Vocal splendour in Le Coq d’Or

By Mark Pullinger, 09 July 2014

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“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

Tavener's Krishna fails to convince in world premiere

Nick Boston, 4th June

John Tavener's “mystical pantomime” proves a disappointment, despite strong performances from singers and orchestra in David Pountney's production.

***11

Jetske Mijnssen's Boccanegra a coup for DNO season finale

Eleanor Knight, 4th June

Everything about this production is fresh and wonderful.

*****

Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante wins hearts at the Opéra de Paris

David Karlin, 2nd June

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

****1

Chasing the American Dream: UK premiere for Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up

Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre.

****1

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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