We are all speaking of today's Live from the Metropolitan Opera in HD of Verdi's La Traviata with Natalie Dessay. Even her microphone, just under her clothes on her right side, did not save her. I have heard Natalie sing Violetta at Santa Fe, so I know it's possible. My thought is that she was not as recovered from her illness as she wished she was.
Matthew Polenzani sang his trademark sad sack Alfredo, nice but not very impressive. Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Germont is the best Verdi baritone around. He was simply wonderful. Fabio Luisi was conducting one of 20 performances at the Met this month, either a record or a tie, including Die Walküre last night and Manon tonight. I have written about the Willy Decker production here.
Sigh.
[See Kinderkuchen History 1850-70]
1 comment:
I found it interesting that Dessay freely acknowledged (during the intermission interview) the crappy job she'd done in the first act, although Voigt made all the usual "Oh, you weren't so bad" comments in reply.
Kudos to you for spotting the microphone; I had no idea. I think she's too underpowered to sing this role with any kind of authority, but I had a feeling the stage design helped her project, since it blocked off the rear of the stage and curved toward the audience like a giant parabolic mic.
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