review details
 •  October 2003
Mozart · Idomeneo
Glyndebourne Touring Opera
  • The chief pleasures came from the chorus - a truly vintage Glyndebourne corps - and the pit, where Kenneth Montgomery's wise and vitally theatrical conducting recalled Glyndebourne in the Pritchard years, when Montgomery was an assistant and the GTO music director. Why do we hear so little of this experienced and deeply musical British conductor in this country?

     

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    Hugh Canning, Opera, December 2003

  • Montgomery ... allows the score to unfold with a ratchet-like intensity and a remarkable sense of its architectural and metaphysical grandeur, without ever losing sight of the inner torment of the protagonists.

     

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    Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 9/10/03

  • Kenneth Montgomery is not a Mozart conductor who likes to hang around ... his keen sense of rhythm and propulsion ...

     

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    Richard Fairman - Financial Times 9/10/03

  • It also helps to have a conductor who understands theatre. Kenneth Montgomery, a Glyndebourne veteran, brings dramatic energy in place of Simon Rattle's hard-driven approach, and the change is all gain. He draws sleek, lively playing from the orchestra. The chorus sings beautifully, too, while delivering the Sellars semaphore with conviction, and their quiet delivery of "Placido é il mar" is a wonderful moment.

    John Allison, The Times, 14/10/03

  • The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has been replaced by Glyndebourne Touring Opera's own orchestra and Simon Rattle replaced by Kenneth Montgomery.

    Somehow in this process the music has become sharper.

    All the flab has been removed and Montgomery conducts with discipline and plenty of colour.

    Mike Howard, Brighton Evening Argus, 10/10/03

  • The musical side is much better ... Kenneth Montgomery's conducting is spruce.

    Keep your eyes shut, and there are the makings of a very good evening.

    Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph, 16/10/03

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