Since before Christmas theartsdesk has been reviewing the past decade and previewing the year to come in the arts. As an extra we offer this special edition of The Seckerson Tapes, in which Edward Seckerson and Igor Toronyi-Lalic discuss the year in music, which, in the concert hall, saw the triumph of the new romantics in conductors Riccardo Chailly and Yannick Nezet-Seguin and, operatically, saw the arrival of three penetrating new productions of operatic classics: the English National Opera's Peter Grimes, Covent Garden's Tristan und Isolde and Glyndebourne's Rusalka.
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The Seckerson Tapes: Edward and Igor look back at 2009
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Australian soprano Helena Dix is honoured by fine fellow singers, but not her conductor
Striking design and clear concept, but the intensity within comes and goes
A well-skippered Wagnerian voyage between fantasy and realism
Asmik Grigorian takes all three soprano leads in a near-perfect ensemble
A Faust that smuggles its damnation under theatrical spectacle and excess
Welcome opportunity to catch opera-ballet, though not everything is in perfect focus
Incandescent singing and playing, but the production domesticates the numinous
Giulio Cesare, The English Concert, Bicket, Barbican review - 10s across the board in perfect Handel
When you get total musicality from everyone involved, there’s nothing better
Janáček’s wacky space-and-time-travel opera glows and grips in every bar
Telemann’s comic opera hits the mark thanks to two fine, well-directed young singers
Kosky, Pappano and their singers soar on both wings of Wagner’s double tragedy
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