Just in: Fallen? Aber nein!

This is the cast of La Traviata at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich tonight (NB, in the interval) as Germany progresses to the semi-final of the World Cup. "Something I've never, ever witnessed at Glyndebourne," says my spy.

Longborough Festival Opera: TOSCA

This is my review of lovely Longborough's terrific Tosca for the Independent. Four stars.  

Among the UK’s country house opera destinations, Longborough stands out as possibly the most audacious, unlikely and lovable. Near Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds (beware: sat-nav black holes), it was founded as Banks Fee Opera in 1991 by its owners Martin and Lizzie Graham, Wagner devotees who have converted a barn into a Palladian-fronted theatre; last year it became the first privately-funded opera house in the country to stage Wagner’s complete Ring cycle, a magnificent effort duly recognised with a nomination for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award.

This year’s festival got off to a flying start with Puccini’s Tosca. As with the Ring, the production proves that wacky concepts and costly sets are not necessary to create compelling drama. Take a row of pillars that can suggest church, palazzo and fortress, some steep slopes to be fallen down or jumped off, and a billow of dry ice; add a few very fine singers; and we have lift-off.

Richard Studer’s direction and designs hint at the Mussolini era without labouring the point. Rather than relying on spectacle, the entire drama is focused on the opera’s toxic love triangle of diva, artist activist and malign dictator, portrayed respectively by the soprano Lee Bisset, the tenor Adriano Graziani and the baritone Simon Thorpe; the characters emerge as very believable people caught up in events for which none of them are cut out.

Bisset’s Tosca – as she reflects in her aria ‘Vissi d’arte’ – really has lived for art and love; she is naïve enough not to suspect at first that her lover Cavaradossi is being tortured. She wants a quiet life with the man she loves; instead, faced with blackmail and rape, she first considers suicide, then turns murderer. She finds her weapon embedded in a loaf of bread – and afterwards wipes off the blood and puts it back.

Musically there are thrills aplenty. Bisset’s soaring soprano inhabits the full gamut of the role’s expressive possibilities: she has fabulous power at the top of her considerable range and her beauty of tone carries her from flirtation to fury, desire to despair. Graziani’s tenor is a fine match for her voice; his performance warmed as the evening went by, glorying in roof-raising high notes and culminating in a no-holds-barred account of ‘E lucevan le stelle’.

Thorpe’s Scarpia does not quite echo them in terms of vocal power, but his character is convincing: physically imposing, but psychologically weak, this dictator is a pathetic bully boy who does his dirty work by proxy. In the pit, the conductor Jonathan Lyness keeps the pace gripping and the score’s drama paramount. 

The set’s rather cumbersome mix of steps and rakes, the cut-down orchestration and chorus, and some slightly ropey amplification – notably for Act III’s offstage shepherd boy and the Act I finale’s pre-recorded canon effects – are a tad problematic. Otherwise, it is a thoroughly enjoyable occasion.

The 2014 festival continues with Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Handel’s Rinaldo. Next year: Tristan und Isolde.

Master of the Queen's Music: why it's vital that a woman gets the job

As some happy news for women in music - well, really for Judith Weir - leaked out in the Sunday Times earlier today, I've been writing this piece for The Guardian's Comment is Free. Bet you didn't know I once wanted to be a composer. It was a short-lived dream a long time ago, but never entirely forgotten.

When Rafa Nadal and Kate Winslet met the London Philharmonic...

...this was the result. ESPN roped in the LPO to help with its Wimbledon promotion, along with Kate Winslet, who does the narration. I am reliably informed that the music is by 30 Seconds to Mars and is called Kings and Queens. Er, enjoy.

Concerts are NOT expensive. Here are some figures.

There are people around who are convinced that because Glyndebourne and the ROH are awfully expensive if you sit in the stalls, this means that all classical music is impossibly expensive. This is not true.

Here are a few figures to prove the point: a few things you can do this Thursday, and how much you'd pay for them, top price and bottom price. Each event is a high-quality product representing the top notch of its genre.

Wigmore Hall, Michael Schade (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano). Lieder by Mozart, Schubert, Strauss and Brahms. Top price £35, bottom price £18.

Royal Festival Hall, Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Sibelius: Top price £40, bottom price £9. (Premium seats available at £48.)

National Theatre, Olivier Theatre, Alan Ayckbourn's A Small Family Business. Top price £50, bottom price £15.

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice. Top price (premium) £55, bottom price £25.

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships 2014. Thursday prices: Centre Court £62, No.1 Court £52, Nos 2 & 3 courts, £46.

Dolly Parton, O2 Arena. Top price £86, bottom price £64.

English National Opera, Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. Top price £99, bottom price £12.

Glyndebourne, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Top price £250, bottom price (standing) £10.

You see, you can get into a world-class classical concert for less than pretty much anything other high-quality live performance. And even for opera at which the top price looks unconscionably high, the lower prices are far more payable than those at the O2.

Have a nice sunny Tuesday. I'm off to Longborough in the Cotsworlds to hear Lee Bisset sing Tosca.