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Seen and Heard Recital Review


North Devon Festival 2007: Dame Kiri te Kanawa (sop) with Julian Reynolds (piano) Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple, 29.6.2007 (BK)

Mozart:
Ridente la calma K.152
An Chloë K.524
Abendempfindung K.523
Un moto di gioia K.579
Chi sà, chi sà, quia sia K.583
Vado, ma dove? K.583
La Clemenza di Tito, S'alto che lagrime
Die Zauberflöte, Ach, ich fülhs
Nehmt meinen Dank K.383

Poulenc:
Voyage à Paris
Hộtel
Les chemins de l'amour

Traditional:
Scarborough Fair arr. David Cullen
Long Time Ago arr. Copland
O Waly, Waly arr. Britten
Why do they shut me our of heaven? arr. Copland

Puccini:
La Bohème, Mi chiamano Mimì
Edgar, O fior del giorno

Cilea:
Adriana Lecouvreur, Io sono L'umile ancella.


North Devon's annual summer festival ended  literally on a high note this year with this recital from Kiri te Kanawa, the most well known musician by some margin to have visited the area in the last twenty years. Tickets were sold out on  the first day of being advertised and the audience in Barnstaple's packed Queen's Theatre loved her for every minute of this concert.

Fairly typical audience comments  ran from - 'She's still a very handsome woman' (from a very appreciative gentleman behind me) through to 'Easy on the ear and  enjoyable' from a friend who was with us. These sentiments were shared by many to be sure, based on a carefully chosen and wholly  audience friendly programme. Nothing too difficult, nothing too unfamiliar - except possibly the Poulencs - and importantly nothing too taxing for the voice. It was all intelligently done  including her encore, Carlos Guastavino's  La rosa y el sauce.

Having retired from the opera stage on reaching age 60 - another intelligent choice - Dame Kiri devotes herself to supporting her foundation for talented young singers from New Zealand (see web site) and to giving smaller scale concerts  like this one. She loves singing, she said in a BBC radio interview last year and it was clear from this recital that the public loves her for singing too.

And long may that continue.  For myself, I shall always remember her as a truly splendid Straussian -  for her Vier Letzte Lieder and her Marschallin,  both my  favourite Strauss performances for an impressive number of years.


Bill Kenny

 


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Seen and Heard, one of the longest established live music review web sites on the Internet, publishes original reviews of recitals, concerts and opera performances from the UK and internationally. We update often, and sometimes daily, to bring you fast reviews, each of which offers a breadth of knowledge and attention to performance detail that is sometimes difficult for readers to find elsewhere.

Seen and Heard publishes interviews with musicians, musicologists and directors which feature both established artists and lesser known performers. We also feature articles on the classical music industry and we use other arts media to connect between music and culture in its widest terms.

Seen and Heard aims to present the best in new criticism from writers with a radical viewpoint and welcomes contributions from all nations. If you would like to find out more email Regional Editor Bill Kenny.





 








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Contributors: Marc Bridle, Martin Anderson, Patrick Burnson, Frank Cadenhead, Colin Clarke, Paul Conway, Geoff Diggines, Sarah Dunlop, Evan Dickerson Melanie Eskenazi (London Editor) Robert J Farr, Abigail Frymann, Göran Forsling,  Simon Hewitt-Jones, Bruce Hodges,Tim Hodgkinson, Martin Hoyle, Bernard Jacobson, Tristan Jakob-Hoff, Ben Killeen, Bill Kenny (Regional Editor), Ian Lace, John Leeman, Sue Loder,Jean Martin, Neil McGowan, Bettina Mara, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Simon Morgan, Aline Nassif, Anne Ozorio, Ian Pace, John Phillips, Jim Pritchard, John Quinn, Peter Quantrill, Alex Russell, Paul Serotsky, Harvey Steiman, Christopher Thomas, Raymond Walker, John Warnaby, Hans-Theodor Wolhfahrt, Peter Grahame Woolf (Founder & Emeritus Editor)


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