Clive Paget is a former Limelight Editor, now Editor-at-Large, and a tour leader for Limelight Arts Travel. Based in London after three years in New York, he writes for The Guardian, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, Musical America and Opera News. Before moving to Australia, he directed and developed new musical theatre for London’s National Theatre.
Contemporary composition has never looked so cool thanks to Finnish composer’s ad for Apple. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
An interview with the Russian-born violinist who made it into our June issue’s 30 under 30. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Chinese pianist admits he never washes his suit and announces solution: his first two fragrances. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The pianist talks about growing up in transit, maestros he’s loved, and what he’d like to do to certain audiences. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra doubles as a charismatic musical evangelist. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The Israeli conductor spills on moulding the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Singer weighs into ‘Dumpygate’ affair while Times and Independent critics offer halfhearted apologies. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
NZ Symphony orchestra’s first Conductor Laureate passes away at 90. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Rediscovered manuscript of Russian composer’s ‘original’ Second Symphony goes into private hands. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Superstar tenor will return to Sydney for one further performance in August. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Prominent singers come out in support of colleague attacked for stature rather than voice. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Director aside, there’s much to enjoy in half of the Con’s operatic double bill.
Jules Massenet has an unfair reputation for sentimentality at the expense of originality – perhaps the legacy of becoming the heir of Meyerbeer. Maybe his most enduring operatic works, the lengthy, and at times sugary Manon and the overwrought Werther are partly to blame, exposing him at his most emotionally heart on sleeve. Massenet at his best, however, could be nearly as masterful an orchestrator as Bizet and almost as original as Chabrier. For those prepared to delve deeper there are delights in store, as this delicious French soufflé of a disc from Neeme Järvi and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande amply demonstrates. We start on familiar ground with the sparkling, Spanish-inflected ballet music from the opera El Cid. The orchestra is absolutely spot on with stunning woodwind solos (listen to the flute in the twinkling Aubade) and rattling castanets aplenty. The Estonian-born Järvi corrals his forces as if to the chateau born. The final Scènes Pittoresques are similarly joyfully realised. In between come the rarities. The most fascinating is the very fine Fantaisie for cello (the only other recording in the catalogue being Richard Bonynge’s with the same orchestra). It’s a cracking work that deserves to be in…
