Here, I post my reviews and document my love of opera. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to comment on any of my posts or contact me if you wish to.
Have a nice stay!
David Buchler
What a treat. In fact two Bowls of treats: one the Bowl of the Royal Albert Hall, filled to the brim with 5,000 people and the other the Hollywood Bowl filled to the brim with 17,500 people.
750 people attended this concert at the beautiful music hall of the Wuhan Music Academy and it looked as if there were as many children as young adults. Rather than a vocal presentation, the event was part of the Hubei Province piano and art festival, put together by Professor Wang Jian, who is the Chairman of the Hubei Association and the Wuhan Music Conservatory.
The original story of Turandot is centred on the epic works of the 12th century Persian poet, Nizani, based on Turad-Dokht (daughter of Turan). This was Puccini’s last opera and in fact he never completed the third Act at the time of his death in 1924. The ending of this opera was completed by Alfano, based on sketches left behind by Puccini. The original premier of Turandot was held in Milan in 1926 and conducted by Toscanini. Luciano Berio was also sanctioned to make a new completion for the opera, but this is rarely performed.
This wonderful opera/oratorio by Sir Edward Elgar is a work in two parts for orchestra and voice and relates to the journey of a pious man’s soul from his death bed to his judgement before God. It was disastrously premiered in 1900 with the conductor, Dr Hans Richter, receiving his score in the very last minute before rehearsal.
What a lot of fun. The brilliant Rossini composed this opera at the age of 22 and it was premiered in Milan in 1814. The opera has had a chequered history. It was compared unfavourably to his previous success, L’italiana in Algeri and a version of the opera was rewritten in Paris by the Director, Ferdinando Paer, which stripped out a lot of Rossini’s original music, but included pieces from other operas, including L’italiana in Algeri. Unbelievably, this astonishing version was used a lot during the 20th century, until Franco Zeffirelli’s production with Maria Callas in the title role used the original version, but unaccountably excluding Fiorilla’s great concluding aria of despair.
