Festival 2012 Podcasts

Get insights into Glyndebourne productions with our series of podcasts which feature interviews with artists and production staff.

Festival 2012 podcasts

Listen to Ravel Double Bill podcast (22 mins)

Peggy Reynolds gives an introduction to two of the early twentieth century’s most intriguing operas, Maurice Ravel’s L’heure Espagnole and L’enfant et les Sortileges. General Director of Glyndebourne David Pickard praises Ravel’s mastery of orchestration and the unique soundworlds he creates in these two fascinating works. Richard Langham Smith, Research Professor at the Royal College of Music, explores the operatic farce of L’heure Espagnole and considers psychoanalytic readings of L’enfant et les Sortileges. And pianist and musicologist Dr Emily Kilpatrick explores the texts upon which the operas were based and tells us of Ravel’s fascination with Spain, childhood, and the music of machines. (Producer: Mair Bosworth)

Musical extracts used with kind permission of Decca.

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Listen to The Fairy Queen podcast (23 mins)

A guide to the theatrical and musical history of one of the earliest English operas, Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, with music from the live recording of our 2009 production. Presenter Peggy Reynolds considers the nature of the semi-opera and its origins in theatre, song, orchestral music and masque, and explores the historical and political context of the opera, which was first performed just a few years after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. With expert insights from Professor Lisa Jardine of Queen Mary, University of London, Andrew Pinnock, musicologist and Honorary Secretary of the Purcell Society and from General Director of Glyndebourne, David Pickard. (Producer: Mair Bosworth)

The DVD of the 2009 Glyndebourne performance of The Fairy Queen is available here

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Listen to La bohème podcast (20 mins)

Peggy Reynolds provides an introduction to one of the world’s most loved and performed operas – Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. With expert insights from Conductor Kirill Karabits, musicologist and cultural historian Alexandra Wilson, the General Director of Glyndebourne David Pickard, Head of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, Julian Johnson and the soprano Irina Iordachescu. (Producer: Mair Bosworth)

Musical extracts used with kind permission of EMI Classics.
www.emiclassics.com/releasedetails

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Listen to Le nozze di Figaro podcast (20 mins)

A guide to Glyndebourne’s signature opera, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, with music from the live recording of our 1962 production. Presenter Peggy Reynolds explores the historical context of the opera, the politics behind its humour, and Mozart’s sublime music of rage and forgiveness. With contributions from Conductor Jane Glover, General Director of Glyndebourne David Pickard, Head of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, Julian Johnson and Dr John Leigh of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge – a specialist in 18^th Century French thought and literature. [Producer: Mair Bosworth]

The 1962 Glyndebourne recording of Figaro is available here

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Listen to La Cenerentola podcast (19 mins)

Presenter Peggy Reynolds provides an introduction to Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola. She sets the opera in historical context and explores some of the themes and stories behind Rossini's great work. With contributions from writer and mythographer Marina Warner on the origins of the Cinderella myth, conductor Vladimir Jurowski on Rossini's use of coloratura, and Director Sir Peter Hall on La Cenerentola as post-enlightenment reimagining of the Cinderella story. (Producer: Mair Bosworth)

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Listen to The Cunning Little Vixen podcast (15 mins)

Presenter Peggy Reynolds explores some of the themes and stories behind Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen. With contributions from music writer Gavin Plumley, who identifies a comic strip as the source of the libretto and tells us of the composer's outings to find foxes in the wild. From Julian Johnson - Head of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London - who sets the opera in historical context and helps us pick out the influence of Moravian folk music and speech patterns in Janáček's score. And from Melly Still, Director of the 2012 Glyndebourne production of The Cunning Little Vixen, who explores the deeper meanings of this deceptively simple story of human and animal lives running in parallel. (Producer: Mair Bosworth)

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