| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 16-Feb-2013 The Music Center at Strathmore | An all-Wagner program from Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony |
 It’s Richard Wagner’s bicentennial year, and everyone is getting in on the act. 22 different productions, by one count, of the complete Ring cycle will be seen worldwide, not to mention countless other celebratory evenings put on by sundry ensembles. Among the latter was last Saturday’s concert at the Music Center at Strathmore, with Marin Alsop leading the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra – a conductor and an ensemble not known for their Wagnerian chops.
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| 18-Oct-2012 Bridgewater Hall | The Hallé and Markus Stenz with Wagner and Bruckner |
 Principal Guest Conductor Markus Stenz joined the Hallé for a programme of richly romantic music in nature and name, from the impassioned chromaticism of Tristan and Isolde to the peaks and valleys of Bruckner. Stenz seemed to shirk away from easy heroism all evening, opting instead for softer and harder-won resolution.
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| 10-Aug-2012 Sydney Opera House: Concert Hall | Sydney Symphony perform Wagner under the sails |
 On 29th September 1973, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed an all-Wagner program in Sydney’s Opera House. This was the first concert ever heard in this most iconic of concert halls. Now celebrating its 80th anniversary season, the SSO recreated this concert from 39 years ago, which marked such an important milestone in the orchestra’s history – when the orchestra moved from Sydney’s Town Hall to take up residence in the newly constructed Sydney Opera House. It is hard to imagine Sydney without that glorious building adorning its harbour.Read full review... | |
| 21-Jun-2012 Barbican Centre: Hall | Angela Denoke sings Berg and Wagner with the LSO and Gianandrea Noseda |
 This was potentially a very nice programme which frustratingly only rarely lived up to its promise.
First on the programme were the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, the iconic bookends of Wagner's most revolutionary work. The Prelude lacked the extraordinary tension and atmosphere it can have, though the climax was powerful throughout. Anyone who heard Angela Denoke in the recent run of Salome at the Royal Opera House will not be surprised to hear that her delivery of the Liebestod was severely affected by her sad and by now quite advanced vocal decline - which manifests principally as poor diction, wayward intonation and difficulty in sustaining a line. Her posture showed very uncomfortable signs of physical tension, and the severe jaw shake points to further vocal tensions that interfere with voice production. At least Isolde's scena lies much lower than does Salome's final scene, which meant that the wobble that plagues her high notes was kept better in check, but at this stage Denoke is not capable of doing full justice to Wagner's music.
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