The first LPO "paying" concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Jurowski conducted a fun and witty performance of Schnittke's (K)ein Sommernahstraum. Imogen Cooper played in Mozart D minor piano concerto. I was not entirely at ease with her somewhat masculine playing of the flowing runs. I wonder what Mitsuko Uchida thought of it (she was also in the audience). The Alfred Brendel cadenza was interesting though. The last piece was Prokofiev Fifth - a humanistic and positive symphony without too much of the cynism one find int his music. The LPO rose to the occasion with tight strings and brass, effective percussion and fantastic woodwinds.
Michael Levine's set design for Dialogues des Carmélites was minimalist. Actually, was there any set design? I suppose the director Robert Carsen was clever at introducing formation of human figures in many different ways to suggest the context of the opera. It kind of worked. Blanche, sung by Sally Matthews, was pretty good. Though I did find the whole work quite tedious - I think the intimate nature of the dialogues needed a small and intimate performing space i.e. not the Royal Opera House. The ending was worth waiting for. Dramatic. Poignant.
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