Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
It just so happened that we had to travel to Bolton and Manchester (twice) on consecutive evenings. Not easy when you are catching the last train back from Manchester. The opera was The Barber of Seville screened at Reel Bolton from the Royal Opera House. The singer playing Dr Bartolo was ill but he mimed on stage and his part was sung from the side of the stage by a stand-in. It didn't really affect the performance (although his miming wasn't very good). Particularly good were Rosina and Figaro. Bryn Terfel was playing Don Basilio. I think his applause was more for who he was than how well he sang. Still an excellent production of an opera we had not see before. The first part of our evening with the Halle was a discordant Wrath of God, followed by a Benjamin Britten piece Serenade matching horn and tenor. The tenor's rendering of nocturnal poems was ponderous, the horn was amazing. We were much more into the main event Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony which he wrote after a savage, very public, dressing down by Stalin who hadn't liked his previous piece - not New Russia apparently. In fact Shostakovich was in danger of losing his life, and later said that he was forced to end the piece with optimism and joy. Whatever, it was magnificent. I have since listened to the Fifth on Amazon and I still find it incredible what a poor experience listening to recordings is compared to a live event. There really is no substitute to hearing music live. We then went for our first time to the Stoller Hall just opposite Victoria Station to hear Chetham's talented young musicians. The first part of the programme had a Nordic theme, beginning with Helena Munktell’s Breaking Waves, a piece with strong Swedish influence that paints a picture of a horizon with both gentle, rolling waves as well as waves crashing onto the shore. Very like Fingal's Cave I thought and just as dramatic. This was followed by a stunning performance of Sibelius’ passionate and virtuosic Violin Concerto in D minor, performed by Chetham’s soloist Yixuan Ren. She was absolutely incredible. At times she appeared to be playing two tunes at once and how anyone has the ability to play and play and play a musical piece of length with no music in front of her....well. Stupendous. But then came the turn of the whole orchestra who played Brahms' Symphony Number 4. This was magnificent. What an amazing place Chetham's is. We ran for our train and caught it - just.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Keith & Frances SmithArchives
August 2023
Categories |