Culure and traffic jams - a busy week
Phew!
By chance (hardly planning) we covered three performing arts in as many evenings and, fun though it was, it was hard work!
Opera
On Monday we revisited Cardiff's new Millennium Centre to see the Welsh National Opera's performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. The performance of one of my favourite operas was excellent - what a contrast to the lacklustre Traviata we'd seen a couple of months ago [see my report on 7 March]. The tenor had been taken ill on the morning of the performance and so a replacement had been "borrowed" from English National Opera. He, like the rest of the cast, was in very good voice but presumably knew nothing of the production. So it began 15 minutes late, there was a 15 minute scene change during Act 1 and, what with the two scheduled intervals, the whole thing stretched over three hours. Not that it would have mattered at all were it not for the fact that the British Lions were playing Argentina at the Millennium Stadium, also in Cardiff, that night.
We'd had a nightmare journey to get to Cardiff, because the motorway had been jammed with rugby traffic. After queuing 20 minutes just to get through the Severn Bridge toll booths, the jams continued as far as Newport, where we took to "the old road" to get to Cardiff. A journey which usually takes 75 minutes took us a little under three hours. So much for our plans to have a quiet drink and some tapas before the performance. The late finish of the opera meant that we had to face the whole process in reverse, but quick thinking by Gill when we reached the start of the jam in Cardiff city centre, meant that we found a good route out of the city - it only took us two hours to get home!
Music
The next evening we were back in our now regular haunt of Birmingham's Symphony Hall to hear organist David Goode. Superb! Of course he played Widor's Toccata and a transcription of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, but he also played two other (rather fine) movements from Widor's 5th. Symphony, and some more lovely and subtle works, most of them quite unknown to us. Perhaps the highlight, for me at least, was a set of variations on that well known Paganini theme by one Thalben-Ball. This 10 minute piece was almost entirely played by the feet and Goode's dexterity (hardly the right word, but you know what I mean) was spell binding. It would have been a circus act were the artistry not so evident too!
Unfortunately, the punter to Gill's right could hardly refrain his enthusiasm during the better known pieces, jigging his arms, humming and generally being a pain.
Comparison between the two venues leaves Symphony Hall the clear winner; I'm afraid that we find the interior of Cardiff's new theatre a pain, no matter how spectacular the outside is (see Gill's critique on 6 March)!
Drama
Minchinhampton's Market House can hardly compare with either, but we did enjoy our third evening out there on Wednesday night. No traffic jams on the 10 minute journey (we were the first to arrive, of course), and no queues inside! The Railway Children was staged by the Minchinhampton Dramatic Society and a cracking job they made of it too. The standard of the production, given the limits imposed by the venue, was high and some of the performances were pretty impressive too. A simple (in the best sense) but enjoyable night out. Edna, who had arrived from Hull only about an hour before we set out, had a great time. We'd only gone originally because one of the actors had told me that they were light on bookings for that evening, but I'd certainly happily go to another production.
By chance (hardly planning) we covered three performing arts in as many evenings and, fun though it was, it was hard work!
Opera
On Monday we revisited Cardiff's new Millennium Centre to see the Welsh National Opera's performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. The performance of one of my favourite operas was excellent - what a contrast to the lacklustre Traviata we'd seen a couple of months ago [see my report on 7 March]. The tenor had been taken ill on the morning of the performance and so a replacement had been "borrowed" from English National Opera. He, like the rest of the cast, was in very good voice but presumably knew nothing of the production. So it began 15 minutes late, there was a 15 minute scene change during Act 1 and, what with the two scheduled intervals, the whole thing stretched over three hours. Not that it would have mattered at all were it not for the fact that the British Lions were playing Argentina at the Millennium Stadium, also in Cardiff, that night.
We'd had a nightmare journey to get to Cardiff, because the motorway had been jammed with rugby traffic. After queuing 20 minutes just to get through the Severn Bridge toll booths, the jams continued as far as Newport, where we took to "the old road" to get to Cardiff. A journey which usually takes 75 minutes took us a little under three hours. So much for our plans to have a quiet drink and some tapas before the performance. The late finish of the opera meant that we had to face the whole process in reverse, but quick thinking by Gill when we reached the start of the jam in Cardiff city centre, meant that we found a good route out of the city - it only took us two hours to get home!
Music
The next evening we were back in our now regular haunt of Birmingham's Symphony Hall to hear organist David Goode. Superb! Of course he played Widor's Toccata and a transcription of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, but he also played two other (rather fine) movements from Widor's 5th. Symphony, and some more lovely and subtle works, most of them quite unknown to us. Perhaps the highlight, for me at least, was a set of variations on that well known Paganini theme by one Thalben-Ball. This 10 minute piece was almost entirely played by the feet and Goode's dexterity (hardly the right word, but you know what I mean) was spell binding. It would have been a circus act were the artistry not so evident too!
Unfortunately, the punter to Gill's right could hardly refrain his enthusiasm during the better known pieces, jigging his arms, humming and generally being a pain.
Comparison between the two venues leaves Symphony Hall the clear winner; I'm afraid that we find the interior of Cardiff's new theatre a pain, no matter how spectacular the outside is (see Gill's critique on 6 March)!
Drama
Minchinhampton's Market House can hardly compare with either, but we did enjoy our third evening out there on Wednesday night. No traffic jams on the 10 minute journey (we were the first to arrive, of course), and no queues inside! The Railway Children was staged by the Minchinhampton Dramatic Society and a cracking job they made of it too. The standard of the production, given the limits imposed by the venue, was high and some of the performances were pretty impressive too. A simple (in the best sense) but enjoyable night out. Edna, who had arrived from Hull only about an hour before we set out, had a great time. We'd only gone originally because one of the actors had told me that they were light on bookings for that evening, but I'd certainly happily go to another production.
posted by Mark at
2:17 pm
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