Month: December 1999

Wachat Auf: The King’s Consort At The Wigmore Hall, 9 December 1999

We rated this gig “very good”. Some lesser known works by Bach’s lesser known contemporaries, sandwiched between a bit of Telemann and a bit of Bach:

  • Ouverture “Perpetuum Mobile”, Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Balletti Lamentabili a 4, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
  • O Heilige Zeit, Johann Kuhnau
  • Sinfonia No 2 in C Minor, Johann Ludwig Krebs
  • Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Strimme Cantata BWV 140, Johann Sebastian Bach

Here is O Heilige Zeit performed by Solomon’s Knot:

Here i the Krebs Sinfonia, performed by Capella jenensis:

Here is a recording of Wachet Auf by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman – whom we saw 25 years later performing Telemann sonatas and Tafelmusik at The Wig:

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, A Version by Frank McGuiness, Theatre Royal Plymouth At The Richmond Theatre, 3 December 1999

Another Friday, another theatre visit. This time we had even booked for the Saturday, but switched to the Friday to accommodate Caroline Freeman’s engagement party on the Saturday.

Janie and I rated this Hedda Gabler as “good”.

Janie and I had seen a mediocre (or, in Janie’s words, “OMG it was dreadful”) Hedda in Holland Park a few year’s earlier…

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, Holland Park, 17 July 1993

Even after this 1999 Hedda, I still didn’t feel that Janie had seen a good enough version, so we did it all again at The Almeida a few year’s later.

Anyway, this one was a West End preview with Francesca Annis as Hedda and other West End names such as Peter Bowles and Nyree Dawn Porter in tow. Frank McGuiness directed it.

This one started in Plymouth a week or so before we saw it in Richmond. Here is Leon Winston’s review from the Herald Express:

Hedda Winston HeraldHedda Winston Herald 23 Nov 1999, Tue Herald Express (Torquay, Devon, England) Newspapers.com

This production didn’t seem to make much sense to Charles Spencer in The Telegraph:

Hedda Spencer TelegraphHedda Spencer Telegraph 02 Dec 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Becky Gaunt in The Feltham Chronicle liked it but felt short-changed by Frank McGuiness’s scaled-back version.

Hedda Gaunt FelthamHedda Gaunt Feltham 02 Dec 1999, Thu The Feltham Chronicle (Hounslow, London, England) Newspapers.com