“Stradivari on eight cylinders” was the headline for the rich cornucopia of sound that Anne-Sophie Mutter poured out with the Sibelius Violin Concerto. “Her Stradivari lets her sing the arches of melody with warm vibrato and lends real fire to her double-stopping; she stages great leaps as soaring stairways to heaven or headlong descents to hell”, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung with admiration. “It can be played differently, but not better.” (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) Mutter’s violin concerto is wonderfully complemented by Shostakovich’s 10th, in which Nelsons truly triumphs: “World-class, these exponents from Amsterdam” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)