Opera and classical concerts to watch at home our critics' picks, week three
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Overwhelmed by content to stream? Our critics pick a daily highlight from the treasure trove of classical music to see and hear for free. Today, music to see you through from 6 to 10 April• Our picks from week two: Argerich, Aida and Hans Abrahamsen• Our picks from week one: Igor Levit, Il Trovatore and the Berlin Phil
Knussen/Ensemble Intercontemporain: Songs for Sue
Searching for Oliver Knussen’s fantasy opera Where the Wild Things Are – his magical evocation of the favourite Maurice Sendak story – led only to extracts. Yet even if all too brief, they can fire the aural imagination of a musical child, or indeed adult. A big plus instead was then finding Knussen’s precise and vividly conjured soundworld in the Ensemble Intercontemporain’s performance of Songs for Sue. Claire Booth was the soloist at its 2006 premiere: here again, her clear soprano and expressive way with words are moving. What Knussen called its “autumnal tone” stands – or so it seems now – not only as requiem for his wife Sue, but for him too. Visually, the care and insight of the direction serves to open up the score. The many excellent recordings by the same Ensemble Intercontemporain team are similarly attractive finds. That of Edgard Varèse’s Ecuatorial also combines aural and visual impact, this setting of a Spanish translation of the Mayan civilisation’s sacred Popol Vuh text a visceral and compelling tribute to a long-lost world. Rian Evans Continue reading...
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