Tony Fitzpatrick, UK. blog@tonyfitz.uk

ENO revival of a production I saw in 2014 with Stuart Skelton as Grimes. Brilliant production and wonderfully sung and acted. Peter Grimes will be forever associated with the Suffolk town where Britten lived with Peter Pears and established his annual music festival. I love this opera, it is brilliant music, and sharp in its portrayal of a nasty incestuous seaside community. It is also timeless in a strange way. Crabbe's poem was set in the late 18th century. The ENO production is set just after the war (when the opera was written), complete with spivs and the paraphernalia of black market Britain. It works brilliantly, as the theme of an outsider dealing with a community racked with hypocrisy seems to be forever.

The bible thumping Methodist priest who frequents prostitutes when drunk, the old widow high on drugs, the JP who cheats on his wife - all of life is here. An everyday tale of AnyTown folk. The production emphasises these - the Vicar dancing with another man, the Justice with his trousers round his legs (and wearing a tutu), Auntie played as a suit wearing lesbian. The final act was very clever - using moving scenery of walls to show the attitude and anger of the town closing in on Grimes following the death of his second 'prentice.

Gwyn Hughes Jones is a wonderful Grimes. A big hulk of a man, unkempt, rough, but with a desire to be accepted by "polite" society. His aria "the Great Bear and the Pleiades", was perfect. The support is also powerful, especially Alex Otterburn's portrayal of Ned Keene - all black marketeer spiv, wide permanent smile and big lapelled suits. Ellen Orford is sung by Elizabeth Llewellyn, a fine performance especially in the second Act when she despairs of Peter and tries to protect John the apprentice. Martyn Brabbins and the Orchestra were superb, and justly deserved their curtain call.

Very touching and beautifully acted film starring the 89 year old Michael Caine and 86 year old Glenda Jackson in their last roles (Jackson died in June 2023 nine months after the end of filming). They had last starred together in a film in 1975. The true story concerns Bernard Jordan, living with his wife Irene in a nursing home on the English South Coast. Without telling the nursing home staff, Bernard travelled, solo, to France to attend the 70th commemoration of the D Day landings in 1944. He was missing for barely 48 hours but his determination to be part of the event inspired stories, press activity, and this film. However it is more than just the story of an old man going AWOL. It concerns the strength and longevity of his marriage to Renee, his war experience and the mark they made on his character, and most movingly the total utter waste of war. A sub story involves another veteran, Arthur, who Bernie befriends in France. Arthur is an alcoholic, forever feeling guilty about the death of his brother during the war. Together Bernie and Arthur visit the war graves in Bayeux - Arthur to finally find his brother, Bernie to remember one particular soldier he made a promise to during the Normandy landings. The quality and class of the two principal actors shines through a very moving film. Bernie Jordan died six months after his trip to France, his wife just seven days later.

BBC radio play as part of a celebration of a century of radio broadcasting. Somewhat confused and confusing story set in the future. It is 2065 and Avery Jones is on a deep space mission to listen for signs of extra-terrestrial life by intercepting radio transmissions from far star systems. The technology however mostly collects radio waves from earth, and Avery listens to a variety of stories from past broadcasts, including one involving a romance with the creator of virtual worlds, and another with a criminal OAP being interviewed by an Android. The idea being that the play "looked forward, not backward, exploring the human impulses to narrativise our lives and takes a sideways look at the way current media trends interact with audio drama." Frankly it didn't really work and I got bored. Written by Magdalene Bird, Jack Fairey and Mohsen Shah. Cast included Natalie Simpson, Michael Shelford, Ann Mitchell, Sam Pamphilon and Cassie Layton. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Calum Perrin. Executive Producer: Joby Waldman. First broadcast September 2023.

My favourite G&S operetta, the totally ridiculous story of Parliament being hijacked by Fairies to address the love between the Arcadian Shepherd (and half Fairy) Strephon, and the young Ward of Chancellery, Phyllis. Very full matinee house on a warm October Saturday in London. A few delightful and lovely touches, including the member of the House of Lords who bore a very striking resemblance to Boris Johnson, and quips about ENO's current tussles with the Arts Council. I also enjoyed the singing pantomime horse, and there were various digs at the current "Conserve-a-tive" government. The Head of the London Fire Brigade at the time of composition, Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw KCB (17 January 1830 – 25 August 1908), although a non-singing (or really appearing) part, was on stage to advise the Coliseum House of the fire regulations and to make lots of jokes about ticket prices, performance quality and the like. Wonderful collection of fairies and peers of all shapes and sizes played by the ENO chorus who were clearly enjoying themselves a lot. ENO does G&S very very well - and I enjoy it very much.

I am seeing a revival of ENO's Peter Grimes next week, and this was my taster. An excellent production, beautifully sung and directed, with clever and intelligent use of projected scenery - mostly sea scapes, storms and the like. Grimes, sung by English tenor Peter Wedd, was a more vulnerable, slightly less "rough" character than often depicted. The focus following the death of the second apprentice John was on the potential for Grimes to commit suicide; he was shown with a large knife just before the final scene obviously contemplating opening his wrists. The "crowd" scenes were intelligently done - not too raucous, with a somewhat thoughtful interpretation of the closed and judgemental community of the Borough. My only niggle was a rather unnecessary scene involving a cake made in the shape of a full size dead body that was cut up and eaten whilst Grimes was contemplating his fate - didn't work well, and whilst I imagine it was to depict the community "consuming and destroying" an individual, it didn't really work. I had never seen a production of Grimes from a non English speaking opera company before, and I was very impressed.

This is a big deal - the "preliminary evening of the Ring" in the new cycle for the Royal Opera House directed by Barrie Kosky, due to complete by 2027. Beautifully sung and played, and dramatically presented. A few odd quirks though. Erde (the "primal earth mother, goddess of earthly wisdom") was depicted by a naked, non-singing, 82 year old actress and model Rose Knox-Peebles who never left the stage, the singing part voiced offstage by Wiebke Lehmkuhl. I suppose the concept was that she was observing all, with the terrible knowledge of what was to come. The main set was a large model of the fallen world ash tree (from which Wotan had taken his staff), which served as the Rhein (eh? no water), the hall of the Gods, and the mines of the Nibelung. Liquid gold poured from it's knots, and the Rhein maidens tormented Alberich darting in and out of the branches. Poor Fricka was placed in a bath and had the liquid gold poured over her when measuring out the ransom for the giants! The rainbow bridge was a huge array of coloured confetti which swamped the stage at the end, and gave a very excited Loge (sung by Sean Panikkar) a playground in which to dance and whoop. I enjoyed it, despite occasional bafflement, and especially appreciated Christopher Purves evil personified portrayal of Alberich. A totally packed Covent Garden, which particularly appreciated a curtain call by the orchestra - Pappano brought them all to the stage at the end.

BBC radio play exploring the history of HIV through the proxy of Jude, a 50 year old woman who has been living with the infection for 20 years. Jude "pauses" her medication to have a conversation with the virus about it's origins, how it spread throughout the planet, and for her more crucially how she came to be infected. The "virus" takes her from a journey involving a diseased monkey at the turn of the 20th century, through squalor in Africa, the hedonistic attitudes to drugs and sex of the 60s and 70s, and then to Jude's care free student and early adulthood days in Edinburgh. The role of antiretroviral drugs was well described, with Jude able to put the virus "back in his box" at the end, and then capable of proceeding once again with a broadly normal life. Well done, and ingeniously conceived by playwright Anita Sullivan who has been living well with HIV since 2000. The production also included speakers from the Terence Higgins Trust who shared their own personal stories. Cast included David Haig, Louise Brealey, David Carlyle, Don Gilet, Peter Bankole, Madeline Potter, Richard Laing, Joel MacCormack, and Martin Laird. Produced by Karen Rose. First broadcast July 2023.

Curious and rather entertaining disc exploring the connections between the emerging early music and cabaret scenes in early twentieth-century Paris. Stéphanie d'Oustrac (mezzo), Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre. Music by Cavalli, Marais, Monteverdi, and Johann Vierdanck (c.1605–1646). Disc released August 2023.

Piano music of Colombia from a list of composers I had never heard of, namely Amparo Ángel, Maurico Arias-Esguerra, Juan Domingo Córdoba, Juan Antonio Cuéllar, Carolina Noguera, Catalina Peralta, Pedro Felipe Ramírez, and Pedro Sarmiento. Nicely played, but all a bit melancholy to be honest. Mauricio Arias-Esguerra (piano). CD released August 2023.

Very famous "whodunnit" novel first published in 1951. Basically, Tey's fictional police inspector Alan Grant is in bed in hospital with a fracture, and rather bored. Always interested in the various types of "criminal faces", he is sent a set of printed portraits by a friend to cheer him up. One of these is Richard III, King of England 1483-1485, and supposedly the murderer of the Princes in the Tower (Edward V and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury). With the help of an American research student, Grant begins an investigation into whether Richard was the murderer using contemporary accounts, historical sources and the like, all from his hospital bed, using the police procedural processes of means, motive and opportunity. In conclusion he exonerates Richard and blames Henry VII, who defeated Richard at Bosworth, for the crime. Well written and very cleverly done, critic Anthony Boucher called the book "one of the permanent classics in the detective field.... one of the best, not of the year, but of all time". The novel is listed as number one on the CWA's Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list and number four on the MWA's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list.

First published 1951. Read on Kindle.

Nice, popular prom, with three well known works. I wasn't previously aware that Beethoven's exhuberant overture "The Consecration of the House" (Die Weihe des Hauses) had been commissioned for the opening of Vienna's new Theater in der Josefstadt on October 3, 1822, and was hugely influenced by Beethoven's recent study of the works of Bach and Handel. The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, one of Switzerland's oldest orchestras, is the resident orchestra at the large and spectacular Tonhalle concert hall in Zurich, which was opened in 1895 by Johannes Brahms. This was their first visit to the Proms for ten years.