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REVIEWS Images
of Alastair Miles in costume are credited here
2012
Don Giovanni, Opera North, Grand Theatre, Leeds, UK ... outstanding [performance...] from Alastair Miles as Leporello. This is one of the great comic roles, and he plays it to perfection. You will not see a better Leporello anytime soon. For this writer though, the revelation of the evening was Alastair Miles' realisation of Leporello. I have seen this fine singer in "heavy" roles viz Mephistopheles, King Philip II, Zaccaria - to imagine that such nimble movement, comic timing and amusing facial expressions lurked beneath a somewhat dour exterior. Vocally and dramatically his Leporello is all that I could have wished; delivery of the Catalogue Aria showed that Miles is equally at home in the 'basso buffo' repertory. In fact he's miles better (forgive the pun!) than any previous Leporello that I can recall since I saw Geraint Evans and Gabriel Bacquier decades ago. Judas Maccabaeus, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall … the brilliantly authoritative tone of bass Alastair Miles, who was stepping in at the last minute... Taking on the two roles of Simon and Eupolemus, Miles excelled in every aria… he exuded regal power… The Lord Worketh Wonders (Handel in Messiah-and-I –will-shake mode) was delivered with first-rate articulation and fantastic projection, even in the lower register. 2011 Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Glyndebourne Festival Opera Enter the
top-hatted Pogner, Alastair Miles, and though he is no black-voiced
German bass, he is still magnificent, making one wish, as all great
Pogners do, that he didn’t have such long absences from the stage. His
scene with his daughter Eva at the start of Act II was as moving as
anything in the opera, as it should be.
The mastersingers were all strongly cast, pride of place going to Alastair Miles as an immensely sympathetic Pogner, whose warm bass sound and sense of melodic line made his passages of narration as enjoyable as they should be. Alastair Miles’s Pogner was in every sense the voice of experience. Alastair Miles (in terrific voice) is dogmatic yet touching as Pogner. Lucrezia Borgia, English National Opera Alastair
Miles, aside from possessing an extremely powerful bass-baritone, also
gave one of the most dramatically captivating performances of the
evening in his role as Lucrezia Borgia’s husband, Alfonso d’Este. His
dark, expansive and open sound, coupled with perfect diction, soared
over ENO’S excellent orchestra with perfect ease, and his tall,
imposing figure and confident manner on stage added real dramatic
weight to his performance.
The bass
Alastair Miles was vocally stentorian and aptly censorious as
Lucrezia's husband.
Alastair
Miles’s bass is dark, and his gestures sturdy.
Alastair
Miles sang with notable elegance as the creepy Mr Lucrezia Borgia (aka
Duke d’Este).
There are
equally strong performances from Alastair Miles as Lucrezia’s appalling
husband Alfonso.
As
Lucrezia’s repulsive husband, Alastair Miles is an appreciable asset.
Alastair
Miles (that rare thing, a lithe bass) had fun with Alfonso.
Alastair
Miles gives a sharply etched portrayal as Alfonso, Lucrezia’s husband.
Alastair
Miles was darkly expressive and managed a welcome degree of physical
characterisation that carried to my balcony seat.
Alastair
Miles brought a vivid, wicked persuasive and manipulative delight to
his role as he twisted his voice around Rutter’s and this was the high
point of the evening for me.
Alastair
Miles’s sturdily sung Alfonso...
Alastair
Miles is a fine Titian-look-a-like Alfonso d’Este.
The image of the real Alfonso, Alastair Miles spits and
thunders with authority.
Alastair
Miles is an imposing Alfonso.
Alastair
Miles was a mellifluous and sonorous Alfonso d’Este.
Great to
see and hear the wonderful bass of Alastair Miles, an ENO favourite,
here in the part of Alfonso d’Este, still magnificently resonant of
voice and with wonderful stage presence born of huge experience.
2010
CD: Don Carlos  Miles is
superb as the haunted Philip.
Best of the principals are Alastair Miles's distinctive King Philip, John Tomlinson's terrifying Grand Inquisitor and Clive Bailey's Monk. BBC Music Magazine
Alastair
Miles's Philip II is a more fiery interpretation of the King than many
others in recorded terms, and he really sings off the words and brings
the character to theatrical life... the encounter with John Tomlinson's
terrifyingly implacable and vocally imposing Grand Inquisitor is the
highlight it should be... Taken as a whole this is an exciting issue,
most remarkable for the compelling contributions of Alastair Miles and
for Richard Farnes's refreshingly non-fussy and non-indulgent reading
of the score.
2009 CD: Rossini, The Italian Girl in Algiers (highlights)  Happily, the three men in her [Jennifer Larmore's] life are equally vividly characterised: Alan Opie as her hang-dog admirer Taddeo, Barry Banks a most eloquent Lindoro, and Alastair Miles as the lascivious Mustafa. Fifty years ago there was barely a bass in Europe who could find his way around Mustafa's bumbling coloratura, let alone project the text as Miles does here. Gramophone, June 2009 (link not available yet) CD: Richard Strauss, The Complete Songs Volume 4  It has to be said that with the first sound of Alastair Miles, one is immediately aware of a change, not merely in the quality and nature of the voice, but in its production too. ...Miles impresses deeply, down indeed to the depths of his low D flat. Gramophone, June 2009 (link not available yet)
The bass songs show Strauss once again in predominantly serious vein, and Alastair Miles brings a wonderful gravitas to his readings. Im Spätboot is a sober affair, but all the more affecting for its economy, not perhaps what one would expect from Strauss a year after Salome. The four songs from Op.87 are made up of three pensive and expansive Rückert settings (from 1929 and 1935), leavened with a boisterous, earlier setting of a poem from Goethe's West-östliche Diwan, Erschaffen und Beleben. Miles brings the same steady, authoritative delivery and seriousness of purpose to the Rückert, rising to the occasional emotional outbursts magnificently (particularly in the lovely Im Sonnenschein that finishes the disc), while he and Vignoles make the most of the sometimes arch humour of Erschaffen und Beleben. Alastair
Miles's robust, sensitive bass excels in Im Spätboot, perfectly
capturing the eerie dark atmosphere of Strauss's weary boat passenger.
Mendelssohn: Elias, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Alastair
Miles s'acquittait avec honneur d'un rôle écrasant. Le
chant était, comme toujours, probe et les vocalises
aisées.
Alastair
Miles campe un prophète de haute stature, terrible ou abattu. Ce
familier de l'oratorio Haendelien peut assumer sans peine les vocalises
de Ist nicht des Herren Wort,
émouvoir dans un Es ist genug
au phrasé irreprochable.
2008
Stravinski: The
Rake's Progress, Theater an der WienSehr
zur Freude von Nick Shadow, jenem Teufel, der in Gestalt des
charaktervoll
toenenden Basses Alastair Miles ganz zeitgemaess die
Spaetzuenderdaemonie eines
Anlageberaters verstroemmt.
Very
pleasing was Nick Shadow (the Devil)
played by the
characterful and sonorous bass Alastair Miles who portrayed him as
a modern financial consultant waiting till the last moment to reveal
his
diabolic intentions.
Die Presse
The latter
virtue [excellent diction] was shared with his alter ego, Alastair
Miles, a very plausible tempter, not too demonic until their last scene
together - one of the best things I have seen from him.
Opera
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, New York (Tilson Thomas) Best of the
lot was bass Alastair Miles
New York Sun
CD: La Cour de Celimene Miles is a bubbling comic delight with a strong, enchantingly merry delivery American Record Guide
Alastair Miles negotiates the coloratura with his customary aplomb Fanfare
Alastair
Miles is also at his best as Le
Commandeur de
Beaupré, an attractive comic creation that nearly steals the
show.
musicalcriticism.com
Alastair Miles impresses as the affably cynical Commander, more excited by property than love. The Daily Telegraph
….it
also features a sparkling score and is very ably performed by soprano
Laura Claycomb and bass Alastair Miles in particular. Frothy fun. Alastair Miles enjoys himself in his role of worldly
aristocrat with the attributes of a virtuoso and a buffo bass.
EDITOR'S CHOICE.
The Gramophone
2007
Damnation de Faust, Welsh National Opera Dominant
throughout with sheer presence is Alastair Miles, his measured,
powerfully voiced Mephistopheles sinister rather than flamboyantly
diabolic, the very embodiment of evil.
The Stage
Lucia di Lammermoor, Netherlands Opera Einen
Politiker der Kirche, der taktiert, abwägt und demagogisch
manipuliert, präsentierte mit grosser Stimme und beeindruckender
Kultur Alastair Miles [Raimondo]
Das Opernglass
Alastair
Miles [Raimondo] thundered impressively.
Opera
2006 Sir John In Love, English National Opera As Brook,
Alastair Miles’ uptight Ford explodes like Peter Cook on speed.
The Stage
Miles
suggests Ford’s volcanic jealousy in a brilliantly underplayed, funny
and touching account of the role.
Hugh Canning, The
Sunday Times
La Juive, Royal Opera House Alastair
Miles gave the performance of his life as Cardinal Brogni.
Evening Standard
As
Eleazar’s great rival Cardinal Brogni, Alastair Miles’ authority was
self-evident with chills and compassion exacted from his charismatic
bottom notes.
The Independent
This
bravura part [Brogni] was extravagantly sung by Alastair Miles who
exhibited splendid low notes, so cavernous that I expected him to
emerge after the interval in pot-holing garb!
musicwebinternational.com
Messiah, London Symphony Orchestra (CD here) Far more
successful was bass Alastair Miles, who gave probably the best
performance I've ever heard from him. To achieve such steady tone,
fluid legato and powerful projection through arias such as The Trumpet Shall Sound and Why Do The Nations? is quite something for
any artist. It was a shame that we didn't hear more from him.
musicomh.com
Orlando, Bayerische Staatsoper Der
Drahtzieher Zoroastro wirkt umso gefährlicher, als er in Gestalt
von Alastair Miles ganz ohne äusseren und stimmlichen Aplomb
daherkommt; das seine Bassstimme so leicht und agil geführt wird,
hat Seltenheitswert.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Alastair
Miles, ein Altmeister der Alten Musik, singt diesen Heerespsychologen
noch immer nobel stilsicher und kleidet sie in eine Figur, die als
Mischung aus Monty Python, Mister Q und Donald Rumsfeld angelegt ist.
Suddeutsche Zeitung
Alastair
Miles makes much of the sonorous, scheming Zoroastro.
Financial Times
CD: Nabucco, Opera North, Chandos Alastair
Miles proves his pre-eminence among British basses today in Verdi:
every note of his two solos is sung with strength and a feeling for
line, and he is as happy on high as below. DISC OF THE MONTH.
The Gramophone
2005 Dom Sebastien, Roi de Portugal, Royal Opera House Alastair
Miles, as Dom Juan, was a chilling Grand Inquisitor.
The Times
Alastair
Miles knows how to sing the bass roles of early nineteenth century
Italian and French opera like nobody else these days, and his faultless
sense of style was very much in evidence.
mundoclasico.com
Nabucco, Opera North Alastair
Miles, hotfoot from singing the chief schemer in Covent Garden’s Dom Sebastien, produced a wealth of
dazzling virtuosity as High Priest Zaccaria, the voice admirably
supported and effortlessly secure.
The Independent
Ernani, English National Opera Alastair
Miles, done up to look like a darkly malevolent Don Quixote, is a
splendid Silva, ferocious in attack, chillingly unforgiving, and more
incisive with the text than anyone.
Edward Seckerson,
The Independent
The bass
Alastair Miles makes a magnificent Silva, with effortless smoothness of
line and firmness of tone, as well as an impressive stage presence.
Rupert
Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph
Alastair
Miles fulfils his role's dramatic potential as a deliciously villainous
Silva.
The Guardian
Damnation de Faust, London Philharmonic Orchestra ....Alastair
Miles’s superb Mephistopheles, mocking and menacing through every vowel.
The Times
Alastair
Miles revealed a dangerous and aggressively devilish Mephistopheles
hidden behind a seemingly harmless exterior.
The Guardian
CD: Zaira, Opera Rara Outstanding
among the singers is Alastair Miles in the role of the enlightened
Muslim king [Orosmane] in love with Zaira. The writing is for a high
lyric bass with the skills of a thorough virtuoso. Miles is exemplary
in the evenness and fluency of his scales and gruppetti, and the tessitura suits
him admirably.
The Gramophone
Alastair
Miles is outstanding in the role of Orosmane, Sultan of Jerusalem.
The Observer
Alastair
Miles delivers impeccable singing.
BBC Music
As
Orosmane, the opera’s most sympathetic character, Alastair Miles sings
with tonal excellence and the requisite agility for a role created by
Antonio Tamburini.
Opera
...
Orosmane’s aria in which florid twists and turns are encountered in
phrase after phrase, though Alastair Miles, in splendid voice, is in no
way fazed. His well-supported tone and clean articulation of notes
allow him to realise every vocal ornament with
which Orosmane’s music confronts
him. His fleet negotiation of the cabaletta
tempted me to repeat it
immediately. I succumbed.
International
Record Review
Damnation de Faust, London Symphony Orchestra Alastair
Miles’ Mephistopheles matched the orchestra's dramatic sensitivity, and
he relished every detail of the supernatural effects Berlioz invents
for his character. He jumped up from his seat for his opening lines,
just as the orchestra created a malevolent
explosion of rasping
trombone lines and weird string sounds. And he captured the irony at
the heart of the character.
The Guardian
Alastair
Miles’ Mephistopheles was superbly sung and characterised, the devilry
not overdone and all the more sinister, while the sardonic mockery was
suitably chilling.
The Sunday Telegraph
La Sonnambula, Royal Opera House Alastair
Miles as the Count [Rodolfo] sounds deliciously mellifluous.
Evening Standard
Alastair
Miles, crisp of tone and suave of manner, is equally well cast as the
Count.
Financial Times
Only the
excellent Alastair Miles’ raffish Count (Noel Coward in Freud-land)
sustains a true bel canto
line – Vi
ravviso ravished.
The Stage
The most
stylish singer on stage was Alastair Miles as Count Rodolfo, very bel
canto indeed.
The Times
Alastair
Miles’ noble bass and striking stage presence made more than a comprimario of
the shadowy Count Rodolfo.
The Sunday Times
2002 Elijah, BBC Proms, London Philharmonic Orchestra / Masur Masur missed nothing, and he had a trump in Alastair Miles’ Elijah: commandingly forceful and dramatic in crunching diction, well-tuned and well up to his tricky florid passages. Financial Times
Alastair
Miles isn’t the barnstorming Elijah that Bryn Terfel gave us a few
years back, but a burnished, cultured presence at the centre of the
work. Miles gave him nobility and strength, particularly in his great
resigned recitative It is enough,
accompanied
by a cello tune of simmering romanticism.
The Times
The drama
was there both in Alastair Miles’ singing of the title role,
firm-toned with a real unswerving authoritative edge to his voice, and
in the urgent choruses.
The Guardian
back to top
2001 Nabucco, English National Opera Alastair
Miles’ Zaccaria – noble, fervent, vocally spectacular yet genuinely
spiritual – is second to none.
The Guardian
Alastair
Miles’ Zaccaria is a class act of international standard, quite
wonderful singing.
The Times
The great
bass role of Zaccaria, the Hebrew high priest, is sung with astonishing
fervour and brilliance by Alastair Miles.
The Evening Standard
2000 CD: Alastair Miles – Great Operatic Arias, Chandos This is a
splendid showcase for the appreciable talents of Alastair Miles, one of
the best basses ever produced in this country.
Opera
The sound
is well formed and beautifully placed. And everything here is sung with
polish and intelligence – sometimes brilliance.
American Record
Guide
Don Carlos, Opera North Alastair
Miles is hardly new, but his first King Philip was simply sensational.
His sense of Verdian legato is
the real thing – he never seems to take
a breath – and his bass tone is contained, darksome, perfectly
focussed. His portrayal of this introverted
autocrat, crippled by isolation and
emotional impotence is already profoundly stirring. What it will be
like in ten years time, heaven alone knows.
Rodney Milnes, The
Times
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