Prom 33: Holst’s The Planets (10.08.22)

[edashtav]

Once a masterpiece, always a masterpiece? Britten's use of Japanese Noh casting, in setting a Japanese Noh play, is surely a musical masterstroke - as well as a precise gesture to critique USA/UK's prevalent TV-realist cultural imperialism towards a very different culture. The Madwoman is no leering drag act.

Are you equally put off by Billy Budd? Both use the soprano voice, of course - Curlew River to stunning effect, in reserving it for the work's climax. That's where the economy and concision you rightly praise really draws blood.

[silvestrione]

Once a masterpiece, always a masterpiece? Britten's use of Japanese Noh casting, in setting a Japanese Noh play, is surely a musical masterstroke - as well as a precise gesture to critique USA/UK's prevalent TV-realist cultural imperialism towards a very different culture. The Madwoman is no leering drag act.

Are you equally put off by Billy Budd? Both use the soprano voice, of course - Curlew River to stunning effect, in reserving it for the work's climax. That's where the economy and concision you rightly praise really draws blood.

Yes, well said. I used to love it, must have another listen.

[Master Jacques]

Yes, well said. I used to love it, must have another listen.

I found just a couple of years ago that listening to a 1998 Curlew River conducted by Marriner (Philips CD, with Philip Langridge a searing Madwoman, quite different from You Know Who!) revived my own love for the work, which had also cooled a little.