Pappano releases the shackles

By Mark Pullinger, 23 October 2016

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“Pappano and his Orchestra... painted the chiaroscuro contrasts with the boldest of strokes”

Reviewed at Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma: Sala Santa Cecilia, Rome on 22 October 2016

Beethoven, Fidelio (Concert performance)

Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor

Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Leonore

Simon O'Neill, Florestan

Günther Groissböck, Rocco

Sebastian Holecek, Don Pizarro

Julian Kim, Don Fernando

Amanda Forsythe, Marzelline

Maximilian Schmitt, Jaquino

Marco Santarelli, First prisoner

Antonio Pirozzi, Second prisoner

Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Wretches like us: the LPO’s concert Wozzeck cuts to the quick

Peter Quantrill, 25th April

Beautifully prepared singing and playing brings out the tender side to Berg's modernist classic as part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

****1

Lepage’s Bluebeard and Erwartung pairing remains compelling theatre

John Gilks, 25th April

Some 30 years after its first appearance, Robert Lepage’s double bill of Duke Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung is still strikingly effective and very modern-looking music theatre.

*****

Trojan’s Carousel: a magical night of dreams come true in Prague

Frank Kuznik, 23rd April

A vintage opera at the National Theatre offers charming adventures for children and musical sophistication for adults.

*****

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

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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.

Pappano releases the shackles: an uplifting Fidelio in Rome