13895 Wagner News
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Number 202: July 2011 Number 202: July 2011 EDITOR’S NOTE Ensemble: “a community working with shared values and aims”. Not a definition which you will find in any dictionary but just one which I have coined whilst reflecting upon the general state of affairs with which we are left as Malcolm Rivers hands over the Chair to Jeremy Rowe. In his valedictory statement to the AGM Malcolm Rivers spoke of the powerfully synergistic relationships which have now been forged between us, the Music Club of London and the “performing arm of the Wagner Society”: The Mastersingers Company. Working in ensemble these groups lent their specialist strengths to the “Living in Exile” programme at Aldeburgh which was delivered with all the standards of excellence we have come to expect from Mastersingers productions. 2013 will bring a worldwide festival of Wagner, and we shall be conveyed through it in the safe hands of those who have proved themselves able to create such wonderful special events. This is Malcolm Rivers’ contribution to our future: he has made us into a world-class ensemble. INSIDE 6 From the retiring Chairman’s address to the Wagner Society AGM 8 News of Young Artists 10 Goodall Academy and Bayreuth Bursary Auditions 12 Mastersingers Aldeburgh Weekend: The Wanderer with James Rutherford 13 Kelvin Lim piano recital 14 Britten and Nolan 15 The Children’s Crusade 16 Dame Anne Evans Masterclass 17 David Edwards: Die Walküre from the Met. 18 Cinema Relay of Die Walküre 20 Tony Palmer on “The Wagner Family” film 23 Pleased to meet you: Peter West 24 Parsifal in Prague 26 Tristan und Isolde in Berlin 27 Parsifal in Barcelona 28 Midsummer Opera’s Wagner Concert 29 News from Bayreuth 30 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Glyndebourne 34 Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park Opera 36 “Diabolical Dynasty”: Review of Tony Palmer’s DVD: “The Wagner Family” 38 Review of the new ENO guide to Parsifal 42 Farewell to Robert Tear –2– NEW AND RETURNING CONTRIBUTORS Matthew d’Ancona Award-winning political columnist of the Sunday Telegraph, the Evening Standard and GQ and a former editor of the Spectator, Matthew is writing a book on the coalition government as well as a history of England with John Cleese. [email protected] Elaine Fairless Elaine’s most memorable Wagner related experience was that of seeing the Goodall Ring in Oxford in the early 70s. She is also one of the few people who admit to liking the Richard Jones Ring . [email protected] Nina Vincent Nina is a lover of music and opera who has recently returned from working in the Middle East. [email protected] Paul Symons A Society member for 20 years, Paul works in the City of London and is passionate about opera in general and Wagner in particular. [email protected] Ewen Harris A retired engineer and self-confessed Wagner addict, Ewen spends his time rambling in the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains and tutoring in music appreciation. [email protected] Garth Foster Emeritus Professor of Environmental Protection at the Scottish Agricultural College, Garth devotes his retirement to entomology and in particular to editing a newsletter for his beetle club. [email protected] Ken Sunshine Ken says that his qualification for the job of proofreading Wagner News is his pedant’s eye for detail which is also evident in his watercolour paintings. His work leaves slim pickings for error-spotting readers, but if text blemishes may still be found this will not be due to any lack of diligence on his part, but rather to the stubbornness of the Editor. [email protected] Cover: Kelvin Lim with Julian Black. See report on page13 Photo: Peter West [email protected] 01256 222 339 Designed by Roger Lee. Printed by Rap Spiderweb – www.rapspiderweb.com 0161 947 3700 –3– NEWS FROM THE COMMITTEE MEETING OF 26th MAY 2011 Andrea Buchanan Mike Morgan gave a detailed account of the state of the Society’s finances, which are currently healthy. Most of the subscriptions for 2011 had now been received and both the current and deposit accounts were adequately funded. It had been recommended at an earlier meeting to purchase more Charifund Shares, to replace those that had been disposed of. These shares currently give a better yield than the interest given by any bank or building society, and are therefore seen as a good investment. The Treasurer had therefore invested £5,000 in these shares and we will look at investing further sums in future. Mike took the Committee through the completed 2009 accounts and the draft 2010 accounts which would be presented at the forthcoming AGM. The Committee will also re-establish its annual membership of the International Richard Wagner Verband. This had been temporarily suspended in 2010, due to lack of available funds. It was also noted that the membership fees had risen substantially in 2011 and was now 2 per member. These fees have risen due to improved services accorded to internationa€l members in terms of multi-lingual services. As a result of this increase, the Committee discussed the possibility of raising the membership fees in 2012. This will be decided at a future meeting. The importance of maintaining our good relationship and strong communication links with the Verband was stressed. Jeremy Rowe talked about events in the pipeline for 2011/12 and mentioned several exciting projects for 2013, which will be shared with the members in due course. The Committee also discussed the mailing of Wagner News to members, which is currently done manually by Margaret Murphy, and is a herculean task. The Committee will investigate the costs of having this mailing done by the printers in future. There was also some discussion of the library. –4– ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Highlights from the 57th AGM, held on 7th June 2011 at Queen’s College Andrea Buchanan There were 45 members present including Dame Gwyneth Jones (President), Mike Morgan (Treasurer), Andrea Buchanan (Secretary elect) and Committee members Geoffrey Griffiths, Pam Hudson, Gary Kahn, Margaret Murphy, Ian Jones, Ralph Wells and Ross Alley. Also present were Malcolm Rivers (former Chair) and Malcolm Spence (former Chair and Committee member). Jeremy Rowe (Chair elect) was unable to attend at the last minute due to personal reasons. Dame Gwyneth Jones gave some introductory remarks in which she urged the Society to move forward following the unfortunate events of the prior year. She mentioned her work with young singers, notably in co-operation with the Wellcome Trust, and remarked that it would be good to attract more younger members to the Society. Malcolm Rivers presented his Chairman’s Report some extracts from which appear in this issue of Wagner News. There was some discussion after this regarding the unusual events of 2010, which will be documented more fully in the minutes. Mike Morgan then presented the 2009 Accounts and the 2010 Draft Accounts to the meeting, giving a clear explanation of several line items, especially those that related to the financial irregularities that had occurred. There was a lively and prolonged discussion after his presentation. In general the conclusion was drawn that tighter financial controls and more detailed accounts were required and Mike assured the membership that these were in hand and would be implemented. The election of the Committee for 2001-12 then followed. All the proposed members either standing for re-election or for election were accepted by the members. A list of those elected appears on page 43. Jeremy Rowe was unanimously elected as Chair in his absence. The meeting voted not to re-elect the current auditors. The (unusually long) meeting ended at 9:10pm. An excellent short recital by heldentenors John Upperton and Brian Green accompanied by Kevin Lim followed. It is hoped that the proposed discussion session and masterclass for the tenors with Neil Howlett that had originally been planned to take place will be rescheduled for a future date. –5–– 5– A UNITED STRONG ARTISTIC PROFILE Edited extracts from the retiring Chairman’s address to the Wagner Society AGM 7th June 2011 Much has happened since my last Chairman’s report in May 2010, the main aspects of which have been presented to the Society in a series of reports during the year. We are hugely indebted to Malcolm Spence QC for his services through these troubled times and I consider him worth his weight in gold to the Society. My thanks go also to David Waters for his tireless and most loyal commitment to the Society prior to his retirement from the position of Secretary. We really will never know how much we owe him: and thanks are also due to Elaine Fairless of the Music Club of London. Over the year the Society received many donations from members and a huge bag of mail in support of our efforts. Our dear colleague and Trustee Ralph Wells must have a special mention in this respect. With the strict controls being put in place by our new and devoted Treasurer Mike Morgan, the Society is now in a very sound financial situation with all monies previously reported as missing from our funds being returned. The Wagner Society has recently gained a great family spirit and strength, and in particular I would like to mention the support of the council of the MCL under the leadership of their Chairman Michael Bousfield, who is a former Secretary of the Society and is also on the board of The Mastersingers. Our recent event in Aldeburgh (brilliantly organised by Rosemary Frischer) was a welcome reminder of the friendship that has now been forged between the Society, the MCL and The Mastersingers.