An Afternoon at the Opera
St Michael’s Church - 21/08/22
We begin again with a declaration of interest, as we must with musical events bearing Brian Bannatyne-Scott’s name. Brian’s successful operatic career has been somewhat curtailed following a serious accident a few years ago, and he has, happily for us, used some of his unaccustomed time to write prolifically and well for the ‘Edinburgh Music Review’. Brian writes excellent reviews and has also made a great contribution to our Blog, passing on the history of his long operatic career, his knowledge of music and the processes involved in making music, producing a resource of great interest and educational value. Whilst no longer able to take part in staged opera, we are delighted that Brian’s concert performances are flourishing. He performed in a delightful concert at this same venue with mezzo Beth Taylor, singing Lieder and introducing Tom Cunningham and Alexander McCall Smith’s amusing ‘Songs of Edinburgh’. This year we have an equally delightful, and on Brian’s part vocally more powerful afternoon selection of operatic arias, with Brian singing bass, alongside charming and hugely talented performances from two of his former students, Caroline Taylor (soprano) and James Atkinson (baritone). They were accompanied by the excellent young pianist, Michał Gajzler, originally from Poland, now based in Glasgow, who performed the same role at Brian’s 2021 concert at this venue.
Brian began this concert with a statement of intent, with a powerful and commanding performance of ‘Il Tempo fugge’ from Cavalieri’s ‘Rappresentatione di Anima, e di Corpo’ (1600). This was one of the earliest musical works to be described as an ‘opera’, and Brian sang the aria not only with power, but also great expression and flawless Italian diction.
This was followed by songs from Donizetti’s ‘Don Pasquale’, from Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ and from Mozart’s ‘Figaro’ and ‘Magic Flute’. Brian begins the second half with another magnificent bass solo, Gurnemanz’s ‘Good Friday Music’ from Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’, followed by songs from Verdi’s ‘Don Carlos’, Janacek’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’ and Lehar’s ‘Merry Widow’ all chosen to showcase Caroline Taylor’s outstanding soprano voice, James Atkinson’s baritone, as well as continuing bass parts from Brian.
Brian was appointed Honorary Professor of Singing at St Andrews University in 2010, and in that and other professional capacities has a fine knowledge of upcoming talented Scottish singers. Both Caroline and James are highly successful prize-winning singers near the start of their careers.
Caroline Taylor in particular shone in this programme. A very talented soprano, also a charming and intelligent actress, she moved apparently effortlessly from the coquettish Norina in ‘Don Pasquale’ to Bizet’s virtuous Micaela, to Mozart’s Susanna, and the flirtatious vixen in ‘Cunning Little Vixen’, concluding with one of the best renderings of ‘Vilja’s Lied’ from ‘The Merry Widow’ that I with my Austrian heritage have heard. James was by contrast working under the burden of a bout of flu, shouldered heroically for most of the performance although it took its toll slightly in the long Philip/Rodrigo duet from ‘Don Carlos’ in the second half. Nonetheless his gentle expressive baritone shone through, and his two duets with Caroline, his real-life partner, the Papagena-Papageno Duet from ‘The Magic Flute’ and at the end the ‘Lippen Schweigen’ duet from ‘The Merry Widow’ were both pure delight.
A word to conclude for Michał Gajzler, the accompanist, whose performance last year impressed and continues to do so.
