Midlands Classical Music Making

                               MY FAIR LADY                                                           CHANDOS CHSA 5358(2) This, the latest in John Wilson’s exhilarating sequence of totally complete musicals with the Sinfonia of London, is another absolute joy, though with one minor caveat. We have here every scrap of material created by Lerner and Loewe, My Fair Lady’s creators, and that provides the only tiny problem. Shows in public presentation often cut segues and links, sometimes just for reasons of timing. These of course don’t apply in CD recordings, but s...

  DAVID TAYLOE and DYLAN PEREZ Red House, Aldeburgh (August 1) A recital of English song, accompanied on Benjamin Britten’s own piano in the library of his Red House, so full of resonances, promised a mouthwatering experience, and in many respects it was. But Britten himself proved only a fleeting presence in this hour-long programme promoted by Summer at Snape 2025. Had we heard more of him it might have enlivened a somewhat samey atmosphere created by many of the offerings. The emerging young American tenor David Tayloe has an attractive voice, creamy and appealing, and in the opening three Purcell items, realisations by Britten and Thomas Ades, he displayed an appropriate alto-like timbre. “Hark the Ech’ing Air” was a mite too hectic in its delivery, but pianist Dylan Perez brought crisp, harpsichord-like articulation to Britten’s accompaniment. Then began a lengthy sequence overladen with the melancholy which pervades so much song-writing by English composers of the fir...

  GWYN WILLIAMS BURSARY CONCERT                                                           St Andrew’s Church Wilmcote (20.7.25) Wilmcote’s St Andrew’s, a beautiful jewel of a church, was packed to the rafters for a fascinating concert on Sunday evening which included two-and-a-half world premieres (read on). The occasion was the latest fund-raising concert in aid of the Gwyn Williams Bursary. Gwyn played in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he was Sir Simon Rattle’s principal viola, for 30 years, and the Bursary was founded by his widow, Stephannie <SIC> in order to assist young string players. After a year making donations to the CBSO Youth Orchestra and inaugurating two Gwy...

                               THE BARBER OF SEVILLE                              Longborough Festival Opera (July13)   One of the many heartening elements of this joyous production is the fact that the cast was so youthful, many of them making their Longborough debuts. The future looks set fair. This was the final performance in a run which had begun early in June, insterspersed with Pelleas et Melisande , but there was no sense of end-of-term undisciplined high jinks. No, this was a grippingly tight presentation from a superbly well-drilled company, unfolding with unstoppable momentum under the fluent conducting of the batonless Elaine Kelly. Underlying everything was the deft playing of th...

                                             RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN                              John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London at Symphony Hall ***** It is a long time since I have been in a Symphony Hall packed to the rafters, with such an atmosphere of expectation, and an audience agog and appreciative of every note. And what engendered all this? The eagerly-awaited appearance of John Wilson and his remarkable Sinfonia of London in a Rodgers and Hammerstein programme, hot on the heels of their CD releases of ultra-complete performances of that more than talented duo’s Oklahoma! and Carousel. Wilson, now mended from a serious ...

                               ELGAR: SYMPHONY NO.1, IN THE SOUTH                              English Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Woods                              ESO Records   Even before we begin to listen to this well-intentioned release there is a problem.  Why on earth put the Overture at the end, when listeners might well wish just to sit and ponder the peroration of the Symphony, perhaps while savouring the informative and indeed moving insert-notes? So I shall impose my own playing order, and review Elgar’s In the South Overture first. Th...

  Norman Stinchcombe reviews the latest classical CD releases Strauss, ‘Salome’: Byström, Dalayman, Reuter, Siegel, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Gardner (Naxos 2CDs & SACDs) ★★★★ The raison d'etre of Strauss’s once scandalous opera is Salome’s dance of the seven veils. The first question about any opera production is will or won’t the soprano take off her clothes? This 2022 Edinburgh International Festival production was a concert performance and the only naked thing in Salome’s dance was the stage. The music had to do all the work and this performance under Edward Gardner, with the Bergen orchestra at the top of their game, reveals how exciting, disturbing and revealing just the notes can be. Gardner also has a fine cast at his disposal with Malin Byström, world’s reigning Salome, in mesmerising form, salacious, seductive and deadly with a convincingly young-sounding voice. There’s a noble Jochanaan from Johan Reuter and the malicious parents, Herodias (Katarina Dalayman) a...

  JOHN WILSON CONDUCTS RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN AT SYMPHONY HALL                                            By Christopher Morley Anyone who loves the classic stage musicals will have been delighted at the recent CD releases on the Chandos label from John Wilson, conducting the Sinfonia of London in ultra-complete versions of two of the world’s greatest shows, Oklahoma! and Carousel, by Rodgers and Hammerstein Now he and his wonderful orchestra, plus a glittering lineup of soloists, are preparing to bring an evening of those great creators to Symphony Hall. When I speak to him he is recovering from breaking his left arm whilst cycling (stick to the car, I always say), but it will all be all right on the night. I ask him how he would describe the greatness of Richard Ro...

  Norman Stinchcombe reviews the latest classical CD releases Janáček, ‘Jenůfa’: Eichenholz, Karnéus, Wilson, Spence, Briscein, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Rattle (LSO Live 2 CDs & SACDs)  ★★★★★ Sir Simon Rattle has been an advocate of Janáček’s music for more than forty years and following ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ and ‘Katya Kabanova’, this is his latest in a series of the composer’s operas recorded in concert. They were both excellent and this is perhaps the best so far with an outstanding cast bringing to vivid life Janáček’s intense and visceral tale of sexual jealousy, family strife and infanticide. Rattle and the LSO’s mastery of Janáček’s spiky angular music, and it’s ability to flower into moments of intense beauty and hope, are the foundations for a riveting performance. Swedish soprano Agneta Eichenholz, following in the tradition of her countrywoman Elisabeth S ö derstr ö m, makes Jenůfa’s emotional plight convincing, her singing passionate and se...