Review of Sondheim Chamber Music Arrangements on Bridge

Equity is currently negotiating with Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) to revise and improve the collective agreements across film and TV. PACT is the UK screen sector trade body for...

I’ve loved the music of Stephen Sondheim ever since I was introduced to the LP of the Broadway recording of A Little Night Music by an old friend, my musical mentor, back when I was in my early twe…

Review of Lines of Life by Benjamin Appl (baritone) on Alpha Classics

Last month I was welcoming a disc of Lieder with various accompaniments by Fatma Said and here we have another for various forces, which, coincidentally, also includes Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem F…

Last month I was welcoming a disc of Lieder with various accompaniments by Fatma Said and here we have another for various forces, which, coincidentally, also includes Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen. In April 2024, I welcomed Zalenga’s debut recital on the Hänssler label, and this new recital on the Genuin label is, if anything, even more successful. Variety is the key note of the disc, in the variety of music (from the 18th to the 21st centuries), the variety of styles from the intimate to the more extrovert, and the variety of instruments accompanying the voice, that nonetheless add up to a convincing whole.

  “I believe that Benjamin is currently the most authentic interpreter of my Hölderin Gesänge.” So writes György Kurtág in the notes accompanying this disc and, as he is also credited as recording producer, I think we can lay claim to their authenticity. Kurtág attended all the sessions, which took place in Budapest, apparently producing over 1,300 recording takes and countless repetitions. The majority of the Kurtág songs on this disc are a capella. Their range, both vocal and emotional, is wide and they are brilliantly performed by Appl, whose range of expression and ability to meld the wide-ranging melismas in the vocal writing are superb.

Review of Lieder by Fatma Said (soprano) on Warner Classics

Review of My Heart’s in the Highlands on Delphian

Fatma Said follows up her award winning debut recital, El Nour, and her equally successful second album, Kaleidoscope, with a more conventional album of German Lieder, except that with this gifted artist, it isn’t quite that simple. For a start, she has collaborated with an array of different musicians, bringing in clarinettist Sabine Meyer for Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, the men’s choir, Walhalla zum Seidlwirt, for his Ständchen, harpist Anneleen Lenaerts for four of the Brahms songs, the Quator Arod for Brahms’s Ophelia-Lieder, baritone Huw Montague Rendall for some duets and three different pianists in Malcolm Martineau, Yonathan Cohen and Joseph Middleton.

An interesting programme of Scottish inspired songs, but Cunningham’s tenor is a little too much on the dry side for my liking. My Heart’s in the Highlands Glen Cunningham (tenor)  Anna Tilbrook (piano) The young tenor, Glen Cunningham, and his pianist, Anna Tilbrook, celebrate their Scottish heritage in a programme of music connected to Scotland, not only in the folk orientated songs of Robbie Burns, but also in settings of Burns by Schumann, and Robert Louis Stevenson by Liza Lehmann and Reynaldo Hahn. To these are added a completely new song cycle, also to texts by Robert Louis Stevenson, by the Scottish composer, Stuart MacRae.

Review of Turandot by Giacomo Puccini on Pristine Audio

Review of Il Segreto di Susanna by Wolf-Ferrari on Oehms Classics

This is UNBELIEVABLE. Keir Starmer has just handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and I was so outraged when I he...

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La principessa Turandot – Birgit Nilsson (soprano)Calaf – Franco Corelli (tenor)Liù – Licia Albanese (soprano)Ping – Frank Guarrera (baritone)Pang – Robert Nagy (tenor)Pong – Charles Anthony (tenor)Timur: Ezio Flagello (bass)L’imperatore Altoum – Alessio De Paolis (tenor)Un mandarino – Calvin Marsh (baritone)Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Kurt Adlerrec. live radio broadcast, 24 February 1962, Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, USA Well, let’s get this straight. This is an exciting performance of Puccini’s last opera, which puts you in a good seat at the old Metropolitan Opera House on a night when two of its greatest stars were singing two of their greatest roles.

I see from Wolf-Ferrari’s Wikpedia page that he composed no less than fifteen operas, though they have been rarely performed, and only one of them, Il segreto di Susanna, has been recorded with any…

I see from Wolf-Ferrari’s Wikpedia page that he composed no less than fifteen operas, though they have been rarely performed, and only one of them, Il segreto di Susanna, has been recorded with any frequency. Indeed, this live performance is one of five recordings at present listed on the Presto website, whilst a sixth, and perhaps most famous recording, featuring Renata Scotto and Renato Bruson under Sir John Pritchard, is no longer available. The plot is slight and concerns the Count Gil, who suspects his wife, the Countess Susanna of having an affair, when in fact she is simply a secret smoker.

Review of Saimir by Saimir Pirgu (tenor) on Opus Arte

*CW: Homophobia, hate speech GB News is no stranger to spouting hatred and toxic lies. They take pride in it, and pretend the rules don’t matter. But they do. And they must be enforced. On 22 January,...

The iconic Prince Charles Cinema in London’s West End future is under serious threat! We are beyond disappointed that our landlords Zedwell LSQ Ltd and their ultimate parent company Criterion Capital...

Yes, you did see what you think you saw. Here's an idea, let's call a Nazi salute a Nazi salute.