Purcell's The Indian Queen: Opera on 3 Monday 13 October

[doversoul1]

[…]
Sara Mohr-Pietsch introduces this performance recorded at the Teatro Real, Madrid, she talks to Purcell expert Andrew Pinnock about Purcell's original opera and Peter Sellars talks about his passion for Purcell's music and about his new version.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04l33mz

3 hours, 45 minutes

I have a recording by Hogwood and The AAM which is on one CD and does not include Music for a While or O Solitude (and much else)...

[gedsmk]

[…]
Sara Mohr-Pietsch introduces this performance recorded at the Teatro Real, Madrid, she talks to Purcell expert Andrew Pinnock about Purcell's original opera and Peter Sellars talks about his passion for Purcell's music and about his new version.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04l33mz

3 hours, 45 minutes

I have a recording by Hogwood and The AAM which is on one CD and does not include Music for a While or O Solitude (and much else)...

Worst sound quality ever? Sibilants, audience louder than singers, hopeless dynamic range, dry acoustic...

[Study Session]

The histrionics of the narrator were a bit much for me in the end. Did SM-P threaten that the production was coming to the UK too? One to give a wide berth to, I fear.

[mopsus]

Thought it would be nice to turn this on, but I'm afraid I was a bit of a prude, decided the sexual language of some of the spoken bits was too strong for young ears and pulled the plug after listening closely to some of it. (Yes I know Purcell could be filthy when he wrote catches, but somehow it's less obvious when it's sung!)

[grandchant]

http://classical-iconoclast.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/peter-sellars-indian-queen-not-pur

http://classical-iconoclast.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/peter-sellars-indian-queen-not-pur

Although he (IMO) overcooks it a bit in the last paragraph.

[Bryn]

Did you intend http://classical-iconoclast.blogspot...t-purcell.html ?

[grandchant]

Yes Bryn, thanks for that.

I've also found the complete performance on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw0HDiX4YNg

Which answered a lot of questions for me.

[Flosshilde]

the sexual language of some of the spoken bits was too strong ... pulled the plug after listening closely to some of it.

I'm sure you're nothing like her, but that does rather remind me of Mary Whitehouse watching programmes on TV so that she could be outraged by them

Judging by the blog linked to by others it does seem to be a rather awful production in all aspects. Sellars is usually very good & perceptive in his productions, so I wonder what went wrong in this one.

[mopsus]

I turned the radio on in a room with the children in and went into the kitchen to cook. It was quite pleasant to have Purcell's music wafting in - couldn't hear a word of the spoken dialogue at that point. Then I went into the living room, heard some of the spoken part and switched it off. I hope that clarifies what I meant.