Gabby

Keenlyside and Kirchslager were guests on In Tune last night ( Tues 8th ) talking about the piece. Was the first part of the programme so easy enough to find on listen again. A couple of mild put downs of Pet Rock too.

Thanks for the link, harpy. I haven't read about the 'non-traditional' production [are there any traditional productions these days?] but thanks for the warning! I just love the music, and P&M is such a remote, oblique work that I reckon it can stand a wide range of interpretations. My first P&M was the Boulez/Stein in the days when WNO were a brave, imaginative company.

Bobby - yes, heard In Tune. I don't have a poblem with Petroc - a pleasant change from the artless Sean!

harpy hi

well I thought the singing and playing were very persuasive. Everything I'd hoped for. If I had to be picky I'd say Robert Lloyd sounded like he had a cold, and I didn't think much of his French accent, but a very minor blemish on a performance which, if recorded, I would welcome.

The production? Hmmm, why try to be clever-clever about this most enigmatic of operas? It's quite capable of providing its own oblique mysteries, its own non-sequiturs and cul-de-sacs; it does not need heavy handed pointers or underscoring. Some of the tricks came out of the box quite effectively - the red dresses, the sleeping beggars were good theatre. But overall, as my partner observed, they needlessly dominated the stage, drove what limited action there is in this work way into second place, and made it difficult to concentrate on the music. It was better after the interval, but only because the absence of staging was preferable to the presence of gimmickry.

As for the costumes - so embarrassing!

I like my opera to be music-theatre, an experience for the eyes and ears. The ears were winners by a country mile last night; a pity.

Well, at a pinch you can shut your eyes, Mark I think I read about the ENO one - it was supposed to have worked surprisingly well in English?

Hello Chichivache - I didn't actually mind the sets themselves though I was irritated by the way they kept shoving them around the stage during the intermezzi things. I thought they looked quite good and they certainly made me think about the light/shade imagery even though the light and shade wasn't always where I would have expected it to be. (It was easier the second time because I'd done sufficient staring through my opera glasses at the rehearsal to have worked out what was in the boxes.)

I agree about the costumes - had to feel sorry for them having to wear those, although I stopped noticing after a while. I liked that the stage was unencumbered by props though I wasn't so keen on the Marcel Marceau style mime bits.

Robert Lloyd sounded pretty good when I went so perhaps he did have a cold. Of course he's not exactly young but then neither was Arkel. There were a couple of dodgy French accents but on the plus side the diction was very good wasn't it?

How did you find the Yniold - I think it's a different one now?

harpy you are right to mention the diction; I was far up towards the back of the amphitheatre, and I could hear and distinguish just about every word - I lived in Francophone Africa for a couple of years, so my French is still quite good. The surtitles were needed far less than at ENO...

According to the programme, it was Tom Norrington's first night of three - impeccable. Very clear, good voice, good accent, good acting.

Perhaps on reflection I like the boxes more than I did at the time. Some were quite effective. Just not as the backdrop to an otherwise bare stage. Th epiece is full of suggestions and metaphors - I could have done with a few real, rather than metaphorical, touches of scenery and props.

I absolutely agree, Mark, having been for a second time last night. I thought the first Yniold was excellent, but this one (Tom Norrington, Sir Roger's son I believe) was quite extraordinary. The singing-acting of all the principals was heartbreakingly intense, and the orchestra played like gods. I was sitting next to a woman from Nebraska who was visiting the ROH for the first time. She was quite overwhelmed, and it brought home to me how much reason we have to be proud of our opera houses. The bond between Rattle and the orchestra was obviously exceptionally strong, and I hope he guests regularly in the future. The polite chiding of the audience was not only well-timed and wholly justified, but also seemed to produce a result!