On paper this looked like a superb concert. Stuart Skelton, one of the most renowned heldentenors of the present era, able to sing a wide range of Wagnerian parts with ease. Perfect casting for the difficult tenor songs.
Alice Coote, again a leading interpreter in this repertoire, was also on hand.
There was, however, a major departure from standard practice which explains the unusually intimate venue, the Queen's Hall. This was the choice of version for performance. Over the years we have become accustomed to the delightful arrangements made by members of the Second Viennese School of popular works by Johann Strauss, to make them performable by chamber ensembles. Much rarer is this arrangement of late Mahler by Schoenberg - a fascinating new angle on the work, beautifully put across by violinist/director Richard Tognetti and his Australian players.
Lovely as this was as a way to kick off the Queen's Hall series, surely the Usher Hall would have been fine even for such an intimate arrangement, and would have made it available to a far larger audience. After all, many star performers have given excellent recitals in the bigger hall.
The concert began with another hugely attractive work in Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.
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