The exclamation mark in the title warns you. There are no collective strikes, no riots, no revolutions except outside and there or when a chorus is needed. Instead, it’s the individual’s close-up struggles: bottom boils, mischief with the maid, another trip to the loan sharks. Marx is in London!The opera, which was first seen in Bonn in 2018, is Jonathan Dove’s 32nd opera, according to the composer’s vague calculations. A masterful libretto by Charles Hart (Bend It Like Beckham, phantom of the opera) writhes with internal rhymes, puns and jokes to recreate a single crazy day in the life of one of the most important intellectuals of the 19th century, the German Karl Marx, during his political exile in London.
Scottish Opera’s new production opened in its UK premiere at the Theater Royal in Glasgow on Tuesday, under the direction of David Parry, who also directed the Bonn premiere. If we were to list all the plot twists, witty musical references, and opera tropes, from Wagnerian incest to the Falstaffian hiding in the chest, it would be an act of extinction. The joy of this ridiculous work is its liveliness. Just when you fear that a section will lose altitude, it rises again with a new surprise. Dove’s agility score is the same with pumping minimalism. psychohis style ranges from faux horror to full-blown romance. For any student of orchestration, it offers a model of what can be done, especially when piano, celeste, sampled harmony, and low brass and woodwind are added to the standard forces.
Rossini’s anarchy leaves its mark on every bar of the Barber of Seville
This extensive Dove-Hart range is fully embraced in Stephen Barlow’s stylish production, designed with magical mastery by Yannis Thavoris. Bustles, silks and penny farthings round out the 1870s action. Using toy theater techniques, backgrounds are taken from maps and prints of Victoria Bloomsbury, the British Museum’s reading room, seen from Hampstead, London. Baritone Roland Wood (an image reminiscent of the father of communism, thanks to the same hair and beard) stands out in the leading role. It evokes sympathy despite the humiliations this powerful intellectual had to endure.
A lively cast is led by Orla Boylan as Marx’s long-suffering wife, Lucy Schaufer as the clever chess-playing maid, and Rebecca Bottone as the young girl with a penchant for stratospheric coloratura. Alasdair Elliott’s angel-winged Engels, Paul Hopwood’s Melanzane and William Morgan’s Freddy, as well as excellent orchestral playing and solid choral work, all contributed to this company’s success. Did it take too long? It probably took about half an hour, but the laughter was flowing.
Whatever neural pathways make us giggle (as the late Dr. Jonathan Miller, a stickler for medical precision, used to tell us), operationally speaking, they were rarely in overdrive with not one but two comedies last week. Miller’s 1987 production of Rossini Barber of Seville (revival director Peter Relton) returns to the Coliseum for the first time since 2017 with period designs by Tanya McCallin. She feels dated and not always as lively as you’d hope, but it’s full of humor and spirit.
Rossini’s anarchy, which marks every measure of the score, shines through thanks to the fine cast, especially the cunning genius of Irish soprano Anna Devin, who makes her debut in the role of Rosina. Charles Rice played the manic wizard Figaro; Simon Bailey is Dr. He added new dimensions to Bartolo and the soft-spoken and sarcastic Innocent Masuku as Count Almaviva. Conductor Roderick Cox made a rewarding ENO debut with a natural and commanding sense of pace. The text has lost none of its quality in Amanda Holden and Anthony Holden’s sharp translation.
At the time of going to print this column, news broke that ENO musicians who had called off strike action last week had received layoff notices via email on the last night of the performance. The Handmaid’s Tale. No announcement has been made and we have to wait to determine the details. If true, ENO’s already bleak recent history becomes even darker. In the meantime, support this company if you can or are able.
The two symphonic epics at the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall must be content with brief mentions. As the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner (1824-96) approaches, London Symphony Orchestra this month he gave two concerts of his music under the baton of Nathalie Stutzmann, a well-known devotee. The second, which took place last Sunday, featured the Te Deum, a choral-orchestral piece he called “the pride of my life”, without a break after his unfinished Ninth symphony dedicated to God. The union proposed by Bruckner himself was a mesmerizing experience, probably best described as an “unforgettable wonder”, with expert singing by the London Symphony Choir and bloody strutting by the LSO. If the sound of this expert, hard-working orchestra is slightly below average, this is a cause for empathy, not complaint.
In the Rediscovered Icons series, connecting the works of two romantic artists (Sergei Rachmaninov and Edward Elgar) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra He showed his determination. The orchestra’s play rose to new levels with the appointment of Vasily Petrenko as musical director. In Rachmaninov’s powerful Symphony No. 2, the strings were composed precisely and unanimously. The balance in each section of the orchestra was ideal. Petrenko gave seemingly endless space to the slow movement (the long, poetic “song” of the clarinet, beautifully played by Sonia Sielaff), but the rest was tight, detailed, and meticulous. The audience, attentive and silent throughout, finally erupted with barely a cough. The standing ovation was loud and deserved.
Star ratings (out of five)
Marx is in London! ★★★★
Barber of Seville ★★★★
LSO/Stutzmann ★★★
RPO/Petrenko ★★★★
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Marx is in London! Tonight at Theater Royal Glasgow, then transfers to Edinburgh Festival Theater on 22 and 24 February
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Barber of Seville Represented at London Coliseum until 29 February