Girl of the Golden West

Conductor:  Nicola Luisotti
Production:  Giancarlo Del Monaco

Minnie:  Deborah Voigt
Dick Johnson:  Marcello Giordani
Jack Rance:  Lucio Gallo
Sonora: Dwayne Croft
Wowkle:  Ginger Costa-Jackson

From California to the Metropolitan Opera, thank you for this spectacular presentation of our opera, Puccini's La Fanciulla del West from 2011.  There's something about sitting home alone with no distractions, with the faces so near to ones own face that makes the performances seem so present, so alive and personal. 

I have never loved Deborah Voigt this much.  This is her masterpiece.  She becomes this character as no one else.  There is intensity and joy throughout the cast.  Thank you all.  Life is better.

Die Walküre in HD

Conductor...............Philippe Jordan
Production..............Robert Lepage
Hostess..............Deborah Voigt

Brünnhilde..............Christine Goerke
Siegmund, brother.....Stuart Skelton
Sieglinde, sister.........Eva-Maria Westbroek
Wotan...................Greer Grimsley
Fricka, Wotan's wife.........Jamie Barton
Hunding.................Günther Groissböck

Opera is the greatest of all art forms because it centers on so many great female characters.  The opera is almost always about them.  Men tried to keep it all to themselves for as long as they could, but as soon as opera became commercial, that was over.

Wednesday I saw Wagner's Die Walküre delayed from last Saturday. I have seen this work many times, but this was very romantic for some reason.  I followed the story of Wotan better than ever.  In the previous opera, Das Rheingold, he is Fricka's husband, and they are happy but have no children.  He gains power by trading away the gold for Valhalla.  He is all powerful and uses his power to do whatever he wants.  By Walkure he is the father of everyone else in the story except Fricka and maybe Hunding.  He's been busy and Fricka is pissed.  All of the 9 Valkyries are his daughters by Erda.  Siegmund and Sieglinde are his children by a she wolf.

They did act bows to avoid making people stay in costume all the way to the end.  Act I is Siegmund, Sieglinde and Hunding.  The twins have not seen one another since the day their house burned down, killing their mother.  Siegmund has wandered alone while Sieglinde was forced to marry Hunding.  The singing in this act was beautiful.. Eva-Maria created the role in the original mounting of this production.  Her partner at that time was Jonas Kaufmann.  They truly looked like brother and sister.  Stuart sang well this time, but Eva has grown in the role.  She was wonderful, with great dramatic presence.

The staging was slightly different.  The planks at the front of the stage didn't stick up in front of the singers this time which looked much better.  When he sings, "du bist der Lenz" I want something spectacular to happen.  I want to feel that in that moment spring has arrived. 

In Act II Wotan, Fricka and Brünnhilde arrive.  Christine is very saucy at this point.  Her Brünnhilde has truly spectacular emotional range.  She shows us joy, love, pride, sympathy, sorrow.  It is the greatness of this performance that makes this production of Die Walküre the best that I have seen.  Wotan asks to see the joy again, and she justly refuses.

I have seen Jamie Barton's Fricka before and loved it again here.  I have also seen Greer Grimsley's Wotan before and found him very much improved.

Act III starts with Valkyries waving.  A bit too silly for me.  However, the act ended well.

Philippe Jordan brought us the emotional range that appeared in the interpretations of all the actors.  I truly loved this.  The Met seems to have realized that Christine Goerke would be something we would all want to see.  Thank you.

Guns

Anna Netrebko in “Il Trovatore” by Verdi at the Vienna state Opera 

Lulu in HD

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Conductor:  Lothar Koenigs
PRODUCTION:  William Kentridge

Lulu:  Marlis Petersen (soprano)
Countess Geschwitz:  Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano)
Alwa, Dr. Schön’s Son, a composer:  Daniel Brenna (tenor)
The Painter / The African Prince:  Paul Groves (tenor)
Dr. Schön / Jack the Ripper:  Johan Reuter (baritone)
Schigolch:  Franz Grundheber (bass)

Today we were treated to Berg's Lulu live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera.  I have taken the liberty of correcting the Met cast list which said:  Alwa / Dr. Schön’s Son / A Composer Daniel Brenna.  This gives the impression that Daniel Brenna played three different characters when Alwa is Dr. Schön’s Son and a composer.

It is hard to know where to begin.  So let's try the beginning.  Most Lulu productions begin with animal cages, and it is only clear that Lulu is the snake.  In this production when the lion tamer announces the animals, we see each animal followed with a line drawing portrait of one of the men in the drama whom we assume is assigned to that animal.  I liked this.  Here is Lulu wrapping her snake-like arms around Dr. Schön.

The black and white drawings that fill the stage are intensely erotic even when the costumes are not. The drama exists on three levels:  the singing actors, the vivid, always moving projections mainly at the back of the stage, and two mime figures dressed mostly in black who had only a symbolic meaning.

Joanna Dudley (Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)

Deborah Voigt assured us that the production is far more interesting in house, but I couldn't help wondering if it wasn't clearer and less distracting as filmed for transmission.  We could focus on the actors and only have the ever changing pictures shown when we needed them.  The characters would kiss, but the most erotic intensity came from the drawings.

There is a level of professionalism in this cast that I have not seen before.  All were comfortable in their roles and at ease in the difficult music.  I have seen Lulu performed from the intensely sexual of Evelyn Lear at one extreme to the complete passivity of Ann Panagulias at the other.  Barbara Hannigan's mind always seems elsewhere.  Marlis Peterson is on the aggressive end of the spectrum.

Susan Graham was my favorite Geschwitz.

We never see the portrait of Lulu which the characters hold up and describe to us.  I have seen this opera often enough now to feel that I understand.  Certain women become the object of obsession of many men.  It's like being a movie star or perhaps an opera singer.  This work balances these many obsessions with the obsession of Lulu for Dr. Schön.  At the end she meets a man who looks just like him, in this production he dressed like him, and he murders her.

The result of my research on this opera has resulted in the conclusion that if you want high level professional performers and a fascinating production, you cannot beat this Lulu, but if you want to feel it as though it were life itself, you will need West Edge.

Read about Christine Schaefer's Lulu here;  read about Barbara Hannigan's Lulu here; read about West Edge Lulu here and here.
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Götterdämmerung

When I'm watching, I always remember that the libretto was written backwards--Götterdämmerung first, Rheingold last--and then it was composed in the opposite order.  This is why we have to listen to all those retellings of things we've already seen.  In the original concept the other three operas didn't exist.  It is also why we have to rehear every damn Leitmotiv that ever appeared.  Yes, that's Nothung all right.  And we know about the damned curse.

The Rhine maidens are still my favorite parts.  Eric Owens as Alberich and his son Hans-Peter König as Hagen were the only members of the cast with voices to match the traditional quality for a Wagnerian.  König received the ovation he deserved.  He was simply magnificent.

Our hostess Patricia Racette introduced the "legendary Waltraud Meier" in the role of Waltraute.  This was the best scene in the opera.  She deserves her legendary status.

I enjoyed watching Jay Hunter Morris and Deborah Voigt.  Debbie was suitably melodramatic, and it was nice to see at least an attempt to have her ride Grane into the funeral pyre.  Jay is adorable, but sings the lightest Siegfried imaginable.

I keep remembering Placido Domingo saying, "Better too soon than too late."  He was referring to the fact that he began singing Otello while still in his thirties.  Deborah Voigt has been afraid of singing Brünnhilde, and has put it off into her 50's.  Her voice has more and more of an edge.  Let's just say I wouldn't want to sit and listen to an audio only version of this Ring, but the visual parts were quite pleasing.  Her Brünnhilde blazes emotionally just as she should, but she will not erase the memory of Eva Marton in her prime.

Wire walking seems to have disappeared as a concept--good riddance.  When she sets the pyre ablaze, we hear the music for "Loge her," but not the words.

This is a member of our audience getting into the mood for Wagner's Twilight of the Gods.  They went down in style.  For me personally it was too much sitting for someone whose back is going out from not enough exercise.

And now I really must go outside and walk around.

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Siegfried Success

What you want and never get with your Siegfried (live from the Metropolitan Opera in HD) is a sexy Siegfried.  We have him in the sexy Heldentenor from Texas, Jay Hunter Morris. In her interview Deborah Voigt mentioned there was more electricity opposite Jay than the tenor he replaced. Those of us who have experienced the male teenager at home recognized him in Jay's portrayal of the 17 year old Siegfried.  All teenagers think they know everything, but this one actually might.

In his interview Morris mentioned that he no longer sang as loud as he could.  He gets through the very taxing role in fine form by allowing the natural ping in his voice to carry the day.  I loved it.  Jay, you need to hire a good photographer.  I have undoubtedly seen him in San Francisco, but I scour my memory without success.

I liked the log machine a lot more this time than I have in the previous two operas.  The technical gimmick of the forest bird was masterful.  A yellow bird appeared to flit around the stage from tree to tree while Mojca Erdmann sang off stage.  The projections grow ever more complicated.

Another thing that I liked much more this time was Bryn Terfel's Wotan the Wanderer.  He seemed to handle the character better as someone who has tried everything and failed.  He is bitter and seems to be fully prepared for the ultimate humiliation when Siegfried breaks his spear.  He roles up his runes and leaves.

The dragon, shown above, is quite handsome.

And here is Deborah Voigt in the final scene.  She tries to convince Siegfried to admire from a distance, but her heart just isn't in it.

Renée Fleming was her usual professional self in the interviews.  It was an excellent Siegfried.  I don't know if Levine would have been an improvement over Luisi.  Everyone seemed well coordinated and dynamic.

P.S.  It occurred to me after posting this that this installment in the Log Machine Ring included no wire walking.  Perhaps it has started to occur to the producers of this mess that scaring the wits out of your performers is not the path to great acting achievements.  Good riddance.

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Die Walküre in New York

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One of the joys of live opera comes from comparing the different perspectives many productions of the same work can bring to great works of art? Die Walküre last night at the Metropolitan Opera is more your old fashioned Wagner.

Working from story boards can lead you to see the work as a series of pictures. Deborah Voigt in particular was the perfect image of Brünnhilde. The log machine creates pictures which I begin to think look better in the house than on the big screen. In act 1, though, everyone was cut off at the knees. I especially liked the forest in act 2.

Or maybe it was just Eva-Maria Westbroek and Jonas Kaufmann as the fated twins I liked. They were a great pair, even looking a bit alike, and acting with style. I wish they had set a standard for the whole opera. There were no cute moving set bits in their scenes, and nothing to trip over, which may have helped.

Jonas was perfect--warm, romantic, gorgeous. I feel smug telling what an astounding Siegmund he turned out to be. In the house his singing sounded full and perfect for the tessitura of Siegmund. Sigh.

This is the first time I have believed the hype for Stephanie Blythe. In the role of Fricka her voice achieves the highest standards for a Wagner mezzo. This time her contract said not only no wire walking, but no walking at all. She sits in a chair, and all movement is by the machine.

The Hunding of Hans-Peter König was also outstanding.

Deborah Voigt looked wonderful, and the brightness of her voice cut easily through the orchestra. She flubbed the first high note. I wouldn't want to have to walk out on stage and throw off a high C first thing. No thank you.

Bryn Terfel. Let's just say he livened up a whole lot from Das Rheingold. He also lost his Veronika Lake hairdo. I liked him a lot more this time.

The staging of Wotan putting Brünnhilde on her rock was ridiculous. The drama is in the characters, and it is a great loss to sacrifice that to pretty, sometimes absurd pictures.

The biggest ovation was for James Levine. Every appearance these days seems like a miracle. I remember when we took his smiling face for granted.

 [See Kinderkuchen History 1850-1870]

Die Walküre in New York

Ancora Fanciulla

Minnie:  Deborah Voigt
Dick Johnson:  Marcello Giordani
Jack Rance:  Lucio Gallo
Sonora: Dwayne Croft
Wowkle:  Ginger Costa-Jackson

Conductor:  Nicola Luisotti
Production:  Giancarlo Del Monaco

I sat with an old friend at the HD simulcast of the centennial production of La Fanciulla del West from the Met, and she would nudge me and say "Phantom of the Opera" every once in a while.  This similarity developed into a lawsuit that was settled out of court.  Thankfully, I am relatively unfamiliar with Phantom.

I like opera at the cinema.  It's nice to see their faces.  It was especially nice to see Deborah Voigt's face throughout the performance.  There was a lot to see.  I liked her a lot more this time.

This is the same production broadcast on television with Placido Domingo years ago.  I was disappointed to see that Marcello Giordani had shaved off his mustache that he had during the intermission of Don Carlo. It is also the same production used in Ulm when Giancarlo Del Monaco was Intendant there in the seventies. 

My friend was attracted to Lucio Gallo, the Italian baritone who sang Jack Rance.  He's very sexy.  In general the singers seemed more suited to their roles than they had in San Francisco.

There were a lot of horses seen through the door in act 1, but Deborah Voigt didn't ride any of them.  Sondra Radvanovsky hosted.

The performance passed the essential Puccini test:  I cried.
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Fanciulla

Either Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West is a forgotten masterpiece or it's Puccini's biggest failure. The program from the San Francisco Opera is full of praise, citing various chords and cinematic features, calling it the precursor of movie soundtracks. But is successful opera found in the orchestra part? I think only Wagner managed that.

For the first 15 minutes or so Nicola Luisotti's orchestra completely covered the singers on the stage, a situation which gradually improved as the opera went on.

Only one small bit in the third act where the tenor is about to be hung sounds like an aria we have heard before. Puccini is supposed to have been trying for another success like Boheme. In Boheme a very long part of Act I excerpts as two glorious arias followed by a famous duet. There is plenty of opportunity for vocal fireworks when Johnson walks into the bar and Minnie and he recognize one another. The problem is that Puccini does not deliver.

How is one to evaluate an opera where high C's appear suddenly without warning? If this wasn't Puccini, we would say the vocal writing borders on the downright bad for extended stretches.

I liked the production. Two large stone walls, painted brown on one side and gray on the other, form the structure for all 3 acts. Everyone enters the Act I bar down a tall staircase, providing a backdrop for some spectacular entrances. Minnie comes in firing her gun. Then through a lighting trick Johnson appears like magic on the upper landing.

The third act is the only one that seems to work. The miners find Johnson and decide to hang him. Just as Johnson finishes asking them not to tell Minnie how he died, she rides in on a very pretty palomino horse and saves him. She tells them, "God gave this man to me." The horse is hitched to a wagon and they ride off singing "Addio."

I predicted correctly that Deborah Voigt would reappear on the horse during the bows.

Of course we could always blame the singers. I felt a vocal fit with the role only with Salvatore Licitra as Johnson. It's a terrific part for him. The role of Sheriff Rance didn't lie well for Roberto Frontali.

Minnie is a difficult role, one that requires a big voice and a big personality to fill it. Deborah Voigt rose to the part, acted Minnie as the complex individual she is and handled the difficult singing. She projected perhaps a little more self-confidence than Minnie seems to feel about herself. But Voigt is right. Her voice is better suited to German repertoire.

I've seen this opera a number of times and have begun to wonder if anything could save it. Maybe it would work as a comedy.

[See Kinderkuchen History 1890-1910]

Interview with Deborah Voigt

THE INTERVIEW
DEBORAH VOIGT

Deborah Voigt has expanded her repertoire to highly dramatic parts. She spoke with Dr. Thomas Baltensweiler in Zurich about the planning of her debuts and ways to get through the roles. Excerpts from the interview.

You are faced with important role debuts. In June you sing your first "Fanciulla" in San Francisco. Minnie is a killer role. With what feelings do you approach the challenge?

I don’t see Minnie as a killer role - and I say this in a moment when I have just returned from working on the part with a coach of the Zurich Opera. Perhaps my impression is because I also sing Salome and Isolde. "Fanciulla" offers gorgeous music that contains a lot of lyricism. Of course there are terrifying high notes to attack from out of nowhere.

More difficult than singing is portraying the character: Minnie runs a saloon, can deal with weapons and give the miners Bible studies. One can only imagine: a shooting religion teacher! In addition, you will find in her, as far as the choice of a man is concerned, lots of strict ideas, lots of tenderness and the longing for the right man after waiting a long time for him.

You should have sung Brünnhilde in the recently completed "Ring" at the Vienna State Opera, but you then withdrew. Now a production is planned at the Met. What has changed in the meantime for you?

Brünnhilde had been planned in addition even in the old "Ring" at the Met and San Francisco. I felt that the role would have come too early, because there was something else I wanted to sing. I had lost a lot of weight and I wanted to play roles which had previously not necessarily been open to me. And she who sings Brünnhilde only gets offered the highly dramatic Fach. The world needs Brünnhildes; to find a Tosca is not that difficult.

But the world has not changed in recent years, it still throws itself on singers who embody Brünnhilde ...

But in recent years I have become more secure in it to fill my agenda with dramatic roles. Today I would no longer accept Aida, as it would turn my hair gray. A "Forza"-Leonora would still work, but I would probably offer no more.

After Brünnhilde you will have almost all highly dramatic specialist roles in your repertoire, you sing so well Isolde and Salome. Will life be boring, or are journeys of discovery into rarities planned?

Then there is Elektra, which is definitely planned for 2013/2014. The plan is also for Kundry, and I’m thinking about Ortrud. For roles outside of my core repertoire - Lisa in "Pique Dame" I find wonderful – there’s not enough time. "Die tote Stadt" would appeal to me on stage, but it can scarcely come after Brünnhilde. Also I would be interested if a composer would write a new opera for me. But the majority compose for the lyric soprano voice.

"Elektra," which you mentioned, plays an important role in your career ...

My ambition is one day to have embodied on stage all three major roles in "Elektra", including Clytemnestra. At the beginning of my career I sang the fifth girl, who was my first role in Europe. Chrysothemis was something like the breakthrough for me. I was contracted in Boston as Ariadne, and a critic of the New York Times wrote such an enthusiastic review that the Met, which sought a Chrysothemis, was attentive.

How do you face the trend to market singers ever more about their appearance?

We must accept that the appearance plays a big role, and I think that will not change that fast. How I looked at the beginning of my career would be a problem today. Soprano and tenor in the opera must make a credible pair. Many young singers with weight problems contact me because they think that I might encourage them because I have shared their problem. But I can only say to them: your weight is a problem. On the other hand good looks is relative, and one should not forget that in our profession it is primarily about opera and not the color of a singer eyes.

You sing Italian and German parts. Is there a preference for one of the two?

For the German. My voice sits far forward and is pervasive. In the Italian repertory I never had the same success as in German. If my name were Voigtini, perhaps it would be different. But Voigt - in German-speaking areas people pronounce my name "Vogt” - not quite right for a Tosca. Also in the German Fach there is a lot of lyricism, as in Wagner, since you do not need to shout. Although - sometimes yes.

[As usual, this is translated from the online version of Opernglas. To get the Germans to pronounce her name properly it would have to be spelled Weut.]

Mr. Smith goes to New York

Tristan.................Robert Dean Smith [Debut]
Isolde..................Deborah Voigt
Kurwenal................Eike Wilm Schulte
Brangäne................Michelle DeYoung
King Marke..............Matti Salminen
Melot...................Stephen Gaertner

Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Dieter Dorn

"Highlights of Robert Dean Smith's 2007/08 season include Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger in Dresden; Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Deborah Voigt and Christine Brewer; Tristan und Isolde at the Madrid Teatro Real and the Bayreuth Festival; Tannhäuser at the Berlin Staatsoper; Der fliegende Holländer at the Bavarian State Opera(Bayerische Staatsoper) in Munich and the Vienna State Opera; Ariadne auf Naxos at the Royal Opera, London at Covent Garden; and Fidelio in Tokyo."

And now they include the role of Tristan in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera. One of the people interviewed at intermission [sorry, I only remember my own name and names written down somewhere] claimed there were 10 people who currently could do Tristan, and she knew exactly where all 10 of them were at that moment. Ben Heppner has been ill.

I liked Robert Dean Smith who is from Kansas. Most of the time he matched pretty well with Deborah Voigt, who is tiny, I didn't realize. A bit of the time she was louder than him, but mostly not. He is cute and apparently coy about his age.

Wasn't that a nice Tristan? I actually cried more than once, a first for me. One down side to attending simulcasts instead of live performances is that no one shouts in the movie theater. There seems to be no point. There was a lot of shouting for this, and I would surely have joined in. Shouted for were Mr. Smith, Ms Voigt, Michelle DeYoung as Brangaene, Elke Wilm Schulte as Kurwenal, absolutely wonderful Matti Salminen as King Marke, and our lord and master James Levine and his orchestra.

Deborah Voigt was all the way up to the three Isoldes: the furious woman of act I, the lover of act II and the tragic figure of act III. She achieved ecstasy. I had no idea she was so good. She may never make anyone's top 20, but she found the theatrical center of each scene both physically and musically. She was especially fine at the end.

Well played in every respect!

[See Kinderkuchen History 1850-70]

Voigt as Salome

We are keeping track of the thinner, sexier Deborah Voigt and want to take notice of the fact that she will sing her first Salome in Chicago next season. I have yet to see a Salome that is both well sung and well acted. Go for it.