David

I fear I sounded a bit sniffy and I apologise. Most will be tired of comparisons with the war but I have been thinking of the 50s and 60s and the incredible musical renaissance that followed here and across Europe. The young Haitinck became musical director of the Concertegebouw and introduced us all to the symphonies of Bruckner; Bayreuth re-opened with a golden age of singers who would dominate Wagnerian singing for two decades; the ROH re-opened with Britten and De Valois laying the foundations for our world status in opera and ballet; the BBC with the likes of Beecham and Boult encouraged the establishment of orchestras in the this country where previously we had been the laughing stock of Europe - and Bruno Walter re-introduced us to Mahler, who had been a failure as a composer before the War but whose personal preoccupation with the meaning of life, loss and grief, expressed so profoundly through his music, resonated so strongly with our post-war generation coming to terms with the human cost of war, including of course Kenneth Macmillan. For many of us it began with Walter’s performance with Ferrier of Das Lied von der Erde in Edinburgh and I am coming to think that this choice for the live concert at the ROH is or should be highly significant, that perhaps it holds out the promise for what may come when eventually we move beyond the present. Sarah Connolly is of course long associated with Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, again with themes of loss, mourning and acceptance that I understand was used by Ashton in his Dance of the Blessed Spirits so this is very much a linked-up approach. All of which is to say I’m thinking that much thought must have gone into the choice of this programme, that from the past, we can draw hope for the future and I'm sorry if I'm only just catching up. And yes, I was up most of the night streaming from the Wigmore Hall!!

I hadn't picked up on the live streaming from the Wigmore Hall till you mentioned it. How stupid of me. That will certainly take care of my evening! Thank you.

I tend to separate off Mahler's great orchestral song cycle Das Lied von der Erde from Macmillan's equally fine setting of it in his Song of the Earth and it seems a slightly odd choice for an opera house, apart from the Macmillan link - it has of course attracted the greatest soloists and orchestras and I am a little apprehensive about the thought of a skeleton orchestra - which is what I assume is meant by "soloists of the Orchestra". But I have enormous faith in Sir Tony and I have heard and admired Dame Sarah Connelly many times, David Butt Philip only the once, and am sure they will both rise to it. And of course, the opportunity to see Vadim in the Ashton piece is very, very special. Not to be missed!

I have not had any experience with vimeo - can anyone advise please - having bought a ticket, will this second concert be a one-off watch during an actual performance or, does it remain available for further watching, and if so, for how long?

How lovely. Thank you.

Well that's encouraging - thank you Stevie. I must confess I am one of those strange people who still buys Vinyl, in fact there are a couple of disks coming up in Sept that interest me!

Surely the closure of the theatres and the rush switch to live-streaming will have hastened the demise of the DVD/Blu-ray. Apart from the Concerto/Enigma/Raymonda and Cellist/Dances releases and possibly still Coppelia in mid 2021 I'm not aware of any other Arts releases in the pipeline from any company other than a rapidly diminishing batch of concert performances tho I still have hopes for The Red Shoes following the cancellation of the cinema relay. Even if theatres re-open, maybe with live broadcasts, even possibly live cinema relays one can't see any more performing Arts disk releases for at least 18 months by which time the technology will have moved on. It will depend on the movie industry of course, not the relatively small Arts niche, and surely the future there is already being taken over by digital streaming? Will there still be a cinema industry as we have known it? The question which the current ROH survey didn't tackle was whether one would merely want a one-off watch or to down-load streamed performances which would surely affect what people are prepared to pay,. I find the future for recordings very uncertain as I guess we all do. It's depressing - does anyone see some light?

I'm gladly you mentioned the NYCB Spring Digital Season, for me the highlight of the live-streaming we have all been enjoying, closely followed by other American Russian and German companies, given me the opportunity to experience material unavailable commercially - appropos of which I look forward to Scottish Ballet's Macmillan tonight: Not to mention a superb performance by our National Theatre: We are so blest.

I agree completely. I'm in my dotage and have been a regular at the ROH since 1975 but I was allowed tp continue in the survey to the bitter end and became increasingly frustrated as the survey moved from the gathering of date to opinion. They asked us to be frank and honest so I obliged (!) but the questioning became repetetive and if I answered 'see previous answer', my responses were described as 'weak'. I was particularly narked when they pointed out that the newsletter was now being sent out weekly instead of monthly and was this helpful since the blatant purpose is to garner donations. There was nothing in this that they couldn't have learnt from the comments in this forum and other places. I wasn't impressed with the vagueness of what I would regard as the key question: how much? Would I be prepared to pay say £5 or £10? The going rate elsewhere seems to be up £4.99 and while I would be up for that in many cases (more selectively in the case of opera), I would baulk at £10 or more, particularly as the competion around the world from theatre, opera, dance, concerts etc is becoming fierce! Is any other part of the performing arts investing in expensive surveys? Most just seem to be getting on with it using common sense.

Thank you, Bluebird. I don't think I've ever ordered a disk so far ahead!

Is this Amazon.co.uk? Do you have a link for this please? I don't seem able to find it.

Oh good - hopefully that's a good sign. Thank you.

Still no blu-ray listed and I'm beginning to wonder if this might be the start of a new policy in these straitened times. I guess mixed programmes do not sell as well as narrative ballets? There is precedent - Opus Arte took the decision to discontinue blu-ray releases from The Globe quite awhile back and as I remember a blu-ray of Elizabeth was not released. Meanwhile, given the current price fluidity I have ordered the DVD. One can always cancel and re-order if the situation changes co that can only be a win-win!

Scottish Ballet's Rite of Spring premiering in 30 miinutes. I was there when they were filming it in Edinburgh so really looking forward to this. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HL-fus2WH8

Bless you Alison. I've been trying to find a link to this and now, thanks to you, the entire family can enjoy it. Thank you.

It seems only a short time ago that we were debating the merits of blu-ray over DVD and I was arguing that both formats were old technology and that the future is streaming. Also we have been debating the failure of the BBC to open up its archives and show old programmes and productions. The argument has always been that this is not possible because of copyrights and rights. Suddenly all this is changing. Everywhere companies are live-streaming, in some cases enabled to do so because all concerned have waived their rights and we are starting to see a wealth of material that we had feared we would never see again so much so that I am able to circulate a link every day around the family for all kinds of streamed material. Here for example is one I am especially pleased to have - a copy of the South Bank Show from 20yrs ago in 1997 covering the creation of Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella and especially valuable as a reminder of Sarah Wildor, together with her partner and future husband, both on loan from the Royal Ballet for the project at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWHlVEYGDcc&feature=emb_logo Bourne is promising other goodies including a BBC4 documentary and others such as for example the National Theatre, the BerlinPhilharmonic and Andrew Lloyd Webber are being equally generous with the material in their archives. Others, and I don’t need to name them, are being much less forthcoming, streaming old productions that are already available on disk. Can things ever be the same again I wonder? So many families no longer have DVD or Blu-Ray players or have consigned them to the attic. I’m guessing that organisations, forced to turn to alternative technologies in the present crisis must already be thinking about the implications for the future. If they aren’t, they should be!

I checked Amazon Japan but couldn't find it. If anyone can find a link I'm sure many of us will be grateful.

The opera was Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable and Kobborg was asked to choreograph the key ghostly nuns scene but was replaced I believe because the the Director Laurent Pelly objected. I don't know how JK would have approached it but what we got was like a Carry On take on a Hammer film which had the entire audience tittering on the night I was there. That was one blu-ray I wasn't going to buy!

All this speculation is pointless and unhelpful. Please, can we just let it rest now and concentrate on the important things - in part. the things that those in the dancing community are doing to distract us and lift our spirits.

Hooray! I am delighted to report that I've received the following from the ROH shop; "Good news! Three production are set for release at the moment. The Enigma triple should be out in August, Coppelia in October and The Cellist Triple some time next year." Still no news of a release of "The Red Shoes" though with the cancellation of the cinema relay, hopefully that will be accelerated.

Season 1 of Monarch of the Glen is currently showing on the Drama Channel and available on Freesat, Freeview and Sky. Started a week or so ago. Presumably other Seasons will follow on.

Yet another email from the ROH: "I am writing to you as a valued Friend etc, etc". Suddenly it seems that the Friends and the regulars they have alienated so comprehensively over the past few years matter!!!!

So presumbly it was never broadcast on TV. Than explains why I have never been able to get my greedy hands on it. Thank you Alison.

I have been brooding about this! It is a difficult question because different programmes will conjure up different associations for different people. Thus I cherish the Agony and Ecstasy series, not because of on the beastliness of Derek Deane that attracted so much attention at the time but because it is the only record I have on film of the lovely Daria Klimentová and her all too brief, incredible partnership with Vadim Muntagirov at the ENB before she retired and he returned to his natural home with the RB, and also of course included the young Laurretta Summerscales. Similarly the early documentaries about the Ballet Russes contain interviews with legendary dancers, including for example Marc Platov who went on to Hollywood and under his real name Marc Platt, to star with Rita Hayworth amongst others in a lovely film ‘Tonight and Every Night’, roughly based on the story of the Windmill Theatre which had a profound influence on me in my early teens because it resonated so powerfully with my memories of the Blitz in London and the Theatre itself that was a familiar sight for me in my childhood. He also appeared as one of the 7 brothers (only 6 in the dance sequences!) in ”Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” He died 5yrs ago aged 100ys after a highly successful career as a writer and producer but these documentaries are the only record I have on film of his early days with the Ballet Russes. My recorder failed me dammit for the closing gala of the ROH when Darcey put the House to sleep as the Lilac Fairy but my recording of the re-opening Gala is very special because the second half includes precious performances unavailable on commercial recordings by Irek Mukhamedov and Deborah Bull amongst others. The documentary ‘Riot at the Rite’ has Zenaida Yanowsky in an incredible performance of Rite of Spring. (Incidentally, isn’t there a recording of her dancing Swan Lake somewhere out there? It used to play regularly in the window of the ROH shop reproaching me for my failure to obtain a recording of it). But less obviously there is much else. For example I treasure the BBC relay of An American in Paris that as a family we saw many times and also the Proms semi-staged performance of Oklahoma coz they both included Robert Fairchild who as far as I know doesn’t appear as a dancer on any commercial recording. I could list similar recordings in the fields of music and theatre. My point is that it is not just the content, rare indeed unique as it often is, but also the associations that make these broadcasts so important to us, reminding us of dancers and events that matter to us and giving us reason to fight for their re-release!

Have folk seen this initiative by the Berlin Phil? https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/22392