Sunday, November 17, 2013

BRITTEN : GLORIANA

 Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 17th of November 2013 at 3.03 - 6.05 pm

EDWARD BENJAMIN BRITTEN, BARON BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Gloriana, an opera in three acts
Queen Elizabeth I................................ Susan Bullock
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.......... Toby Spence
Frances Devereux, Countess of Essex Patricia Bardon
Charles Blount..................................... Mark Stone
Penelope (Lady Rich).......................... Kate Royal
Sir Robert Cecil................................... Jeremy Carpenter
Sir Walter Raleigh............................... Clive Bayley
Henry Cuffee...................................... Benjamin Bevan
Lady-in-Waiting.................................. Nadine Livingstone
Blind Ballad-seller............................... Brindley Sherratt
Recorder of Norwich.......................... Jeremy White
Housewife........................................... Carol Rowlands
Spirit of the Masque............................ Andrew Tortise
Master of Ceremonies......................... David Butt Philip
City Crier............................................. Michel de Souza
Chorus & Orch of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Paul Daniel (BBC)

PROLOG 
REVIEW
REVIEW
REVIEW
RECORD

I have waited all my life to experience this opera; I knew about it in 1953, my last year in secondary school at Fort Street (and we are celebrating our 60th anniversary, as is Gloriana, and QE2 herself) and I might have even heard it on the ABC in Sydney at that time; but, excepting the dances, which I have on a recording, this has continually passed me by. 
   A synopsis will be found under PROLOG and reviews of this CG production (a four-star performance of a two-star opera, one critic says).

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