‘Once in a very rare while there is a performance which takes us to a different level’

‘Once in a very rare while there is a performance which takes us to a different level’

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norman lebrecht

July 24, 2015

Brian Dickie, former head of the Chicago Opera Theater, is the first to pronounce on Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel’s Saul at Glyndebourne. He has no reservations whatsoever. Read here.

Saul-Glyndebourne-110-700x455

Photo: Tristram Kenton

Brian is not alone. See here and here.

Comments

  • Melanie says:

    The “first to pronounce?” By no means: my review http://www.musicomh.com/classical/reviews-classical/saul-glyndebourne-festival-opera-lewes

    was published a few hours after the end of the performance.

  • John Borstlap says:

    How wonderful that the Sleeping Beauty of Handel’s operas has been kissed awake by the Prince of HIP (Historiocally Informed Performance).

    The reviews invite some scepticism, however, about the taste of the production, reinforced by the photographs and the ‘bloody decapitated head’. When critics get wildly enthusiastic about a production, alarm bells should ring.

    • La Donna del Largo says:

      Yes, heaven forbid we should listen to the opinion of critics whose exposure to the production consists merely of having heard and seen it in the theater, as opposed to agenda-driven serial commenters working from the far superior knowledge gleaned from glimpsing a photograph or two.

  • Glen Wilson says:

    Excuse me, but “Saul” is not an opera. It is an ORATORIO and was never meant to be staged.

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