A few y years ago, Anne Ozorio,who died last August, gave me a typwscript copy of an article she had written on the experiences, after the 1941 Japanese invasion and occupation of Hong Kong, of some of the Portuguese/Macanese (many of whom had fought against the Japanese as members of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps) or were seeking other ways to resist the invadqrs, Until recently, I had thought that the article was unpubldhed. However I now find that it appeared in 2005 in the journal of The British Historical Society of Portugal. Here is a link to the published article   NB ..read more

In 1954, the year in which Benjamin  Britten completed The Turn of the Screw, he wrote to Eric Walter White that he had just read another short story by Henry James with “much the same quality as the Screw”. That story was Owen Wingrave. Thirteen years later, Britten asked Myfanwy Piper to adapt it for his next opera, a “television opera” commissioned by the BBC. Owen Wingrave was first broadcast in May 1971 and staged at Covent Garden two years later. Since then, there have been a handful of productions – most recently at Snape Maltings in 2014 and by British Youth Opera in 2016 ..read more

Gweneth Ann Rand sings Messiaen’s song cycle Harawi, with Simon Lepper at the piano, at Wigmore Hall this evening at 7.30 UK time. A free live video of the performance will be available on the Wigmore Hall website for 30 days (with donations to Wigmore Hall funds welcome). Anne Ozorio wrote a review of Rand’s (then Gwenerh Ann Jeffers) Proms performance of Harawi in 2008. (Please see here AND here). “Easily the best Messiaen singer of  her generation,” Ozorio wrote in another blog post ..read more

  Music critic CLAIRE SEYMOUR (Opera Today) recollects the phenomenal knowledge, writing skills and generous advice of  Anne Ozorio, who would have been 69 today  “I’m a large Eurasian, and I’ll wear something bright.  You won’t miss me!” Anne’s response when I asked how I might recognise her when we first met, at an evening recital at Wigmore Hall during 2008, was characteristically no-fuss and direct.  And, there she was when I arrived – smiling brightly, chatting vigorously, bustling among the other concert-goers in the foyer, many of whom recognised Ann ..read more

Anne Ozorio and her brother Joe at the Ozorio family mausoleum in Happy Valley, Hong Kong Anne Ozori told me abou Mr Wu as we waited for a Barbican Hall concert on January 10, 2007. The next day I typed up from memory what she had  said. So it is not pure Anne Ozorio, but the next best thing. Anne said I would have loved Mr Wu. I can see why. By ROGER THOMAS Anne Ozorio’s fathr was José Augusto Ozorio. (His Macanese nickname was Beano.) There has been a José (or Joseph or Joe) in every generation of the Ozorios since they started appearing in the Macau parish records when these ..read more

Anne Ozorio (right) with soprano Sarah Minns in 2011  (photo: Roger Thomas) Sadly, the owner of this blog, Anne Ozorio, died on 22 August 2020. A few days before she left us, Anne asked me to keep Classical Iconoclast alive. In no wayy can I hope to rival or replace Anne's broad-based ex pert writing – on classical (and some popular) music and opera, film (especially from China/Hong Kong and Weimar Germanyy, and Chinese/Hong Kong/ and Macanese culture and history. For a start I would like to tell existing and new readers more about Anne and her background, based on things she ..read more

              Anne Ozorio 8 October 1951–22 August 2020 Anne Ozorio (Right) with soprano Sarah Minns in 2011 (photo: Roger Thomas) Sadly, rhe owner of this blog, Anne Ozorio, diedc on 22 August. A few days before she left us she asked me to keep Classical Iconoclast alive. In no way can I hope to rival or replace Anne's broad-based, expert writing on music, opera, film and Hong Kong/Chinese culture and history. And the odd bit of politics! For a start I would like to tell existing and new readers more ..read more

Secrets of the Sahara !  Two magnificent evocations of the Sahara and its seductive mysteries : Félicien David's Le Désert (1844) an ode-symphonique, and Jacques Feyder's film L'Atlantide (1921).  Both are long term favourites, but the soundtrack in the restored version of the movie is pretty banal, so I muted and played Félicien David's Le désert instead.  The combination worked extremely well ! Perhaps it's because the rhythms of Le désert so strongly resemble the rhythms of a caravan of camels marching single file through the desert. Scored for narrator, orchestra, tenor ..read more

Two pastorals : Beethoven's Symphony no 6 "Pastoral" op 68 and Justin Heinrich Knecht Le Portrait musical de la Nature , with Bernhard Forck conducting the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, part of the ongoing Harmonia Mundi series where Beethoven's music is presented in thoughtful juxtaposition, geared towards listeners already familiar with the basics of Beethoven.  This recording examines Beethoven's Symphony no 6 in the context of pastoral traditions in European music, which evolved from the17th century and adapted to the Early Romantic aesthetic.  Justin Knecht (1752-1817), a g ..read more

Beethoven Symphony no 9 "Choral" in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy   in C minor op 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.  In this Beethoven anniversary year, it is good that there are ventures which probe more deeply into the composer and his music. The year started with reconstructions, in full performances concerts throughout Europe, of the concert of 22nd December 1808, in honour of the composer, in Vienna which included the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, concluding with the Choral Fan ..read more