Alastair Miles - New Release
Based on Schiller’s play, Verdi’s magnificent and arguably greatest opera, Don Carlos, has everything – intense personal passion and pain, enmeshed in the web of political and religious agendas – utterly relevant to today and superbly expressed in a score of gripping intensity.
This recording was made in Leeds Town Hall between Opera North’s May/June 2009 production and here receives its first recording in English. The performances conducted by their Music Director, Richard Farnes, knocked everyone who witnessed them, sideways. Alastair Miles sings the pivotal role of Philip II - cast also includes Julian Gavin (Don Carlos), Janice Watson (Elizabeth), William Dazeley (Rodrigo) and John Tomlinson (Grand Inquisitor).
The Observer thought ‘The work came alive as never before, its passionate exchanges between king, son, stepmother and loyal friend all the more incandescent, an endorsement for the Peter Moores Foundation “Opera in English” series on Chandos. York Press wrote ‘This is a drama torrid enough to satisfy the senses on many levels,’ whilst The Spectator declared Richard Farnes, ‘the best Verdian of our time.’
