Page 552 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

tackiness, but done with confidence – as this was – it can be a winning
move. And Williams’ trio won me over. All the way home, on a strike-

afflicted train that nearly left me stranded, I took comfort in that tune (and
no less in the clever things Williams did to it).

Stephen Sondheim was always insistent that he wrote musicals, not operas,
but the stature of his work renders the difference meaningless; and the
extent to which his shows are done these days by opera houses was

acknowledged last month when the National Opera Studio (which trains
young singers) staged a Sondheim gala – making the point that “classical”
singers need to know this repertoire and learn how to project the words.

With Sondheim the words matter. Always. And this Sondheim gala, staging
extracts from assorted shows, summed up the wisdom, principle and

generosity of spirit in the words that underwrite his genius. Sondheim looks
at humankind in all its muddled failings, and forgives; it’s what makes him
one of the supremely great creative artists of our time. His death last year
was a profound loss that we go on mourning.