³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

A performance has to be either very good or very bad to inspire laughter. , performed by with had me smiling from ear to ear - with absolute delight. Minkowski demonstrated just how much you could achieve with a top-notch orchestra if you allow rehearsal time to apply real, thoughtful musicality. Not only was there the orchestral light-and-shade the score might lead one to expect, but Minkowski surprised and delighted us with the unexpected - the Viennese 'hesitation' waltz rhythms gratuitously interpolated into Agrippina's 'Ogni vento ch'al porto la spinga' were my favourite. And then there was the sheer technical virtuosity of the soprano soloist singing the part of Nero () and string section principals (with individual solos) in 'Come nube che fugge dal vento', whose pyrotechnics were so beautifully matched and seamlessly linked they caused intakes of breath (from me at least).

But it wasn't just the music that was enjoyable. The production showed just how much fun you could have with so-called opera seria: Handel wrote this work in 1709 for Venice, a city with a tradition of mixing comic and serious. And with a scheming royal mother in the title role, plotting to get her son on the throne, and two lackeys anxious to do her bidding for social (and marital) advancement, there's plenty of potential for comedy in this opera - exploited as far as it could be in this unstaged production. Most of the cast of singing in this performance knew Agrippina very well - they're staging it at present in Zurich - and it showed in their imaginative performances. Agrippina herself, , was particularly good.

The matinee performance ran for three-and-a-half hours on Sunday afternoon, which meant I didn't have the stamina to get to the (also unstaged) at the Barbican, under , that same evening. At least, I hope Hogwood was conducting - the Barbican contacted me at the beginning of the week to say he wasn't doing the pre-concert talk any longer, and would I care to step in?... but I couldn't with Agrippina to go to, of course. (Anyone want to tell me what the Arianna performance was like?!)

It does seem rather silly to schedule such clashes, and presumably lose a good chunk of your audience in the process. Still, I guess with the summer season upon us, it's inevitable - there were several concerts I wanted to go to last weekend but couldn't (including Eccles' Judgment of Paris and Purcell's music for Dioclesian). Thank goodness the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ allows us to catch up on at least some of the things we might miss out on! I was delighted to catch Handel's this evening, also performed by Concerto Köln and co. (cond. Ivor Bolton) as part of the Lufthansa Festival last Thursday. No doubt as the summer progresses, I'll have still more reason to tune in ...

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