Press

Stravinsky Oedipus Rex / Bit20

Bergen Tidende (Norway) 29.5.2011

Ligeti Le Grand Macabre – Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires

Swissinfo (Switzerland)  2.5.2011

Revista Bacanal (Argentina)  1.5.2011

Diario Argentino (Argentina)  27.3.2011

La Nacion (Argentina), 25.3.2011

Revista Ñ, Clarin (Argentina) 19.3.2011

Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre / English National Opera

Le Grand Macabre at La Monnaie (credit Bernd Uhlig)

“… several of the singers made an appreciable mark in a musical performance, under the tight baton of Swiss contemporary music specialist Baldur Brönnimann, that was never short on vigorous attack.

“The overall result was musically and dramatically fun, and visually unforgettable.”
Opera News (New York City), December 2009

“Brilliant and witty as a piece of staging, blistering as an ensemble performance, Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre opened at English National Opera on Thursday after enough advance cloaca-and-dagger leakage to very nearly spoil the fun.

“No advance publicity, however, conveyed the glorious invention of the music, which glides and cascades as one original idea elides seamlessly with another.

“… Baldur Brönnimann conducted with committed dexterity and the orchestra shone.”
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer (London), September 2009

“Under Baldur Brönnimann, ENO’s orchestra realise the score with vivacity and discipline, while Watts, Andersson, Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Bourne and Bottone make the absurdities, exaggerations, uglinesses and angularities of Ligeti’s vocal writing sparkle. A production like this only comes along once a decade. Forget the whingeing about English repertoire for English companies. This polyglot extravaganza is a triumph.”
Anna Picard, The Independent (London), September 2009

“Dazzlingly staged round a giant, naked, glass fibre woman, whose orifices spew out debauched characters teetering on the brink of Armageddon (or not, as it turns out), Le Grand Macabre launches English National Opera’s season in a style that makes you wonder where the company goes from here.

“It’s still an eye-popping, ear-busting show.

“Andrew Watts as Prince Go-Go, Pavlo Hunka’s Nekrotzar, Susan Bickley’s Miss Whiplash housewife, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as a pot-bellied lout: these are standout individuals in an excellent ensemble, expertly conducted by Baldur Brönnimann. Rush to see it. After all, you don’t know how long you’ve got.”
Richard Morrison, The Times (London), September 2009

“… an all snorting, all growling orchestra (brilliant under Baldur Brönnimann). Where else will you find a Monteverdian cacophony of motor horns?”
Edward Seckerson, The Independent (London), September 2009

“The production by Alex Ollé and Valentina Carrasco […] is spectacular and brought off to what seems perfection. The singers […] deal with their many challenges and acting assignments with complete assurance and conviction, and the ENO Orchestra plays brilliantly for Baldur Brönnimann.

“The whole moves along with energy; we are after all heading for the apocalypse – the best response, and here a wonderful ending, is to open a bottle of champagne and offer a toast. Cheers! A great start to ENO’s new season; something for everyone here.”
The Opera Critic, September 2009

“The ENO Orchestra plays superbly for Baldur Brönnimann, and Ligeti’s moments of genius – from the opening car horns to the rapturous closing passacaglia – are as vivid as ever, just as the sly digs at his predecessors, including Monteverdi, Beethoven and Wagner, not to mention the anticipations of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest, make their mark, too.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian (London), September 2009

“Baldur Brönnimann conducts a brilliant musical realisation that jostles constantly with the visuals for the centre of attention.”
George Hall, The Stage (London), September 2009

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