Reviews and occasional notes on classical music

Reviews and occasional notes on classical music

"Music, both vocall and instrumental, so good, so delectable, so rare, so admirable, so super excellent, that it did even ravish and stupifie all those strangers that never heard the like." - Thomas Coryat, after hearing 3 hours of music at the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice, 1608.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

More about King Roger

Here’s the last lesson I learned in 2015. Don’t complete a Top 10 list with two weeks to go before the end of the year. Over the last few days I’ve been watching the Blu ray disc of Szymanowski’s King Roger, recorded at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in May, and this clearly belongs somewhere close to the top of my list. Maybe just after the amazing Marion Cotillard Honegger Jeanne d’Arc, or maybe even before it, in top place. Anyway, let’s not monkey with the list at this point, but add King Roger as a great Encore to an outstanding (musically, anyway) 2015.

While I’m talking about King Roger again, here is Director Kasper Holten talking about the opera:



And here is the trailer:



In my review I talked just a bit about soprano Georgia Jarman, and it occurs to me that I didn’t say enough. Calling her ’sexy” is obviously true, but faint praise in itself; she’s an amazing singer and a fabulous actor.  Here’s the song I discussed:



“Do you hear her singing?” asks the King. “What a wonderful song!” I agree!

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