Macbeth (2021)

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is curated and compiled by Paul Weller. Titled Into Tomorrow, it features 15 tracks including songs by Richard Hawley, Durand Jones, Third Ear Band, Declan O’Rourke, Marvin Powell and a Weller rarity!

With the Latvian Festival Orchestra Riga directed by Karsten Januschke, German bass Andreas Bauer Kanabas unleashes passions of love, treason and despair in a well-chosen programme of arias. At the point of deception, the soul not only experiences the greatest disappointment, but also clarity and truthfulness. Andreas Bauer Kanabas traces these moments of deep longing and melancholy with interpretations that are rooted in great emotional power.

This recording is the culmination of 10 years of research by Dr Emily Baines, and it brings to dazzling life the fascinating and effervescent performance style found in eighteenth-century mechanical musical instruments. It contains never before heard transcriptions of music, found in eighteenth-century barrel organs and musical clocks.

In 1998 Ludovic Tézier sang his first Verdi role on stage, taking the part of Ford in a Falstaff production in Tel Aviv. At his side was Alessandro Corbelli, giving his début in the title role. “I could sing Ford with a sort of lyrical technique“, the baritone recalls; ”I was still young at the time.” He was 30 years old when he delivered the grim, brooding aria “È sogno? O realtà?” from Act II of Falstaff, and it formed the starting point of his career as a Verdi baritone. But he also associates the role with a different, highly personal experience: “Two days before the première of my second Ford my father passed away”, he relates. “It’s amazing how much energy Verdi has, both for the audience and for us singers. Of course his roles are often very demanding, but the music also works like a fountain of youth. Verdi is full of vitality. That’s the only reason why I could stand on stage and sing two days after my father’s death.”