In case anyone who may be interested hasn't noticed, Ian Bostridge is on Front Row on Radio 4 this evening ( 7th ) talking about preparing for a new production of Death in Venice.

Yes, many thanks, BobbyZ. I hadn't noticed it, so I'm grateful. Should be fascinating (I hope).

 # 79        Thank you, Mary.    I will pursue with much interest.

Must also pursue my off-air video of the Pears/Britten "Winterreise" in 1961 and it must be due for digital remastering by now.

      This very afternoon, I've been watching a December 2002, BBC4 off-air video, of the 3 Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano; Op 5, Nos 1 & 2; Op 102, No 2 and Op 69;  joyously performed by Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter at the Edinburgh Festival in 1964.   Makes me reel when told that they had to be given "permission" to leave the USSR!   Pristine remastering and the director trusted his audience rather than fidgeting with too frequent camera angles; my attention span totally absorbed by the quality of the performances.   This was a two part programme in the Legends series which I shall now transfer to DVD as I don't think that it ever got a commercial release.

Bws,     Stanley

Yes, I, too, enjoyed the Front Row coverage of the ENO rehearsals for "Death in Venice", although I still have reservations about its intimacy being swamped in the cavernous space of The Coliseum.  Also intrigued to know whether Ian Bostridge has the stage presence to dominate such a large theatre.

Peter Pears, at Covent Garden in October 1973, made it all look so effortless but he always seemed to have a natural assurance, together with a sense of stillness, along with an imposing presence.  A mesmeric quality which gave him flexibility to command or scale down to intimacy at will.    I recall one of his final recitals at The Wigmore Hall when he returned, unaccompanied, for an encore and sang "I wonder as I wander" with an exquisite, quiet intensity.  Sheer magic.

Like Mary Chambers, I was also surprised when John Shirley Quirk told us, in "Performing Britten" that he hadn't ever heard the recording of "Death in Venice" until an extract was played for the broadcast.   Rehearsals for the stage production, in particular, may have been intensive and possibly deeply personal as he was required to delineate a series of vignettes and I warmed to his shrewd judgement when he decided to portray the barber, by simply hunching his shoulders.   No extraneous fussing; a simple brush-stroke.   JSQ also spoke about regularly remaining in the wings to watch a fellow artist as Aschenbach - what an accolade.   By and large, the run of performances may have become a uniquely private experience which a subsequent recording could have nullified.

I was glad to return to the CD recording and widened the experience by viewing the DVD of Tony Palmer's film "A Time There Was" and all this coincided with the sad news of the deaths of Mstislav Rostropovich and director Colin Graham - stalwarts at Aldeburgh.  So poignant to see them together at Britten's funeral in 1976.   All this prompted me to revisit an off-air video of the two part "Legends" series - see # 80 above -   as well as Mm Vishnevskaya's biography, "Galina".  Vivid memories of her recitals at St John's, Smith Square; her "Tosca" at Covent Garden; and particularly her Lady Macbeth for Scottish Opera.  A tendency to be squally but every moment was a living experience, including her rapport with conductor Alexander Gibson.      Indeed, a time there was.

John Shirley Quirk completed his comments in "Performing Britten" by speaking about the Britten/Pears partnership as "The miracle of joint musicality"; perhaps he will also permit my indulgence by extending his generosity to the others mentioned above.

I'm intrigued...  What does that mean exactly, placing the consonants perfectly?  Where do you place them? Or how? 

Aha... 
I've been singing in an amateur choir for just a few years, and we've had hours of fun trying to get the end -t's together, especially when they don't come on the beat  .  So I know what you mean now... (I thought at first maybe it had something to do with the placing of consonants in certain areas of the head.)  But I never really noticed well or badly placed consonants in a soloist...  I'll try to take notice of that in the future.

I must say, I remember being amused and impressed by Pears, when he sings in Grimes: "there is no stone, in earth's thickness, to make a home", by the way he so casually pronounces the "thsth" - a combination of consonants that seems quite impossible for me.  Maybe this is an example too of well placed consonants?

(By the way, I must thank you, Mary Chambers, for the book tip you gave me on this thread.  I found 'The Operas of B.B.' in our university library, and next to them were the selected diaries and letters - they've been a thrilling read so far!)