Opera, anyone?

[Lokasenna]

As a fan of the 'classical listening' thread (though not, I note to my horror, an actual contributor as yet!), I thought it might be nice to have a sister thread dedicated to opera. So post what you like - we can talk about recent operas we've seen, DVD versions, and even link to some nice clips.

Well, I'm very happy - my DVD of Tristan und Isolde arrived in the post today. It's the 2007 la Scala production, and I fell in love with it when I got it out of the library a few weeks back. Barenboim, as conductor, is his usual sublime self, the staging is minimal (but very effective - if anything, it focuses the music), and the cast is truly exceptional - everyone was excellent, though I shall single out Waltraud Meier as an utterly captivating Isolde. Here is her Liebestod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbmjX7AYyU

One of the finest endings to an opera there is. I'm very fond of Wagner - sometime soon I'm going to take a day off and do a Ring marathon.

[dafydd manton]

Who was it that said that Wagner had some wonderful moments, and some absolutely dreadful quarter-hours? I'm afraid that I had Opera rammed down my throat when I was a kid - my mother was a Culture Vulture, so I tend not to like it - except The Merry Widow and The Magic Flute. I know it's an old and hackneyed line, but, as somebody said "Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of bleeding, he sings!" Sorry! I feel really guilty now!

[LitNetIsGreat]

Opera anyone?

Yes Please.

I have totally fell in love with opera this year, mostly sticking to the likes of Mozart, Verdi and the like, Bellini etc, but yes love it!

I'm fresh from my London trip to see le nozze di Figaro and I only want more live opera experience, though the funding pot is a little low at the moment.

I've touched Wager only very lightly as of yet, though I'll give him a go at a later stage.

[Emil Miller]

As a fan of the 'classical listening' thread (though not, I note to my horror, an actual contributor as yet!), I thought it might be nice to have a sister thread dedicated to opera. So post what you like - we can talk about recent operas we've seen, DVD versions, and even link to some nice clips.

Well, I'm very happy - my DVD of Tristan und Isolde arrived in the post today. It's the 2007 la Scala production, and I fell in love with it when I got it out of the library a few weeks back. Barenboim, as conductor, is his usual sublime self, the staging is minimal (but very effective - if anything, it focuses the music), and the cast is truly exceptional - everyone was excellent, though I shall single out Waltraud Meier as an utterly captivating Isolde. Here is her Liebestod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbmjX7AYyU

One of the finest endings to an opera there is. I'm very fond of Wagner - sometime soon I'm going to take a day off and do a Ring marathon.

That's a good idea as I'm sure the opera aficionados will agree. Although I am not one of them, there are some pieces that are outstanding and Wagner's Liebestod is certainly one of them. Two others I find painfully moving to listen too are Puccini's La Boehme and Madame Butterfly.
If you are going to take on the Ring cycle, I don't think you will do better than the great Georg Solti recording engineered by the late John Culshaw for Decca, it is justly acclaimed as one of the greatest performances in the history of recorded music.

[OrphanPip]

I went to see Lullee's Thesee two years ago, but opera is an expensive hobby to participate in these days.

Favourites that I have seen on film but not watched in person include Berg's Wozzeck and Mozart's Don Giovanni (always makes me smile).

I like most of the other big name operas too, Magic Flute, Bizet's Carmen, Madama Butterfly, etc.

However, I could never get into Wagnerian Musik-Drama, I can appreciate the brilliance of all those leitmotifs and his commitment to merging drama and music, but I find the effect highly tedious. Nietzche was right, Bizet was the much better opera composer of the period.

[Wilde woman]

I haven't seen much opera, but from what I have, I found I tend to like Puccini. His arias to me are much more melodious than any other composer's.

[stlukesguild]

Nietzche was right, Bizet was the much better opera composer of the period

For what? One memorable opera? (Although the Pearl Fishers is making a slight comeback). Nietzsche only turned on Wagner because of Parsival... he thought that the opera's Christian theme... and the notion of the weak-minded hero went against his own notions of atheism and the Superman. Seriously, the only composers in any genre who can rival Wagner are Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and maybe Handel and Monteverdi. The problem with Wagner is that many approach him with the notion of the traditional opera format in mind in which the drama is carried forth by a series of arias, duets, trios, and choruses broken up by moments of dialog or recitative... essentially not unlike the the structure of a musical. Wagner approached the entire opera as a single musical structure... rather more like a symphony.

Having said this much... it's Mozart's great 4 operas (Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte) that I am most enamored of.

[Lokasenna]

I think the cost of opera is dependent - back when I was in Leeds, the University had an arrangement with the Grand Theatre that allowed a student to book any seat in the house (even the nice ones) for only £10 - something I took advantage of! Durham doesn't have an opera house, but there is one in Newcastle, though without the discount. Even so, I figure I can afford two or three operas or concerts a year.

Nietzsche's opinion on Wagner did change over time, and possibly more as a result of their personal falling out than anything else. In Beyond Good and Evil, if memory serves me right, I'm sure Nietzsche lauded Wagner as the greatest musical artist of the time?

Some people have mentioned Le Nozze Di Figaro, which is a wonderful opera. I recently saw on the TV the 2006 Royal Opera House production, which was very enjoyable - an excellent piece of theatre, as much as anything else, and very much the director's interpretation of it. By far and away the best performance was Dorothea Röschmann's Countess, which was really quite awe inspiring.

I couldn't find any clips from that production, but here she is singing the same part, 'Dove sono', in a different production from a few months before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtW2Jx3O9yA

Really something!

[LitNetIsGreat]

Ha, ha, yes. I have the 2006 ROH production and I totally agree. It was virtually the same cast (countess included) for the production the other day and I also though she was outstanding and outshone the lot of them - there is that and the fact that I am particularly fond of the countess at the moment...

Here she is in the 2006 production:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC84wEqMqAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_hdOSl3B1I&feature=related

I agree that it can be costly but there are also some good deals out there, I mean the best seats are out of my price range at the moment (he says optimistically) but my ticket only cost me £27 for the London and the seat was more than fair for that price. The English Touring Opera (and the Welsh I believe) are excellent value, I saw the English Touring Opera’s version of le nozze in Sheffield earlier this year (which was fantastic) at a standard theatre cost too. It is like anything else though, you have to weigh up the cost for the total experience you are getting, both on the day and in looking forward to the performance and in terms of that the cost means very little – art is above mere money anyway!

[mortalterror]

Seriously, the only composers in any genre who can rival Wagner are Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and maybe Handel and Monteverdi.

Or Tchaikovsky or Verdi. I think the problem with Wagner is that his operas are two to three times as long as they need to be. The other day, I'm watching the Ring cycle thinking, "This fifteen minute conversation shouldn't have lasted more than one." Most really big artistic works have some rather major faults. It comes with the territory when you compose on a truly epic scale.

[stlukesguild]

I might give you Verdi... but not Tchaikovsky... maybe Brahms... not that I dislike the Russian... but he just isn't in the same realm. Verdi I grant you (knowing your predilection) for the very reason that he is undoubtedly one of the two towering opera composers of the time (Wagner being the other)... and honestly I am not familiar enough with his complete operas to dispute your claim considering that what I do know of Verdi is top-notch. I will note that Verdi is certainly far more conservative... structuring his operas on the accepted operatic format. You might note that Verdi had this to say of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (in spite of their rivalry):

"This gigantic structure fills me time and time again with astonishment and awe, and I still cannot quite comprehend that it was conceived and written by a human being. I consider the second act, in its wealth of musical invention, its tenderness and sensuality of musical expression and its inspired orchestration, to be one of the finest creations that has ever issued from a human mind."

I actually like Puccini more than Verdi.:cornut:

[kasie]

I might give you Verdi... but not Tchaikovsky...

Do give Eugene Onegin or Queen of Spades a try, stlg - you may be surprised. Tchaik uses the orchestra as another character in the opera. And may I suggest you give Falstaff or Otello a try, too? They are Verdi in his old age coming under the influence of Wagner-style musicdrama: the aria/chorus/ensemble structure has gone, replaced by a continuous 'stream of music', a bit of a shock to listeners used to Verdi's early/middle period with those melodious arias but so powerful.

How could I have missed this thread and me a Friend of Welsh National Opera? I've just been over to Cardiff to see Rigoletto, first time live on stage, and Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, my first live Wagner but not, I hope, my last - Bryn Terfil (Local Boy Makes Good) making his debut as Hans Sachs - I'm still reeling from the experience.

BBC4 has just had an opera season - a feast of music. And last Friday Beeb2 gave us Domingo as Simon Boccanegro (sorry, Neely, I found out about it too late to send a pointer to it!) Are we Opera Buffs getting spoiled in UK?

[Lokasenna]

Welsh National Opera is fantastic, isn't it? They're quite often in Llandudno, although I have to say they make it exorbitantly expensive. Factor in that Venue Cymru (or whatever it's called this week) is one of the most uncomfortable, stuffy, ill-concieved theatres I've ever seen, and I don't get to watch them in action very often.

That said, I think Opera North can honsetly give them a run for their money - a really excellent company.

[stlukesguild]

Do give Eugene Onegin or Queen of Spades a try, stlg - you may be surprised.

I was actually quite impressed with Eugene Onegin... and I'm not suggesting that Tchaikovsky is a minor or second-rate composer by any means. I just don't think he compares with Wagner, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, or Monteverdi. He certainly did not shake up the music world in any way near what Beethoven or Wagner achieved. I do agree that his operas... and those of Russian composers in general... should be heard more. Boris Godunov and Shostakovitch's The Nose absolutely blew me away. It's sad that Rachmaninoff didn't write more operas... oh hell, it's sad that he listened to all those Modernists and virtually stopped composing altogether like Sibelius. Seriously, I'll take Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Puccini, and Richard Strauss over nearly any arch-Modernist... as much as I admire some of their music.

[kasie]

WNO come to Swansea a couple of times a year - the Grand is a far from comfortable theatre too, Lockasenna, so much so that the only place I can sit comfortably is in the stalls, the most expensive seats, of course! But it's only twice a year, so I save up and indulge. Cardiff is only about fifty miles away so I take a trip up there if there is something on the programme that will not come out on tour, like Queen of Spades last year and Meistersinger last month. I tell myself I don't smoke or drink, so this is my indulgence. (Oh, and the Shakespeare in Stratford. And the books - but Borders has closed now, so I'm actually saving money ....)

Ah, StLG, Strauss - Salome, Rosenkavalier, now you're talking! Salome was just mind-blowing!

[kasie]

For anyone in UK who has something like five hours to spare on Saturday evening (!), there is a broadcast of the Welsh National Opera production of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg that I saw at Cardiff last month from the Proms on BBC4 - I've set the recorder as I shall be at a concert but whether I shall ever get round to watching it in one fell swoop is debatable. It was a good production though I was informed by some Wagner buffs afterwards that the Walter was 'not a Wagnerian tenor': I thought he was quite good and I don't feel Walter is a particulaly 'Wagnerian' hero, much more a Romantic hero - but what do I know of these things?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Good call Kasie, though I'm out Saturday and I don't have a five hour tape to record it! I'm still using the VHS I'm afraid.

[Wilde woman]

Seriously, I'll take Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Puccini, and Richard Strauss over nearly any arch-Modernist... as much as I admire some of their music.

I completely agree, esp. about Rachmaninoff. I cannot speak to his opera, but his piano concertos are sheer genius.

[Lokasenna]

For anyone in UK who has something like five hours to spare on Saturday evening (!), there is a broadcast of the Welsh National Opera production of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg that I saw at Cardiff last month from the Proms on BBC4 - I've set the recorder as I shall be at a concert but whether I shall ever get round to watching it in one fell swoop is debatable. It was a good production though I was informed by some Wagner buffs afterwards that the Walter was 'not a Wagnerian tenor': I thought he was quite good and I don't feel Walter is a particulaly 'Wagnerian' hero, much more a Romantic hero - but what do I know of these things?

I watched it, and it was wonderful (albeit something of a marathon!). It really is Wagner at his least Wagnerian, though his musical flourishes are certainly there.

Walter is an odd character, insofar as he plays a heroic role in a opera with a quite different actual hero, which is Hans Sachs. That's arguably why he seems a little out of place; he has no dragons to slay (just a grouchy old clerk), and the opera is far more a testament to the joy of art than war, or even courting.

Bryn Terfel was his usual excellent self, and the fellow who played Beckmesser really stole the show - it may have been a concert, but the quality of the acting on display was great. Eva was bit wishy-washy, but then it's a wishy-washy role.

All in all, an evening well spent!

[LMK]

For those who find cost an issue in attending live opera, you may find that the Opera House in your city is in need of volunteer ushers where you can then see the show for free.

I enjoy opera, my favorite is La bohème, but I'm a sucker for Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Eugene Onegin...Boris Godunov


Been trying to explore some hitherto unknown (to me) operas which include the Russians.
For me, Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame (Queen of Spades) is one of his finest scores.

Abbado's original Mussorgsky's Boris is very darkly scored; still haven't heard Karajan's Rimsky's orchestration of Boris.

Rimsky's Sadko is a favourite--some critics say possibly his best.
I'm waiting for a copy of The Golden Cockerel in the mail...
Got an OOP copy of Abbado's Kovanshchina but haven't studied it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Mussorgsky-Khovanshchina-Abbado-Modest/dp/B00000E4HS/ref=cm_lmf_tit_35
Mebbe should have got Gergiev?

~~~~~~

On a French note, last year the MET staged a wonderful Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Anna Netrebko; I picked up DG's OOP issue:
http://www.amazon.com/Offenbach-Hoffmann-Domingo-Gruberova-Bacquier/dp/B000001GBB/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_prod_4_0

Not so fond of Ozawa, but a big Domingo fan.

[dafydd manton]

For those who find cost an issue in attending live opera, you may find that the Opera House in your city is in need of volunteer ushers where you can then see the show for free.

I enjoy opera, my favorite is La bohème, but I'm a sucker for Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas.

With you all the way with G&S. Not opera to the purist, but that's not the point. I've been in Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, The Sorceror and a couple of others, although only in the chorus. I'd love to play the Sergeant in Pirates, though.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

With you all the way with G&S.


Really enjoyed Mike Leigh's G&S film Topsy Turvy.

[stlukesguild]

Abbado's original Mussorgsky's Boris is very darkly scored; still haven't heard Karajan's Rimsky's orchestration of Boris.

Valery Giergev recorded a marvelously muscular and truly Russian interpretation of Boris Godunov which included two complete versions: the unfinished 1869 and the 1872 version. The Abbado version for a little over $12 US is very seductive as well... but if I get another Boris it will be the Rimsky-Korsakov fleshed-out score... probably by Karajan.

On a French note, last year the MET staged a wonderful Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Anna Netrebko; I picked up DG's OOP issue:
http://www.amazon.com/Offenbach-Hoff...uthor_prod_4_0

Not so fond of Ozawa, but a big Domingo fan.

Then why not the Domingo/Sutherland recording?

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Why not the Domingo/Sutherland recording?

Probably should've gotten that one:
http://www.amazon.com/Offenbach-Hoffmann-Domingo-Sutherland-Bacquier/dp/B0000041RR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1280249229&sr=8-1-catcorr

C'est la vie.

Edit: Hoffmann is (like Boris and Kovanshchina) one of those 'problematic' scores which has numerous versions and editions because the original author died before ultimate completion.

[kasie]

......I'm a sucker for Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas.

I have a love-hate relationship with G & S - I used to sing in a choir that performed a concert version of a G & S every spring: I've sung in Pirates, Pinafore, Mikado, Gondoliers, Patience, Yeomen and Iolanthe (one year we deviated and did Merrie England) and discovered quite quickly that although Sullivan wrote some marvellous solo parts for the contralto voice (I still fancy myself as the Fairy Queen and Katisha) he treated his chorus contraltos as third sopranos. I would come out of choir pracice each week with a strained voice, having sung at the top of my range for a couple of hours, and hating the whole work. I usually got the job of writing the narration that linked the musical bits in the concert versions and reading it in the performances - I wouldn't sing solos but I didn't mind standing up and speaking in public, the reverse of most of my fellow-singers. Then on the nights of the performances, it all came together, the whole thing flowed, the chorus got to hear the soloists who had mostly rehearsed separately, the adrenaline helped me up to those notes I had barely been able to reach for weeks, the narration stitched it all together, the naughty basses fooled around behind me as I was reading and got lots of laughs, the audience enjoyed themselves and clapped along in time to the favourite bits and once again I decided that perhaps old G & S weren't so bad after all. But it was sweet relief for this contralto to get back to Handel or Bach or Haydn in the autumn.

[Fen]

Rimsky's Sadko is a favourite--some critics say possibly his best.
I'm waiting for a copy of The Golden Cockerel in the mail...
.

I watched Sadko and The Golden Cockerel a couple of years ago and they were wonderful. It was so different to what I had experienced before. The Golden Cockerel version I saw was in the style of Japanese theatre and was beautiful to watch. I hope you enjoy your version.

SkyArts channel is a very good way of seeing operas from the Met and Glyndebourne and I wouldn't have seen half of what I have without it.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Gergiev's Sadko is great ('live' with a bit of applause, however).
http://www.amazon.com/Nicolai-Rimsky-Korsakov-Sadko-Nikolai/dp/B00000418U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1280681517&sr=1-1

Unfortunately, looks like The Golden Cockerel is not forthcoming.
The vendor was a washout.

Difficult to get a copy of that opera.

[Fen]

That staging of Sadko was magical it really puts you in a fairytale world.

It could be just me but I tend to find in Russian productions there is an awful lot more applause and it can rather hinder the flow of things.

I am sorry you didn't get your opera. I managed to watch The Golden Cockerel by renting it from amazon.co.uk without realising it was rare so I was lucky. Better luck next time.

[OrphanPip]

I just discovered today that I'm eligible for a special deal through my bank to get tickets (in the nosebleeds mind you) for three opera this season for only 90$, not half bad.

The operas would be Verdi's Rigolleto, Strauss' Salome, and Puccini's La Boheme.

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Oh, mamma--saw the Met's December 31, 2009 Carmen with Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna, directed by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

That's gotta be the h o t t e s t Carmen ever!

Elina Garanca is Carmen!

Alagna seemed to sing well, and was vigorously applauded after the Flower Song.

The staging and dance were very nice as well.

Fans should see this production!

[LMK]

I have a love-hate relationship with G & S - I used to sing in a choir that performed a concert version of a G & S every spring: I've sung in Pirates, Pinafore, Mikado, Gondoliers, Patience, Yeomen and Iolanthe (one year we deviated and did Merrie England) and discovered quite quickly that although Sullivan wrote some marvellous solo parts for the contralto voice (I still fancy myself as the Fairy Queen and Katisha) he treated his chorus contraltos as third sopranos. I would come out of choir pracice each week with a strained voice, having sung at the top of my range for a couple of hours, and hating the whole work. I usually got the job of writing the narration that linked the musical bits in the concert versions and reading it in the performances - I wouldn't sing solos but I didn't mind standing up and speaking in public, the reverse of most of my fellow-singers. Then on the nights of the performances, it all came together, the whole thing flowed, the chorus got to hear the soloists who had mostly rehearsed separately, the adrenaline helped me up to those notes I had barely been able to reach for weeks, the narration stitched it all together, the naughty basses fooled around behind me as I was reading and got lots of laughs, the audience enjoyed themselves and clapped along in time to the favourite bits and once again I decided that perhaps old G & S weren't so bad after all. But it was sweet relief for this contralto to get back to Handel or Bach or Haydn in the autumn.

I've never had the pleasure of singing any of their work, and can completely sympathize with singing at the extreme in one's range for any period of time; it is very painful and frustrating.

But oh, what a high when you sing a piece with diagrammatic and breath support, in the sweet spot within your range...such a rush, you must know what I'm talking about.


I just discovered today that I'm eligible for a special deal through my bank to get tickets (in the nosebleeds mind you) for three opera this season for only 90$, not half bad.

The operas would be Verdi's Rigolleto, Strauss' Salome, and Puccini's La Boheme.

Oh, honey, snap it up! What a great season!

[kasie]

Oh, mamma--saw the Met's December 31, 2009 Carmen with Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna, directed by Yannick Nézet-Séguin......

Did you see it live or on DVD, Seb? I ask because in an earlier post you mentioned wanting to see Queen of Spades and that is in the Met's programme next Spring. And - guess what - I've got a ticket! :banana: Lucky, lucky me!

[Sebas. Melmoth]

Did you see [Garanca's Carmen] live or on DVD?

Saw it on PBS' Great Performances (twice!); had already heard the MET Saturday live broadcast last December.

Oh, boy!--you're gonna see Pique Dame? Nice.

It's gonna be a great season:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/detail.aspx?id=11432

Ring cycle and all...

[kasie]

Did anyone watch the 'real time' production of Rigoletto over the weekend? It was broadcast on BBC2 - and I'm sorry I didn't post an advance warning to other opera lovers in UK, I found out about it myself only minutes before it started - and was broadcast simultaneously in 140+ countries. It was set in Mantua itself, in the locations mentioned in the opera where possible, and was broadcast at the times of the action in the opera, Act I early in the evening (Saturday), Act II early next morning(Sunday), Act III later the same evening. The same team presented a 'real time' Tosca in Rome a few years ago.

I thoroughly enjoyed it but Rigoletto is one of my favourites anyway, so it would have to have been really bad for me to start shouting at the screen (as I did in a bizarre production of Aida a few weeks back.) Placido Domingo sang Rigoletto in his new incarnation as a baritone - what a consummate actor he is, let alone singer, I had tears in my eyes in the father/daughter duet in Act II. A young Russian soprano, Katya Nicolova, sang Gilda, such a pure voice and such a pretty girl, the first Gilda I've believed in. Vittorio Grigolo was a handsome, winning Duke, a thoroughly nasty bit of work! (Or is he? How much do we believe that musing at teh beginning of Act II?) It must have been quite an ordeal for him to sing the role with Domingo on stage beside him.

The production was - well, interesting. It was a huge undertaking to broadcast live for so many different venues, the settings were sumptuous and added to the understanding of the background of the story, the logistics of the thing defy imagination. And yet, and yet - I'm not sure that in total it added to the opera. It worked for Tosca but that is a smaller scale story, only three main protagonists with the interest being the tensions beween them. I'm not sure it worked entirely for Rigoletto somehow. There was a lot of close up camera work so the glorious settings no longer mattered. I found the dramatic tensions were lost in having to wait so long between acts. I missed the patterns of movement a good producer can make with the chorus on a stage. Somehow using a real house lost the dramatic impact of Act III's quartet. Nit-picking, aren't I?? :yesnod:

Having said that, the close-up camera shots worked really well - I've never seen such tender duets. The producer had managed to get the singers to sing intimately and so did away with my usual objection to televised opera, that I don't want to see in close-up the tremendous effort it takes to produce a voice to fill an opera house. I've recorded it and will watch it without the long intervals which I think will restore the dramatic momentum.

[Patrick_Bateman]

I go to Operas as often as I can.

It all started when I fell in love with Maria Callas (and particularly an audio excerpt from Tosca) while studying her during my University course.

Naturally Puccini and Verdi are the masters of Opera

But aside from Tosca my favourite opera is Die Fledermaus. I adore Strauss and "Die Fledermaus - Overture" is one of my favourite pieces of music.

I'm seeing Mozart's The Magic Flute next month, followed by Fidelio (Beethoven)

I think Opera is the most powerful expression of emotion you can experience. It elicits profound feeling and emotion in oneself and there's nothing better (except Radiohead live)

[Emil Miller]

Here's the trio from Der Rosenkavalier. No point in saying anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_BVNKiphrk

[kasie]

Would that be Welsh National Opera's Fidelio, PB? I have a ticket for it in October. Maybe we can compare notes? I haven't seen it before - have you?

[Patrick_Bateman]

Would that be Welsh National Opera's Fidelio, PB? I have a ticket for it in October. Maybe we can compare notes? I haven't seen it before - have you?

It is indeed :)
I'm seeing it in Bristol

I haven't seen it before no, but I will have to research on it extensively since I have tickets in the Grand Circle so the surtitles might not be visible.

[Fen]

I watched Rigoletto on BBC ,not actually live though I recorded it and watched all at once, and I was slightly let down to be honest. The production was good and I agree with you Kasie about Placido Domingo's acting, Katya Nicolova clear voice and that doing the opera in real locations didn't really add to anything. I did enjoy the look at the beautiful buildings and the background information on the opera, Mantua and the Gonzaga family especially that they had commissioned L'Orfeo by Monteverdi. The thought that I was watching an opera in the city where one of the first operas was performed was wonderful.
My criticism is really that the opera didn't move me. I have only watched Rigoletto once before and that was a modern lets throw sex in every five minutes kind of production which I didn't like and I was looking forward to a more traditional version. Maybe it was the story which, in my opinion, can be slightly silly ie the blindfold Rigoletto didn't notice he was wearing and I didn't notice it first time round because I was younger but in any case I was much more profoundly moved by the modern version, while disliking it, then I was by this.

[stlukesguild]

I just recently picked up a new budget re-release of the original Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4939750668_d417021c98.jpg

This work is one of the icons of Minimalism ( a true misnomer... for while melodic development may be minimal, the structural fluctuations and rhythmic variations are incredibly complex) and the break away from the tonal/atonal dispute that dominated much of the century. I first head the work on LP when I was still in high-school and was at once both confounded and disconcerted... but also strangely drawn to it. I suspect that I am somewhat attracted to Minimalism for some of the same reasons in which I am attracted to Indian, Middle-Eastern, Gamelan, and Medieval music. There is something hypnotic about it... albeit I must admit that it would be difficult to listen to this entire opera through in a single setting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmX_GgozpQs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7SXOrmdLyE&feature=watch_response

[stlukesguild]

Here's the trio from Der Rosenkavalier. No point in saying anything else.

If anything, all one can say is Schwarzkopf!!!:):Angel_anim::yesnod::thumbsup:

I can't hear this... or any number of other exquisite works by Strauss without thinking that it was Strauss... not Stravinsky, not Bartok, not Shostakovitch... and certainly not Schoenberg... who was the greatest composer of the century.

[Lokasenna]

I heard this several years ago, but a friend reminded me of it yesterday. It is Anna Russell's legendary lecture on Wagner's Ring Cycle, and it is smashingly funny:

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv7G92F2sqs

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WduYrwAGews&feature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypisVrbqDqE&feature=related

[Musicology]

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnG5wIhP0E8

[stlukesguild]

OK... I'll bite. As much as I love Bach, what has this got to do with opera?

[Virgil]

I've listened to plenty of opera on disk, but I'm ashamed to say I've never been to an opera. I really need to go.


I just discovered today that I'm eligible for a special deal through my bank to get tickets (in the nosebleeds mind you) for three opera this season for only 90$, not half bad.

The operas would be Verdi's Rigolleto, Strauss' Salome, and Puccini's La Boheme.

$30 per opera is outstanding. Opera tickets are typically a good bit more than classical concerts. If you think about it, they both have an orchestra to pay for but operas need to pay for high priced singers and expensive sets in addition. By the way, those three are all outstanding operas.

[OrphanPip]

$30 per opera is outstanding. Opera tickets are typically a good bit more than classical concerts. If you think about it, they both have an orchestra to pay for but operas need to pay for high priced singers and expensive sets in addition. By the way, those three are all outstanding operas.

Ya, they're not the greatest seats in the world, first row Mezzanine, but the normal price is around 80$. I checked and that's only 10$ more than the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The company is owned by the government, so like most things in Quebec, it likely operates at a lost.

The Verdi on Thursday will be the 3rdish opera I've gone to (I'm not sure if I can count one Chinese opera, but I will anyway), but I haven't been in a couple years.

[stlukesguild]

I've listened to plenty of opera on disk, but I'm ashamed to say I've never been to an opera. I really need to go.

Virgil! You really ought to be ashamed of yourself! Living in NYC you have the Met! There is nothing like the live opera. I was not at all sold upon opera until I was given free tickets as a college student to see Aida. I was immediately seduced.

[oshima]

Last night I saw "The Marriage of Figaro" at the San Francisco Opera House, and it was beautiful; the sets, the orchestra, the voice. It was my first live opera experience and I'm completely hooked. Cyrano De Bergerac is coming up next month, but in summer of 2011 is The Ring of the Nibelung, which is too damn long to wait. Actually, when they start showing Ring apparently SF is going to have a ring festival, with documentaries and exhibits about Wagner and the Ring itself.

[Lokasenna]

Last night I saw "The Marriage of Figaro" at the San Francisco Opera House, and it was beautiful; the sets, the orchestra, the voice. It was my first live opera experience and I'm completely hooked. Cyrano De Bergerac is coming up next month, but in summer of 2011 is The Ring of the Nibelung, which is too damn long to wait. Actually, when they start showing Ring apparently SF is going to have a ring festival, with documentaries and exhibits about Wagner and the Ring itself.

Oh, that'll be good! I'd love to see a complete Ring. Northern Opera are doing Das Rheingald next year, which I've already booked my tickets for, but it's a one-off.

[billl]

Yeah, I'm not a huge classical buff (although I used to aspire to be), but I've studied opera in the university, and I think any level of fandom (e.g. if you enjoy listening to it) should be sufficient preparation for actually seeing it. Hopefully something that has a "horse on the stage"...

[kasie]

I went to see Fidelio last week - Welsh National Opera on tour. Two people in front of me obviously knew the opera well, probably from recordings as it's not performed that requently in UK - they kept nodding their head in time to the music - grrr. (No, they weren't together as far as I could judge.) I enjoyed it on the whole but won't say more as I know Patrick Bateman is going to see the same production and I wouldn't want to spoil it for him.

As for the 'horse on the stage', billl - I saw Aida at the Caracalla Baths in Rome years ago. When it came to the bit in the Grand March where Radames returns in triumph, I sat back in my seat happily anticipating a returning hero with sword held aloft - he certainly held the sword suitably triumphantly but his arrival was in a chariot drawn by four snowy white horses which the charioteer made rear up as they approached the edge of the stage. No great entry has ever lived up to that!

[stlukesguild]

For anyone who loves Mozart's operas the recent series of recordings by Rene Jacobs are an absolute must. These historically informed performances bring a muscularity and a clarity to the music that is often obfuscated by performances employing large romantic-scale orchestras. Rene Jacobs' recordings have absolutely shaken up the world of Mozart's operas. Earlier operas that were once largely ignored such as La Clemenza di Titto, and Idomeneo Re de Creta are put forth which such clarity of thought and intensity that they are at last recognized for what they are, some of the greatest operas of the time... excepting only Mozart's own later efforts.

Currently I'm listening to the long awaited Jacobs recording of Die Zaubertflote (The Magic Flute), perhaps the most beloved... certainly the most magical and most tuneful of Mozart's operas. The deluxe packaging alone with a beautiful cardboard box with hidden storage panels and a 300+ page book with the full libretto are enough alone to seduce the Mozartian or general opera or classical music lover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkObIajZcTc

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1204/5110615028_be314b890c.jpg

Jacobs takes the work at a brisk pace... perfectly capturing the humor and unabashed joy of this work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keS32PjGBKY&feature=related

The sound quality... as should be expected of most Harmonia Mundi recordings... is spectacular. The stripped-down orchestrations allows one to hear all of the layers of Mozart's musical composition... even the piano forte continuo. The use of the piano forte continuo lends the music a music hall-like atmosphere... perfectly suited to this great "singspiel"The singers are splendid, if not quite of the caliber of Otto Klemperers recording with Christa Ludwig, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Nicolai Gedda, Walter Berry, and Gundula Janowitz, which is the standard by which all others are measured. Jacobs' singers, however are perfectly suited to their roles... and to his manner of performance. Daniel Behle's Tamino has a beautiful, aristocratic tenor. Daniel Schmutzhard has the ideal humorous intonation (and the perfect name:lol: ) needed to play Papageno. Marlis Peterson is a sweet and lovely voice to play Pamina... the love interest of the opera.

Of course the ultimate measure of any Magic Flute are the notoriously difficult arias of the Queen of the Night. Lucia Popp may forever own these as unrivaled in her lightness and fluidity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ufeyarJxNQ

Although much must be said for Patricia Petibon's recent emotion-laden recording of the Queen of the Night's arias:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKEGjLSDpo

The Magic Flute remains one of my most beloved operas... it is quite likely my first choice for as my personal favorite. It was the first opera I ever watched ... in a production from the Vienna State Opera broadcast a good many years ago. It was the first opera I ever took my wife to... with the spectacular and truly magical set and costume designs by Maurice Sendak:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1351/5110179417_5118e0318b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1264/5110779470_d24001de57_z.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/5110779582_19e396deb1.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/5110179547_64b22174bb.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1217/5110779620_6f7d3cc2a4.jpghttp://farm2.static.flickr.com/1256/5110179597_c48fb8d704.jpg

Otto Klemperer's version has long been one of my favorite opera recordings... with perhaps the greatest collection of singers ever amassed for a single production... And now Rene Jacobs new recording stands as the crowning jewel to his historically informed performances of Mozart.

Highly Recommended!:nod:

[Patrick_Bateman]

I attended The Magic Flute last Thursday. Aside from the man playing the part of Tamino losing his voice towards the end of Act 1 the performance was great but much to my chagrin, it was performed in English which gave it kind of a pantomine feel. Not the best production I've seen and I prefer more dramatic and tragic opera.
The Queen of the Night role had the best voice of any of the other roles. She was quite fantastic. Sarastro and Pamina were pretty awful

My girlfriend who was experiencing her first opera told me it wasn't as bad as she was expecting so a result of sorts :D

[kasie]

I thought you were going to see Fidelio as well, Patrick?

[Patrick_Bateman]

Opera and Ballet is hitting Bristol again in the new year


got tickets stage left in the stalls for Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet(on Valentine's Day for my girlfriend)

also seeing Die Fledermaus which has my favourite piece of music from light opera.

[kasie]

Lucky you, Patrick - for some reason, probably financial, WNO is not visiting Swansea this season. I may have to go to Cardiff for my regular 'fix'.

Did anyone catch Don Giovanni on tv on Christmas Eve? I have it recorded for a later viewing - it's possibly my favourite Mozart opera.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Lucky you, Patrick - for some reason, probably financial, WNO is not visiting Swansea this season. I may have to go to Cardiff for my regular 'fix'.

Did anyone catch Don Giovanni on tv on Christmas Eve? I have it recorded for a later viewing - it's possibly my favourite Mozart opera.

I only caught it when it was half over. I had no idea it was on.

I watched the Cinderella ballet however and that very decent performance of The Nutracker (which oddly had Macauley Culkin in it) by the New York ballet.

[arrytus]

As I found this thread I was listening to Gounod's Faust.

My absolute favorite opera is Rigoletto. And pretty much any Verdi serves me well.

[Emil Miller]

Who was it who said "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver"?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1358034/Anna-Nicole-Smith-family-sue-Royal-Opera-House-father-daughter-blasts-sleazy-opera.html

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I've just started getting into opera, something I never thought would happen. I'm seeing the simulcast of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride on the 26th, and am pretty stoked (a word I never thought I'd use in relation to opera). I plan to also see Strauss’s Capriccio, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Wagner’s Die Walküre, and maybe Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I've just started getting into opera, something I never thought would happen. I'm seeing the simulcast of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride on the 26th, and am pretty stoked (a word I never thought I'd use in relation to opera). I plan to also see Strauss’s Capriccio, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Wagner’s Die Walküre, and maybe Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Good stuff, good move.

For me opera at its height is the greatest thing we have. The chance to escape to that unreal real world just pales everything else into insignificance.

I only have one opera booked so far this year and that's the English Touring Opera's production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. I don't know much about the thing at all but I can tell you I am looking forward to it in April - I have the very best seat as well.

I keep my eye open in regards to the Royal Opera House (damn, missed the Anna Nicole thing?!?:rolleyes5:) but you literally have to book the very same day they come on sale or you haven't a chance.

When my final degree stuff is out of the way, which is all but taking over my life at the moment and for the next three months, I think I am going to have a pop at that Wager fellow, we'll see, I don't know. Strikes me as a little too dark and serious for my tastes, but maybe I'll dip my toe in and find out?

Looking forward to the Rameau DVD though. Very much so.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I think I am going to have a pop at that Wager fellow, we'll see, I don't know. Strikes me as a little too dark and serious for my tastes, but maybe I'll dip my toe in and find out?


That's what I'm really looking forward to--the darker, the better. Wagner is to opera as Tony Iommi is to metal :cornut:.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Die Fledermaus and Il Trovatore next month

[Lokasenna]

When my final degree stuff is out of the way, which is all but taking over my life at the moment and for the next three months, I think I am going to have a pop at that Wager fellow, we'll see, I don't know. Strikes me as a little too dark and serious for my tastes, but maybe I'll dip my toe in and find out?


May I recommend Tristan und Isolde? It really is one of the best operas ever written. Go and have a look at my first post at the start of the thread, and take a look at the clip. It gets me every time.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Wagner is a waste of time and his operas and second rate.
Extravagant and over the top even for opera. Not to mention that the man was a complete twat

[LitNetIsGreat]

That's what I'm really looking forward to--the darker, the better. Wagner is to opera as Tony Iommi is to metal :cornut:.

Ah the riff master general - there was another early obsession of mine.


May I recommend Tristan und Isolde? It really is one of the best operas ever written. Go and have a look at my first post at the start of the thread, and take a look at the clip. It gets me every time.

Thanks I'll do that.

[Lokasenna]

Wagner is a waste of time and his operas and second rate.
Extravagant and over the top even for opera.

Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. However, you cannot deny that Wagner was different from everything that came before him, and has massively impacted on everything that came after. I'll freely admit that my personal musical trinity is made up of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, so perhaps I'm biased in my enjoyment of his opera. However, the musicologists all agree that Wagner is the father of modern music.


Not to mention that the man was a complete twat


In the first instance, this should have no impact on our appreciation of Wagner's music. Mahler and Beethoven were both horrendous people (Beethoven especially), but that in no way prevents me (or anyone else) from admiring their music.

Secondly, I genuinely think Wagner is rather hard done by. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he was a nice fellow, but I certainly don't believe that he was the complete monster that modern popular culture has foisted upon us. It's true that he was an anti-Semite, but then so were most of Europe's intellectuals at the time. It's true that he was a home-breaker, but after the deed was done he and Cosima appear to have been very much in love - he also continued to support his first wife for many years after their divorce until she died. If you look at the correspondance surrounding Wagner, you can see that he inspired tremendous affection, loyalty and generosity in his friends - and was himself affectionate, loyal and generous with them.

Was Wagner a good man? By modern standards, and probably by the standards of his time, no. But was he "a complete twat"? I suspect not.

[stlukesguild]

Patrick_Bateman-Wagner is a waste of time and his operas and second rate.
Extravagant and over the top even for opera.

Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it.

Yes and we all know what they say about opinions. The fact that almost no composer for nearly 50 years or so after Wagner could ignore his influence says much about what they thought: Mahler, Bruckner, Richard Strauss, even Arnold Schoenberg, Debussy, Puccini, and Verdi were all profoundly impacted by the work of Wagner. No composer after Wagner has had a greater impact. When casting votes for the greatest operas ever, critics and opera aficionados repeatedly place Wagner's Ring at the top of the heap with Tristan und Isolde not far behind. For every opinion suggesting Wagner's music is without merit, there are more who would argue that Der Ring des Nibelungen is the single greatest artwork ever created. Indeed, Wagner can claim a following of acolytes, adherents, fans, and obsessed fanatic that verges upon the sort of cult following one expects of a contemporary pop star. They will invest hundreds and thousands to experience the Wagnerian operas live at Bayreuth, the theater built especially to Wagner's specifications. This is not what one expects of a composer who is a complete waste of time and second rate.

Not to mention that the man was a complete twat

That's quite possibly true... but completely irrelevant. Hemingway was an a**hole who probably should have shot himself sooner. Carlo Gesualdo remains one of the most innovative composers of the Renaissance... in spite of the fact that he killed his wife and her lover, mutilated their bodies, and dumped them on the steps of her parent's home. Caravaggio remains a towering figure of art history... in spite of the fact that he pandered images of underage "pretty boys" to pedophile clergy, had a police record a mile long... including a charge of murder. Picasso was undoubtedly a jerk and Francis Bacon, a sadomasochistic homosexual was no better... and yet both remain great painters.
The reality is that Wagner could be very supportive of young musicians and composers while Brahms, his arch-rival, was a notorious curmudgeon who attacked the work of anyone who dared to draw inspiration from Wagner as opposed to himself.

This alone would have assured Wagner's place in music history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mOA8pZ_I4M

[Emil Miller]

Yeah, I'm not a huge classical buff (although I used to aspire to be), but I've studied opera in the university, and I think any level of fandom (e.g. if you enjoy listening to it) should be sufficient preparation for actually seeing it. Hopefully something that has a "horse on the stage"...

How about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBW7OI4jSzg

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Wagner is a waste of time and his operas and second rate.
Extravagant and over the top even for opera. Not to mention that the man was a complete twat

I don't know much about opera, but I can honestly say this is the first time I've heard/read such a harsh statement against Wagner. Sure, a lot of people aren't a fan of his dark sound, and that's fine, but I've heard no one claim he wasn't brilliant.

[stlukesguild]

I just spent a couple of hours watching this magnificent production of Richard Strauss' Salome:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5140/5463418264_8827397d47.jpg

Salome is surely one of the towering works of early Modernism, worthy of standing alongside Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Shostakovitch' string quartets, and a few other pieces. The opera is a masterwork of German Expressionism. The libretto was translated into German from Oscar Wilde's play. Like the paintings of Gustav Klimt:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5211/5463454968_89e1991d04_b.jpg

and Egon Schiele:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5131/5462853851_4d5d89bd81.jpg

Edvard Munch:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5180/5463455004_822620deaa_z.jpg

Like much of the whole of Viennese Symbolism/Decadence/Modernism, Strauss' opera is a heady and unsettling mix of death and eroticism. Indeed... like Munch and Klimt especially, this is made even more shocking and taboo as a result of being framed within the context of the sacred... in this case, the narrative of John the Baptist, Herod, and Salome. The greatest recorded version of Salome is undoubtedly that of Sir George Solti with Birgit Nilsson in the title role. However, for the actual filmed performance, the Greek soprano, Teresa Stratas absolutely owns this role. Birgit Nilsson comes off as a parody of madness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY5uHiHbWz8

Stratas absolutely inhabits the role of Salome gone mad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI02Rj5xhFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJiFHv70WPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op1VoQXXARs

This is undoubtedly one of the great opera performances available on DVD. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[mortalterror]

That's quite possibly true... but completely irrelevant. Hemingway was an a**hole who probably should have shot himself sooner.

Dude, that is so uncool. Don't compare Ernest Hemingway to child molesters and murderers. Also, cheering his death? What's wrong with you? Besides, you don't know anything about his life and work, except for one or two books you've read; so stick to Wagner.

[stlukesguild]

I knew the Hemingway comment would draw you out of the woodwork.:D

Seriously... whether he, Wagner, Caravaggio, or Picasso were creeps or not is not likely to change my opinion about their artistic efforts one little bit.

[Emil Miller]

I was fortunate enough to see Stokowski conduct on a number of occasions but I have often wondered what he would have thought of this. Although he was instrumental in getting Walt Disney to make Fantasia, somehow I don't think he would have been amused. Stokowski famously never used a baton and was almost worshipped by the music fraternity, so there is little doubt who it's supposed to be.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX1ljYx3g3k

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Lol, a classic. Anyone who isn't amused by that needs to find a sense of humor.

[OrphanPip]

I'm going to see a production of Salome in three weeks, I've listened to the opera before but should be fun to see it performed.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I just saw Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride simulcast live from the Met. I really enjoyed it, much more than Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West. I liked the story a lot more and the music especially. My only gripe was when they would keep repeating the same line over and over again. A minor gripe, really.

[OrphanPip]

I just saw Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride simulcast live from the Met. I really enjoyed it, much more than Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West. I liked the story a lot more and the music especially. My only gripe was when they would keep repeating the same line over and over again. A minor gripe, really.

That's just part of Classical operatic form. It came about in the Baroque period largely as a result of the desire for the singers to show off their pipes on the second time through the lyrics. All operas from the period do that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_capo_aria

[LitNetIsGreat]

I'm going to see a production of Salome in three weeks, I've listened to the opera before but should be fun to see it performed.

That sounds great, hope you enjoy it. I always wonder what Wilde would have thought to see his beloved Salome converted into an opera. I think he would have been really thrilled.

Oh, just been watching my Rameau.

[kasie]

I'm off to New York tomorrow to see three operas at the Met: I'll be seeing Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and Rossini's Le Comte d'Ory. Aren't I the lucky girl! (Especially as I shall be spending my birthday in the company of Juan Diego Florez as the Comte - see Petrarch Love's post in the Classical Crushes thread - and Placido Domingo is conducting the Gounod the night before.)

[LitNetIsGreat]

I'm off to New York tomorrow to see three operas at the Met: I'll be seeing Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and Rossini's Le Comte d'Ory. Aren't I the lucky girl! (Especially as I shall be spending my birthday in the company of Juan Diego Florez as the Comte - see Petrarch Love's post in the Classical Crushes thread - and Placido Domingo is conducting the Gounod the night before.)

:sosp: Come now, haven't we better drop all the alternative life fun stuff?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Could be seeing Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor tomorrow.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Die Fledermaus on Wednesday. The overture is my favourite piece of music of light opera.

[stlukesguild]

I've recently been delving deeper and deeper into Baroque music and as a result I've been listening to a lot of Baroque opera... sometimes whole operas, but often some marvelous recitals by some of today's leading singers specializing in the repertoire. While far prefer the female soprano or mezzo to the use of the male choir boy or the counter-tenor in Baroque music... often as a replacement for the roles that would have been sung by the castrato... I am nevertheless growing quite obsessed with the otherworldly purity and virtuosity of the countertenor, Philippe Jaroussky. Over the past month I have picked up 5 of his recent recordings, making him one of the soloists by whom I have the most recitals in my collection:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5178/5530081769_868cbbea5a.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/5524097517_ff94640b9b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5524459550_dac33d9308.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5137/5516435134_ba1aea7ff4.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5026/5562554095_4a0e7026d4.jpg

As with the more intelligent among the female singers, Jaroussky is willing to explore music beyond the core repertoire that in many cases has been endlessly performed and recorded... by singers of undoubted brilliance. Jaroussky explores the operatic (and other vocal repertoire) of Antonio Vivaldi (who as a composer is only beginning to earn recognition for his vocal works... especially his operas; Antonio Caldara, one of the giants of the Baroque opera who virtually disappeared from the history of music until the mid-twentieth century; Johann Christian Bach, friend and composer admired by such a luminary as W.A. Mozart long left in the shadows of his brothers, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and of course that of his father, Johann Sebastian Bach's reputation; Johann Hasse, who along with Telemann were the towering figures in Germany at the time of J.S. Bach. Along with these, Jaroussky explores arias by many truly forgotten composers: Giovanni Maria Capelli, Leonardo Leo, Carl Heinrich Graun, Alessandro Grandi, Giovanni Legrenzi, Nicola Antonio Porpora, Giovanni Maria Capelli, Francesco Cavelli, Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, Giovanni Paolo Caprioli, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Andrea Mattioli, and Girolamo Frescobaldi... the last being rather less than forgotten. Jaroussky opens up a door unto the wealth of Italian operatic composers at the time when opera... and music... was still dominated by the Italians. J.S. Bach himself was deeply enamored of Italian models (especially Vivaldi), G.F. Handel studied and worked for years in Italy and continued long therafter writing operas in Italian and other music that clearly showed its Italianatestyle, and Jean-Baptiste Lully who had established opera in France under the Sun King was born Giovanni Battista Lulli in Florence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v3llijUN6Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX83BSR0mug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJs5X57LMg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVgItFV0kBY&feature=related

[Emil Miller]

Die Fledermaus on Wednesday. The overture is my favourite piece of music of light opera.

Yes it's one of mine also but I'm often reminded of this when I hear it. The music that opens and finishes the video is Liszt's tone poem Les Preludes which also a favourite of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCzU9q5dNLE

[kasie]

:sosp: Come now, haven't we better drop all the alternative life fun stuff?

Sorry, Neely, this one was for real. :p

However, Domingo did not turn up to conduct, Paul Nadler took up the baton in his place; and Angela Ghorgiou was 'indisposed' so Hei-Kyung Hong sang Juliette and enchanting she was too.

Should you wish to see Le Comte Ory, it's being broadcast on HD on April 9, if you have a HD cinema near you - I haven't, (grrr) or I'd certainly go and see it again. It's the daftest possible story - G & S would have been proud of its unlikely turn of events - but the singing is lovely and yes, Juan Diego Flores does do the second act dressed as a nun....

[stlukesguild]

Angela Gheorghiu is always "indisposed." From what I've read of her last minute cancellation of the entire run as Juliette she claims it was due to a disagreement on artistic terms. Of course one would think that she could have canceled far earlier rather than leaving the Met in the lurch and disappointing so many fans. But there is a reason she has become known as Draculette. Unfortunately, Draculett may just have about destroyed any future possibilities of working with the Met and many feel that this, along with her other well-publicized cancellations (one to go shopping!:nonod:), her difficult personality, and her ugly behavior during the much publicized divorce from Roberto Alagna (including snide comments about his family) has essentially resulted in career suicide. Seriously, she has recently become quite dwarfed in reputation by singers such as Rene Fleming, Magdalena Kozena, Veronique Gens, Natalie Dessay, Denise DiDonato, and of course Ana Netrebko who equals her as a singer, surpasses her in looks, and easily outstrips her as as actress. Surprising, many producers, conductors, theaters, record companies, and even fans want opera stars who have reputations as being always professional, easy to work with, and far more intelligent in their musical choices... willing to explore music beyond the usual arias by Verdi, Puccini, Donnizetti, Bellini, Rossini, and Mozart. I have several discs by Gheorghiu including her unmatched recording of Puccini's La Rondine with her then-husband, Alagna. I also have her Gounod Romeo and Juliette, a recital of Puccini arias and a collection of sacred arias. Her La Traviata with George Solti is highly regarded... but the Netrebko/Villazon DVD far surpasses it in star power, and it also pales next to the Zefferelli film production with Domingo and Stratas at their peaks while the classic Sutherland/Pavarotti pairing is unmatched in musical terms.

She just need a good slap from somebody. There's still time to salvage her career. As it stands right now, there is little that she has done that looks as if it will survive. One can't imagine her name being bandied about much in the future as Sutherland's, Callas' , and Schwarzkopf's.

[Lokasenna]

I've been listening to a lot of Korngold recently, and I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that he is one of history's most under-appreciated composers.

A friend of mine, the one who has been guiding my musical education, lent me a CD recording of Die Tote Stadt. It really is a sublime opera, easily on the same level as its Straussian antecedents - though I can understand why it isn't performed much, as the two leading roles require tremendously capable singers.

I couldn't find a youtube version of the recording on the CD, but this is an excellent performance of one of the great arias:

Glück das mir verblieb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GrC0Im7chI), or Marietta's Lied as it is sometimes known.

[stlukesguild]

Played this one late last night.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5017/5585996514_e1e1d154cb.jpg

There is surely something to be said for listening to an opera in which one can understand the language... pick up on how the music is used to heighten or lend a certain color to a given word or phrase. Initially I was going to go with the original Britten/Peter Pears recording, but any number of reviews suggested that this more recent Bostridge.Rodgers pairing was even stronger and I can honestly say that I was in no way disappointed. Initially I had my doubts about the CD-Rom libretto... but I gotta say after using it, I love it. The PDF format allows me to enlarge the text to read it comfortably... much more comfortably that the micro-print most CD booklets allow.

The opera in question is a chamber-opera setting of Henry James classic tale. Where the original book leads us to believe that the ghost of Quint and Miss Jessel are all in the young governess mind, Britten's allowing us to see Quint and Miss Jessel leads us to wonder otherwise. Britten also plays up the loss of innocence (a common theme throughout his work) employing Yeats line from the Second Coming, "The ceremony of innocence is drowned..." with even greater suggestions of something horribly wrong having happened involving Quint and Miss Jessel... something suggestive of abuse of the children. The discomfort is further heightened if one knows of Britten's troubled sexual life.

Britten employs a twelve-tone "Screw Theme" which he runs through a series of 15 variations before each scene. While the music is largely tonal... with dramatic employments of dissonance, the twelve-tone theme and variation was an obvious nod to Schoenberg. The score makes repeated use of child-like music... nursery rhymes and such which a scoring suited to such. This in repeatedly contrasted with darker brooding passages highlighting the dark under-pinnings and the premonition of something not right.

Altogether a powerful musical drama in a marvelous performance.

[stlukesguild]

Tonight I'm giving a first listen to Wilhelm Furtwängler's classic recording of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde This recording was made in 1952 and was produced by the great Walter Legge and included the efforts of Ludwig Suthaus, Kirsten Flagstad, Joseph Greindl, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The recording was somewhat notorious for behind-the-scenes scandals and politics. At one point, Furtwängler threatened to walk off in response to a supposed slanderous comment by Walter Legge. Flagstad refused to perform without Legge, which may have been in part due to the fact that only she and Legge knew about an earlier recording in which she was aided in the highest notes by Legge's wife, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf with the intentions of employing such again. Erich Leinsdorf, who had conducted Flagstad at the Met in 1941 suggested, "A voice like Flagstad's is never comfortable above a B-flat. Legge called on Schwarzkopf, because in the world of recording, a dented Rolls Royce just won't do."

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5602183054_7f1c2fcdf5.jpg

My first response to this recording was something of a pleasant shock at just how good it sounds in spite of its age. Of course the Philharmonia Orchestra were at the top of their game... and the lush strings are not at all lost in spite of the technology of some 60 years past. The voices are especially well recorded... strong and up front. I am well acquainted with the efforts of Furtwängler's great rival conductor, Herbert von Karajan. Karajan's recording from the late 1980's was made with the Berlin Philharmonic at their absolute zenith. The sound is absolute perfection... a voluptuous sensuality and icy eroticsm... like a painting by Ingres. Furtwängler is far more "loose". The term he employed... and which the Philharmonia Orchestra thrilled to... was organic. The goal was to suggest a degree of spontaneity... the living, breathing pulse of the present embedded in the structure of the overall whole. This is indeed the feeling that one gets from Furtwängler's recording. Personally, I prefer Karajan's laser-cut perfectionism... but such is purely subjective. I would suggest that anyone wishing to fully grasp Tristan und Isolde needs both interpretations... if not Karl Böhm's and Carlos Kleiber's as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-qoaioG2UA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FwhIQYxkk8

[Emil Miller]

I find many older conductors to be better than those of more recent provenance. Despite the massive improvement in today's recording techniques, they produced recorded performances that remain unequalled. Below are two examples of the overture to Weber's opera Oberon which highlight the point. Allowing for the fact that one is a very old recording and the other a video of a recent concert performance, Haitink's sounds two dimensional and lacking commitment whereas Mengelberg's has great depth, enormous power and is an epic presentation of the piece.

http://youtu.be/jhsPlIAFBHs


http://youtu.be/4wLQ9qxSg5I

[Emil Miller]

This is one of my favourite arias in a recording that I grew up with and I enjoy playing a piano arrangement of it. I don't think anyone catches the mood of the Paris of the second empire as this performance. You can almost smell the cigar smoke and see the red plush seats of the Palais Garnier while the performance unveils to Saint Saens opulent music. Regina Resnik is the definitive Delilah in this very French opera.

http://youtu.be/UoIwO2vw310

[stlukesguild]

Brian... this is indeed lovely. It is too bad that the French all too often dismissed what were among their finest artistic achievements... the achingly beautiful arias and duets of the French operas and operettas and of course the melodies (or French Art Songs) which were often regarded as little more than "salon music". Of course, I would not be without Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms, and Mahler... but this in no way negates the absolute sensuous bliss to be found in the finest of the Italian Bel Canto or French operas and operettas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1qPut0MT5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VYyJ8ydP40&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V9ZnPB3InY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQR0LQskL4E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qx2lMaMsl8

[stlukesguild]

I'm currently listening to the incidental music to the Shauspiel, Rosamunde as well as the overture to Die Zauberharfe (The Magic Harp) by Schubert.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5269/5700451033_410f2e936e.jpg

Beethoven never seems to have been deeply interested in opera, albeit he did pull together one decent attempt with Fidelio. It was only with Wagner that we got a composer who could take the broad symphonic movements, the use of the motif, and the brilliant orchestration of Beethoven an bring them into the realm of opera. Schubert's tragic death at age 31, perhaps the greatest loss in the whole of Western music, was certainly a loss to opera.

Schubert made several a good many attempts at composing opera... including several completed compositions. The majority, however, are fragmentary and/or limited to 1 or 2 brief acts. One suspects that Schubert, who was largely self-taught, struggled with the layers of complexity demanded by an opera: orchestration, the merger of narrative with the music, etc... His brilliance as a songwriter and his natural ability with melody leads one to imagine that given more time and the proper support and circumstances Schubert might have achieve something marvelous within the more German "sing-spiel" tradition of opera ala Mozart's Magic Flute.

Perhaps the closest Schubert came to a fully realized and successful opera was the music he wrote for the play, Rosamunde. The music for this play includes some of the composer's most lovely work for orchestra and vocals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0TIhKoUbY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZjE6916Dvo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2dXBHyW1B0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhFYGdTFPCc

[kasie]

Just back from my latest opera fix - for real, Neely!

Welsh National Opera has a new production of Cosi Fan Tutte: it's absolutely enchanting. The conductor was Daniele Rustioni, young and lively - this is the first time he has worked with WNO, I think. His take on the music made it fresh and vivacious and so crisp. The action was transposed to a British seaside town in the 50s - I don't suppose that would go well with the die-hard traditionalists but it was such fun and visually engaging. The singing was splendid, as always with WNO - if it comes out on tour, do try and catch it, it's such a delightful production. Whenever I see a Mozart opera, I come out thinking, 'Yes, definitely, that's my favourite!' Cosi is currently at No 1 - but I'm seeing Don Giovanni in the autumn so it possibly won't hold its place for long!

I also saw Turandot - I saw a very indifferent production a few years ago and thought I might enjoy the opera better if I saw a first rate company perform it. However, I'm still not sure about it, it's such a strange tale (even for Opera, it's a strange story!) and this was a dark production, dark not only in the setting and lighting but in the whole tone. It was brought into some non-specified modern time, Turandot's tyranny was shown as a parallel to the tyranny of some modern states which I suppose is a reasonable take, given that it was composed just as the Fascists were coming to power in Italy. However, I felt the production needed to be revised, too many characters singing in the shadow of other characters, disembodied voices coming out of dark places on the stage, possibly meant to be symbolic but it jarred and didn't work for me. And somehow, the story still doesn't quite hang together, can't help wondering whether Puccini would have tweaked it here and there to give it a bit more sense, had he lived to complete it. It was well sung and the moves Puccini was making towards modern dissonances were brought out in sharp contrast to his old lyricism. I enjoyed it but hmmm, am still left with an uneasy feeling about the work.

I have tickets for WNO's autumn tour - Don Giovanni and Barber of Seville; also Beatrice and Benedict in their Spring tour. and I have a ticket for Placido Domingo in Concert at O2 in July - fingers crossed for that one, this will be the third time I have tried to see him , the previous two occasions he cancelled.

[Patrick_Bateman]

I have tickets for WNO's autumn tour - Don Giovanni and Barber of Seville;

Snap.

[kasie]

We should compare notes, Patrick!

[Patrick_Bateman]

We should compare notes, Patrick!

We meant to do that last time lol.
Are you seeing them in Cardiff?

[kasie]

So we did!

This last trip was to Cardiff but the autumn shows are in Swansea - WNO didn't tour to Swansea earlier this year for some reason, possibly because rebuilding work round the theatre made access all but impossible for their huge pantechnicons, but they are back for autumn '11 and spring '12 tours.

[Lokasenna]

I've just come back from a truly wonderful night at the opera - Opera North's latest concert production of Das Rheingold to be precise.

It was utterly fantastic!

The first shout out has to go to Opera North's orchestra, conducted by Richard Farnes. I have never heard Wagner so well orchestrated - Farnes conducted with a pizazz and brilliance that made Wagner's music soar and shine. I know Wagner himself would be horrified at the idea of the orchestra taking centre-stage, but in this case it was fully deserved.

Fortunately, the incredible music was backed up with vocals that were excellent on the whole. Particularly star turns were Nicholas Folwell's wonderfully rich Alberich, James Creswell's powerful Fasolt, and Andrea Baker's brief but memorable Erda.

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, who played Loge, is not a traditional Wagnerian tenor, but he inhabited the role with such obvious delight (and technical competence) that, though he initially had me on guard, he soon won me (and the audience over) - every minute he was on stage, he dominated the action.

The weak-point, alas, was Michael Druiett's Wotan - which was a very great shame. He was underwhelming, and clearly going over the hill. In a lesser production, he might have gotten away with it, but with such a strong supporting cast he showed up badly. I kept waiting for him to spring to life, but it never came. It was very telling that the thunderous applause that came at the end of the performance temporarily grew rather lukewarm when he came forward for his individual bow; the fellow sitting next to me stopped clapping and very audibly muttered 'f***ing awful' at that moment. While I wouldn't go that far, he was clearly the weakest link in the performance.

Wotan aside, it was an incredible experience. If you would like more info about the production, and future venues, here is Opera North (http://www.operanorth.co.uk/events/das-rheingold/)'s website.

If you're a Wagner fan, and live in Britain, I would strongly suggest that you go!

[stlukesguild]

I been on something of an opera kick myself recently. I've been listening to a number of Philippe Jaroussky's recordings of less-well-known arias from Baroque composers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJs5X57LMg

Beyond that I spent the weekend listening to two operas all the way through. The first was Benjamen Britten's Peter Grimes:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5070/5895697357_4da89b17e3.jpg

The more I listen to Britten, the more I have come to recognize that he is one of the two or three strongest composers for vocal music of the last century. This opera is intense, dramatic, even brutal... dealing with the harsh realities of the working class fishing villages and how damning rumors can be. At the same time, Britten can give of moments of the most exquisite beauty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxYG-EU4iSI

The second opera I listened to was Verdi's La Traviata. This was the first complete opera I ever saw... albeit in film form via the television. Still, I was immediately entranced... and how could it not be so considering the version I saw was Zeffirelli's classic adaption with Teresa Stratas and Placido Domingo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZUonmbtVQo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATFHRCRbG9Y

The recording I listened to was the classic version with maria Callas and di Stefano:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6048/5902811160_2dff86f692.jpg

After listening to this, I spent the next hour or so listening to and watching the great scenes from the Zeffirelli film (which I will surely have to get now that it is on DVD again) as well as other productions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za6wEs3S8pE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Qtxm8ljsc&feature=related

[stlukesguild]

For those interested in delving deeper into opera and discussions about opera I can recommend this site:

http://operalively.com/forums/forum.php

I've participated on several other opera forums and found that opera fans/fanatics can be the most rabid and brutal. They will write the most vile comments insulting any performer beside their personal favorite. Comically, they will get into heated debates about the comparative abilities of any of the leading singers of the last 50 years in comparison with a singer whose peak was in 1909 well before recording technology afforded us any real ability to appreciate any performer.

[OrphanPip]

The season in Montreal wasn't so bad this year, I wasn't crazy over the production of Dvorak's Russalka though, but otherwise not bad.

Il trovatore is next week, should be fun.