Sheer Conviction
Handel's 'Agrippina' -
heard by
ROBERT ANDERSON'... Handel's music survives gloriously, with singers and orchestra at top voltage.'
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A film by Nayo Titzin about this production at the Berlin State Opera called 'Facing Agrippina' is included with the set. Frankly I would run a mile rather than 'face' this particular woman, who was dangerous beyond most and a thoroughly bad lot. The film also serves another admirable purpose, effectively persuading me that I need not regret having missed performances of the work in this version. The Emperor Claudius, for instance, is got up most to resemble a pumpkin, with a diminutive cross surmounting a mitre, presumably in mockery of the contemporary Pope Clement XI, who became hopelessly embroiled in the War of the Spanish Succession...
Copyright © 16 November 2011
Robert Anderson,
London UK
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