Page 518 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

As dark secrets unfold, Eckbert suspects his world is far stranger than it first appears and that the
past is most probably best left untouched. A very intense work, the scenario’s not too dissimilar to that
of Wagner’s Die Walküre inasmuch as the story has a bird-like character sung by soprano Aoife
Miskelly. However, Bird accompanies Eckbert, neurotically charged and suspicious of his old friend,
on a journey of discovery, jealousy and, ultimately, death as opposed to the Woodbird who leads
Siegfried on a journey of discovery and happiness to Brünnhilde his bride-to-be.

In the intimacy and bright acoustics of the Britten Studio, Northampton-born soprano, Gweneth Ann
Rand, currently an associate artist at the Wigmore Hall, was seen on ravishing form singing to a
packed house Messiaen’s song-cycle, Harawi: Chant d’amour et de mort, dating from 1945,
accompanied by her regular collaborator/pianist, Simon Lepper. They made a perfect team! Without a
shadow of doubt, Ms Rand’s ‘a grande soprano dramatique’ as Messiaen demanded for Harawi. The
energy she put into her performance was truly magnificent while her voice control, phrasing and
technique spoke volumes of her training and, indeed, her natural ability as a singer. In fact, this was
the first of three Messiaen recitals that she’s undertaking at this year’s festival - a big treat for me
being such a Messiaen fan. However, adding an extra dimension and, indeed, attraction to the overall
staging, a host of stunning multi-coloured abstract artworks, created by Rachel Jones, were regularly
flashed on to a backcloth highlighted by short, sharp, blasts of video images conjured up by Ben
Smalley.

Following on from Ms Rand’s charming and intimate recital, a battalion of musicians descended upon
the rural Suffolk countryside, namely members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, to give the
75th anniversary of Aldeburgh Festival its first ‘big blow’ in a concert in Snape Maltings Concert Hall
that proved a winner all the way to yet another packed and enthusiastic house. However, before
Shostakovich’s Festival Overture got proceedings off to a rousing and spirited start, Edward Gardner
took to the podium singing the praises of Roger Wright, CBE, Chief Executive, Britten Pears Arts, who
retires this year after a glorious decade at the helm.

And then unbeknown to the ‘man-of-the-moment’ the brass and timpani of the LPO led straight into
a Fanfare in his honour penned by Colin Matthews that stamped the credentials and punctuated a
brilliant concert that featured Berlin-born cellist, Alban Gerhardt (one of this year’s artists-in-
residence) offering a delightful rendering of Elgar’s well-loved Cello Concerto in E minor followed by
Edward Gardner’s arrangement of selections from Britten’s The Prince of the Pagodas, a ballet
created for The Royal Ballet by choreographer John Cranko receiving its première on 1st January
1957 at the Royal Opera House with the composer conducting.

Completing an exhilarating, fulfilling and thoroughly entertaining concert fell to Bartók’s suite from The
Miraculous Mandarin, a one-act pantomime ballet composed between 1918 and 1924 based on a
riveting story by Hungarian writer, Melchior Lengyel. The ballet caused a scandal at its première at
Cologne Opera in 1926 as the scenario centres upon three thugs who exploit the seductive powers of
beautiful young women to lure men into their chamber where the victims are then robbed. Cologne’s
clergy and press caused the city’s mayor, Konrad Adenauer (later becoming the first chancellor of
post-war West Germany) to ban the work on moral grounds. When the dust eventually settled, the
work was generally performed during the rest of Bartók’s life in the form of a concert suite.

Returning to the Britten Studio, a stunning and adventurous song recital featured the Austrian
baritone André Schuen accompanied by Julius Drake. A couple of works by Schumann were wrapped
round a new piece by Austrian composer, Thomas Larcher, who’s no stranger to Aldeburgh as he
was composer-in-residence at the 2019 festival. He delivered a brilliant chamber opera, The Hunting
Gun, directed with flair and imagination by the acclaimed Austrian actor/film director, Karl Markovics.
A formidable piece, the opera’s based upon the best-selling post-war Japanese novella The Hunting
Gun by Yasushi Inoue published in 1949 telling the story of a secret love-affair through the letters of
three people.

However, Larcher’s new piece, Unerzählt, composed between 2018-21, takes its text from the highly
acclaimed German-born writer, W.G. Sebald, author of the cult novels Austerlitz and Vertigo, arguably
one of the most celebrated writers to have studied and taught at the University of East Anglia. Sadly,
he died after a collision with a lorry at a bend in the road near his home in Norwich at the age of 57.
Professor of European Literature at UEA, he was seen by many of his associates and friends of