No, that was yesterday; today it's only about €12. Congratulations, though! I can almost imagine that one of these days you'll buy a subcontrabass tubax...

Me too, opi. I wish I had known you were there. It would have been good to say hallo at last. And unfortunately I think we are going to different 'Minotaurs' (I'm going on 25th) but maybe we'll meet sometime soon.

I promised bbm I'd report on what I spent my £60 'coin' money on:





Took some tracking down...only MDC at the South Bank had the House of the Dead DVD, and that wasn't filed under 'opera'! (And I had £5 left over for a drink at the ROH too!)

 Several attractive acquisitions, at less than half price, from the annual sale at Banks & Son, York.

NED ROREM: The Auden Songs; The Sante Fe Songs (Sanctuary Records/Black Box); Christopher Lemmings (tenor) in Auden and Sara Fulgoni (mezzo) in the Bryner poems; Chamber Domaine.
I've always thought of Rorem as a neglected, major artist and here how skilfully he manages "the arduous process in confecting a cycle, as distinct from a miscellany of songs, that 'go together'".   
(i) The Shield of Achilles (ii) Lady, weeping at the crossroads, (iii) Epitaph on a Tyrant, (iv) Lay your sleeping head my love, (v) But I can't, (vi) Yes, we are going to suffer, and (vii) Nocturne
This set will complement the Benjamin Britten/Leonard Berkeley musical settings of Auden's poems, from the late 1930s, which I recorded, off-air in 2003, from 2 x 30 min programmes, When You Feel Like Expressing Your Affection, presented by Simon Russell Beale.

I'm also looking forward to the settings of the Santa Fe Songs, another commission from the S F Chamber Music Festival; with 12 poems of charm by Witter Bryner.  Two samples:

Opus 101

                     He not only plays
                     One note
                     But holds another note
                     Away from it -
                     As a lover
                     Lifts
                     A waft of hair
                     From loved eyes.

                     The piano shivers,
                     When he touches it,
                     And the leg shines.

Sonnet           
                     Summer, O Summer, fill thy shadowy trees
                     With a reprieve of cooling sacrament
                     Before we die among the mysteries;
                     Loosen our wreaths and let us be content
                     To bow our heads before they flower-bells
                     Beneath whose mould we too shall soon be spent,-
                     Lovers desiring this and little else:
                     Thy laurel now, not ours, they firmament
                     Of blue in which to dedicate our blood
                     To earth, our vernal meaning now but meant,
                     Like the least meaning of thy smallest bud,
                     To go the way earlier seasons went.
                     Breath is our fee and dividend and cost:
                     So let us grant the forfeit and be lost!

BENJAMIN BRITTEN:  The Prince of the Pagodas suite(arr for this recording by Donald Mitchell & Mervyn Cooke); Orchestre National De Montpellier LR, conducted by Steuart Bedford.       Cello Symphony (1963) - new to me, the joy of sheer serendipity.                          Universal/Accord label. 2006.
The ballet was premiered at Covent Garden, New Year's Day, 1957.   BB at the helm, choreography by John Cranko with settings by John Piper.   A heady line-up.

COSI FAN TUTTE (Ponto label)

A 3 CD set, sung in English, Scottish National Opera & Chorus, conducted by Alex Gibson.   Elizabeth Harwood, Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk; recorded at King's Theatre, Glasgow, May 1969     The set also includes Brahms lieder sung by Dame Janet, rec 1968; and extracts from La Clemenza Di Titto; Vitellia's arias (JB) with a Sesto duet with Yvonne Minton, with orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera House, conducted by John Pritchard, Feb 1976.

I'm particularly pleased as this set will complement another set (Ponto), on my shelves, of Scottish Opera's "Der Rosenkavalier" ; Dame Janet again in partnership with Alexander Gibson in 1971.   Sir Alex still sadly under estimated.  Overall, the sound quality "just" passes muster but I do not quibble at the quality of the performance.
                 
                     

This little lot from Gramex for £14:



plus Mengelberg conducting Brahms's Second and Fourth symphonies with the Concertgebouw (Biddulph transfers from 1999)

Whoops!  

Am afraid I haven't, Evan. Have they recorded it? I can't find a recording, but would like to investigate further.


Whoops indeed, IGI!

I picked up a copy of the Immerseel today, but haven't yet managed to get it spinning. Have so far resisted the temptation of the Wagner box (even at MDT's absurdly cheap price) as I already have the Böhm Tristan and Ring. That Tallis looks tempting too ...

    "God Rot Tunbridge Wells" was also a standard quip which Georg Frederic Handel adapted whether in Vienna or Hamburg.

     How pleasing it was to acquire this beautifully remastered DVD of Tony Palmer's, two hour, 1985 film.

     Scripted by John Osborne, Trevor Howard as GFH and the full splendour of Charles Mackerras, conducting The English Chamber Orchestra:

     I Know That My Redeemer Liveth sung by Elizabeth Harwood
     Ombra Mai Fu sung by James Bowman
     But Who May Abide sung by Emma Kirkby
     Oh Happy We sung by Valerie Masterson & Anthony Rolfe-Johnson
     See The Conquering Hero sung by Judith Howarth & Lynn Anderson
     Let Envy Then Conceal Her Head sung by John Shirley Quirk
     Simon Preston plays from the Organ Concerto, Op 7, No 5
     Andrei Gavrilov plays the Passacaglia from the Keyboard Suite No 7
     
     The Extremely Ancient Academy of Singers sing from The Messiah, Zadok the Priest,
     Israel in Egypt & Jeptha

     The English Chamber Orchestra also plays from The Royal Fireworks Music,
     The Water Music & The Entry of the Queen of Sheba

  Time is allowed for picture and narrative to develop without the need for incessant cutting.
  Gutsy and luscious, this is far removed from Heritage gentility.   Shopping around, the best deal came
  from hmv.online - and quick delivery.

  My sole memory of Tunbridge Wells is not the charm of The Pantiles but, strolling past the War
  Memorial, my moment of respect was distracted by a woman, with camera, rather mischievously
  positioning her husband closer to the Memorial dedication:  Our Glorious Dead.