This double 'Bank Holiday Weekend', with apologies to non-British readers whom it does not affect, has brought little musical cheer. The musical choices for yesterday's Royal Wedding ranged from Last Night of the Proms-style Walton and Elgar to the truly execrable, Westminster Abbey's gift to the happy couple being an anthem by John Rutter. (Whatever would the Royal Peculiar inflict upon those it dis-liked?!) Sadly, the hope that had promised to sustain some of us through a day of fatuous 'commentary' - 'We can exclusively reveal that so-and-so is a relatively approachable person and sometimes remembers servants' birthdays', etc. - had already been denied, influenza having caused Maurizio Pollini to postpone his evening recital at the Royal Festival Hall. No Boulez second piano sonata, then, until June...
To lift the Boulezian spirits, then, however vain the hopes, another coda to the Fantasy Opera season (which opened here): a non-partisan, first-past-the-post readers' poll. The following twenty operas present but a meagre selection, of course, and the choice is shamelessly a reflection of a few works that would interest me, but there is only one work per composer and I hope that there will be something for everyone. For what it is worth, I should be very happy with any of them. So far as I am aware, the Royal Opera has never staged any of these works. And if it has, so be it: our fantasy house can do so again. Which would you select to feature next season? (And feel free to substitute your own house, real or imaginary, for Covent Garden, should that make more sense.) Readers are kindly invited to cast their votes; otherwise my musical misery will only continue...
(P.S. Apologies for the misspelled 'Sonntag' on the results display; I cannot work out how that happened, since it reads correctly on the present page. At any rate, I have no idea how to alter it. Sirius may or may not prove forgiving...)
