Bethan Langford News
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2024-04-25
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2023-10-06 11:51:00
The flower fairies are back: Cal McCrystal's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe for ENO fills the London Coliseum with colour, movement & comedy
[…] to the London Coliseum as Cal McCrystal's 2018 production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe for English National Opera returned with many of the original cast (seen 5 October 2023). Chris Hopkins conducted with Samantha Price as Iolanthe, John Savournin as the Lord Chancellor, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as the Queen of the Fairies, Ellie Laugharne as Phyllis, Marcus Farnsworth as Strephon, Ruairi Bowen as Earl Tolloller, Ben McAteer as the Earl of Mountararat, Llio Evans as Celia, Bethan Langford as Leila, and Keel Watson as Private Willis. The designs are by the late Paul Brown.The production is as tight as ever and remains a prime example of how to make a modern production of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera work in the London Coliseum. The action is full of extra physical and visual gags, many of them to do with the physicality of theatre itself. The prime conceit for the fairies is the […]
2023-02-24 00:00:00
Music for Brass by New Zealand, Nordic and British Composers (National Youth Brass of NZ, Scandinavian Brass & Besses o' th' Barn Bands)
[…] Pa Te Pa, op.26 [8'31]10 - 12 Christer Danielsson: Suite No.3 for Brass and Percussion [10'49]13 Trygve Madsen: Per the Fiddler. Norwegian Folk Song [2'26]The Scandinavian Brass Ensemble conducted by Jorma PanulaBIS CD265 [recorded May and June 1985; issued 1985][digital download; flacs, cover, inlay and booklet scans]Recording venue: Concert Hall, Gothenburg, SwedenRecording engineer: Michael Bergek; Producer: Lennart Dehn Showcase for Brass:01 Herbert Howells: Three Figures [12'46]02 Elgar Howarth: In Memoriam R.K. (Rudolf Kempe) [13'22]03 Gordon Langford: Summer Scherzo [6'32]04 Arthur Bliss: Belmont Variations [11'33]05 Roy Newsome: North West Passage [7'47]Besses o' th' Barn Band conducted by Roy NewsomeChandos CHAN4525 [recorded January 1983; issued 1993][digital download; flacs, cover, inlay and booklet scans]Recording venue: Whitworth Hall, Manchester University, UKRecording engineer: Ralph Couzens; Producer: Brian CouzensDownload from Mega.
2022-11-25 05:00:00
Music for Brass Band by Gregson, Lloyd, McCabe et al (Besses o' th' Barn, Black Dyke & Grimethorpe Bands)
[…] Overture [8'24]11 George Lloyd: Diversions on a Bass Theme [11'43]Grimethorpe Colliery RJB Band conducted by Major Peter Parkes and Garry Cutt*Chandos CHAN4553 [recorded October & November 1998; issued 1999][digital download; flacs, cover, booklet and inlay scans]Recording venue: Morley Town Hall, West Yorkshire, UKRecording engineer: Jonathan Cooper; Producer: Ralph CouzensConcertos for Brass01 - 03 Edward Gregson: Concerto for Tuba and Brass Band [17'55]04 - 06 Edward Gregson: Concerto for French Horn and Brass Band [17'06]07 Gordon Langford: Rhapsody for Cornet and Brass Band [13'17]John Fletcher- tuba; Ifor James- French horn; James Watson- cornet; Besses o' th' Barn Band conducted by Roy NewsomeChandos CHAN4526 [recorded July 1980; issued 1982][digital download; flacs, cover, booklet and inlay scans]Recording venue: Whitworth Hall, Manchester, UKRecording engineer: Ralph Couzens; Producer: Brian CouzensDownload from Mega.
2022-08-07 14:33:00
Stupendous achievement: Grimeborn's Ring adventure comes to a thrilling and satisfying conclusion at the Hackney Empire
[…] August 2022) with the performances of Julia Burbach's production of Wagner's Siegfried and Götterdämmerung at the Hackney Empire. The adaptation by Graham Vick and Jonathan Dove was used, with Peter Selwyn conducting the Orpheus Sinfonia. Lee Bisset was Brünnhilde, Paul Carey Jones was the Wanderer, Freddie Tong was Alberich, with Neal Cooper as Siegfried (in Siegfried) and Mark Le Brocq as Siegfried (in Götterdämmerung), plus Lucy Anderson (Gutrune), Mae Heydorn (Erda, Flosshilde), Lizzie Holmes (Woglinde), Elizabeth Karani (Woodbird), Bethan Mary Langford (Wellgunde), Angharad Lyddon (Waltraute), Simon Thorpe (Gunther), and Simon Wilding (Fafner, Hagen). Designs were by Bettina John, and lighting by Robert Price.The two operas were performed as a double-bill (as Vick and Dove originally intended with City of Birmingham Opera); Siegfried in a single span of two hours, with Götterdämmerung in the evening with an interval. We thus had over four hours of music, and the young players of the Orpheus Sinfonia (just 18 of them) performing […]
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