![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/sappho.jpg\" "\\"sappho\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The eagerly anticipated world premiere recording of Peggy Glanville-Hick’s opera Sappho, <\/em>with libretto by Lawrence Durrell, <\/em>is at last on the shelves, timed to perfection with the centenary of the composer’s birth on December 29th 2012 (d 25th June 1990).<\/p>\n The 2 CD set released by Toccata Classics is a recording of the complete opera in 3 acts,\u00a0lasting a little over two hours. It is a substantial project with meticulous attention to quality and detail. The cast of soloists\u00a0is little short of jaw-dropping, the orchestra and chorus are world class; the supporting literature is robust with archival photographs, biographies of writers and performers and the complete libretto.<\/p>\n The project has been the brainchild, and perhaps the raison d’etre<\/em>\u00a0 for the past 10 years of emerging conductor Jennifer Condon. As a high school student she heard a fragment from the opera and resolved to bring the entire work to reality. After\u00a0studying piano and conducting in Sydney, Melbourne, Vienna and Germany,\u00a0she has worked as souffleuse<\/em> at the Hamburg Staatsoper since 2008.\u00a0She has gathered a wealth of luminaries from amongst her\u00a0colleagues to perform in this recording. Deborah Polaski sings the title role with Sir John Tomlinson, Roman Trekel, Wolfgang Koch, Martin Homrich, Scott MacAllister and Laurence Meikle. Australian soprano and language coach Eilene Hannan worked with the singers to achieve a uniform ‘Australian’ sounds in the delivery of the text.<\/p>\n The solo singing is magnificent; the ensemble playing and singing move through the thrilling overture, to gentle support, noisy crowds and drunken rabble with surety. The diction is superb. The performance evokes all the elements of a Greek drama.<\/p>\n The biggest revelation of the recording however, is the music of Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Though based in the traditions of western classical music, her aesthetic was informed by her travels and her philosophy and draws on an eclectic mix of Greek modes, Indian ragas, ancient Italian, Spanish and\u00a0Caribbean\u00a0influences. The music of the opera is distinctly modal with instrumentation, rhythms and ornaments that conjure images of a dangerously exotic Mediterranean epic.<\/p>\n Most of the tale is told by the main protagonists in declamatory style. When the chorus is heard, it is mostly in unison. There is little\u00a0vocal harmony or smaller ensemble singing. However, there are some notably beautiful\u00a0lyrical arias which are likely to enter the repertoire, now that they have been resurrected: Sappho’s\u00a0arias Now everything is silence and remoteness<\/em>, and My sleep is fragile, <\/em>Phaon’s Solitude I knew <\/em>and I am very tired<\/em> (Minos).<\/p>\n Peggy Glanville-Hicks was awarded more recognition in the her lifetime than she has received after her death.\u00a0That she\u00a0made her mark as a living female composer at a time when such a breed was a rarity and a curiosity, is a testament to her opus.The Melbourne born Glanville-Hicks began composing at the age of 7 and\u00a0studied music at the Melba Conservatorium. In 1932 she moved to London where she studied piano, composition\u00a0and conducting at the Royal College of Music\u00a0with Ralph Vaughan-Williams, Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Arthur Benjamin. She studied for a year in Vienna and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. In 1942 she moved to New York where she made her career as a respected composer, critic, writer and director. After nearly 20 years she moved to Greece and lived there until her return to Australia in 1975.<\/p>\n She won awards from The Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations and the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as a Fulbright award.\u00a0On her return to Australia,\u00a0she was\u00a0a consultant for Asian Music Studies at the Australian Music Centre in Sydney,\u00a0and in 1987 she was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n The musicians in this\u00a0first performance\u00a0have the privilege of\u00a0being the\u00a0original interpreters without comparison or precedent. As a recording,\u00a0it leaves to the imagination some tickling questions of\u00a0dramatisation. For\u00a0now, the\u00a0project has hopefully paved the way for wider recognition of the work and its composer and for its realisation as a fully staged opera in the not too distant future. Jennifer Condon is determined that this ambition too will come to fruition.<\/p>\n Shamistha de Soysa\u00a0for SoundsLikeSydney\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n Sappho<\/em> opera in\u00a03 acts by Peggy Glanville-Hicks with libretto by Lawrence Durrell is available as a 2 CD set\u00a0on Toccata Classics (TOCC 0154055). Visit www.toccataclassics.com<\/a> for your nearest distributor or email info@toccataclassics.com<\/a><\/p>\n Deborah Polaski, soprano: Sappho Wolfgang Koch, bass-baritone: Minos The eagerly anticipated world premiere recording of Peggy Glanville-Hick’s opera Sappho, with libretto by Lawrence Durrell, is at last on the shelves,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"sls_format":[],"class_list":["post-10360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"acf":{"deck":"","is_featured":false,"media_type":"standard","audio_embed":"","video_url":""},"yoast_head":"\n
\nMartin Homrich, tenor: Phaon
\nScott MacAllister, tenor: Pittakos
\nRoman Trekel, baritone: Diomedes<\/p>\n
\nSir John Tomlinson, bass: Kreon
\nJacquelyn Wagner, soprano: Chloe\/Priestess
\nBettina Jensen, soprano: Joy
\nMaria Markina, mezzo soprano: Doris
\nLaurence Meikle, baritone Alexandrian
\nCoro Gulbenkian, choir
\nOrquestra Gulbenkian, orchestra
\nJennifer Condon, conductor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"