Akhnaten from ENO 26/3/16

[Flosshilde]

A saw this at the Colisseum a couple of weeks ago. There were many aspects of the production I didn't like (one, the jugglers, were supremely irritating), but I did like the music. I'll see if I like it better, or less, listening to it without seeing it.

[VodkaDilc]

Akhnaten was one of the most enjoyable evenings I have ever spent at ENO (and I have been going since just before its relocation to St Martin's Lane). The music was truly enhanced by the spectacular production. It is unfortunate that the broadcast clashes with my trip to Bryn Godonov at another well-known opera house this evening.

Can anyone else remember a television relay of a production of Akhnaten, possibly in the early 80s? As a result of that, it was one of the first opera sets I bought on CD when I moved from vinyl.

[Richard Barrett]

IMO everything about Akhnaten is fascinating and compelling, apart from the music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

IMO everything about Akhnaten is fascinating and compelling, apart from the music.

... reminds me of the (probably made-up) story of when another composer asked Beethoven what he thought of his opera.

"I liked it so much, I'm thinking of setting it to Music."

[MickyD]

Akhnaten was one of the most enjoyable evenings I have ever spent at ENO (and I have been going since just before its relocation to St Martin's Lane). The music was truly enhanced by the spectacular production. It is unfortunate that the broadcast clashes with my trip to Bryn Godonov at another well-known opera house this evening.

Can anyone else remember a television relay of a production of Akhnaten, possibly in the early 80s? As a result of that, it was one of the first opera sets I bought on CD when I moved from vinyl.

I just love this opera. I worked on a South Bank Show documentary of it when first performed at the ENO in the 80s, but as far as I remember, only excerpts were filmed. I don't know if a recording of the whole opera from that time exists.

[VodkaDilc]

I just love this opera. I worked on a South Bank Show documentary of it when first performed at the ENO in the 80s, but as far as I remember, only excerpts were filmed. I don't know if a recording of the whole opera from that time exists.

I've just checked my receipts; I bought my first CD player in 1988. The recording I bought soon after was on CBS with the Stuttgard State Opera and Paul Esswood.

I think I saw the opera on television in 1984/5 - my memory suggests a Channel 4 daytime broadcast. I'd be interested to hear more about Micky's time at LWT. I always had the impression that it was a hotbed of creativity.

[MickyD]

I've just checked my receipts; I bought my first CD player in 1988. The recording I bought soon after was on CBS with the Stuttgard State Opera and Paul Esswood.

I think I saw the opera on television in 1984/5 - my memory suggests a Channel 4 daytime broadcast. I'd be interested to hear more about Micky's time at LWT. I always had the impression that it was a hotbed of creativity.

Yes, I got that recording, too, Vodka, I think it's spellbinding.

You may be right about the C4 broadcast, I honestly can't remember. Ah yes, those were heady days at LWT. I was Film Operations Manager, which meant that I looked after all outside filming for the company - consequently I was dealing with every department - Drama, Current Affairs, Arts, Entertainment, Religious Affairs etc. It was a great time to be in television..nobody worried about budgets much and the place was full of some real characters, some creative, some hysterically funny, some incredibly arrogant - and some downright incompetent!

Younger workers in the industry I have met since have heard about that period and ask if it really was so good as legend has it. I have to say that for me, it was, and I feel sorry for those now who are working in it for not very much money and having to produce so much unwatchable tat.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, so much better without the production. Without the irritating jugglers (I mean, metaphor & symbolism is all very well, but it can be taken too far) & the strange costumes that made Akhnaten look like Elizabeth I & Queen Tye look like Queen Mary (not Tudor or Stuart, but Teck).

[oddoneout]

Yes, so much better without the production. Without the irritating jugglers (I mean, metaphor & symbolism is all very well, but it can be taken too far) & the strange costumes that made Akhnaten look like Elizabeth I & Queen Tye look like Queen Mary (not Tudor or Stuart, but Teck).

That reminds me of the classic 'The pictures are better on the radio' comment. I heard the last section of it - hadn't a clue what was going on but found it a pleasant enough listen despite that.

[Bryn]

Yes, I got that recording, too, Vodka, I think it's spellbinding.

You may be right about the C4 broadcast, I honestly can't remember. Ah yes, those were heady days at LWT. I was Film Operations Manager, which meant that I looked after all outside filming for the company - consequently I was dealing with every department - Drama, Current Affairs, Arts, Entertainment, Religious Affairs etc. It was a great time to be in television..nobody worried about budgets much and the place was full of some real characters, some creative, some hysterically funny, some incredibly arrogant - and some downright incompetent!

Younger workers in the industry I have met since have heard about that period and ask if it really was so good as legend has it. I have to say that for me, it was, and I feel sorry for those now who are working in it for not very much money and having to produce so much unwatchable tat.

Brief rehearsal extracts from the 1985 E.N.O. production were broadcast at the time, but there was, as far as I recall, no complete television broadcast of the production, or indeed an production of the work. I gave attendance at this year's E.N.O. production a miss, being put off by the various reviews. I rether enjoyed the 1985 production and am sorry to have lost track of the cassette recordings or the Radio 3 FM broadcast of it. I have currently reached the second interval of last night's Radio 3 recording. Musically, and especially vocally, I find it very much less involving then my memory of the 1985 production.

Glass has not managed to get the level of DVD coverage that Adams has with his operas. I wonder why? Damn it, two productions of Doctor Atomic have made it to commercial DVD release, yet of Glass's Portrait trilogy, only the Stuttgart production of Satyagraha has made it to commercial DVD. Come to that, even the CDs of Akhnaten are currently out of the catalogue, though those of Enstein on the Beach and Satyagraha are still there (well the Sony recordings are, anyway).

[ARBurton]

Sky Arts have shown a Paris production of Einstein, so that might appear. I`m intrigued by the presence on Youtube of various excerps from Akhnaten which to omy amateur eyes appear professionally shot, yet there are no commercial dvds of it nor as far as I can establish does it feature in the dvd lists of the Grey Market.

[VodkaDilc]

I am intrigued by my distinct memory that I saw this on television and then went and bought the CD set. I would not have paid out for an unknown opera at that time without strong reasons. I have got as far as finding this entry on an online review of a recording of the opera:

Despite Gordon Hands' warning, I bought this album because I already knew the opera from a BBC transmission of the London production of 1986 conducted by Paul Daniel.

It's unusual for a televised opera to have had such an impression on me. At least I now have confirmation that I did not imagine it. I'm sure others must remember it. Stanley S, perhaps?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

At least I now have confirmation that I did not imagine it.

Not necessarily, Voddy - a "BBC transmission" might simply refer to the Radio broadcast - and the author of that review muddles his ENO with his ROHCG.

[VodkaDilc]

Not necessarily, Voddy - a "BBC transmission" might simply refer to the Radio broadcast - and the author of that review muddles his ENO with his ROHCG.

True, but my memory is of 'watching' while decorating (something I would not try to do now) and eventually stopping and concentrating properly. I thought that Paul Esswood was singing Akhnaten, but could be wrong.

[LHC]

True, but my memory is of 'watching' while decorating (something I would not try to do now) and eventually stopping and concentrating properly. I thought that Paul Esswood was singing Akhnaten, but could be wrong.

Christopher Robson sang Akhnaten at ENO, and very good he was too. I was working as an usher at ENO at the time and saw Every performance. I remember that the opening night was half empty, but once it opened, the buzz around these performances was such that by the end of the run it was sold out and there were even tickets touts offering tickets outside the coliseum (not a frequent occurrence for an opera).

It was certainly broadcast on radio 3 (I still have a recording), but I don't think it was broadcast on TV.