This week Classical reviewer Geoff Adams looks at the Metropolitan Opera's production of Verdi's Macbeth, and listens to the world-premiere recordings of four recent concertos conducted by Karl Jenkins.
This new production of Verdi's work (by English director Adrian Noble), filmed live in high definition, impresses with a clever 20th-century setting of Shakespeare's plot and the zest of the acting.
It's an opera not often performed because of the length and huge demands made on the two principals.
Soprano Maria Guleghina as Lady Macbeth was convincingly tempestuous, coping with vocal leaps and coloratura pyrotechnics. Zeljco Lucic (Macbeth) uses a nicely burnished baritone voice.
They are well-supported by other soloists, in particular bass-baritone John Relyea as Banquo, and chorus.
The Met Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, kept the music exciting. Visually, the production was stunning with effects - Birnam Wood moving, etc.
Highlight: Big chorus of modern witches, armed with handbags!
Four recent concertos here in world-premiere recordings.
They are violin concerto Sarikiz, Quirk, a concertante for flutes, keyboards and percussion, La Folia for marimba and strings (based on a Corelli theme), and Over The Stone, a double harp concerto commissioned by Prince Charles.
The album ends with the first movement of Palladio, a concerto grosso composed in 1996.
Soloists are Marat Bisengaliev (violin), Neil Percy (marimba) and Catrin Finch (harp - both parts), and various LSO principals.
The composer dips into other cultures (Kazakh, Indian, Latin American etc) and admits to his "oddball" combinations like marimba playing essentially Baroque music.
A quirky and lively CD - very well played.
Highlight: Dazzling Gypsy violin scampering through Sarikiz.
