L'Olimpiade

[MickyD]

This looks like an absolutely fascinating and imaginative concert, with a top-notch period band as well. I wish I was in London for it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hz9cw

[doversoul1]

I have been looking forward to this but I can’t quite make out. Is this performed as an opera or a concert performance put together by Andrea Marcon?

As for a pasticcio, I was slightly disappointed by The Enchanted Island (I only heard it on the radio) but this does look very enticing. All these composers!!

[MickyD]

This is what the programme notes say:

In this performance live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall, sixteen of the leading operatic composers of the eighteenth century vie with one another in their settings of the great poet's tale.
Metastasio's L'Olimpiade is presented as a pasticcio with music by Caldara, Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Leo, Galuppi, Perez, Hasse, Traetta, Jommelli, Piccinini, Gassman, Myslivecek, Cherubini, Cimarosa and Paisiello, just some of the fifty or so composers who followed Caldara's lead in 1733 with their settings of of Metastasio's Olympian drama. For decades L'Olimpiade was to be seen and heard in royal courts and public opera houses from Naples to Moscow and from London to Warsaw.

...I am assuming it is a modern-day pasticcio, put together by either Marcon or other scholars. Whatever the facts are, it is very welcome to be able to hear such an interesting gathering of rarely-heard composers.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

What? No Gesualdo?

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was at the QEH for L'Olimpiade this evening:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=712:lolimpiade-queen-elizabeth-hall-28th-may-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

And I've reviewed the related Naive recording in June's IRR.

[Bryn]

There is something strange not going on re. the iPlayer. Usually with Live in Concert, selecting part 1 gives you the whole of part 1, the interval feature and part 2. However, last night's Live in Concert was handled differently. Part 1 is restricted to just the first 55 minutes of the broadcast (omitting the end of the closing credits for Part 1), and Part 2 starts at the very end of Twenty Minutes. Twenty Minutes itself has not (as yet?) been made available. Hopefully this gets sorted soon, but I am not holding my breath.

[Pegleg]

I lost my Internet connection on Friday evening and it was reinstated just in time to catch acts 2 & 3 of L'Olimpiade. So I've been listening to act 1 this morning.

To my inexpert ear this concert was a great success. Excellent playing from the VBO, so smooth and refined with no scraps or squeals, and no excess. An impressive cast of vocalists, Delpine Galou was my pick, but then she did get to sing Vivaldi's "Mentre dormi". I first bumped into her singing on youtube. A couple of popular pieces to hear are:

Delphine Galou - Cara Sposa Delphine Galou - Cara Sposa http://youtu.be/Ymbws8sjxGQ

Bach: Erbarme dich, mein Gott (Matthäuspassion) - Galou (Roth) http://youtu.be/BBeXF_lnj_M

I was at the QEH for L'Olimpiade this evening:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=712:lolimpiade-queen-elizabeth-hall-28th-may-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

And I've reviewed the related Naive recording in June's IRR.

A great review, wish I had been there too.

There is something strange not going on re. the iPlayer. Usually with Live in Concert, selecting part 1 gives you the whole of part 1, the interval feature and part 2. However, last night's Live in Concert was handled differently. Part 1 is restricted to just the first 55 minutes of the broadcast (omitting the end of the closing credits for Part 1), and Part 2 starts at the very end of Twenty Minutes. Twenty Minutes itself has not (as yet?) been made available. Hopefully this gets sorted soon, but I am not holding my breath.

Nothing will happen unless a complaint is lodged. I'd certainly like to hear the "Twenty Minutes" slot again as I was interrupted last night.

[Bryn]

Nothing will happen unless a complaint is lodged. I'd certainly like to hear the "Twenty Minutes" slot again as I was interrupted last night.

I did indeed report the fault. They have now revised the edit for part 1, continuing the coverage to the end of the credits. However, there is still as yet not link to Twenty Minutes.

[doversoul1]

I felt a bit overwhelmed halfway through by all those arias, but recovered enough to enjoy the programme to the end.

IGI
Thank you for the link to your review. I always find it easier to put things in perspective by reading than by listening.

Bryn
I hope you’ll be able to listen to the Twenty Minutes. I found it rather good; relevant but not overly ‘educational’. It was just like listening to an expert friend talking about the subject on ‘off-the-job’ mode at the interval.

[Bryn]

I felt a bit overwhelmed halfway through by all those arias, but recovered enough to enjoy the programme to the end.

IGI
Thank you for the link to your review. I always find it easier to put things in perspective by reading than listening.

Bryn
I hope you’ll be able to listen to the Twenty Minutes. I found it rather good; relevant but not overly ‘educational’. It was just like listening to an expert friend talking about the subject on ‘off-the-job’ mode at the interval.

They have now also re-edited part 2, but still no Twenty Minutes.

[amateur51]

I was there at the QEH last evening and I congratulate IGI on his review which captured the evening well.

My ears took the first aria to get accustiomed to the balance between orchestra and voice and IGI is right to refer to Romino Basso's elaborate armography' which seemed both unnecessary and intrusive. However if she genuinely needs to do it, then do it she must but it does look ... odd.

Delphine Galou is a naturally tall woman I'd guess but this was emphasised some very serious heels on some very sparkly shoes, plus she was wearing very tight leggings, emphasising her height again. And when she began sinmging you realised why she was there, truly the star singer of the evening.

All the others were good, the counter-tenor and tenor in particular. The band was marvellous and got individual ovations for producing some beautiful delicacy and some gutsy fast playing too. My personal heroes were the hornplayers and the bassoonist.

The programme was a slim work of art, containing all the arias in Italian and in English translation, plus the syopsis and an enlightening essay on pasticcio

I'm looking forward to listening to what sort of a job the BBC made of relaying/recording it.

[MickyD]

So glad it didn't disappoint...I'm looking forward to catching up with the broadcast when I've got some time on my hands later on this week.

[Nick Armstrong]

Delphine Galou is a naturally takk woan

You lapsed into Klingon there, ams! I infer that's 'tall woman'...

Nice outing you had there, glad you enjoyed it. Must catch up!!!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was there at the QEH last evening and I congratulate IGI on his review which captured the evening well.

Delphine Galou is a naturally tall woman I'd guess but this was emphasised some very serious heels on some very sparkly shoes, plus she was wearing very tight leggings, emphasising her height again. And when she began sinmging you realised why she was there, truly the star singer of the evening.

Thanks, Ams. I was enormously impressed by Delphine Galou and agree that her stage presence was striking. She's on the new(ish) Naive recording of Vivaldi's opera Teuzzone.