HELIANE in LONDON

Opera and concert perfomances

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brendan g carroll
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HELIANE in LONDON

Post by brendan g carroll » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:15 am

Just to let everyone know that the performance of HELIANE in London on Nov 21 was outstanding.

Jessica Duchen's blog has many reports on the rehearsals and the actual concert itself plus photos and links to the (mostly) wretched reviews which I will not honour by repeating here.

HOWEVER...If Korngold fans wish to make their feelings known to the newspapers about the drivel published after this, then please do so.
Peter Timoney
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Post by Peter Timoney » Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:55 pm

Due to work pressures I was unable to attend the Heliane concert. Thank you Brendan for being so clear in your support of the performance as I made the mistake of reading most of the reviews first. I have to be honest, I almost became quite depressed about them. If I were ignorant of Korngold while reading these reviews I would have the impression that K. was already scoring Hollywood sound movies by the early 1920s and that he alone of all composers in the history of music was guilty of being influenced by others.

Now, I am not part of the London journalistic village. Is there any possibility, Brendan, that the violence of the negativity in some quarters is due to personal animosity and journalistic jealousy against your good self for being so closely connected to a cause and for pushing and defending this cause against all reactionary barriers? I'm sure you will be too much of a diplomat to answer that.

I have a question for anyone who attended. How full was the hall and what kind of response did the audience give to the performance? I noted that one or two of the reviews which were bad, or at least withering in their praise, still managed to suggest that musically the 3rd act was a success. Roll on, tote Stadt.

Peter
eleftherios
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Post by eleftherios » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:00 pm

Here is the link to Jessica's blog:
http://jessicamusic.blogspot.com/2007/1 ... oning.html


** Does anyone know if the performance was TV/Radio broadcasted or DVD recorded ?
brendan g carroll
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HELIANE in LONDON

Post by brendan g carroll » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:03 pm

The hall was about 80% sold and the audience response at the end was simply stupendous, with loud cheering and stamping for about 10-15 minutes...NOT a usual London response! The orchestra and artistes all adored the work and Maestro Jurowski considers it a masterpiece, intending to perform it elsewhere if posible. That is good enough for me.

It was recorded by the LPO and may be issued commercially depending on Maestro Jurowski's view of the finished product.

If so, I will post details.

If the negative critical response was a deliberate volley against me, that means I am responsible for it and the thought makes me very sad. I prefer not to think that.

Rather, the London press just cannot handle unbridled late romantic emotion. I take comfort from the truth that Korngold's music will still be being performed and loved long after these insignificant people are dust.
peter hodgson
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Post by peter hodgson » Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:02 pm

I attended the performance of Heliane at the Festival Hall and enjoyed it greatly, as did the near-sell out audience. But then, they were mostly diehard Korngold fans, so they would have applauded wildly wouldn't they?

Perhaps the critics were unduly harsh, but the facts must be faced: the performance was flawed and the opera's plot is, to put it mildly, pretty silly. Of course, so are many other operatic plots (Zauberfloete for one).

The orchestra and chorus were fantastic but the soloists were less so, one or two being simply not up to the task. The decision to place the singers behind the orchestra was perhaps wrong as it meant they had to fight to be heard over a very large and very loud orchestral sound. And the tatty little screen (a bit like a spare bedsheet) used for the surtitles was better suited to a village hall than the Royal Festival Hall.

So a mixed evening - but still over-harshly reviewed in my opinion.
peter hodgson
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Re: HELIANE in LONDON

Post by peter hodgson » Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:00 pm

What are you talking about?
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