Siegfried, Göteborg Opera online review - a hero for our times

★★★★ SIEGFRIED

Staging and singing in sync for the Ring’s scherzo

The team of Stephen Langridge (director), Alison Chitty (design) and Paul Pyant (lighting) produced a quietly radical Parsifal at the Royal Opera in 2013, finding both beauty and horror in unexpected corners. On the strength of its third instalment – I haven’t seen the first two – their Ring in Gothenburg pursues a no less subtle course of rebellion against some tenaciously held conventions and traditions in staging Wagner.

Album: Frida Hyvönen - Dream Of Independence

★★★★ FRYDA HYVÖNEN: DREAM OF INDEPENDENCE Unflinching accounts of change and loss from the Swedish singer-songwriter

Forensic, unflinching accounts of change and loss from the Swedish singer-songwriter

Track two on Dream Of Independence, the new album from Sweden’s Frida Hyvönen, is titled “A Funeral in Banbridge”. An account of attending a funeral in, indeed, Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland, it’s bright, melodically jaunty, piano-driven and moves along at a fair clip.

Classical musicians on life after Brexit - 2: violinist Victoria Sayles

CLASSICAL MUSICIANS ON LIFE AFTER BREXIT - 2: VIOLINIST VICTORIA SAYLES

First sequel to pianist Sophia Rahman's assembly of musical voices on the visa situation

In March 2020, all my work in Australia and Sweden, where I had won contracts for several months to come, was cancelled on the day I was due to fly. Both organisations who had engaged me promptly honoured their contracts with me financially nevertheless. Thank goodness they did, because as UK tax payers and residents, my partner Roland Palmer and I have, for 10 months now, received zero help from SEISS and UC.

Album: Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz

★★★★ VIAGRA BOYS - WELFARE JAZZ Stockholm punks impress with heart and musical range on their second album

Stockholm punks impress with heart and musical range on their second album

Their PR cannot put the band name in the header of promotional emails, as they’ll go straight to the spam bin, but Swedish punk outfit Viagra Boys have, nonetheless, become a name to contend with. It’s their wild live persona that’s put them on the map but their second album raucously – and tenderly – demonstrates they also have the range and the songs to explode into something bigger.

DVD/Blu-ray: Are We Lost Forever

★★★ ARE WE LOST FOREVER Separation, Swedish-style

Separation, Swedish-style, in a chamber portrait of a gay couple in break-up

The title of Swedish director David Färdmar’s feature debut gains a degree of helpful context from one of its opening lines, “But there’s no more we”.

Being A Human Person review - enter the surreal world of Roy Andersson

★★★★ BEING A HUMAN PERSON Enter the surreal world of Roy Andersson

A captivating documentary examining the Swedish auteur on the advent of his final film

It’s fair to say that the idiosyncratic, surrealist films of Roy Andersson are not everyone’s cup of tea. Whether you find his films impregnable or incisive, it’s impossible to argue with the artistic imprint the Swedish auteur has had on European cinema. Now at the age of 77, he has made his last film, About Endlessness.

A Little Night Music, Opera Holland Park review - wasn't it bliss?

★★★★ A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, OPERA HOLLAND PARK For one night, we were part of a full-on theatrical experience once again

For one night, we were part of a full-on theatrical experience once again

A lot of rain and untold bliss: those were the takeaways from Saturday night’s alfresco Opera Holland Park concert performance of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s eternally glorious 1973 musical, A Little Night Music.

Don Giovanni/Sibelius plus, Swedish RSO, Harding, livestream review - dark studio rituals

DON GIOVANNI/ SIBELIUS PLUS, SWEDISH RSO, HARDING Vivid Mozart style from top cast and conductor, but concepts work only fitfully

Vivid Mozart style from top cast and conductor, but concepts work only fitfully

"Touch her and you die," sings Masetto in telling Don Giovanni to keep away from his Zerlina. There's certainly trouble, though not instant death, when fingers briefly meet. Mozart's dark comedy has much in Da Ponte's text about hands-on business but only a few points where it's actually seen; love and sex don't really happen, though there are two skirmishes, one fatal.

Classical CDs Weekly: Korngold, Gabriel Prokofiev, Barbara Hannigan

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY Concertos, chamber music and a revealing opera documentary

Concertos and chamber music, plus an opera production from conception to performance

 

Korngold violin concertoKorngold: Violin Concerto, String Sextet Andrew Haveron (violin), RTÉ Concert Orchestra/John Wilson, Sinfonia of London Chamber Ensemble (Chandos)

Classical Music/Opera direct to home 11 - more phased returns to creative work

CLASSICAL MUSIC/OPERA DIRECT TO HOME 11 More phased returns to creative work

Sweden comes to musical life again, a small UK festival ponders and past glories shine

At last, it seems, one venerable British institution will be emulating what Scandinavian and Czech set-ups have been managing over the past month: live performances from an audience-less venue, though in sound only. In quickly reorganised scheduling along with BBC Radio 3, the Wigmore Hall features a host of its top regular artists in June lunchtime concerts.