View: Next message | Previous message Next in topic | Previous in topic Next by same author | Previous by same author Previous page (April 1999, week 4) | Back to main OPERA-L page Join or leave OPERA-L Reply | Post a new message Search Options: Ê Chronologically | Most recent first Proportional font | Non-proportional font ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 00:22:51 +0000 Reply-To: "H.E.Elsom" Sender: Discussion of opera and related issues From: "H.E.Elsom" Subject: King Priam, RFH, 25Apr99 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Priam David Wilson-Johnson Hecuba/Athene Susan Bullock Andromache/Hera Susan Bickley Paris as a boy Thomas Cockett Paris as a man John Graham-Hall Helen/Aphrodite Susan Parry Achilles Martyn Hill Patroclus Jeremy Huw Williams Nurse Mary King Old Man Michael George Hermes Daniel Norman Conductor David Atherton National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales BBC Singers Part of the Endless Parade series of British music since 1945. King Priam is a kind of companion piece to Britten's War Requiem. It was first performed at the same event, the dedication of the rebuilt Coventry cathedral as an act of reconciation in 1962. The two works are the first British works explicitly to address the impact of the second world war. (Vaughan Williams' Sixth Symphony is expressly a pastoral symphony, though its programme of mourning the damaged country makes sense once you are aware of it.) The War Requiem is innovative in form, but direct in emotion, containing some of Britten's finest settings of English poetry to express the pain and loss on both sides. King Priam, in contrast, although it deals with the war that started all wars in the European tradition, does so from the point of view of the losers only, yet leaves open the question of whether their actions, and Priam's in particular, are part of the process of mirrored violence which destroys them. In the context of the Korean and incipient Vietnam wars, and the approaching escalation of the cold war, this is a chilling view if it is transferred to a political analysis. But Tippett isn't concerned with politics, but with love, hate and fear on a human level. His less than elegant libretto provides a platform for music that aims to deliver complex and interacting emotions and actions directly. I have to admit that while I admire the dramatic impact of King Priam, I still find the music alienating, or at least hard to get into at times. Many of Britten's operas had this effect on me initially as well, though his more cerebral approach to language and form always provide something to work on until the music kicks in, at the cost of enjoyment at times. This performance wasn't ideally cast, but seeing it life I certainly found an emotional force that wasn't quite there in the video of the Kent Opera production. David Wilson-Johnson, often superb, somehow didn't have the torn and tragic dimension that Priam needs, and Martyn Hill, though singing elegantly, lacked any sense of having the potential for violence or heroism. Michael George was authoritative as the Old Man, and Daniel Norman was mildly demonic as Hermes. John Graham-Hall (who I wrongly thought of as a singing Martin Clunes because he does so much character work) was suitably glamorous as Paris. The women seemed to work better as an ensemble. Susan Bullock was far too young and buxom as Hecuba, the original bitch queen. Tippett sees her as more of a mature earth mother, but her pride is still a theme, and it didn't come over. Susan Parry was striking, though untouchable looking, as Helen and Aphrodite, and Susan Bullock was fierce as Andromache and Hera, protectors of marriage in particular and general (much fiercer than as Juno in Semele at the ENO). Mary King was also striking as the Nurse. David Atherton's conducting seemed to get far more out of the music that I remember. The minimalist-sounding anxious dance-like solo strings under the Trojan women's moments of individual and collective crisis were well balanced and effective, and the brass and percussion evoking the war was stirring and disturbing. The pacing was general swift and engaging, echoing the irresistable mirroring forces that Tippett sees as being in play. A strange, but powerful, work, hard to pin down, in a revealing performance. Just don't read the libretto before you see or hear it. Regards, Helen H.E. Elsom he@helsom.demon.co.uk http://www.helsom.demon.co.uk/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main OPERA-L page ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Powered by LISTSERV(R)] Back to the [CataList - online list search] LISTSERV home page at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU.