La damnation de Faust at Glyndebourne

Did Berlioz intend to have La damnation de Faust staged? Perhaps he did. But the score had everything in it. So it's interesting to see any staged performance of this fantastic work.

What worked? I thought Richard Jones's direction for recreating various imaginary scenes on an austere stage set worked pretty well, from the beer halls along the Rhine through to Marguerite's prison. Christopher Purves was a good, not-too-intrusive Méphistophélès. Allan Clayton attacked the challenging role of Faust with sensitivity. Robin Ticciati waved his stick and the super LPO complied.

What didn't work? Sixty-odd singers in the chorus didn't do the work justice. Berlioz intended a big chorus sound. The velvety Songe de Faust sounded thin, and the big drinking song climax was disappointing. When Mark Elder did Faust recently with the Hallé (Feb 2019), there were over 100 men, plus a big children's chorus - Berlioz would like to have 200-300 children in the final scene - the Trinity Boys Choir was hardly audible. Why move the Menuet de follets to the end? The explanation in the programme book was half-hearted.

I'd say it was great to see an imginative staging of Faust, but I still prefer a concert setting where Berlioz's music speaks volume.

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Joyce DiDonato sings Berlioz at BBC Proms

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique started this BBC Proms concert with Le corsaire - it was tightly played and a sonorous sound. I wonder whether this was due to the whole orchestra standing up while playing had anything to do with it. It sounded good.

Joyce DiDonato first sang La mort de Cléopâtre - her performance was mesmerising due to her dramatic delivery of text and the wonderful lines. Sir John was ever sensitive to the flow of the music. Dido’s death scene was short, yet no less powerful with DiDonata's breadth of emotions. Some may moan about her over dramatic delivery at the expense of pitch accuracy - but that's just nitpicking.

The second half of the concert was Harold in Italy - a whimsical and eclectic piece that's interesting to listen to - but I wonder whether this should have been played in the 1st half of the concert.

Vanessa at Glyndebourne

Indeed it was a rare opportunity to see Samuel Barber's Vanessa. Keith Warner's direction was super - working in sync with Ashley Martin-Davis's stage design of big mirror cases - to bring this intriguing plot to life. Emma Bell was a pensive and stoic Vanessa, but occasionally out-shown by Virginie Verrez's portrayal of Erika. Jakub Hrůša led the London Philharmonic to deliver this lush Barber sound world.

Lohengrin at the Royal Opera

There is a lot to like about Lohengrin - big choruses, brassy sound, bit soprano roles, big tenor roles. So it is always a challenge to take this much-loved Wagner opera to the next level.

Jennifer Davis as Else von Brabant was excellent - her strong acting skills were matched by her vocal abilities and clear delivery of text (always important for Wagner). Christine Goerke gave us a gutsy and verminous Ortrud in sharp contrast to Davis. Thomas Mayer's Telramund started out bombastically in act one, but reduced to a suitably weak and introspective voice by the end of act two - which I think what the role demanded. Klaus Florian Vogt, the horn player turned tenor, gave us an otherworldly Lohengrin. The timbre of his voice sat "apart" from the rest of the cast - ethereal for quiet contemplative moments, heroic where needed. It's not a voice that you need to "like", but a voice that suited the role.

David Alden's direction took advantage of the three dime…

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