This past week saw the passing of Australian conductor, Sir Charles Mackerras. He was 84 years old. A man of mind-boggling musical diversity, he managed to be a specialist in the works of composers as different as Mozart, Janácek and Gilbert and Sullivan. Although his parents were Australian, he was born in Schenectady, New York, but moved to Australia when he was three years old. His achievements and honours - including his knighthood which was conferred on him in 1979, can be read about in any of the many tributes showered on him immediately following his death. I am writing of him here today not for the purposes of adding yet another obituary to the burgeoning list of such, but because I shall always remember him fondly as the very first conductor of opera I ever worked with. At the age of eleven I auditioned for, and secured, the gig of playing treble recorder in the orchestra for a then brand-new work written by Benjamin Britten, Noye's Fludde. Rehearsals took place not too far from where I was at boarding school and arrangements were made for me to attend them. Those rehearsals were led by a delightful, and, as I later came to know, very able conductor named Merlin Channon. In due course, there were full rehearsals with the professional singers and the English Chamber Orchestra, leading to the first performance of the piece in Southwark Cathedral in South London, and subsequently in Orford Church, near Britten's home in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The principal conductor was Charles Mackerras, then aged 32. He had come to know Britten when both men were associated with Sadler's Wells Opera, shortly after the end of the war.
All Wagner all the time!
A strange decision
Wednesday of last week saw one of the most important days in the entire history of Portland Opera. It was the day that Orange Mountain Records, Philip Glass' in-house record label, released their recording of Glass' opera Orphée. Performances of this work formed a part of Portland Opera's 09/10 season. There are a number of factors make this a particularly event. First, it should be noted that this is the very first recording of this opera and came about at the instigation of Orange Mountain Records. Executives of that label approached Portland Opera prior to the production and asked whether we would be interested in having the performances recorded with a view to later release. So, this wasn't a case of Portland Opera begging for the opportunity to record a Philip Glass opera and making its own approach to the label. Apparently, Glass was so impressed with the cast assembled for this production (including Philip Cutlip, Ryan MacPherson and Lisa Saffer), the conductor, Ann Manson, and director Sam Helfrich, that he considered this the ideal chance to complete the recordings of his Cocteau trilogy (the others being La Belle et La Bete and Les Enfants Terrible.) When show time came, Glass came to town and was present at the final dress rehearsal before zooming off the following day to Europe. The performances themselves were a great success and perhaps the most oft-heard phrase was "I didn't think I liked Glass but..." I have to admit to having used that phrase myself. While I knew very little of Glass's music, it had not captivated me on previous occasions. This opera held me spell-bound and I saw all four performances.