Hints and tips:
...that you never knew you had, such as Newcastle maverick Richard Dawson’s latest — a concept album about virtual reality featuring prog-folk vocals, stompy surrealist rock and a 41-minute opening track sung...
...Phaedra is a revival of the spare but powerful lockdown production staged by Warner for Covent Garden in 2020, powerfully sung and acted once again by Christine Rice....
...In itself, this makes an atmospheric and entirely plausible setting for a generally well-sung performance. Glyndebourne has done well with its two leads....
...But the highlight found him seated at the piano, playing “Sunset Blvd” — a flowing tribute to a funky Californian love affair sung in a smooth, smitten voice....
...The lyrics, sung in a genial washed-out voice, are less ambitious than the music. Conventional imagery of “flying high” and “orbiting the earth” predominate....
...She continues, “And I’m not resting on my laurels because the work I’m doing this year is more exposed than ever. So if it goes wrong, it does so in a very public way.”...
...Facing an ambitious new rival this year and several others upping their offerings, even the grande dame of summer opera cannot rest on her laurels....
...The work resurfaced last week, and patient Wagnerians have been rewarded with a humanely conceived, arrestingly conducted and brightly sung production that disappoints in only one major contribution....
...Its creaky, half-cooked libretto fails to develop any convincing dynamics and culminates in Apollo’s transformation of nature-loving, sex-shy Daphne into a laurel tree....
...Even better was Finley’s singing of the three Petrarch Sonnets, in Liszt’s later, less florid version, grandly sung and with stirring, Italianate passion....
...There can never be any resting on laurels. LK And are you less inclined to rest on laurels because of your background? Because you weren’t born into theatreland . . ....
...Jamal could have rested on his laurels – he established a firm fan base with his 1958 recording of “Poinciana” – but the pianist’s current band is a cutting-edge quartet whose rhythmic virtuosity matches...
...The track, sung by Katy B, has an unremarkable melody but a brilliantly inventive rhythm track, using the sounds of Olympic athletes in training in the mix....
...this CD lies in the more intimate moods of Minnespiel Op 101 (texts from Friedrich Rückert’s first published collection), notably in the mezzo/baritone duet “Ich bin dein Baum, o Gärtner”, ravishingly sung...
...Piau’s Berenice regularly takes the laurels, but she is stylishly supported by Doris Lamprecht’s Lucejo and Derek Lee Ragin in the title role....
...Age mellowed Mackerras but he never rested on his laurels – he was conducting Così fan tutte at Glyndebourne only last month....
...With the return of David McVicar to Scotland, bearing international laurels but still conscious of his Glaswegian roots, La traviata returns to the truth....
...Laurels to him. The evening is otherwise a parade of dreary outfits doing their best not to flatter physiques, some of which might benefit from every last stitch of a costumier’s skill....
...As it is, the dear leader can sit back and milk both Beijing and Seoul, just as his father Kim Il-sung played off China with the USSR....
International Edition