Hall Marks

Four episodes. First broadcast from 20040606 to 20040627.

Sir Peter Hall talks about how he's directed the world's greatest singers in some of the most challenging roles in the operatic repertoire.

 
 
EpisodeFirst
Broadcast
Description
01 OF 420040606This week he recalls Sir Thomas Allen as Mozart's Don Giovanni: 'I think the main thing that Tom enabled me to do was to dispel the bogus Casanova Don that sticks to the character. Tom was terribly charming, the audiences loved him and because of that they allowed him. So he was hard-edged and outrageous.'.
0220040613This week he recalls Hildegarde Beherens as Brunnhilde in Wagner's Die Walkure from his production of The Ring at Bayreuth. 'Hildegarde sang radiantly and behaved throughout the summer like a fearless and faithful warrior'.
0320040620This week he recalls the counter-tenor James Bowman as Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
'He's an immaculate musician and an extraordinary singer. But he put on acting and my task was to take away the acting and keep simple. I got him by not making huge, heroic gestures to become something very powerful and menacing in his stillness.'.
04 LAST20040627This week he recalls Dame Janet Baker in her final appearance on the operatic stage in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at Glyndebourne in 1982.