F
V . CLASSICAL ,
'Jenufa
Czechsin
‘When I realised “Oh my God. my baby‘s deadl”. I just broke down and sobbed my heart out.‘ confides Anne Williams-King. Scottish Opera‘s newest young star and lead in Jenula.
She continues in a soft Welsh accent: ‘Jenufa's foster mother isavery strong religiousfigure intheir village, and she puts a hell of a lot of pressure on her daughter.‘ Then she smiles: ‘Butl'm glad ithappenedthat early on in rehearsals.
You can‘t letemotiontake over when you‘re singing in frontofan audience.
The eventin question istheturning pointinJanacek'stragicfirstopera. Jenufa. a beautiful Czech village girl. is vainly in love with Steva (and has his baby); he rejects herwhen herbeauty is spoiled by the jealous man who is in love with her. Hertoster mother. in desperationforJenufa‘sfuture happiness. kills the eight-week-old baby to make way for the ever-faithful Laca. Emotional stuff; butJanacek wrotethis opera whilstsuffering immense personal anguish. his 21/2 year-old son had already died. and his remaining child died during the time he was composing Jenufa. ‘I would tie up Jenufa with the black ribbon of the long illness, pain and cries of my daughter Olga and my little boy Vladimir.‘ he wrote.
Alter a run as de Valois in Scottish Opera Go Hound‘s Don Carlos last year. Anne crossed to the main company to sing Freia in Wagner‘s Das Rheingold. where her flowing waist-length hair was as talked about as the production itself. But itwas her electrifying performances as Violetta inthe same company‘s new production of Verdi's La Traviata this summerwhich really catapulted herintothe bouquet-throwing limelight. ‘Thatwas the greatesttime ofmy life.‘ she declares. ‘ButJenufa is something else. I‘ve nevertackled such a harrowing role.‘
The heavyweightcastforthis already renowned David Poutney production — including Pauline Tinsley. Alberto Hemedios and Graham Clark—daunts Anne notat all. ‘lt‘s veryflattering for me. And anyway. Jenufa herselfwas surrounded by wiser. caring people. so lfeel it‘s going to be OK.‘
(Cate Devine)
32lth ist 13 :tiUcttlltc‘r first)
ROCKSS M2255 FOLKS? CLASSICAL 39
LISTINGS
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EWUSNB
MUSIC LIST »
l.ast ycar‘ssigningof.’\ (‘crtain Ratio to A3; .'\1 Rccords was gr‘cctcd w itll sccpticism lty somc of tltc‘ hand's long tcrni fans. who fclt concci'n at thc band‘s transition to maioi' lahcl stattis. af’tcr almost a dccadc of l1ciI1g closcly ticd to l’ittL‘lUl‘y Rccol‘tls.
l low cycr. that lcngth of timc playing sccond fiddlc to .\'cw ()rdcr mcant that thc hand had to look for ways forward. Drummcr Donald .lohnson. who also appcars in a camco rolc on l.i/a Nlinclli's alhum. cXplains thc approach toworlx'ingon (irmr/ ilrugt‘I/It'r.
"l'hc first thing I hayc to say is that if wc had madc this alhum for Factory. it would hay c donc cxactly thc samc things. it is just that thc hudgct is diffcrcnt. Wc hayc always w anch to usc produccrs and usc hcttcrstudios and so on. and this is thc first timc wc hayc had a chancc to do that. \Vficn Ad; .\l hccamc intcrcstcd wc could scc that thcy wcrc gcnuincly into what wc w crc doing. and happy to lct us go on doing what wc wantcd.‘
'l'his frccdom sccms to hc rcf'lcctcd hy thc alhum. thc production of Julian Mcndclsohn and Bob ls'raushaar ncycr swamping thc distinctch .-\( ‘R sound. llowcycr. thc tracks that rcally imprcss arc thc two thcy produccd thcmsclycs.
Good to go
‘(iod‘s ( )wn (iirl‘ and ‘(iood 'l'ogcthcr”. which f'caturcs licrnard Sumncrochw ( )rdcr and Shaun Rydcr of l lappy Mondays. Strangcly. thc titlc track appcars
only on thc casscttc and ('1) formats.
although Donald r‘cckons it stands a good chancc of following thc currcnt ‘Your Bluc liycs‘ as a singlc.
\Vith thc forthcoming tour. which thcy claim is thc first timc cycr that thcy hayc managcd to tour at thc samc timc as product was rclcascd. ACR hayc ccrtainly mchd up a notch in tcrms of profcssionalism. So what arc thcir cu: rcnt thoughts on l5actory. giycn thc rumourcd animosity at thc parting of ways‘.’
‘\\'c arc still fricndsf says [)onald. ‘l‘m prctty cool about thc situation. 'l’hc itincrary for our tour is oycr at l‘iactory gctting hound at thc momcnt. though thcrc arc a f‘cw financial things still tosort out hctwccn us. llowcycr‘. l hayc always said that thcy hayc put all thcir cggs in thc onc haskct with Ncw ( )rdcr‘. although it looks as if f lappy
.‘yfondays arc going to hrcak throUgh
as thcii' sccond act ~ which would hc hrilliant.‘ (John Williamson)
,‘1 (‘crtam Ratio play at ( 'u/Imz Studios. lfdin/turg/I. Thurs" 1‘) and Strut/Ic/ydc ( 'Izii'crs'ily (Hz Saturday 3/. hut/i (/(1!('.\' with 'Htc .S'tcn’o “(is
V. ROCK . Vam p it up
It was inevitable they‘d be treated with suspicion. especially so soon after Sigue Sigue Sputnik had inflicted their clinically perfect 19903 pop upon the nation. onlyto have itthrust back in theirface. And mostofall becausethey were fronted by a pouting peroxide bombshell who. as it happilyturned out. confronted the stereotype of the bimbo at every turn. But ifTransvision Vampveerperilouslycloseto what Bono called ‘rock'n'roll with a wink‘ {afterall. that‘sthe only waythey could get away with a baldly crap song like ‘Andy Warhol's Dead'). they‘ve nevertheless splashedthe charts with
some much-needed colour—and their shows are sellouts.
Transvision Vamp. Playhouse. Edinburgh. Mon 16; Barrowland. Glasgow Tue 17.
24 Nov: Svd Lawrence Orchestra. 25 Nov.
THEATRE(0312291201)
HALL (031 668 2019) Andy
Ouartet. 17 Noszohn
ROCK
l GLASGOW BARROWLAND(041226 4679) All About Eve. 29 Oct: Fish. 30 Oct; lanMcCulloch. 1Novahe Primitives.3 Nov;Jesus and Mary Chain. 4Novahe Wedding Present. 11 Nov; Lloyd Cole. 13 Nov; Marillion. 4 Dec; The Waterboys. 30131 Dec.
IGLASGOW PAVILION (U413321846)Climie
Fisher. 8 Nov: RandyTravis.
9 Nov: Lulu & Jerry andthe Pacemakers. 10 Nov: Billie Joe Spears. 11 Novaanci Griffith. 14 Noszulia Fordham.15Nov.
IGLASGOWSECC(041248 3000) Hue 8. Cry. 26 Nov;
Alice Cooper. 50ec; Deacon Blue SOLD OUT; Status Duo. 11 Dec: Erasure.18Jan:Simply Hed.21 Jan.
I LIVINGSTON FORUM (0506 419191)The Cult. 21 Nov;Aerosmith SOLD OUT; Barbara Dickson. 24 Nov: BrotherBeyond. 17 Dec.
IEDINBURGH ASSEMBLY BOOMSIUBt 557 6969)The Primitives. 2Nov.
IEOINBUBGH PLAYHOUSE (0315572590)AllAbout Eve. 28 Oct; 10,000 Maniacs. 4 Nov: Everything ButThe Girl. 5 Nov: Motley CrueSOLD OUT;Stranglers. 5March: Spandau Ballet. 6 Marcthames Last. 9April.
IEOINBURGHOUEEN‘S HALL(0316682019)Roy Harper. 6Noszulia Fordham.16Nov.
IEDINBUHGH USHER HALL(031 225 5756) 10.000Maniacs. 5Nov: Lloyd Cole. 14 Novaammy Wynette. 18 Nov: Hawkwind. 13 Dec.
JAZZ & FOLK
I GLASGOW CITY HALLS (041227 5511)Lionel Hampton Band. 27 Oct.
IGLASGOW PAVILION (O413321846)TheCorries. l
IEDINBURGHKING‘S The Corries, 16—18Nov. IEOINBURGH QUEEN‘S
Sheppard Big Band. 10 Nov: 29th StreetSaxophone
) Chris Barber Band. 8 Dec.
McLaughlin Trio. 1 Dec: J