Opera on 3 - 9 July, 2011: Massenet's Cendrillon from the ROH

[Pianorak]

. . . There are wonderful, memorable melodies in Manon, Werther, Thaïs (not just the 'Méditation'), Chérubin - a fizzing comedy, Esclarmonde, Cléopâtre (an opera I'd programme straight away if I were running Covent Garden!) and Don Quichotte.

May I put in a good word for his Piano Concerto and some of his solo piano pieces. I think Massenet, like any good novelist, has the knack of writing terrific openings – at least for Werther and the Piano Concerto, his only major works I'm familiar with.
I still remember with pleasure Alice Coote's Charlotte in the Leeds Opera production of Werther broadcast on R3.

[gurnemanz]

A truly horrible work. It didn't deserve the talent that was lavished on it.

We were at ROH for Saturday's broadcast performance. I wouldn't lay claim to it being a great work but it was an enjoyable and entertaining evening. Some of the music came across as a bit bland and frothy and there were longeurs, but it had a lot more to offer than I expected and not just good singing in the main roles. ...."Massenet's fantasy traces the history of French opera from the rustic wheeze of a Lullian musette to the grand divertissements of Versailles, the night-sweats of Berlioz, the frank sensuality of Bizet, the tart satires of Offenbach, and the subtle assimilation of the Wagnerian aesthetic....Listen carefully to the lavender-grey chromatics of the enchanted forest and there are pre-echos of Pelléas et Mélisande, a work premiered only four years later." (Anna Picard in today's Sunday Indie)

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...x-2309801.html

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

[To clarify - as requested I have moved Mandryka's thread from CD Review, and also merged it with Eine Alpensinfonie's Opera on 3 thread. It has resulted in Mandryka's earlier posts taking precedence over EA's. Sorry - I hadn't realised this might be a bit confusing!]

This does have the benefit of now linking IGI's Opera Britannia review to the present discussion. There seems to be a division of opinion!

That was a good idea.I hadn't seen Mandryka's thread when I started mine.