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Richard Bratby

~ Classical music writer, critic and consultant

Richard Bratby

Tag Archives: David Pountney

Pelleas og Isolde

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by richardbratby in Uncategorized

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David Pountney, Longborough Opera, Pelleas et Melisande, Tristan und Isolde, Welsh National Opera

WNO: Pelleas et Melisande, directed by David Pountney. Picture (c) WNO

WNO: Pelleas et Melisande, directed by David Pountney. Picture (c) WNO

Here’s my regretfully-qualified Birmingham Post review of WNO’s Pelleas et Melisande. The last seven days have been amongst the most interesting in my reviewing life, and it must be fairly unusual to see two potentially great productions of two not-exactly-everyday operas (Nielsen’s Saul og David in Copenhagen and Pelleas in Birmingham) both holed under the waterline by the same director. What David Pountney has done for Welsh National Opera as a company is magnificent, and huge amounts of what he does is so compelling. And yet, time and again…

But anyway: Tristan und Isolde at Longborough this afternoon. Hopefully my review will be available on the Post website within the next 48 hours.

Welsh National Opera in Birmingham: Bizet and Rossini

27 Thursday Nov 2014

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Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Post, Bizet, Carmen, David Pountney, Moses in Egypt, Rossini, Welsh National Opera, William Tell

A bit closer to the present, my Birmingham Post reviews of all three operas in WNO‘s week-long autumn season in Birmingham are now online: the company’s basic (and now rather elderly) production of Carmen, and David Pountney’s new productions of Rossini’s Moses in Egypt and William Tell. (Ignore the strange single-sentence paragraphs; it’s editorial policy at the Post).

williamtell_660x378_08

Act 3 of Rossini’s William Tell: X-Men meets Patrice Chereau in David Pountney’s new WNO production.

Three overnight reviews in four days is the sort of stint that makes you feel your age; still, Birmingham is shamefully under-served for serious opera and I never miss a WNO production if I can help it. All of these were worth the trip; yet interestingly, while William Tell was undoubtedly the most satisfying overall theatrical experience, it’s Dal tuo stellato soglio, the great Act 3 prayer from Moses in Egypt, that still seems to be playing non-stop on my mental jukebox…

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