JOHAN BOTHA : In Memoriam – Nessun dorma, Turandot
OPERA
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
Michael Nyman: The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Naxos) by Norman Lebrecht
★★ (out of five)
In the spring of 1985, I saw three opera world premieres in London in as many weeks. There was Busoni’s Doctor Faust in the restored original ending, Birtwistle’s breakthrough opera The Mask of Orpheus and last, and smallest, Michael Nyman’s chamber opera on a troubling case history by the neurologist Oliver Sacks. I felt confident at the time that Nyman’s opera would be revived soon and often, but that’s not how it goes. Chamber operas are notoriously hard to get staged, falling as they do between too many institutional stools. The drama does not transfer well to record, either in the original Sony recording of 1987 or in this new issue of a Nashville Opera production from November 2013.
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Jonas Kaufmann ~ Es Muss Was Wunderbares Sein
Frederica Von Stade – Rusalka (Moon Song)
Joyce DiDonato ~ Abbracciami
The Enchanting Opera Performance of Klaus Nomi
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Andrea Mastroni Releases Filmed Version of Erlkönig
Bass-barihunk Andrea Mastroni has released a filmed version of Franz Schubert’s Erlkönig directed by Nicola Garzetti.
Erlkönig, known as Erl-King or Elf-King in English, was written by Schubert in 1815 when he was just 18. It is considered by many to be one of his greatest songs from the 600 settings that he composed. It is based on a 1782 poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
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