The BRSO's pairing of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphonies was truly one of the greatest things I've ever heard live. Jansons was on high dramatic form, though he clearly trusted his Bavarian colleagues implicitly and they more than returned the favour.
2. Written on Skin by George Benjamin (Royal Opera House)
This was, for many people, their highlight of 2012. George Benjamin's superb new opera reached London this year and I was, like many, wowed by music, performance and production alike. A major achievement. Good on Covent Garden for commissioning another new opera from Benjamin and Martin Crimp.
3. Lulu (Welsh National Opera)
An august beginning to David Pountney's tenure at WNO, this production of Lulu was brilliantly conceived and performed, with curdled Mahlerian gorgeousness emerging under Lothar Koenigs' baton.
4. The Brahms Symphonies with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (Barbican Centre)
Sadly, I was only able to catch two of the four concerts. As on disc, the results were fiery, as if the adrenalin coursing between Chailly and orchestra would never end.
5. Wozzeck (English National Opera)
This was one of two outings for Berg's masterpiece in London. While the Royal Opera House's revival in October and November boasted a finer cast, Mark Elder was a strange choice in the pit. Edward Gardner drove a harder bargain at ENO in May and the results, musical and dramatic, were superb. A shame ENO can't muster this kind of attack with core rep.
6. Mahler's Second Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons (Salzburg Festival)
As with their Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, this performance showed the BRSO on Vienna and Berlin busting form. Gerhild Romberger's 'Urlicht' was out of this world.
7. Death in Venice (English National Opera)
Again, ENO was in commanding form, but with a work that hardly filled two tiers of the giant Coliseum. John Graham Hall is our generation's Aschenbach, pictured in the midst of one of the most ravishing productions.
8. Mahler's Fifth Symphony with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Zubin Mehta (Salzburg Festival)
I can hardly believe that Zubin Mehta, a conductor I rarely admire, is in my top ten for 2013. Yet his construal of Mahler 5 with the VPO was truly inspired, eliciting detail and punch.
9. Beethoven Wind Quintet with Rudolf Buchbinder and members of the Wiener Philharmoniker (Grafenegg Festival)
Listening to Buchbinder's playing during the slow movement of this early Beethoven work was a veritable treat, like watching crystals form or gold wire being spun.
10. Les Vêpres siciliennes (Royal Opera House)
I couldn't care less about the score of Les Vêpres siciliennes and yet Antonio Pappano made me listen afresh, helped enormously, of course, by Stefan Herheim's superb UK debut. I hope that the Royal Opera House has engaged him for multiple productions in the future.
Turkey: While Herheim's Vêpres smacked of intelligence, Kasper Holten's Eugene Onegin, at the same address, wreaked of directorial interference. To add insult to injury, the performance was truly mediocre.
0 Response to "The Best of 2013... in Live Music"
Post a Comment