Benjamin Luxon

[Mandryka]

I don't like opera performed in translation, which is why I tend not to like ENO. And Owen Wingrave is the only Britten opera I don't like, apart from Albert Herring (I've only heard the Hickox recording, which does not feature Luxon).

I did consider titling this thread: Benjamin Luxon: Still Alive!, but thought that might be facetious.

[Chris Newman]

Benjamin Luxon performed regularly at The Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Opera and the English Opera Group. He was one of the finest British baritones of his generation and I would happily have heard him sing in any language, original or translation. I am extremely glad that I had the privilege of hearing him sing in translation at the Royal Opera, singing in English in Tchaikovsky and Johannes Strauss. Hearing works sung in our vernacular often aids our deeper understanding when hearing them in the original at a later date. Hearing and watching them sung in the local language often means that the acting is far better as the cast know what is going on. I would rather hear Miss Bloggs sing and act her heart out with English Touring Opera than watch Madame Overated-Overpaid flounce her way through it in French when her first language is something else.

[Dave2002]

Quite - what on earth (in those days at any rate) was wrong with ENO? Gooddall's Ring, with Hunter/Remedios ? I saw Baker there in Poppaea (with Leppard), Mary Stuart (with Mackerras) and lots of other great productions. They had a bit of a golden age in the late 60's-70's. They may have had their ups and downs since....To stay on thread, I see Luxon made his debut there in 1974 though I don't think I saw him there.

... A bit of a golden age .... Well, maybe.

They also had some pretty dodgy productions, sets and stagework. The most hilarious I remember was in the House of the Dead, where at the end the prisoners take the eagle up to the ramparts to release it. Maybe we didn't all see the eagle being hooked on to the wire (surreptitiously, ha!), but surely we all heard the thud as it was hurled off, and crashed into the floor or something behind, only to rise with a sharp jolt a second or too later as the slck in the line was rapidly taken up. It descended and ascended rapidly a couple of times before some form of stability rwturned. It really was bad, but also very funny. Not sure if Janacek wanted that effect though!

I wonder if there were expletives behind the set too, though we didn't hear any. There probably should have been.

[Richard Tarleton]

I don't like opera performed in translation

Perhaps this should be a thread in itself. Perhaps it has been....

Interestingly Mackerras preferred to do Janacek in English with Anglophone casts and audiences even when he had the option, eg taking over WNO's Jenufa.

[makropulos]

I don't like opera performed in translation, which is why I tend not to like ENO. And Owen Wingrave is the only Britten opera I don't like, apart from Albert Herring (I've only heard the Hickox recording, which does not feature Luxon).

In the last couple of days you've said that you don't like Ian McKellen, you don't like opera in translation, and you don't like Owen Wingrave.
That all feels a bit too negative to have a good-natured discussion, which is a shame.

[Chris Newman]

Originally Posted by Mandryka
I don't like opera performed in translation

I think we had a thread about this on the old boards, Richard.

Is it me, or is Mandryka morphing into Sid Grew? All these quirky hang-ups....

[Richard Tarleton]

Actually Mandryka is reminding me of my 92 year old mother. It's only reading the obits in the DT as keeps her going......

[Mandryka]

In the last couple of days you've said that you don't like Ian McKellen, you don't like opera in translation, and you don't like Owen Wingrave.
That all feels a bit too negative to have a good-natured discussion, which is a shame.

I don't follow your logic here. I hope you'll note that the comments about things I don't like were made in the course of threads started about things I DO like (Benjamin Luxon, Martin Sherman's Bent). I have also started a thread on Eric Porter, whom I ALSO LIKE.


Sheesh!

[makropulos]

I don't follow your logic here. I hope you'll note that the comments about things I don't like where made in the course of threads started about things I DO like (Benjamin Luxon, Martin Sherman's Bent). I have also started a thread on Eric Porter, whom I ALSO LIKE.


Sheesh!

Not a case of there being any particular logic to follow, just my personal reaction to what felt like a lot of negativity, even in the context of things you do like (Luxon, but not if it's in English and not if it's Owen Wingrave; Bent, but not Ian McKellen...).
...
I'm glad you like Eric Porter.