This section contains photos and news, in more or less chronological order – most recent first, that don’t seem to fit anywhere else
An extract from a Netrebko/Barenboim CD review in the June 2010 issue of Opera News
“It would be instructive to hear Netrebko with a different pianist. Barenboim is certainly no “accompanist,” nor is he a partner. If Netrebko only intermittently makes real unity of words and music, if she takes a worrisome number of catch-breaths, perhaps it’s because she is thrown into the middle of a piano recital. It is interesting to hear a Canadian bass-baritone, Gerald Finley, on a live Wigmore Hall recital disc, enjoy the sheer sound of the Russian language in Tchaikovsky’s songs more than Netrebko does, but Finley is working with Julius Drake. Barenboim turns “Den’ li carit” (Whether day dawns) into a piano etude; Drake is more attuned to the structure, the silences, the harmonic variety. Barenboim likes to create inner voices and give each note a separate twist of the knife. (Perversely, the only place he doesn’t do this is the tenor voice of Tchaikovsky’s lullaby, where the composer asks for it.) Barenboim stomps his feet, snaps the pedals, plays the piano relentlessly.”
Julius with the tenor Robin Tritschler and fellow Irishman Seamus Heaney at the Faber Poetry event at the Southbank Centre, London, 22 September 2009. Photo courtesy of www.juliusdrake.com
From Christianne Stotjin’s website. Photos by Marco Borggreve
Many thanks indeed to Sim Canetty Clarke for letting us use the photos below
Dear Julius,
Going through the recording of the Monday night recital at the Wigmore I once again wanted to thank you for the beautiful playing. The sonorities you created with the arpeggiati in Bist du bei Mir were so extraordinary I’m still struggling to regain my power of speech. I’d love to come to one of your masterclasses sometime (if they’re open to the general public); not least to prove that yes, people do attend your events even when Ian’s not there!
That, and the Luxembourg concerts made for a fantastic birthday treat. Thank you so much for being this wonderful.
Dear Paulina
Many thanks for your comment – I’ve passed it on to Julius. I hope you do get to see him at a masterclass.
Very best wishes
Janet