Mike Vickers' Blog

Since the beginning of the international Festival we have been to:

1. An exhibition of paintings by Emil Nolde. Nolde painted from 1900 to 1950. His paintings are full of color, but during the period he fell foul of the Nazis and his painting was ridiculed as degrading and were banished from the German galleries, though at one time he signed up as a national socialist. His paintings are now accepted, but his socialist national ties are still unfavourably remembered. The same is true, but less so of the composer Richard Strauss.
2. Waiting for Godot by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. The game is about two old abandoned living from day to day passing the time under a tree waiting for Godot that does not show, but a young boy reports every Night that Godot will ‘ arrive tomorrow ‘. Beckett spent most of his life in Paris and some of the language reminded me of Molière.
3. The Barber of Seville, a work of Rossini. A cheerful work where everything finishes ‘ Happy ever After’. The opera was performed by the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.
4. Last Wednesday we went to see the Siegfried Wagner Opera. The work is the third in the cycle The Ring of the Nibelungs: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. Siegfried is the hero who will save the world but is found wanting in Götterdämmerung; However the ring and gold are rescued by the maidens of the Rhein and the god Valhalla is burnt. Not quite ‘ happy ever after ‘. Wagner provided the libretto as well as the music and the operas were praised by the Nazis. Last night’s performance was given by the Halle Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder,  the music was dramatic and the singing was glorious, but five and a half hours needed attention to keep awake.
5. Yesterday I went to Queens Hall for Leider. Ilker Arcayurek, tenor, and Simon Lepper, piano, singing Hugo Wolf and Schubert. The career of the tenor will go far.
6. Finally, last night we went to the Usher Hall to hear a concert given by the BBC Symphony playing the music of Turbulent Landscapes of Thea Musgrave and Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams. The first was good but the second reminded us of the last Night of the Proms.