Recently in Reviews

ETO Autumn 2020 Season Announcement: Lyric Solitude

English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.

Love, always: Chanticleer, Live from London … via San Francisco

This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below …).

Dreams and delusions from Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper at Wigmore Hall

Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.

Henry Purcell, Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II Vol. III: The Sixteen/Harry Christophers

The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.

Treasures of the English Renaissance: Stile Antico, Live from London

Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.

Anima Rara: Ermonela Jaho

In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

A wonderful Wigmore Hall debut by Elizabeth Llewellyn

Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.

Requiem pour les temps futurs: An AI requiem for a post-modern society

Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.

The Sixteen: Music for Reflection, live from Kings Place

For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.

Iestyn Davies and Elizabeth Kenny explore Dowland's directness and darkness at Hatfield House

'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’

Ádám Fischer’s 1991 MahlerFest Kassel ‘Resurrection’ issued for the first time

Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.

Paradise Lost: Tête-à-Tête 2020

‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven … that old serpent … Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’

Max Lorenz: Tristan und Isolde, Hamburg 1949

If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.

Joyce DiDonato: Met Stars Live in Concert

There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.

‘Where All Roses Go’: Apollo5, Live from London

‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields 're-connect'

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.

Lucy Crowe and Allan Clayton join Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO at St Luke's

The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.

Choral Dances: VOCES8, Live from London

With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.

Royal Opera House Gala Concert

Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.

Fading: The Gesualdo Six at Live from London

"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."

OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »

Reviews

Reg Park as Hercules
29 Apr 2015

Hercules vs Vampires: Film Becomes Opera!

In the early sixties, Italian film director Mario Bava was making pictures with male body builders whose well oiled physiques appeared spectacular on the screen.

Hercules vs Vampires: Film Becomes Opera!

A review by Maria Nockin

Above: Reg Park as Hercules

 

Composer Patrick Morganelli was already a Bava fan when Opera Theater Oregon chose him to create music for a live performance featuring a Bava film. The first version of Hercules vs Vampires premiered in May 2010. For the accomplished singers of L A Opera’s Young Artist Program in 2015, Morganelli reworked the vocal parts and made them more technically demanding.

In the early sixties, Italian film director Mario Bava was making pictures with male body builders whose well oiled physiques appeared spectacular on the screen. Composer Patrick Morganelli was already one of Bava’s fans in 2009 when Opera Theater Oregon (OTO), a small but adventurous company based in Portland chose him to create music for a live performance featuring a Bava film. The first version of Hercules vs Vampires premiered at OTO in May 2010. For the more accomplished singers of L A Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Morganelli reworked the vocal parts and made them more technically demanding.

Because each utterance has to fit into the time that the filmed character is seen saying it, the number of words in the libretto had to be cut by about two-thirds. Still, the libretto text had to convey the same meaning as the spoken dialogue, so Morganelli, who did this work himself, had a time-consuming job. Conductor Christopher Allen, an alumnus of the LA Opera Young Artist Program, saw to it that the music fit the filmed speeches. Because of the format, he was not able to allow the singers to hold the notes on which their voices sounded best for even a beat longer than what was written in the score.

LAO-Hercules_4p.pngReg Park as Hercules

In the story, Hercules’s sweetheart, Dianara, was the rightful queen of Acalia, but her evil uncle, Lycos, put a spell on her and stole her throne. Hercules consulted an oracle that told him a magic stone from Hades would free her. He would also need a golden apple to assure his safe return to earth. Boiling lava and a powerful storm at sea tested Hercules and his friend, Theseus, who were played on the screen by Reg Park and George Ardisson. When they arrived at Acalia, they found it in chaos. One reason for the trouble was that Persephone, the daughter of Pluto, had fallen in love with Theseus and overstayed the time she was allowed to visit earth. Theseus loved her and fought with Hercules but when she realized she was the cause of trouble, she went back to Pluto’s realm.

Lycos wanted to drink all of Dianara’s blood but Hercules saved her only to find himself besieged by the undead in every imaginable form. This fight music is some of Morganelli’s best and I imagine it could be made into a short orchestral piece that could stand alone.

Morganelli said he differentiated between music for Hades and Earth. Earth was more accessible and impressionistic, while Hades was described by hard-edged and atonal phrases. Thus, Summer Hassan as Dianara sang more lyrical music than Vanessa Becerra as Zarathusa and Medea. It was Becerra’s pure toned, clean coloratura that made her stand out as an artist to watch for in the future, however.

At first I wondered why Hercules was a baritone instead of a heldentenor. Then I heard Kihun Yoon! He had the virile, resonant tones needed for a strongman. As Theseus, Frederick Ballentine sang with burnished bronze sounds that portrayed Hercules’s more romantic friend. Mezzo-soprano Lacey-Jo Benter sang passionately with a particularly opulent middle register that offered a pleasant contrast to the two sopranos.

Nicolas Brownlee was a malevolent Lycos whose evil was apparent to the audience long before it was to Hercules. Bass-baritone Craig Colclough’s vigorous, dark-voiced characterizations of Procrustes and the God of Evil completed the opposition to Hercules and Dianara. Maestro Allen held his twenty-six-player orchestra in a tight mold because of film timings, but he also drew translucent and harmonically effective music from them. This was a most intriguing experiment that might well be tried with another film. It will be interesting to see what happens with this brand new genre in the future.

Maria Nockin


Cast and production information:

Lycos, Nicholas Brownlee; Henchman/Kyros/Peasant, Brenton Ryan; Hercules, Kihun Yoon; Dianara/Hesperide/Peasant/City Woman, Summer Hassan; Medea/Zarathusa/Chained Woman/Helena, Vanessa Becerra; Theseus, Frederick Ballentine; Telemachus/City Man/Palace Attendant, Rafael Moras; Procrustes/God of Evil, Craig Colclough; Conductor, Christopher Allen.

Send to a friend

Send a link to this article to a friend with an optional message.

Friend's Email Address: (required)

Your Email Address: (required)

Message (optional):