Manon with Lisette Oropesa

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Conductor...............Maurizio Benini
Production..............Laurent Pelly

Manon...................Lisette Oropesa
Des Grieux..............Michael Fabiano
Lescaut.................Artur Rucinski
Count des Grieux...Kwangchul Youn
Guillot.................Carlo Bosi
Brétigny................Brett Polegato
Poussette...............Jacqueline Echols
Javotte.................Laura Krumm
Rosette.................Maya Lahyani

Nadine Sierra.....hostess

I love knowing things.  I can't help it.  In this performance of Massenet's Manon from the Metropolitan Opera in HD I noticed for the first time that there was quite a bit of melodrama.  This does not mean corny, overacted soap operas, but instead refers to spoken dialog with orchestral accompaniment instead of recitative or spoken dialog.  Since the orchestra never stops playing, it is easy to overlook that occasionally the actors are speaking.  Then I read that Manon was a mainstay of the Opéra-Comique in Paris after it premiered in 1884.  The original novel is from 1731.  The only problem with the opera is that it is too long.

I didn't realize it has been already 7 years since this production debuted.   The basketball is still there, but there have been hints that it is supposed to be a hot air balloon.  Hot air balloons are not precisely spherical.  Enough.  Please read the other review for more discussion of the production.

I have only seen Artur Rucinski before in Lucia with Lisette from Madrid.  He is very attractive on camera and sings beautifully.

But the performance belonged to Manon and her Des Grieux who received much loud shouting in their bows.  This is a great opera for Michael Fabiano, suiting both his voice and his personality to a T.  You believe in his love.  He made the initial pickup very believable.  More Michael please.

Lisette Oropesa precisely embodies the 15 year old innocent who arrives on the train on her way to the convent.  It is impossible to picture this lively, passionate and curious girl cut off completely from life.  Des Grieux has only good intentions toward her and she towards him.  When she learns that Des Grieux's father intends to kidnap him, she knows she must make other plans.  Lisette is physically trained and fully capable of the physical requirements of the staging.  She ran up and down stairs, fell down and was dragged about, all while singing strongly.

I don't see the diabolical Manon, the evil Manon.  I see only someone who wants to enjoy her life, to have fun while she is still young.  Everyone seems to work against this.  Lisette Oropesa changes as the opera progresses to acquire less innocence and more sophistication.  This is an opera for our time, because she is destroyed by a rich old man.  Her cheers were well deserved.

I still don't see the bed in the sanctuary.  This is bogus.

Semiramide in HD

Camarena - DeShong - Meade - Abdrazakov

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Conductor...........Maurizio Benini
Production..........John Copley

Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, widow of King Nino, soprano:  Angela Meade
Assur, a prince, descendant of Baal, bass:  Ildar Abdrazakov
Arsace, Commander of the Assyrian army, contralto:   Elizabeth DeShong
Idreno, an Indian king, tenor:   Javier Camarena
Oroe, high priest of the Magi, bass:   Ryan Speedo Green
Azema, a princess, descendant of Baal, soprano:   Sarah Shafer
Mitrane, Captain of the Guard, tenor:  Kang Wang
Nino's Ghost, bass:  Jeremy Galyon

This wasn't my first time with Rossini's Semiramide.  My first time was probably the only time it played at the San Francisco Opera in 1981 with Montserrat Caballé, Marilyn Horne and James Morris.  I sat next to a woman who was a Caballé fan, and we alternated sighing for the two female stars.  This in spite of the weirdness of the costumes.  Richard Bonynge conducted.

I bought a film from the Bel Canto Society filmed in 1980 with a very similar cast which included Sam Ramey.  The singing is amazing if you'd like to hear it.

And then a year ago I watched a stream from Munich starring Joyce DiDonato and Daniela Barcellona which I enjoyed very much for the singing but which was modernized.

Let's just say I had certain expectations today.  For one thing I expected not to like it.  Instead I got surprises.

Semiramide is Rossini's last opera seria.  It may in fact be the last opera seria at all.  This form of opera means serious opera, has serious subject matter, consists of endless rows of da capo arias and ensembles, and usually has a happy ending.  The singing is the point.  You can see from the pictures that this is the first time in my experience that any effort was made to make the costumes look Assyrian.  In Marilyn's version the soldiers looked a bit like playing cards.  In Joyce's everyone seems like modern middle-eastern.  Today's costumes may not be pretty, but they are trying to be period.

I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed Angela Meade in this role.  She has a steelier voice than either Caballé or DiDonato.  In fact that could be said of the other singers as well.  DeShong is steelier and heavier than Horne or Barcellona.  Camarena is heavier than Brownlee or Ariaza.  The result is a shift to a much more intense and dramatic work altogether.  All are working together to set a tone of intense tragedy.

There's only one problem with that:  all that intensity can become tedious.  Sometimes I appreciated it, and sometimes I didn't.  Bonynge and company focused on beautiful singing above all else.  This is pleasing in an entirely different way.

I was surprised by Ryan Speedo Green.  What a voice.  I was surprised by the clarity of the plot.  I saw the Commendatore from Don Giovanni in Nino's Ghost.  I liked it in a surprising way.

Roberto Devereux in HD

Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Production: David McVicar

Elisabetta: Sondra Radvanovsky (soprano)
Sara, Duchess of Nottingham: Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano)
Roberto Devereux: Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Duke of Nottingham: Mariusz Kwiecien (baritone)

Roberto Devereux by Donizetti completed Sondra Radvanovsky's tour de force trilogy of Donizetti's three queens in a single season.  For my money this is the opera that most suits her gifts.  Overheard talking to myself, "But this is a wonderful opera."  Perhaps it is wonderful because a constantly enraged queen suits so perfectly the voice of Sondra Radvanovsky.  I did not see in Sondra's portrayal the nonsensical pseudo-butch portrayal of Bette Davis, but saw instead someone with difficulty walking and deteriorating health.

Each of the four stars listed above gets wonderful music, perhaps also perfectly suited to their gifts.  Benini found the drama in the singing. 

What a mess of a plot.  Perhaps Roberto once truly loved the queen as she clearly thought he did.  And then he fell in love with the decades younger and still unmarried Sara.  He goes off to war and after clearly winning it, he is accused of being a traitor.  While he was away, Sara with the queen's help married the Duke of Nottingham because her father died. Women at that time required the protection of a man, either husband or father.  The opera opens with her clear unhappiness.  It is not clear if she is unhappy because Roberto is returning, or if perhaps it is her marriage to someone she does not love and who seems also not to love her.

The queen marches down into her tomb and dies at the end.  This is a poetic rather than a historically accurate ending.  The opera plot more closely resembles the movie The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex than it does historical fact.  It's important to remember that opera is about love, and historical accuracy is irrelevant.

Debbie Voigt announced it as a play within a play, but this is only true if you count the fully costumed chorus clapping when the audience clapped.  In the bows the characters turn and bow to the chorus.  This was all discrete and not at all annoying.  It provided a context for the frequent choruses.  In the period there would have been courtiers standing around watching.

I loved it.  It was filled with both beautiful singing and overwhelming dramatic intensity. 

And yes, that was indeed "God save the Queen" in the overture.

Lost Copy of La Cenerentola

I am cataloging my opera video collection, and hidden out of view on the same tape as Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire I found Cecilia Bartoli's performance in the Metropolitan Opera production of La Cenerentola in 1997.  I am doing Cecilia right now, so it seems suitable to write something about it.  It is important to know that this is the first time La Cenerentola played at the Met.

I don't know what I could have been thinking when I wrote of the performance by Elina Garanča here that I had probably never seen the production before.  I must surely have seen this tape of it. 

Angelina: Cecilia Bartoli
Prince Ramiro:  Ramón Vargas
Dandini:  Alessandro Corbelli
Don Magnifico:  Simone Alaimo
Clorinda:   Joyce Guyer
Tisbe:  Wendy White
Alidoro:   Michele Pertusi

I had also almost forgotten the dynamo Bartoli.  Where Elina goes cautiously up and down the stairs on the wedding cake, Cecilia runs up and down them with complete abandon.  Her father hits her and throws her around the stage.  The whole production makes a remarkably different impression than it does with Elina.

The cast is superb.  Alessandro Corbelli made his Met debut as Dandini, and never have I seen such a perfect Dandini.  It's almost a shame that he can't sing Dandini and Don Magnifico in the same production.  Vargas has gone on from being the magnificent Rossini tenor he is here.  He and Cecilia make a well-matched couple.  And Michele Pertusi, looking very young, is the definitive Alidoro, even having golden wings (Alidoro means golden wings.)

A book was written about this.  Cecilia wows with her wonderful singing and great charm.  Questo cor piu mio non e.

You can watch this streamed from the Metropolitan Opera on Demand.

Brief summary of Houston Cenerentola

Angelina: Cecilia Bartoli
Prince Ramiro:  Raul Gimenez 
Dandini:  Alessandro Corbelli
Don Magnifico:  Enzo Dara
Clorinda:   Laura Knoop  
Tisbe:  Jill Grove 
Alidoro:   Michele Pertusi

I also have a tape of the Houston performance a couple of years earlier in 1995.  This production was filmed to preserve the production which originated in Bologna.  If you love Cecilia, she is better here.  If you love old fashioned productions, this is for you.  Corbelli and Pertusi are better at the Met.  I'm glad I don't have to choose.

In my collection is also a version with Ann Murray. Now I must say I am Cenerentolaed out.
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Maria Stuarda

Conductor:  Maurizio Benini
Production:  David McVicar

Maria Stuarda (Mary Stuart).......Joyce DiDonato
Elisabetta (Queen Elisabeth I)....Elza van den Heever [Debut]
Roberto (Robert Dudley)...........Matthew Polenzani
Giorgio (George Talbot)...........Matthew Rose
Guglielmo (William Cecil).........Joshua Hopkins
Anna (Jane Kennedy)...............Maria Zifchak

Today Donizetti's Maria Stuarda was simulcast in HD from the Metropolitan Opera. File under I didn't know that:  The role of Maria Stuarda was written for Maria Malibran, and premiered at La Scala Milan on Dec 30, 1835.  There was heavy censorship which Maria defied.

A very short history of Mary's life:  she was born on 8 December 1542 as the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland; became the reigning Queen of Scotland at 6 days old; married the dauphin of France at 5; became Queen consort of France at 16; widowed at 18; returned to Scotland to begin to reign as queen at 19; married her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, at 23; had a child who became James VI of Scotland and later James I of England; became a widow a second time at 24, then quickly married for a third time, and was imprisoned in Scotland that same year; at 25 she was imprisoned in England, where she remained for 18 years until her death.

Mary was Catholic, England and Elizabeth were Church of England, in fact established it, while Scotland was Presbyterian, I believe.  So Catholics generally, including probably Mary herself, believed Mary to be the legitimate monarch and Elizabeth illegitimate.

In the encounter scene in Act I, scene II, Mary calls Elizabeth a "vile bastard."  This is the main thing censored from the opera and reinserted by Maria Malibran.  The encounter between Mary and Elizabeth was entirely made up by Schiller.  In Act II, Scene II of the opera Mary confesses that she is guilty of plotting to overthrow Elizabeth. 

So back to the opera.  Most strange was the portrayal of Elizabeth by Elza van den Heever (considered a notable graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a list which also includes John Del Carlo and Catherine Naglestad).  She is a giant woman who at first tried to play Elizabeth nobly.  David McVicar insisted he wanted Elizabeth played in a very masculine, lumbering way.  You can see in the above picture that there are pants under her dress.  I liked her in this very significant role.

The Earl of Leicester, lover to both Elizabeth and Mary and sung by American tenor Matthew Polenzani, is a somewhat meatier role than what we are accustomed to hearing for him.  I liked it.  If we are to think he can manage any emotion besides sweetness, we need to hear him in a wider variety of roles.  This is a good start.

Which brings us to the magnificent Joyce DiDonato who sang Maria Stuarda.  This was a spectacular performance of a convincingly great opera due to Joyce.  Next we will have to declare her a goddess.

Here's a sample.



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Netrebko in a Top Hat

Conductor...............Maurizio Benini
Production..............Bartlett Sher

Adina...................Anna Netrebko
Nemorino................Matthew Polenzani
Belcore.................Mariusz Kwiecien
Dr. Dulcamara...........Ambrogio Maestri

The first question you ask when you watch L'Elisir d'Amore live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera is What is Anna Netrebko doing wearing a top hat? Besides looking cute in it.  I decided it was there to show that she was the boss, that she is running this farm.  She orders people around.

Since I started this blog, I have seen Elixir of Love in the DVD with Netrebko and Villazon from Vienna, a straight presentation which focuses on Nemorino; the charming modernized version from the Santa Fe Opera where Adina is a school teacher and Nemorino repairs cars; the slapstick comedy version from the Sacramento Opera which I thought completely did not work; and this one from the Met which I liked very much.  I agree completely with the talk at intermission--I want to care about them, and I can only do this if they are reasonably serious.

They are two people virtually obsessed with one another.  He stares longingly at her, and she furtively stares back.  In this production she has her little black book.  She is a woman who likes men.  She does not like being whined over.  It is immediately obvious that she loves him.  We really see the tear that he sees--a first for me.

In Vienna Netrebko was blocked up high on the porch of her house, made insignificant by her placement on the stage.  Adina is the main character.  Or rather Nemorino and Adina share the spotlight equally.  The focus on Netrebko brought this production to life.  She still moves well, sings well and makes us laugh and cry, but her voice is moving away from Donizetti comedy into heavier repertoire.

Mariusz Kwiecien as Belcore, shown in the picture above, was just right in this part. He sweeps Adina off her feet with great style, what she wishes Nemorino would do.

Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino is not really the perfect partner for Netrebko.  He sings the role beautifully, but he whines too convincingly.  At the end we need to see him show more confidence.  Then we will believe that he is the one for her.  Perhaps it will work out, perhaps not.  There's always the little black book.

In the intermission Debbie Voigt was interviewing a tall bald man with an English accent about Thomas Adès' The Tempest which is currently in rehearsal.  He was ornamented by a tall, absolutely gorgeous woman who simply stood by his side.  Who could this be?  Finally at the end Debbie turned to her and called her Isabel.  Of course.  That's Isabel Leonard.  Wow.  It would help if I paid more attention.

Le Comte Ory in HD

Count Ory...............Juan Diego Flórez
Countess Adèle..........Diana Damrau
Isolier.................Joyce DiDonato
Raimbaud................Stéphane Degout
Tutor...................Michele Pertusi

Conductor...............Maurizio Benini
Production..............Bartlett Sher

Rossini's Le Comte Ory made its way onto HD today. It was Rossini's last comedy. He had moved to Paris and worked very hard to adapt to Parisian style. There is an almost patter song for the almost buffo bass Raimbaud, sung by Stéphane Degout. There is lots of coloratura for everyone under the sun.

Why would you want this?

For Juan Diego Florez as Count Ory. He doesn't get an aria, but he does get lots of charming, absurd acting and an insane amount of high notes. Juan Diego became a father 35 minutes before the start of the opera. With no sleep he still made a spectacular performance. He looked a little hung over, not a bad look for Ory.

You would want it for the extraordinarily charming Joyce DiDonato as the count's page who in the end gets the girl. If I understood the dialog correctly, the countess is not married, and Isolier might be considered a suitable mate.

You might want it for the menage a trois in the second act, the only operatic trio I know of that takes place in bed. There's lots of messing around in this production.

You would want it for the Countess of Diana Damrau. She does get an aria. This is just about the silliest opera I've seen.

You might like the conducting of  Maurizio Benini.

This buffo plot is given an almost seria musical treatment. I almost liked it.

Post Script:

I have followed with interest the commentary surrounding the Met's performance of the opera Le Comte Ory.

On one level it's controversial for its use of the old score. Tommasini has written about it in the Times here. Operating under Bartoli's influence, the Zurich Opera worked out a way to use the new score from the new not yet published Bärenreiter edition of Rossini's works and performed the opera using their original instruments orchestra La Scintilla. Here is a discussion by the publisher of the differences between the two versions.  The Met apparently could not be bothered and used the same old same old.

I couldn't make it to Zurich, but it would have been fun to try to hear the differences.

Should we treasure an opera simply because Juan Diego Florez looks cute dressed up as a nun and totally aces some high C's, D's and Db's? Is it really funny what his reprobate character is actually up to?

Which is the topic of the second controversy. This is basically a comedy about sexual abuse. At least that's one way of seeing it. Gert definitely had that take on it. If you go strictly by the libretto, I think the idea was to lure the Count into bed with his page when he thought he was with the Countess. The Countess would have been in on this ruse, I assume.

I think it is strictly a modern idea that women should be able to consider themselves safe from the sexual advances of men while continuing to hang out with them. Women are liberated only when men behave themselves.

The joke is supposed to be that Ory thinks he's getting away with something when actually Isolier and the Countess are tricking him. I think it's not really very funny.

Gounod's Faust

I am in danger of becoming jaded. I have seen some pretty amazing stuff this year, including some of the best French opera of my lifetime: Werther in Paris and Hamlet and Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera simulcasts. Werther in particular was quite staggeringly wonderful.

So here we are having to think of something to say about Gounod's Faust presented by the San Francisco Opera. Everyone says it's marvelous, so I guess it must be.

This is the opera the Germans insist on calling Margarite. I know this because I have a small German libretto amongst my collection of books. Faust is almost a secondary character. I listened to see if his name is ever spoken. People are constantly saying "Marguerite" but never "Faust." No one is worrying over Faust's soul, supposedly the whole point of the story.

The baritones saved the day. John Relyea as Méphistophélès virtually walks on water. I cannot get enough of him. He is sexy and sings like a dream. The best bit in the production is in the opening scene. Faust is whining away in a room full of corpses when one of them sits up, takes off his covering sheet and asks why Faust is so surprised. Nice. If he can raise the dead, what can he not do?

Brian Mulligan was an impressive Valentin. His aria in act one is my favorite part of the opera, and he was outstanding.

I was less thrilled with the rest of the cast. Why don't we just let it go at that.

[See Kinderkuchen History 1850-70]

Thoughts on La Cenerentola

Because it was Cecilia Bartoli's main vehicle early in her career, Rossini's La Cenerentola is probably the piece of music I have listened to most. The ensembles are wonderful. Riccardo Chailly, the conductor on Cecilia's recording, is fabulous, and I would have to say based on the Saturday simulcast from the Met of La Cenerentola and last year's Barber of Seville that Maurizio Benini is, too. There were occasional minor disconnects between the singers and the orchestra, but generally it was very fine.

The production by Cesare Lievi was created for Bartoli's debut at the Met, but I don't think I'd seen it before. It has certain features in common with the Zurich production I did see.

• Buckets of water, umbrella and fire in the storm scene.
• A rows of shoes lined up along the front of the stage to remind us of the fairy tale.
• The men's chorus in bowlers.
• A string wound around the ensemble in the second act, though in Zurich it was Bartoli who did the winding while here it was the Prince.

In Zurich the outfits of the male chorus lit up. Except for the bowlers, the costumes were different. In Zurich there was no wedding cake, a pretty silly addition it seemed to me.

The simplicity of the production made it easy to follow the plot. When the Met decides to use a European production, it makes certain changes, typically including changing the costumes to a more conservative earlier period. That appears to be what has happened here.

Alessandro Corbelli as Don Magnifico was magnifico and much less annoying than anyone else I have seen in this role. He is a buffo bass, did Gianni Schicchi last season, and explained in the interviews that he plays comic roles seriously. He is very talented in his Fach.

Alidoro / Angel was also very pleasing in the person of John Relyea. Is there anything he can't do?

Both extremes of coloratura styles could be heard: most singers articulated the coloratura, but both Lawrence Brownlee as Don Ramiro and Elina Garanča as Angelina sang a very legato style. Interesting. Bartoli, Florez leggiero. Elina Garanča, Anna Netrebko, Lawrence Brownlee legato.

Elina explained in her interview that she is moving away from Rossini--which based on this example she does very well--to Romantic repertoire. I hope she will stick with Bellini.

Lawrence Brownlee. I had never heard him before. Oddly, the part actually sounded a bit low for him. In his low register he sounds almost like a baritone--far more than Jonas Kaufmann in my opinion--but his upper register just won't quit. He has astounding ping in his high notes. It would be interesting to hear him in some Rubini repertoire. Please understand that I am describing and not criticizing. His coloratura is very natural for a tenor.

Elina and Lawrence were on the same page musically and together made a beautiful Cenerentola. Of course, she is much too gorgeous for him, but perhaps Angelina sees things differently.
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Barber of Seville in HD

I saw the simulcast of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia from the Metropolitan Opera in Albuquerque. It was very fine. The sound was a little loud, but the quality was excellent.

Figaro..................Peter Mattei
Rosina..................Joyce DiDonato
Count Almaviva....Juan Diego Flórez
Dr. Bartolo.............John Del Carlo
Don Basilio.............John Relyea

Conductor...............Maurizio Benini
Production..............Bartlett Sher

 I hardly know where to start. The acting and general theatrical business was especially well done. Maurizio Benini, the conductor, understood the special qualities of Rossini and got his tempos right.

So I'll start where I want to start. I know John Del Carlo. We were in the same Julius Caesar at Pocket Opera many years ago. He decided on a career as a buffo bass, and has appeared in these types of parts in San Francisco, parts like Don Pasquale and the man in the Marschallin's morning visits. I thought he was good, maybe just OK. For a buffo he has grown in his Fach beyond what I would have imagined. His Dr. Bartolo was very fine indeed. It helped that he actually is the age for a Bartolo. He kept pace in the coloratura with the greatest coloratura tenor I have certainly ever seen. He was wonderfully funny. Adorable even. Bravo.

What could one think to say about Juan Diego Florez? He is king. At the end of the opera they revived the aria "Cessa di piu resistere" just for him. This aria is familiar as the finale of La Cenerentola, but sounds wonderfully different in his voice. He was funny, beautiful, stunning.

Joyce DiDonato, a girl from Kansas, had her hands full competing with the men. My heart did not beat for her. Perhaps I am not destined to love another coloratura mezzo. Don't get the wrong idea. I liked her.

Peter Mattei was good. Juan Diego upstaged him too often.

The big aria brought into Barber for Florez was created for this opera and later cut because the soprano didn't want it, didn't want the tenor competing with her. Later it was inserted into La Cenerentola. Perhaps this is why Angiolina is a mezzo.

Opera, beautiful opera, heart stopping, thrilling, wonderful opera. Gelb is starting at the top.