REVIEWS
SIR JOHN IN LOVE | BRITISH YOUTH OPERA
”BYO’S LARGELY EXCELLENT, ENDLESSLY SPIRITED PERFORMANCE WAS THUS ACHIEVED AGAINST THE ODDS. IT WAS CARRIED ALONG BY JOHANNES MOORE’S IRREPRESSIBLE FALSTAFF – HIS BEHAVIOUR ALL THE MORE APPALLING (AND ALTOGETHER LESS FUNNY) WITHOUT THE USUAL TRAPPINGS OF AGE. MOORE ALSO HAD THE VOCAL WATTAGE TO PROJECT OVER SOUTHBANK SINFONIA’S DELUXE RENDERING OF VAUGHAN WILLIAMS’S ORCHESTRAL SCORE IN THE EVER-UNGENEROUS ACOUSTIC OF OPERA HOLLAND PARK’S TENT, WHICH CAUSED DIFFICULTIES FOR OTHERS, ALREADY ATTEMPTING TO SUMMON A LEVEL OF VOCAL GRAVITAS SEVERAL DECADES OUT OF REACH.”
“BUT THE EVENING BELONGS TO JOHANNES MOORE’S FALSTAFF … THIS IS A BARITONE OF SERIOUS POWER WHO ALREADY KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT TO DO WITH HIS INSTRUMENT. IT’S A BEAUTIFUL VOICE – GLOSSY AND EVEN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, A PLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADE THAT’S CAREFULLY DEPLOYED ALONG WITH A LOVELY SENSE OF LEGATO – AND MOORE USES IT WITH REAL INTELLIGENCE AND MUSICALITY. HIS FALSTAFF (A BIT SHORT-CHANGED IN THE BELLY DEPARTMENT) IS BLUFF AND BONHOMOUS RATHER THAN SEEDY, A GURNING, WADDLING, PREENING MASS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE WHOSE PIVOT FROM GULL TO MASTER-OF-CEREMONIES IN THE FINAL SCENE FEELS WELL-DESERVED. IT’S A TRIUMPHANT PERFORMANCE, AND ONE THAT MAKES YOU HOPE THAT THERE’S A “VA, VECCHIO JOHN” IN HIS FUTURE.”
“THE CAST IS EXCELLENT, WITH SEVERAL PERFORMANCES STANDING OUT IN PARTICULAR. IN THE TITLE ROLE, JOHANNES MOORE HAS JUST THE RIGHT FALSTAFFIAN PRESENCE, DEMEANOUR AND SWAGGER AS HE ASSERTS HIS BARITONE TO EXCELLENT EFFECT.”
“IN THE TITLE ROLE BARITONE JOHANNES MOORE CAPTURES BOTH THE OLD KNIGHT’S ABSURDITY AND GALLANTRY – AND ADMITS A CHINK OF VULNERABILITY. THERE’S NO DOUBTING THIS FALSTAFF’S SELF-IMPORTANCE AND HE OVERCOMES HUMILIATION BY RELISHING THE MASTER-OF-CEREMONIES ROLE THAT VAUGHAN WILLIAMS GIVES HIM AT THE CLOSE, MAGNANIMOUSLY BESTOWING BLESSINGS ON ALL AND LEADING THE FINAL CHORUS, ‘WHETHER MEN DO LAUGH OR WEEP … OUR LIFE IS BUT A PLAY’ (FROM A POEM BY PHILIP ROSSETER), WITH APLOMB”.”
“DESPITE BEING HALF THE AGE AND A THIRD OF THE WEIGHT OF THE CHARACTER HE WAS PLAYING, JOHANNES MOORE MADE A FINE FALSTAFF, GIVING THE CHARACTER A SENSE OF SOLIDITY AND SWAGGER, YET MAKING HIM SOMEWHAT LESS OBJECTIONABLE THAN USUAL. MOORE BROUGHT AN ELEMENT OF CHARM TO THE ROLE, MAKING YOU REALISE HOW FALSTAFF GETS AWAY WITH IT, AS WELL AS GIVING THE CHARACTER SUFFICIENT DIGNITY ALONGSIDE HIS MORE BOORISH ELEMENTS.”
“STARRING AS THE CONNIVING SIR JOHN, JOHANNES MOORE GROWS IN STATURE, RELISHING THE ROLE’S HUMOUR.”
BACH | B MINOR MASS
“THE BIG EXCEPTION CAME, THRILLINGLY, JUST BEFORE THE TRUMPET-CROWNED PANOPLY OF THE FINAL "CUM SANCTO SPIRITU", IN THE BASS ARIA "QUONIAM TU SOLUS SANCTUS". NOT ONLY WAS THERE A SHEEN TO THE INTELLIGENCE OF JOHANNES MOORE, BUT ALSO THE MOST PERFECT DELIVERY I'VE EVER HEARD LIVE OF THE TREACHEROUS HORN SOLO FROM ISAAC SHIEH (PICTURED ABOVE IN THE RAM'S DUKE'S HALL WITH MASAAKI SUZUKI). IT MIGHT SEEM INVIDIOUS TO TALK OF STARS WHEN THIS IS ALL ABOUT ENSEMBLE, BUT SHIEH TRULY CROWNED THE WHOLE ACHIEVEMENT.MOORE'S IDEAL SOUND….”
ROSSINI | LA CAMBIALE DI MATRIMONIO
“THE CAST CAPTURE WELL THE IDIOSYNCRASIES OF THEIR CHARACTERS, BOTH IN THEIR SINGING AND ACTING, ABOVE ALL JOHANNES MOORE’S ENERGETIC PORTRAYAL OF SLOOK. BOTH HIS AND CHARLES CUNLIFFE’S BARITONE VOICES PROJECT AN EASY VIGOUR AS THEY COME TO BLOWS OVER WHAT THEY EACH HOPE TO ATTAIN FROM THE CONTRACT FOR FANNY’S MARRIAGE TO THE FORMER.”
“JOHANNES MOORE’S SLOOK TRULY HELD THE STAGE, AGAIN THROUGH A FINE BLEND OF WORDS, MUSIC, AND ACTING.”
