Erica Jeal

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Erica Jeal

Until Márta Kurtág’s death in 2019, one of the most delightful musical experiences was to watch and listen to her and her composer husband György playing his piano duets – the playfulness, the quiet intimacy, the way in which the writing meant they crossed arms as if in a gentle game of Twister. But you don’t have to be married to play Kurtág’s duets – just generous with your personal space.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Erica Jeal

Even before Monty Python clip-clopped two coconuts together, it was never easy to put Wagner’s Parsifal, with its heady combination of Catholic religiosity and Arthurian legend, on stage. Glyndebourne’s first ever production of the opera, staged by Jetske Mijnssen, takes a dour approach, bypassing almost all the religious mysticism, and laces the rest of the story firmly into the stays of a Chekhovian family relationship drama.

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Erica Jeal

Launching a concert with Strauss’s Don Juan makes quite a statement: those madcap opening seconds, the music scrambling from the bottom of the orchestra in a bravura sweep before blooming into an irresistibly cavalier and heroic melody. It seemed a very Gustavo Dudamel way for the starry conductor to begin his first London appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra, after concerts in Spain last week.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Erica Jeal

Simon Rattle’s survey of Janáček’s operas in concert with the London Symphony Orchestra has already taken in the three best-known of them – big, rewarding works that inspire grand thoughts about life and love – and now arrives at something a little more awkward: The Excursions of Mr Brouček.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Erica Jeal

Four hours of music, and yet the most memorable figure in the Royal Opera’s Die Walküre – the second instalment of company’s new Ring cycle, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Antonio Pappano – is silent. Just as in Das Rheingold, which opened here in September 2023, we are seeing events through the conduit of Erda, the ancient Earth Mother, who dreams this world into being as she slowly spins, naked, on a turntable at the front of the stage.