Vocal splendour in Le Coq d’Or

By Mark Pullinger, 09 July 2014

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Clarinets coiled themselves around the chromatic arabesques...”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 8 July 2014

Rimsky-Korsakov, Le Coq d'or (The Golden Cockerel)

Saisons Russes du XXI Siècle

Alevtina Ioffe, Conductor

Andris Liepa, Director

Natalia Goncharova, Set Designer

Petr Melentiev, Astrologer

Alexander Tsilinko, Tsar Dodon

Sergey Petrishchev, Prince Guidon

Denis Boldov, Prince Afron

Natalia Eliseeva, Amelfa

Nikolai Petrenko, General Polkan

Zarina Samadova, Golden Cockerel

Olesya Titenko, Queen of Shemakha

Moscow State Music Theatre Orchestra

Diaghilev's opera-ballet Le Coq d'Or returns to life

Margaret Willis, 8th July

It was like going on the journey from Kansas to the Land of Oz. After dank, dark drizzle on the streets outside, the scene inside the London Coliseum suddenly transformed into dazzling and vivid colour for this famous fairy-tale by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

***11

Diaghilev's opera-ballet Le Coq d'Or returns to life

Margaret Willis, 8th July

***11

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

At half mast: Simon Boccanegra revived in Vienna

Orsolya Gyárfás, 19th April

Marco Armiliato's conducting thrills and Federica Lombardi's radiant Amelia stands out in the Wiener Staatsoper's latest revival of Simon Boccanegra.

***11

Anna Netrebko shines in Vienna’s timeless Tosca

Laura Servidei, 18th April

In a world where opera productions often stray into the abstract, the Wiener Staatsoper’s Tosca offers a refreshing return to tradition – and Anna Netrebko delivers a splendid performance.

****1

More reviews...

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Kaleidoscopic colour and vocal splendour: Diaghilev’s Le Coq d’Or