David McVicar's Aida: the sound and the fury

David McVicar has a simple formula for tackling Verdi's Egyptian epic – out with the pyramids, in with pathos.'When Margaret Thatcher was on Desert Island Discs, the only piece of classical music she chose was the Triumphal March," director David McVicar says, referring to the familiar music for the Egyptian soldiers' victory parade in Verdi's Aida. "I'm sure that when she listened to that piece of music, she heard something very different from what I hear when I listen to it," he adds. ...

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