November 2018 Volume 69 No. 11 Editor John Allison Deputy Editors Erica Jeal Henrietta Bredin Commercial Director Megan Jackson Editorial Board Martin Bernheimer Hugh Canning Rupert Christiansen Andrew Clark Andrew Clements Richard Fairman George Hall Fiona Maddocks Roger Parker tor a e 36 Black Lion Lane London W6 9BE Telephone: 020 8563 8893 editor@opera.co.uk www.opera.co.uk operamagazine @operamagazine @opera_magazine Subscriptions and customer services Esco, Trinity House, Sculpins Lane, Wethersfield, Braintree CM7 4AY Telephone: 01371 851804 Fax: 01371 851808 opera@escosubs.co.uk Digital edition Exact Editions support@exacteditions.com www.exacteditions.com/opera Advertising Jane Stoggles, Cabbells Ltd Telephone: 020 3603 7940 jane@cabbell.co.uk Front cover Lauren Michelle as Natasha and Jonathan McGovern as Andrey in ‘War and Peace’ at WNO (photo: Clive Barda)

Opera, November 2018

Founded in 1950 by the Earl of Harewood

Past Editors Harold Rosenthal and Rodney Milnes

1333 Seeing is believing By the Editor 1334 People 467: Allan Clayton Paul Kildea 1340 Readers’ letters 1343 Steering the ship Stephen Langridge talks to Andrew Mellor 1347 Newsdesk 1352 An operatic chameleon Christopher Webber on the operas of Stanford 1357 Tutto Vivaldi The Vivaldi Edition’s Susan Orlando talks to Brian Robins 1361 Astrid ascendant Michael Tanner looks back on the career of Astrid Varnay 1365 Obituaries 1370 Opera around the world 1409 Opera in Britain 1424 Opera on CD 1433 Opera on DVD and Blu-ray 1438 Opera books 1441 Coming events including plans for the UK houses (with the 2019 programme at the Linbury Studio Theatre), Paris (Opéra Comique); ‘We hear that …’; Opera calendar home and abroad 1455 Classified advertisements 1456 For the record Alexander Joel

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