BBCNOW/Martín/De Niese review – from Ravel's masterful orchestration to Poulenc's anguished monologue
To contrast the magical fairytale world of Ravel's Ma Mère L'Oye with the nightmarish anguish of Poulenc's female protagonist in his monodrama La Voix Humaine made for bold programming. It took the audience from storytelling with its promise of happily-ever-after, to eavesdropping on a traumatic phone call that signals the breakup of a relationship.
Marking the 150th anniversary of Ravel's birth and doing him the honour of performing his full ballet score rather than the more commonly heard suite of movements, the musicians of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales seemed to luxuriate in the mastery of Ravel, the supreme orchestrator. The principal guest conductor, Jaime Martín, coaxed out all the languidly expressive beauty, the playfulness and the wit. It was the perfect foil for the emotional turmoil of the Poulenc.
This was effectively a semi-staging of the one-act opera based on Jean Cocteau's play, with soprano Danielle de Niese portraying the woman who, alone on a loveseat sofa, talks to the man who has jilted her, living through the dying embers of her five-year affair, hoping against hope that she can rekindle their love. De Niese conveyed all too credibly the elements of past intimacy, the self-delusion, the gradually disintegrating persona, the admission of her attempted suicide the previous night. And talking on an old-fashioned phone with a telephone cord, she could toy with using the cord as though to strangle herself just as the libretto demands, a detail lost in productions that update the conversation to use a mobile. It goes without saying that the pain of rejection is never anything but wholly contemporary.
Poulenc made it clear in his preface that he wanted the work to 'bathe in the greatest orchestral sensuality' and this fine balance between the often almost matter-of-fact setting of the words and the underlying lyricism and passion was powerfully realised here, the sympathy between singer and conductor always evident. Dramatic tensions were sharply focused, Poulenc making each interruption – phone lines crossed, or cut off – heart-stopping for potentially spelling the ultimate separation.
De Niese is very much a singing actor and brought a heightened relevance to the succession of climactic moments, but it was her eschewing of too obvious histrionics that ensured this performance its essential strength.
Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 11 February and then available on BBC Sounds.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Martin Lewis helped me get £14k in council tax but I'm not happy
One of the consumer champion's fans shared a story on how he successfully challenged his council tax payment, only for there to be a sting in the tail Consumer champion Martin Lewis was heaped with praise online after his sage advice helped a man claim back more than £14,000 in excess council tax payments – yet the story took a bittersweet turn. One of his followers heeded the expert's advice and was over the moon to get tens of thousands of pounds back after discovering his property was placed in the wrong council tax band, only later to share there was a "sad" twist to the tale. Martin had initially uploaded a video on his X account encouraging the public to tune in to the latest instalment of his self-titled BBC Sounds podcast. In it, he complained about the council tax band system in England and Scotland. His message was paired with the caption: "Are you in one of 400,000 homes that are in the wrong council tax band? If so, you could be due £1,000s back!" He added: "It really is quite unbelievable that if you live in England and Scotland, the council tax band you are in today is still dictated by a stop-gap, drive-by valuation done back in 1991 that was only meant to last a couple of years. "And when I say drive-by, I'm literally talking a couple of estate agents in a car often, with a clipboard in second gear going, 'Band C, Band D, Band E' – and that is still in place today. So no surprise up to 400,000 homes are in the wrong band. If you're in the wrong band and if you challenge it, not only can you get it lowered, you can get a backdated payout back to when you moved in or 1993, whichever was sooner." The expert, who also hosts The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV, later told people not to dispute their council tax band without doing their research first, adding: "However, don't just do this speculatively because then you could get it wrong and they put your band up or even your neighbour's band up. You need to follow my full, step-by-step check and challenge process that I go through in detail in the podcast." Taking this advice on board, one fan, Rob Dean, sought about correcting the council tax band for not only his mother's property but also that of his neighbours. He replied to Martin's video: "Did that for my mum following your guidance and got £6000+ back and then told the three neighbours who were also in the wrong band. Overall total was £14.5k. Only sad part is that we'd all overpaid the water rates too!" He made no suggestion that he had managed to claw back any of that money. Others also shared their experiences of challenging their council tax bands. One person said: "I've been waiting for a decision for more than six months," while another follower added: "Just checked mine as I've always thought it seemed too high – turns out I am in the right band, but right at the bottom of it!" A third person sought Martin's help, saying: "My sister challenged her band last October. VOA [Valuation Office Agency] said it can take up to a year before they decide!! Is this right??" Challenging your council tax band Martin's Money Saving Expert website offers a comprehensive guide on how to contest your council tax band, detailing the steps homeowners can take to secure a refund if they believe they've been incorrectly categorised. For an in-depth look at the procedure, click here. But in brief, he proposed two approaches for those looking to challenge their council tax band. The first step is to compare your band with that of neighbours in similar or identical properties, with resources available on his website for residents in England and Scotland to facilitate this comparison. The second step involves a valuation check, where individuals can use the Money Saving Expert site to estimate the value of their property back in 1991, which was when the current bands were established, despite the tax being introduced in 1993. Martin pointed out that anyone who purchased their home after 1991 can "use its price and date of sale" as a basis for valuation. However, he warned: "This can't be used as evidence if you challenge your band. But it enables you to check out various property prices on your street and is an important test that you're on the right track." If both criteria are met, Martin said that you can then present a challenge to the VOA, either formally or informally, recommending the formal route although acknowledging it's "available to fewer people". Those eligible to lodge a formal challenge must have "lived in the property for six months or less (it doesn't matter whether you own or rent, though if renting you should notify the landlord as a courtesy)". For individuals who can't make a formal challenge, Martin suggested: "Over the years we've heard feedback from people who've been told they can't challenge as they've lived in their property too long – yet the VOA has a statutory duty to uphold the integrity of Council Tax bands list. "This means you can still submit a request for an 'informal review' of your Council Tax band, though the burden is on you to provide compelling evidence that your band is wrong, to persuade the VOA to do the review."
Scotsman
18 hours ago
- Scotsman
Alison Spittle brings new solo show 'Big' to Edinburgh Fringe
Irish comedian and writer Alison Spittle is set to return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer with her brand-new solo show 'Big', running at Monkey Barrel 1 from the 29th of July to the 24th of August. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Known for her work on stage, screen and radio, Spittle's latest hour takes a bold and candid look at body image, self-worth and identity, drawing on a turbulent and transformative year in her life. After a chance encounter on a train triggered a serious health scare, Spittle began an unexpected weight-loss journey—now the subject of this heartfelt and hilarious new show. Big explores what happens when the world treats you differently because of your body, and whether changing yourself can ever really be the answer. Spittle reflects on her experiences as a working-class fat girl trying to fit into a middle-class, mid-sized world. With her trademark mix of honesty and humour, she asks how much of ourselves we're willing to lose in order to feel accepted—and whether it's possible to love who you were as much as who you're becoming. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Audiences can expect sharp, relatable storytelling as Spittle navigates everything from missing trains to fitting on rollercoasters, alongside moments of emotional insight drawn from a year that changed everything. Alison Spittle (c) Matt Stronge A familiar face from Pointless Celebrities, Richard Osman's House of Games, and Celebrity Gogglebox, Alison is also the co-creator of the popular BBC Sounds podcast Wheel of Misfortune, and has written and starred in her own sitcom Nowhere Fast. Big marks her highly anticipated return to the Fringe following two successful back-to-back runs with her previous shows Wet and Soup. Alison Spittle: Big runs at Monkey Barrel 1 from 29th July to 24th August (not 12th) at 4.45pm.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
A bold concert with a mighty juggernaut
Keith Bruce five stars THE RSNO's Music Director Thomas Sondergard has form with Shostakovich, and especially the mighty juggernaut that is the composer's Symphony No 11, 'The Year 1905'. It was the work he conducted as a late replacement for Alexander Lazarev in 2009, beginning his relationship with the orchestra, and the one with which he made a significant impression on metropolitan critics conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the London Proms. This concert boldly placed the work at the end of an all-Shostakovich programme that began with the exuberant Festive Overture of a few years previously, and featured the much chewier Cello Concerto No 2 of a decade later, with Daniel Muller-Schott the guest soloist. Read More Review: Bruce Springsteen, Anfield, Liverpool Review, Lear, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh: 'a mesmerising depiction' Review: Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed, Pitlochry Festival Theatre The RSNO was rewarded with a very well-filled auditorium for its season-closer, a result few might have predicted and which should give the management food for thought. Especially gratifying must surely have been the rapt concentration given to the concerto, composed for Rostropovich and much thornier than his first concerto for his illustrious countryman. Muller-Schott brought the required powerful intensity to the work, his solo introductions to the movements absolutely compelling. It is a huge work for the cellist, but the details of his exchanges with the orchestra were just as memorable. The RSNO's horns and the percussion team were superb, and the classic combination of harp and flute later provided a moment of calm reassurance in an anxious piece. Muller-Schott added a palate-cleansing encore of Bach to send the audience into the interval, but echoes of the opening of the concerto with the start of the symphony were still apparent after it. The RSNO strings on the platform were a mixture of well-known, recently returned and new faces but the sound was richly familiar and focused. The dynamic flexibility of the modern RSNO is not all of Sondergard's making, but he drives this orchestra with great skill and not a detail of the composer's score, in all its programmatic ambiguity, was left on the page. If the opening overture's boisterous celebration of the October Revolution sounds uncharacteristically straightforward, everything that followed was less concerned with decoding the composer's vexed relationship with the Russian authorities than with making the best possible case for his music. As Lazarev has said, and Sondergard would surely agree, that is exactly as it should be.
