OPERA ROUND-UP: Strauss’s Salome, Natalie Dessay, and a Mozzafest

Recent opera highlights for grown-ups:

* David McVicar’s new London production of Strauss’s Salome (Royal Opera House) demanded respect, but it failed to engage fully. It had some compelling sub-Wagnerian sounds from the pit, but the principals didn’t really fire my imagination. Occasionally inspired, mostly disappointing.

* Natalie Dessay’s star continues to rise. Following her triumph in last year’s La Fille du Regiment in London – one of the most exciting performances I’ve seen, in any musical genre, in recent years - the French soprano has released some outstanding new product, including Bellini’s La Sonnambula and a must-have compilation, Airs d'Opéras Italiens


Airs d'Opéras Italiens - tracklist

Verdi La Traviata
E strano!... Ah, forse è lui - Follie! Follie... Sempre libera
Bellini I puritani
O rendetemi la speme - Qui la voce sua soave - Vien diletto
Donizetti Maria Stuarda
Allenta il piè, Regina - Oh nube che lieve - Nella pace del mesto riposo
Verdi Rigoletto
Gualtier Maldé... Caro nome
Bellini I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Eccomi in lieta vesta - Oh! quante volte
Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor
Eccola... Il dolce suono - Ardon gli incensi -
S’avanza Enrico - Spargi d’amaro pianto


* Mostly Mozart, the Barbican’s welcome annual mid-summer Mozzafest, bravely pitched against The Proms season on the other side of London, runs this year from 10 July to 2 August, and booking is now open.

Highlights include Cosi Fan Tutte, by Garsington Opera, La Clemenza di Tito, starring Alice Coote, and Mozart’s Requiem.

The programme is well worth a look:

www.barbican.org.uk





Gerry Smith