Gold Standard: Mike Ashman relishes an exemplary commemoration of the Covent Garden ‘Ring’
Gold Standard: Mike Ashman relishes an exemplary commemoration of the Covent Garden ‘Ring’
Review of Gary Kahn, ed., The Power of the ‘Ring’ (Royal Opera House, 2007).
March 2008, Volume 2, Number 1, 76–7.
Gary Kahn’s volume on the 2004–6 Antonio Pappano/Keith Warner/Stefanos Lazaridis/Marie-Jeanne Lecca Covent Garden cycle is, I believe, unique in having its look masterminded by a distinguished graphic designer (Beard) and in presenting sequential interviews (by Kahn himself) not just with the production team – lighting designer and movement director not excluded – but with all the performing cast. The ‘sequential’ aspect enables the reader to experience in print much of the growth and excitement of a production being assembled, a process that could normally be glimpsed (and hardly in this detail) only by a fly-on-the-wall TV documentary.