Richard Bratby

Hockney’s Rake’s Progress remains one of the supreme achievements

But compared to Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Stravinsky’s opera, premièred a year later in 1951, feels as dated as peas in aspic

One production that nearly does send you out whistling the sets: Glyndebourne On Tour's revival of Hockney and Cox's Rake's Progress. [Image: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Sisi Burn]
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  • The Rake’s Progress

    Glyndebourne On Tour, various venues, until 1 December

  • Philharmonia/Rouvali

    Royal Festival Hall

With Glyndebourne’s The Rake’s Progress, the show starts with David Hockney’s front cloth. The colour, the ingenuity, the visual bravura: 46 years after this production’s first appearance in 1975, it’s still capable of halting you in your tracks. So drink it in. No blockbuster art exhibition will ever give you such ideal viewing conditions, or so much time with a single artwork.

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