@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

TimAshAsh

@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us

Writer, critic (Gramophone, The Guardian), biographer of Strauss, gay, lifelong student of comparative literature, Hellenistic philosophy, and sexuality in art. I live in Sussex by the sea. Appalled by Brexit and what is going on here in perfidious Albion. #TeamRacine #TeamProust
Posting in English, German, French.

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TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Lost for Words: States of Innocence, Ed Hughes's opera about Milton and Paradise Lost, is given its world premiere at the Brighton festival.

For a work tackling some of the greatest poetry in the English language, it's gravely hampered by the fact that we can hear too little of the text.

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/20/states-of-innocence-review-milton-brighton-festival-hughes-cant-tomlinson

@classicalmusic Lost

TimAshAsh, to Vivaldi
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Athletics and Other Games, or You Are What You Wear.

Irish National Opera's staging of Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade transfers to London's Linbury ahead of this summer's games,. Some beautiful music, gloriously sung.

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/14/lolimpiade-review-vivaldi-irish-national-opera-linbury-theatre

@classicalmusic

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

When Bluebeard's husband comes to dinner: last minute changes at English National Opera lead to a unique, remarkable interpretation of Bartók's great study of marital disintegration - unsettling, deeply homoerotic, and utterly spellbinding

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/22/duke-bluebeards-castle-review-erotic-unsettling-and-beautifully-staged

@classicalmusic #Bartok #Bluebeard

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

" Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt ...."

The Nash Ensemble closes its Czech series with a majir survey of music wfitten in Terezín, some of which just tears you in two.

My review for the Guardian. The concerts were streamed and you will find links in the last sentence. This really is essential listening.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/10/nash-ensemble-terezin-theresienstadt-review-wigmore-hall-london

@classicalmusic #Terezin #Theresienstadt

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

"This is the way the world ends ...."

Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the Aurora Orchestra and Voices enact the Day of Judgement at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Ferocious stuff: I'm not likely to forget it in a hurry

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/23/patricia-kopatchinskajaaurora-orchestra-queen-elizabeth-hall-london

@classicalmusic

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Love, class, money and manipulation: English National Opera's latest revival of Jonathan Miller's 1987 staging of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, still great fun after all these years.

There's some terrific singing from a fine ensemble cast, too.

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/13/the-barber-of-seville-rossini-eno-review-millers-1987-staging-still-sparkles

@classicalmusic

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Love and Sacrifice: Il Pomo d'Oro and Maxim Emelyanychev perform Carissimi's Jephte and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Barbican

Joyce DiDonato was magnificent as Dido. But it was the Carissimi, breathtakingly sung, that I found utterly devastating.

My review for the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/04/jephte-dido-aeneas-review-joyce-didonato-barbican

@classicalmusic #Carissimi #Purcell

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Sense and Sensuality, or Silver and Silk.

Anna Prohaska sings sacred and profane songs by Byrd, Tallis, Gesualdo and Dowland in an astonishing recital with the viol consort Phantasm at the Wigmore Hall.

My review for The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/11/anna-prohaska-phantasm-viol-consort-review-wigmore-hall-london

@classicalmusic

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

River Deep, Mountain High: Mark Elder and the National Youth Orchestra perform Smetana's Vltava, Dani Howard's Ascent and Strauss's Alpine Symphony at the Barbican in London.

The Strauss sounds extraordinary when played by an orchestra of 160.

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/05/national-youth-orchestraelder-review-monumental-strauss-sees-young-musicians-scale-the-heights

@classicalmusic

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Donizetti's Don Pasquale was first performed in Paris #OTD in 1843.

So let us listen to Tito Schipa and Amelita Galli-Curci singing Tornami a dor se m'ami from
m Act III.

It doesn't get much better than this, really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hdRGFfNwc8

@classicalmusic #Donizetti #DonPasquale

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Alban Berg's Wozzeck was first performed in Berlin #OTD in 1925

The premiere was conducted by Erich Kleiber, who also conducts it here, in a live performance, in English, from Covent Garden in 1953.

Wozzeck and Marie are played by Jess Walters and Marea Wolkowsky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyM1STvZ4yk

@classicalmusic #Berg #Wozzeck

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Ferocity and grace: Gianandrea Noseda conducts Prokofiev and Brahms with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.

Prokofiev's Fourth has never really done it for me as a symphony (it's the weakest of the seven, I think), though you couldn't fault the performance. Simon Trpceski was wonderful in Brahms's Second Piano Concerto.

My review for the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/11/lso-noseda-review-barbican-prokofievs-curious-fourth-very-fine-brahms

@classicalmusic #Prokofiev #Brahms

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Giacomo Puccini died #OTD in 1924.

So it's time for Eugene Ormandy's 1948 Hollywood Bowl performance of Madama Butterfly, with Eleanor Steber in the title role and Jan Peerce as Pinkerton.

It's the greatest performance of the work that I know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVoRTDw9dE4

@classicalmusic #Puccini

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

The Reunion; Vassily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic survey Tchaikovsky's original pairing of Iolanta with The Nutcracker.

But fine performances are marred by the noisy admission of latecomers and moments of unnatural voice-orchestra balance due to the unnecessary amplification of singers.

My review for the Guardian:-

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/09/nutcracker-iolanta-review-tchaikovsky-royal-albert-hall-london

@classicalmusic #Tchaikovsky

TimAshAsh, to forza
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

I couldn't mark Verdi's day properly without Zinka Milanov in my favourite of his operas.

So here she is singing La Vergine degli Angeli from La Forza del Destino in 1955.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMC0hPMVNuY

@classicalmusc

TimAshAsh, to random
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

A Tour de Force: Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Fazil Say's dazzling, staggeringly difficult 1001 Nights in the Harem with the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano at the Barbican.

It really was quite a performance.

My review for The Guardian:-
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/09/lso-pappano-review-kopatchinskaja-fazil-say-barbican-london

@classcalmusic #Say #Kopatchinskaja

TimAshAsh,
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

@davidpnice Lovely piece, David. And wonderful to see you, too. It has indeed been a while. I am still on Xitter, albeit less so than I was. There's been quite an exodus in some quarters, though some are also staying put resolutely. But I'm a bit less active there now........

TimAshAsh,
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

@davidpnice I like it very much on here, but it takes time to fathom how it works. Following Classical Music Group (@classicalmusic) helps. It still strikes me as the most cultured and polite platform of the lot.

A lot of music people are regrouping on Bluesky, so it might be worth your investigating there. Somewhat like a civilised version of Xwitter, but (at the moment), no DMs or hashtags. But the usual suspects are there without the crap, and music conversations are lively

TimAshAsh, (edited ) to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

"..... and burnt the topless towers of Ilium ....."

The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique perform Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Proms, thrillingly conducted by Dinis Sousa, with Michael Spyres as Aeneas, Alice Coote as Cassandra and Paula Murrihy as Dido.

My review for The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/04/prom-64-les-troyens-review-berlioz-royal-albert-hall-dinis-sousa-john-eliot-gardiner

@classicalmusic #Berlioz #Troyens #Proms

TimAshAsh, to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

The much underrated Jacques Ibert was born #OTD in 1890.

This is his La ballade de la geôle de Reading, from 1921, after Oscar Wilde.

Adriano conducts the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ktPNbbfQNA

@classicalmusic #Ibert #Wilde

TimAshAsh, (edited ) to classicalmusic
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

Bertolt Brecht died in East Berlin #OTD in 1956.

Here's the great man himself, singing Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit des menschlichen Strebens from Die Dreigroschenoper, in 1929

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVihUPBcNLg

@classicalmusic #Brecht #Dreigroschenoper

TimAshAsh, to random
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

The great Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit in 1959. She died the same year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbcZstt8ACY

MissingThePt, to random
@MissingThePt@mastodon.social avatar

Breaking: US Coast Guard detects “banging” noises from hermetically-sealed Twitter.

TimAshAsh,
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

@MissingThePt a total bloody catastrophe that's been all day ....... 😬

TimAshAsh,
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

@MissingThePt
And what a bloody catastrophe that's been all day ........😬

boulezian, to random

Après un rêve, Wigmore Hall

TimAshAsh,
@TimAshAsh@social.bau-ha.us avatar

@boulezian @classicalmusic This sounds really lovely ........

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