COMPETITION: WIN 20 CDS!

Competition: Michael Storrs Music CD celebrates its first birthday with a major give-away

Win one of twenty copies of Stolen Notes and Korean Songs from the new independent label

Twelve months ago, Michael Storrs Music launched an exciting new in-house record label featuring performances by many of the varied range of artists it promotes.
The very first release, Stolen Notes, contained a range of Verdi arias and ensembles, while the seven subsequent issues have included a disc of Puccini arias sung by Melanie Diener to celebrate the composer's 150th birthday, a CD of unusual verismo pieces by Marco Berti and a disc of Rare Verdi sung by the Danish bass-baritone Johan Reuter, the latter receiving a rave four-star review in The Times and an outstanding notice from Opera News.
No less exciting are plans for the coming year. The MSM label has just released a CD of Korean art songs by the tenor Wookyung Kim, who made a prestigious ROH debut last year in Rigoletto and will return for La bohème in October. Though the titles will be unfamiliar to the average opera enthusiast, the songs encompass a wide range of texts and emotions and have a classical poise to them.
September brings a CD entitled Rimsky-Korsakov: Angel and Demon for the composer's centenary. Russian diva Anna Samuil joins rising Mexican baritone Alfred Daza for songs both unusual and well-known. Daza will be seen at Glyndebourne next year as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore.
Wookyung Kim offers a CD of settings of Hugo, Schiller and Goethe in October (with music by Verdi, Donizetti, Gounod and Thomas), and November's release is a stimulating album of Strauss and Nielsen songs from Johan Reuter. Further ahead, Jose Carreras will make his first recording of Mozart's Requiem with Barbara Bonney and the Tokyo Philharmonic based on a live concert in Japan – it will be only the third time Carreras has performed the work – and January gives us a disc of bel canto arias from young tenor Dmitry Korchak.
To celebrate the first anniversary of MSM's CD label, we have twenty sets of their first and latest releases on offer, namely the Verdi CD of Stolen Notes and Wookyung Kim's Korean Songs. To win, just answer this simple question:
Stolen Notes contains the tenor aria and cabaletta 'Pietoso al lungo pianto alfin m'arride amore...Deh! lasciate a un'alma amante' sung by Dmitry Korchak, whose new bel canto CD is due in January 2009 (see right).
From which of these early Verdi operas does the aria derive?
a) Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio b) Un giorno di regno c) I due Foscari
Send your answer, name and address to competitions@musicalcriticism.com by 1 August 2008. (Please indicate if you do not wish to receive further mailings.)
For more information on these and all the CDs available from MSM CD, see http://www.msm-cd.com/.

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Rules, terms and conditions: 1. This competition is organised by MusicalCriticism.com. 2. MusicalCriticism.com reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be posted within the competition notice. 3. In the event of a dispute regarding the terms and conditions, conduct, results and all other matters relating to this competition, the decision of the Editor or Deputy Editor shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into. 4. The competition is open to residents of the world, including the USA, Europe and the UK. 5. Contributors and employees, their associates and members of their families and households are not eligible to enter. 6. Only one entry per person is permitted for this competition. 7. Entries received after the closing date of 12pm on 1 August 2008 will be automatically disqualified. No purchase required. 8. The winners will be chosen at random after the closing date, from all correct entries received by 12pm on 1 August 2008. 9. Prizes are non-transferable. No cash alternatives will be offered. Winners will be notified by email and their prizes delivered by post. 10. The winners' names will be posted on this page after the closing date

Bernstein's Back: Robert Carsen chats about his notorious production of Candide, which comes to ENO next week

On paper, it might seem like unlikely material for a Broadway musical. But Voltaire's satirical novella Candide provided Lillian Hellman and Leonard Bernstein with the ideal vehicle for their 1956 show of the same name, dealing as it does with issues such as corruption and bigotry that remained sadly relevant to the America of the 1950s. In 2006, the Paris Opera gave the piece its French premiere in a new production by Canadian director Robert Carsen, renowned for his challenging and insightful presentations of a wide repertoire from Monteverdi's Poppea to Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Beautiful Game. The production, which is updated to the twentieth century, caused controversy when it was taken to Milan, and will be staged by English National Opera next week to end their 2007-08 season. I caught up with Carsen to find out why Candide remains so potent for today's audiences fifty-two years after it was first performed.
To begin with, we chat about the motivation behind Candide for Bernstein and Hellman. 'Well might you ask,' says Carsen, 'because my feelings about it are entirely based on their feelings.'

Read the full interview at:

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/interviews/carsen-0608.shtml

Other recent articles:

Harry Bicket and The English Concert: http://www.musicalcriticism.com/concerts/ec-bicket-0608.shtml

Deborah Voigt finally makes it to The Royal Opera's production of Ariadne auf Naxos:

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/roh-ariadne-0608.shtml

Juan Diego Florez's Bel Canto Spectacular CD with Domingo, Netrebko and Ciofi:

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-florez-duets-0608.shtml

Coming soon:

Interview with Barbara Frittoli

Candide at ENO

Le nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden

Falstaff and A Night at the Chinese Opera at Scottish Opera

Juan Diego Florez at the Barbican

Maazel's Brahms Series

Alban Berg Quartet

Arabella on DVD with Fleming

The Mostly Mozart Festival 2008

The BBC Proms 2008

The Edinburgh Festival 2008

The newly-knighted Sir Mark Elder talks to MusicalCriticism.com

In a wide ranging interview we chat with the conductor about the revival of Ariadne auf Naxos which opens at Covent Garden on Monday, Elektra with the Royal Opera in the autumn and his views on Strauss in general - "beautiful writing for the voices, wonderful melodic gift. Profundity? I'm not so sure."

We also chat about the Hallé's complete Götterdämmerung with Ben Heppner next May and his views about Bayreuth and the challenge facing anyone staging Wagner's works. He talks about Italian opera, Italy's struggle with the burden of its musical legacy and his work with the Hallé, bringing music to the community.

Read the full interview here... http://www.musicalcriticism.com/interviews/elder-0608.shtml

Don Carlo opens at the ROH, Covent Garden, with Villazon and Keenlyside

Since the Italian version has not been performed by the company since 1989, it's about time that Don Carlo returned to the repertory of The Royal Opera.

Considered in some quarters to be Verdi's supreme achievement, the piece juxtaposes the inner turmoil of the heart with the external dual dominating forces of the Church and the Monarchy: this is chiaroscuro on a grand scale.

The occasion is distinguished thanks to Antonio Pappano's absolutely magnificent conducting of the score: he's never done finer work here.

To read the full review, follow this link:

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/roh-carlo-0608.shtml

Barbara Bonney gives a rare interview on her career and her return to London to sing Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder

In the 1980s and 1990s, American soprano Barbara Bonney was practically unrivalled in Mozart's soubrette roles such as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte; her Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier has been regularly placed in the higher echelons of Strauss interpretations. A noted recitalist, she is fluent in numerous languages and has made over ninety recordings.


When Bonney suddenly cancelled her appearance in the 2006 Salzburg Festival and withdrew from all forthcoming engagements, many in the opera world wondered whether she'd ever sing in public again. But last summer, she returned to public performance with a concert at the Verbier Festival, and now British audiences will finally have the chance to savour her unique artistry with a recital at Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square as part of this year's Chelsea Festival.

In a rare interview, she tells me how she has finally found contentment from teaching at the Mozarteum and running the Young Singers scheme at the Salzburg Festival – though it seems her opera singing days aren't entirely over.

To read the whole article, visit:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/interviews/bonney-0508.shtml

Coming highlights:
Interviews with Robert Lloyd and Mark Elder
Reviews of Don Carlo, Il trovatore, La fille du regiment, Bernard Haitink, Pollini, Philip Glass & Candide in London
Don Carlo, Carmen & Eugene Onegin in Budapest
Tosca in Venice
CD reviews of Owen Wingrave (Chandos), La Cour de Celimene (Opera Rara), Arabella with Renee Fleming (Decca DVD), Juan Diego Florez (Decca) & Fidelio (DG)
Preview of the BBC Philharmonic's 2008-09 season
and much more...

ENO's Der Rosenkavalier with Connolly, Watson, Tomlinson; Betwixt The Musical, Gypsy & Funny Girl; Halle's 08-09 season; Kiri Te Kanawa Masterclass

ENO's new Der Rosenkavalier opened last night, though in truth the production is nine years old and has already been seen at Scottish Opera and Opera North:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/eno-rosenkavalier-0508.shtml
Earlier in the week, I caught How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria star Abi Finley's latest project, a world premiere musical called Betwixt! at the King's Head Theatre:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/betwixt-0508.shtml

On Wednesday, I went to a masterclass with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at the Guildhall. It was an amazing, very moving experience to see her give her time and energy so generously, as well as talking about important influences on her such as her teacher and the conductors Georg Solti and Colin Davis:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/concerts/kiri-masterclass-0508.shtml

The Halle's new season has been announced and includes, quite excitingly, a complete performance of Götterdämmerung with no less a Wagnerian than Ben Heppner as Siegfried. Mark Elder conducts an excellent cast, to include Andrew Shore's Alberich and Katarina Dalayman's Brunnhilde. Other highlights of the 08-09 season include Radu Lupu playing the third Bartok concerto and a complete cycle of the Nielsen symphonies:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/news/halle-0508.shtml

I also managed to catch up with Funny Girl at the Chichester Festival:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/gypsy-funny-0508.shtml

Agnes reviewed Philippe Herreweghe's concert at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/concerts/lufthansa-0508.shtml

Coming soon:
An interview with Barbara Bonney
Tosca at La Fenice
The new recording of Owen Wingrave on Chandos
Reviews of the opening performances of Opera Holland Park's season

Janice Watson: Interview on Der Rosenkavalier

Interview with Janice Watson:
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/interviews/watson-0508.shtml