Tony Fitzpatrick, UK. blog@tonyfitz.uk

The story of Lili Elbe, the transgender Danish painter who lived 1882-1931 has been recently told by the acclaimed film, the Danish Girl, starring Eddie Redmayne in 2015. Tobias Picker, the American composer has made an opera of her story, and cast American transgender Baritone Lucia Lucas in the principal role. It is a remarkable piece, musically very approachable. Commissioned by Konzert und Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland, it is the story of "a love overcoming all obstacles", focusing as it does on Lili's relationship with her wife, Gerda Wegener (1886-1940). Regularly cross dressing after being used as a stand-in by her artist wife for a portrait of an actress, Elbe was an early example of sex change surgery, but died after rejection on an implanted uterus following her fourth operation. The opera dwells on the romantic entanglements between Lili, her wife, and various suitors, including her fiance at the time of her death, French art dealer Claude Lejeune. Fairly simple staging but highly effective. I wasn't totally sure about the attempt to paint Lili's doctor at the Dresden Municipal Women's Clinic, Professor Kurt Warnekros, as rather manipulative and controlling, but all romantic operas must I suppose have a villain. Lili and Gerda were prominent members of bohemian artistic society in Paris from 1912, and she lived openly as a woman posing when needed as Gerda's sister in law - the opera includes scenes from parties and exhibitions during Paris. A Danish court annulled the couple's marriage in October 1930 and Elbe was able to have her sex and name legally changed - this was depicted in the opera as the personal decision of the Danish King (who gets a walk on part!). Enjoyable and an excellent example of opera tackling a modern subject. Shout out to Lucia Lucas who gave an excellent performance - clearly with much personal investment in the story and background.

A collaboration between Avital's sublime mandolin playing and the ensemble for historical instruments 'Il Giardino Armonico' and conductor and founder Giovanni Antonini. A reinterpretation of three concertos for mandolin by Emanuele Barbella (1718-1777), Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) and Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), as well as Avital's own arrangements of concertos by J. S. Bach and Vivaldi. Avi Avital (mandolin), Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini. CD released November 2023.

50th anniversary of the death of Noel Coward commemorated with a fun disc of songs and pieces written both by him and several of his contemporaries. As well as Coward, it includes solos, duets and instrumental songs by Ned Rorem, Liza Lehmann, William Walton and Benjamin Britten. Mary Bevan (soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Joseph Middleton (piano). CD released November 2023.

Apparently before this album Riccardo Muti has never conducted Philip Glass. The music director of the Chicago Symphony conducts three Chicago inspired contemporary pieces on this excellent release. Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981) is the Chicago composer in residence, and has created "Hymn for Everyone" inspired by a poem of her mothers' and the emotional rollercoaster of the COVID pandemic. Very Aaron Copland in style, very American. Max Raimi, a viola player from the orchestra composed a series of songs using three settings by poet Liesel Muller. Lastly, we have the glories of Philip Glass's 11th Symphony from 2017 (Glass was a Chicago student in 1952 at the age of 15). As usual - bold and driving music, beautifully unfolding, carrying you away. It was premiered on Glass's 80th birthday, and is wonderfully recognisably Philip Glass's work. Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti. CD released August 2023.

A world premiere album of a song cycle written by Muhly for American/Chinese tenor Nicholas Phan. Reflecting themes of immigration and identity it is very compelling. The album includes Muhly's Lorne Ys My Liking, a setting of the 19th Chester Mystery Play (with countertenor Reginald Mobley), and Impossible Things, a triptych of poems by the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy. Phan has a very haunting voice that well suits this repertoire. Nicholas Phan, Brooklyn Rider, The Knights, Reginald Mobley, Lisa Kaplan, Colin Jacobsen, Eric Jacobsen. CD released July 2022.

Trio Agora consists of Zilvinas Brazauskas (clarinet), Natania Hoffman (cello) and Robertas Lozinskis (piano), all who hail from Lithuania. This album showcases mostly Latin american music with Tango rhythms and constructs at their heart, although there are Tango inspired pieces by Ravel and Stravinsky included. Composers include Piazzólla, Ginastera, and several new to me such as Rosendo Mendizábal (1868-1913). I was intrigued reading the sleeve notes that Tango was originally played with guitar, violin, flute, and clarinet, respectively. This changed later, and the bandoneon advanced to become the leading instrument. I enjoy this music very much, although it has not really been included in the repertoire by European chamber groups and orchestras. I especially like the quote "it is tempting to view the genre as a way to break out of the "classical" corset for a few days and enjoy the freedoms, the sensuality, the compelling rhythms, and the improvisational facets of tango. However, we believe that the same rigor, enthusiasm, and care needed to prepare classical repertoire is a necessity when performing and recording tango. Ultimately, the aim of "Hotel Tango" is to present music that we find compelling, beautiful, and varied, in a colorful journey in which all roads lead to tango". CD released June 2023.

Luke Bedford (b. 1978) is a multi award winning British composer, with a string of prizes and awards, and a stint as Wigmore Hall Composer in Residence 2008-11. This recent CD showcases some of his most important music over the past decade and a half. It includes a selection of his orchestral and larger-scale chamber works, namely his Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra (2017), the orchestral works Instability (commissioned for the Proms in 2015), and Outblaze the Sky (2007), and In the Voices of the Living (2017-19, written for tenor Mark Padmore and the London Sinfonietta). Bedford's music is described by broadcaster Tom Service as "music of brooding expressive intensity, charged with that indefinable quality that makes a piece sound as if it was written out of sheer necessity". Of all the pieces I found Voice of the Living the most interesting and approachable, but they are all clearly very fine and well crafted contemporary works. BBC Philharmonic, Juan José Mena, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Knussen, Mark Padmore (tenor), London Sinfonietta, Geoffrey Paterson, Arcis Saxophon Quartett, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ben Gernon. CD released November 2023.

Curious and enjoyable book. The main character, Jaako, runs a mushroom farming and exporting business in Finland. The Japanese go big on Finnish mushrooms it appears. Jaako receives a terminal prognosis from his doctor (apparently he is being poisoned), but when he goes home to his wife, also his business partner, he discovers that she is having an affair with one of their junior employees. Convinced that his wife is both behind his murder, and is angling to take over the company, he begins a process of investigating and trying to understand her motivation and methods. To make things more complicated, a rival mushroom exporting business has been established nearby, run by a bunch of local thugs, and they are trying to poach his staff. The story is inventive, clever, funny and well written, and it is obvious that the translation from the original Finnish has obviously been very well done. As a "whodunnit" of a murder, the idea of the victim still being alive, and investigating his own homicide was inspired. The deadpan style was also fun to read, and the serious bits (a man facing his own death with possibly his wife as the main suspect for his murder is fairly serious) were nicely thoughtful. Published in 2017, the book was shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year and the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award.

Having once again re-read (as I do annually) Dickens' Christmas classic, I decided to listen to this 1965 BBC radio adaption of the story, starring "theatrical titan" Ralph Richardson. It was very good, based very closely on the original text (albeit shortened down to an hour), with little of the modern changes found in recent adaptions on both stage and the radio. Richardson was both the narrator, and Scrooge, with minor parts for others, so it was very much a "one titan show". I loved spotting what they decided to cut - the detail of Scrooge's return home from school, or the games in the parlour of nephew Fred's house, for example. However it all worked very well. Starring Ralph Richardson, Frederick Treves, Mary Wimbush, John Ruddock, Wilfred Carter, Ralph Truman, Bruce Beeby, Shelia Grant, Eric Anderson, Jo Manning Wilson and Rosalind Shanks. Music composed and conducted by Christopher Whelan. Adapted and Produced by Charles Lefeaux.

The Fair Maid of the West (or a Girl Worth Gold) by Thomas Heywood was a two part English Renaissance drama first published in 1631. Part 1 however dates from 1597-1603, and part 2 some thirty years later. It is a fairly rubbish plot involving Bess, a "tapster" who works in a tavern in Plymouth. She is being wooed by Spencer, and early on he kills a bully who is attempting to abuse Bess. Spencer escapes to Spain, and Bess is sent to a tavern he owns in Fowey. She receives news of his death and of a bequest in her favour. There is a complex plot regarding attempts to prove her unchaste to deny her an inheritance, and eventually she and Spencer (who was not killed) are reunited. Part 2 involves adventures in Spain and the role of Bess and Spencer in quelling warfare between England and the Spanish.

The RSC play rather completely rewrites this, and sets the story in a pub with modern musical accompaniment (a jukebox!) and many other anachronisms. The core plot involving Bess (now renamed as Liz) and Spencer remains, and she does indeed travel to Spain following reports of his death (on a ship made out of bits of old pub bar wood!) Otherwise it is rather just played for laughs, with lots of pub related humour, and a great detail of knockabout comedy. I rather enjoyed it, the cast seemed to be having great fun, and the idiocy of the story never really mattered. Enjoyable afternoon in the theatre.

Annual Christmas concert by this fine amateur a capella choir. Very enjoyable, with music from Palestrina, Edward Bairstow Bob Chilcott, John Rutter, Poulenc, and several others. Enlivened by a selection of traditional congregational carols.

I adore Leonard Bernstein's music, regard him as the epitome of sensible communication and education about classical music, and believe (although I never saw him in the flesh) that he was a brilliant conductor. However, he was a rubbish husband and family man. This new film focuses on Bernstein's relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre, and the ups and downs of their marriage over 27 years until her early death due to lung cancer in 1978. Bernstein was a homosexual, had numerous affairs with men both before and during his marriage, and wherever he went he craved attention, attracting lots of hangers-on. Bradley Cooper puts on a brilliant portrayal of Maestro Bernstein and the film evokes wonderfully the 1940s-early 1980s during which Bernstein was active. Cooper is aged with fantastic makeup, and the early year scenes are shot in black and white giving terrific atmosphere. Bernstein remained a terrible flirt until the end of his life, as the final part of the film, with him giving a masterclass in Tanglewood in 1987, make very clear. The re-creation of Bernstein conducting Mahler's Resurrection Symphony in the famous 1973 performance at Ely Cathedral was worth the price of admission alone. My favourite film of the year.

Warwick Arts Centre Cinema.

My brain hurts. A totally mad story involving time travel, body switching, murder mystery, and a 1920s upper class weekend party that is as corrupt and amoral as anything dreamt up by Christie or Sayers. Basically our hero finds himself with complete amnesia in a forest near a stately home. It turns out that the daughter of the family is to die that evening and his participation in the weekend party is part of an elaborate outside plot to try and solve the murder. However the events of each day just repeat on a loop, and he inhabits a different party guest body every cycle, giving him multiple chances to observe events from different perspectives. Although clever in concept, the story is long, tricky to follow given the permutations of people, timelines and events, and has an ending that is totally unexpected. I sort of enjoyed it, but found it a little over long and rather frustrating, with, to be honest, rather too much unnecessary blood and violence. This was a big bestseller when released in 2018, with multiple awards.

Read on Kindle. Published February 2018.

Album of 15th and 16th century Italian Renaissance music to celebrate the Christmas season. Music by Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517), Giovanni Animuccia (1510-1570), Serafino Razzi (1531-1613), Maurizio Cazzati (1620-1677), Francesco Soto de Langa (1534-1619), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Giovanni Paolo Cima (1570-1630), and Johannes Ciconia (1370-1412). Capella de la Torre specialises in early wind music, and was founded in 2005 by the oboist and shawm specialist Katharina Bäuml in Berlin (a shawm is a a 12th century conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument). To quote their website "in order to make the music of past centuries sound fresh for modern ears, current historical and musicological research plays a vital role in Capella de la Torre's programs. Especially important is the work with original sources and texts". Capella de la Torre, directed by Katharina Bäuml. CD released December 2023.

Elizabeth Poston (1905-1987) was a British composer noted for her vocal and choral minatures. This CD is the first ever dedicated to her work and features a collection of rather delightful seasonal music. Poston worked for the BBC during the war as Director of Music in the European Service, and was a protege of both Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock. She composed a large amount of music for the radio in the post war years, and was an accomplished pianist. Ciaran Yeo, Oliver Morrell, Roger Mullis (narrator), Alisha Ardeshna (narrator), Oliver Martin-Smith, Nina Vinther, Isabelle Blain, Alexandra McPhee, Selma Klemming, Tom Winpenny (organ). St. Albans Cathedral Girls Choir, Lay Clerks of St. Albans Cathedral Choir, directed by Tom Winpenny. CD released November 2023.

Chilcott (b. 1985) composed his Christmas Oratorio in 2019. It is good fun, with the Christmas story told in words from the Gospels of St Luke and St Matthew with a selection of 16th-19th century poetry. The work includes some congregational carols, and some beautiful unaccompanied pieces for the choir. Neal Davies (bass-baritone), Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Nick Pritchard (tenor), The Choir of Merton College, Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas. CD released November 2023.

An album of seasonal choral music from professional US choir, the Phoenix Chorale, incorporating a nice collection of Catalan folksongs and Hispanic music from the Renaissance. It also includes the Trinity Triptych, a 2021 commission from British choral composer Celia McDowall (b. 1951), as well as some more popular works. Phoenix Chorale, directed by Christopher Gabbitas. CD released October 2023.

A collaboration between composer Patrick Hawes (b. 1958) and the Voce Chamber Choir of Connecticut, this CD consists of twenty brand-new Christmas choral works for mostly unaccompanied choir. The Nativity, with words by Andrew Hawes covers the events of the Christmas story. The second part of the album consists of a set of Christmas Motets. The album is completed with a collection of Christmas themed works based on a variety of other texts. Stephen Scarlato (organ), Voce Chamber Choir, Mark Singleton. CD released October 2023.

A rather gorgeous, and well reviewed, collection of carols "old and new". Includes a world premiere recording by composer Toby Young, "O Adonai". Armonico Consort, Christopher Monks. CD released October 2023. BBC Music Magazine Christmas Choice December 2023.

A re-listen. The story of Christ's birth told through music from Bryd, Laudrisen, Rutter, MacMillan, Judith Weir and many others. Gorgeous singing from the Ora Singers directed by Suzi Digby. CD released November 2018.

Recording of this seasonal favourite made in Coventry Cathedral in November 2022. American conductor John Nelson, known for his interpretations of Berlioz, has made a recording that encompasses the development of Handel's masterpiece from 1741 (the original autograph) to the early 1750s, with the addition of "bonus tracks" giving alternative versions of several arias. Lucy Crowe (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Michael Spyres (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), The English Concert & Choir, John Nelson. CD released November 2023.

Harmonia Sacra was formed by Peter Leech in the Summer of 2009, for the "performance of late Renaissance and Baroque choral works, as well as contemporary choral music". It annually presents a concert of "Advent Reflections" at the church of St Thomas the Martyr in Bristol. This disc was released in 2019, the choir's 10th anniversary, to showcase the repertoire of these concerts. Harmonia Sacra & Peter Leech. CD released September 2019.

Seasonal music from the Giovanni Gabrieli (1558-1613) and Alessandro Grandi (1586–1630), representing the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance to Baroque idioms. Musica Fiata, La Capella Ducale, conducted by Roland Wilson. CD released October 2012.

Without the efforts of William Shakespeare's fellow actor managers, John Heminges and Henry Condell, the majority of his plays would have been lost to posterity. This BBC radio drama reimagines how the printing of the First Folio collection of 36 plays in 1623, eight years after William's death. might have come about. It was played for laughs, with characters including a scheming Puritan London printer, his stage struck daughter, her suitor the printers apprentice, a transvestite highwayman, a lecherous old knight, and Shakespeare's ghost. Apparently all of the characters really existed, with the exception of the daughter and probably the ghost! The story was however rather fanciful, and in construction mirrored a bad Elizabethan melodrama. It was though very funny, however, the most interesting and factful part of the drama was the tavern discussions between Heminges and Condell around how much of the text of each of the plays was actually Shakespeare's work, and how much was either "committee" written, or amended to meet the running time or staging needs of individual performances. The proportion of the first folio that was "authentic" is highly debatable, even if William's ghost was directing the typesetting from beyond the grave!

Cast included Hannah Traylen, Christopher Jordan, Jos Vantyler, Ricky Oakley, Paul Kemp, Ben Castle Gibb, Alex Constantinidi and Miles Richardson. Written by Mike Harris. Produced and directed by Clive Brill. First broadcast November 2023.