En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | English | Rachel Frenkel

Taking snapshots from 1806 and 1807, the BBC Philharmonic present two works from Beethoven’s middle period, with high musical standards and the Dresden Chamber Choir on superb form.

Countertenor Lawrence Zazzo is more than at home in the role of Oberon, and possesses a vocal quality ideal for the scheming king of the fairies, simultaneously eerie and seductive.

Baroque purists might prefer a more surefire line-up of brilliantly executed arias, but the theatrical framework of Adrian Noble's Alcina production offers a great deal.

What makes this Figaro memorable and admirable is the way it manages both to be sprightly in its tone and details and also luxuriant in places that another director might have blown through.

It is the first version of Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, with piano and harmonium, that the Flemish Radio Choir and Hervé Niquet chose to perform, their fine performance demonstrating the originality and impact of this more intimate version.

In his program note, conductor-director Iván Fischer describes his Mostly Mozart Festival production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro as a staged concert. His agenda sounds serious: “This is my attempt to bring theater and music closer to each other, to create a new natural harmony.” He asks for a new era in opera production, seeking “organic unity” between music and theater.

Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal began their collaboration on Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) with utopian ambitions. Unfortunately they weren’t the same ones. For Hofmannsthal, this would finally be the opera where his poetry would be illuminated by rather than buried under the music.