This is Natalie Dessay in San Francisco in 2008 singing Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. I attended and reviewed at that time. This is Donizetti's most popular serious opera, but perhaps I only like the comedies.
I've seen 6 different productions of this opera by now, and my favorite by a wide margin is the Zimmerman version with the fountain and the ghost. The ghost is my favorite. I understand they are retiring it, which seems very sad to me. This one from San Francisco is rather dull.
I am enjoying Filianoti more this time. The singing is fine. I have only seen 6, so from the ones I've seen, I prefer the one with Lisette and Javier I saw in 2018. I apologize for all this comparing.
Parts (or all) of this HD film of Verdi's La Traviata from the Metropolitan Opera are different from the live broadcast in 2012 where Natalie cracked one of her notes. This version contained no disasters, but did show a certain amount of fatigue in her voice. It is possible that Violetta is too heavy for Natalie. It is also possible that she is simply showing the effects of aging. (I read in the earlier post that Natalie had a cold during the run.) Natalie is an extraordinary operatic performer who brings considerable acting talents to this role. It was a pleasure. I was glad I came back. For the best Dessay see next weeks Daughter of the Regiment.
I learned from on line comments that I was correct in thinking that there was more music in Act II than I was used to hearing. The role of Germont was filled out with pieces that are usually cut, no doubt to give us more of Dmitri Hvorostovsky who is wonderful here. His Germont is a bit of a bully.
I'm not sure why, but I love this production. The focus is on the inner life of Violetta and not the outer life of the characters. I am attracted to its simplicity.
I have been trying to get into Twitter and tried my hand today while watching the stream of #ConcertDeParis honoring Bastille Day. A number of foreigners sang in French: Olga Peretyatko (Soprano) "Salut a la France", Elīna Garanča (Mezzo) "Ah que j'aime les militaires", and Lawrence Brownlee (Ténor) "Ah, mes amis". The Twitter feed threw around a lot of criticisms of French diction. With Google Translate at the ready I followed along.
So I thought I would ask all these native French speakers which foreigner they preferred in their language. Jonas Kaufmann. Unqualified agreement. He was preferred over Sophie Koch who is French.
The French also complained about the use of Operetten Lieder as encores on Jonas's recitals. Soon he will be doing whole concerts of these items. I'm sort of looking forward.
It was a lovely concert which ended with La Marseillaise.
La Forza del Destino streamed from Munich, again with Anja Harteros at the end of December, Conductor: Kirill Petrenko. This one didn't happen yet--the stream is on December 28.
Wonderful operas, wonderful casts, widely varying conducting. Conducting ranked 1-4: Pappano, Gatti, Welser-Möst, Carignani. I felt that Il Trovatore was less than ideal for Harteros because the conductor chopped off her high notes by rushing on to the next thing. Performance overall ranked: Don Carlo, Fanciulla, Parsifal, Trovatore. The first three were my all time favorite versions for these operas, an amazing feat. Trovatore had some flaws, including the weird production.
As we move into the awards you are bound to notice certain repeats from the above list. To be eligible for an award a live performance must have taken place in 2013.
BEST VERDI OPERA AWARD is split to two awards: for production we award to the Metropolitan Opera's neon Rigoletto, while for music the award cannot help but go to the Salzburg Don Carlo. There was a lot of Verdi this year, but there was also some very high quality.
BEST WAGNER OPERA AWARD must go to the Metropolitan Opera's Parsifal. I cannot indeed think of any Wagner performance I found superior. James Morris as Wotan. There are people who thought René Pape's Gurnemanz was boring, but for me it was exactly as I would have wanted it.
BEST BAROQUE OPERA AWARD goes to the Metropolitan Opera's Julius Caesar, the Musical. This may be my last view of Natalie Dessay for a while. Her dancing was fabulous. I liked this opera best for David Daniels who made the character of Caesar really seem like someone who could conquer the world. In the constant search for ways to make the stagings of Handel operas seem interesting this one sets a standard.
BEST ROMANTIC OPERA NOT VERDI OR WAGNER AWARD has quite a few entrants: Les Troyens, Francesca da Rimini and Eugene Onegin all from the Met, Les Conte d'Hoffmannand Mefistofele from San Francisco. For all its complexities I'm awarding to the very dark Les Conte d'Hoffmann with the Met's Les Troyensas a close runner up. That's a second award for Natalie Dessay.
BEST REVIVAL OF A HISTORICAL MASTERPIECE AWARD goes to the Met's production of The Nose. I felt that the production itself rose almost to the level of a masterpiece and perfectly suited the opera.
BEST MUSICOLOGY OUTCOME AWARD Musicology played a role in the American Bach Soloists' performance of the Bach St. John Passion, Les Conte d'Hoffmannand the Salzburg Norma. This means because of research into original performance practices, these works were presented in ways that were different from what the audience would be familiar with. I had a problem with the Bach Passion because this version of the score omitted my favorite part--the final glorious chorale. I award to Norma because it seemed to me that the complete transformation of this opera and the resulting re-emphasis on plot was significantly aided by the changes to the score.
BEST TRANSFORMATION OF A FAMILIAR WORK INTO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AWARD goes to Cecilia Bartoli's Norma from Salzburg with Julius Caesar, the Musical a close second. I very much enjoyed the film noir Norma with its increased realism. Pollione would leave Norma for a much younger woman, in opera terms a soubrette such as we see here, and not for the heavy mezzo we traditionally see. It's the only opera I traveled for this year.
BEST ACTING IN AN OPERA AWARD goes to Cecilia Bartoli in Norma. I should award this category every year. Honorable mention goes to Nina Stemme in Fanciulla. BEST IMITATION OF ANNA MAGNANI EVER AWARD. This is obviously a one time award.
BEST PUCCINI AWARD goes to Fanciulla from Vienna. There is hardly even any competition. People in the wilderness panning for gold don't really translate into factory workers, but the basic plot stayed in tact. For once all the singers were fully up to their roles.
WORST EUROTRASH PRODUCTION AWARD goes to Il Trovatore from Munich. Other contestants in the running were Hippolyte et Aricie and Die Meistersinger, but they weren't bad enough to merit an award. Cupid popping out of an egg is just fun.
I kept up my pace of new operas for 2013. I saw opera premiers for The Secret Gardenby Nolan Gasser, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Mark Adamo and Dolores Claiborneby Tobias Picker, all presented by the San Francisco Opera. None of them were a complete bust, but I did not declare any masterpieces. Of these three I think I liked Dolores Claiborne best. Perhaps if I'd seen it later in the run, I would have liked it more.
Other operas that were new for me were Spontini's La Vestale, Shostakovich's The Nose, Glass' The Perfect American, Humperdinck's Königskinder, Golijov's Ainadamar, Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Barber's A Hand of Bridge, Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, Bucci's Sweet Betsy From Pike, Barab's A Game of Chance, and Barber's Antony and Cleopatra.
BEST NEW (to me) OPERA AWARD goes to Golijov's Ainadamar from Opera Parallèle, a wonderful opera with dancing, singing and time travel. It was new in 2000, which is new enough. The Met has commissioned Golijov to produce another opera for them.
It was a fabulous year for opera. These awards reflect only my taste.
P.S.
BEST FALSTAFF AWARD goes to the Met. It was both visually and musically extremely satisfying, in general an excellent performance for this difficult opera. I only added this because I saw 3 Falstaffs this year.
I believe this is chronological rather than ranked.
Ainadamar. I keep looking to see what Opera Parallèle is going to do in the coming season, but nothing has been announced. Here is a film of the opening.
Parsifal - I can't believe I'm saying this. Here is a clip of Kaufmann singing "Amfortas! Die Wunde!"
Neon lightning in the last scene of Rigoletto in the Met simulcast. I couldn't find a film.
Cecilia's Norma recording. This clip is "Mira Norma."
Discovering that the American Bach Soloists play in Davis. I love the way they play Bach. Here is the Kyrie and Gloria from the Messa in H-moll.
Conductor; Patrick Fournillier
Director & Costume Designer; Laurent Pelly
Hoffmann Matthew Polenzani
The Muse/Nicklausse Angela Brower
Lindorf Christian Van Horn
Luther Hadleigh Adams
Olympia Hye Jung Lee
Antonia Natalie Dessay
Crespel James Creswell
Dr. Miracle Christian Van Horn
Voice of Antonia's Mother Margaret Mezzacappa
Giulietta Irene Roberts
Schlemil Hadleigh Adams
Dapertutto Christian Van Horn
Stella Jacqueline Piccolino
Poor Hoffmann, our hero in Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann currently in rotation at the San Francisco Opera. He has this muse/tormentor who follows him around and messes up all his relationships with women. On the way he kills a couple of people and loses his reflection. I would think that not having a reflection would make shaving difficult. It's still an incredibly fun opera.
I don't know what to think of the staging. All that black and gray is pretty depressing. In the Venetian scene we were relieved to see some green on the stage. However, I felt that this constantly moving and changing set, literally constantly moving in parts of the Giulietta scene, made the action absolutely clear in this complex drama.
The singing was much better in the actual performance than it had been in the rehearsal. I knew this and did not comment about the performances. Matthew Polenzani was our desolate, drunken poet who charms women with his words. I liked him a lot. He spent a lot of his time lying drunk on the floor but managed to remain lovable in spite of it.
I enjoyed Natalie Dessay's performance of Antonia. Above is a film from Barcelona of Natalie as Antonia in our production with a different tenor. Natalie has announced her retirement from opera, and this is her next to last appearance. We are grateful to have seen her and hope that someday she will return.
The constant villain sung by Christian Van Horn was a very dark, sinister version.
Angela Brower as Nicklausse was also excellent. A double was used to facilitate the quick changes from her female muse attire to her male student. This worked well.
Natalie made a very low bow in front of Patrick Fournillier, the capable French conductor. It was fun even the second time.
Matthew Polenzani; Natalie Dessay; Christian van Horn
This was a version of the opera Les Conte d'Hoffmann by Offenbach that I have probably never seen. It is called in the program "Performing edition based on the integral edition of the opera by Michael Kaye and Jean-Christophe Keck." According to Wikipedia, this is a recent version which was successfully produced in Lyon and Hamburg. It is supposed to reflect Offenbach's original music.
The acts are in the standard order:
Act I: Prologue--Luther's Tavern in Nuremberg.
Act II: Spalanzani's house (Olympia)
Act III: Crespel's house in Munich (Antonia)
Act IV: Giulietta's Palace in Venice (Giulietta)
Act V: Epilogue--Luther's Tavern (Stella)
The Met reversed acts iv and iii. In San Francisco we have French spoken dialogue, all relatively well done, while I have only ever heard recitative before. This makes the opera shorter.
There was dialog about a violin I don't remember hearing before in the Antonia act. Hoffmann stabs ...spoiler. Maybe this whole entry is a spoiler, so don't read it.
Never mind. This is perhaps the busiest staging I have ever seen. Pieces of the set are constantly moving from place to place even while the scene is progressing. In some of the scenes the only color on the set is the marks to tell where the pieces of set go--a different color for each scene, no doubt.
Olympia is fun. At first she is raised into the air over and over, then released from her gadget, she skates around the stage like a mysterious hover craft. Hy Jung Lee handles everything wonderfully.
It would appear this is another musicology incident. Make up your own mind. I hope those who love this opera are happy with anything that has changed. Matthew Polenzani will be wonderful. The opera opens Wednesday.
There is so much to write about Handel's Giulio Cesare simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera. Let's start with this head which appears broken in the production. We're clear that this is Pompey the Great, right? Not Julius Caesar who looked more like this.
Everyone calls the production Bollywood, a genre I'm not particularly familiar with.
This opera staging has nothing to do with Rome and everything to do with the British Empire in Egypt. It is much easier to distinguish the two ethnic groups, Europeans and Egyptians, than other productions of the opera I've seen. When the Egyptians woo Cornelia (Patricia Barton), she is convincingly repulsed by them. The British appear often in their red and khaki uniforms. Julius Caesar wears a long, calf length coat. The Egyptian serving men wear the fez, a red cap that does not fall off when they bow. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are constantly changing their clothing throughout the opera. Renée Fleming even interviewed the dressers.
Conductor: Harry Bicket Production: David McVicar
Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar): David Daniels Cleopatra: Natalie Dessay Cornelia: Patricia Bardon Sesto (Sextus): Alice Coote Tolomeo (Ptolemy): Christophe Dumaux
Natalie Dessay is a fine dancer as well as a wonderful singing actress. I may have imagined it, but didn't she leave out "Tutto puo donna vezzosa?" If you search carefully, you can find a film of Natalie singing it with one bare breast. My mind may have wandered, but I was specifically looking for it. I went out in the first act, so perhaps it came then. My favorite staging in this style was definitely "Da tempeste." Enormous fun. This production is very entertaining, but the emphasis on dancing may limit the enjoyment of the singing.
I'm going to have to get a score of this. There was a lot more recitative in this one than in Cecilia's version. Now I must discuss David Daniels. He has such a reputation that it has simply made me curious. Now I know why. I have never heard a countertenor with so much emotional range. He dominates the role of Julius Caesar in a way that the others I have heard do not even approach. It is extremely exciting and definitely moves the opera to center on the title character. Bravo.
Harry Bicket conducted and played the recitatives. He praised the Met orchestra for their growth in the performance of Baroque repertoire. Giulio Cesare is unquestionably the greatest of all the Baroque operas, for the marvelous and varied character of the Queen of Egypt, for the rapid movement from serious to comedy and back again, for the gorgeous arias, for the opportunities it gives to great singers of each passing generation.
Sir Colin Davis has died. I see that he conducted the Missa Solemnis I saw while I was living in London. He specialized in Berlioz who also did not play the piano.
Here is a nice article about Danielle De Niese replacing Natalie Dessay with virtually no notice in the Met production of Giulio Cesare. She performed the same role in the same production in Glyndebourne and Chicago, but despite the fact that it's been 7 years, she remembered the complicated dance numbers like it was yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing this with Natalie.
Opera News features Feruccio Furlanetto this month, complete with wonderful photographs. He likes to be photographed with expensive cars. In the current issue it's a Ferrari.
Like Anna Netrebko before her, Natalie Dessay has backed out of singing all four roles in The Tales of Hoffmann this summer at the San Francisco Opera. Natalie will continue to sing Antonia while Hye Jung Lee, recently seen as Madame Mao, will sing Olympia, Irene Roberts will appear as Giulietta and Jennifer Cherest will be Stella. It is very unusual, actually, for one person to sing all four women in Hoffmann. I've only seen it done at the Berkeley Opera. This was predictable. I look forward to seeing Natalie in whatever she wishes to sing.
Matthew Polenzani will sing Hoffmann, the always fascinating Alice Coote will appear as Nicklausse and Christian Van Horn is the four villains.
As I posted here, Peter Gelb's go to sopranos have been:
Key: (performances in approximate roles) (simulcasts)
Anna Netrebko (124 in 12 roles) (7)
Angela Gheorghiu (92 in 9 roles) (2)
Renée Fleming (234 in 20 roles) (6)
Karita Mattila (143 in 15 roles) (3)
Natalie Dessay (78 in 8 roles) (3)
Research indicates that Deborah Voigt has sung more at the Met than any of these:
Deborah Voigt (241 in 19 roles) (5)
Netrebko will open the 2013-14 season with Eugene Onegin and will repeat in Elixir. Fleming will appear in her signature role Rusalka. Angela Gheorghiu is very much out of favor for personal reasons. Karita Mattila is repeating her Salome this season. Natalie is in Giulio Cesare yet to come. Neither of them can I find in the schedule for next season.
Perhaps he's cast his eyes about and they have occasionally lighted on:
Patricia Racette (148 in 12 roles) (1) She will appear on the simulcasts next season in Tosca.
Sondra Radvanovsky (161 in 16 roles) (1)
Marina Poplavskaya (45 in 5 roles) (2)
Barbara Frittoli (92 in 9 roles) (3)
I have nothing against these ladies, but might we also see:
Eva-Maria Westbroek (12 in 2 roles) (1)
Nina Stemme (11 in 2 roles)
Anja Harteros (29 in 3 roles)
Or to quote Karen Slack:
Ms. Hong WHERE ARE YOU WE NEED YOU BADLY!!!!
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.
If I were to interview a lot of singers, I would ask them about their exercise routines. And now you should ask yourself who is by far the most athletic singer out there? And the answer would be Natalie Dessay. And now I am reading in Gramophone that she sought out a circus and trains on the flying trapeze. Whoa. That I would like to see.
So when Natalie takes her year off from opera, perhaps she will tour with Cirque du Soliel.
This article from Opera Today explains that Natalie Dessay is tired of opera, for now anyway, and is taking a sabbatical in 2015. This is pathetic. Don't get the wrong idea. Natalie isn't pathetic, but we can't help agreeing with her.
I personally think it's very hard to be a girl singer. You just don't get any respect. Everybody thinks they know more than you do, even if you're Natalie Dessay. I have long thought that this was the explanation for the career of Cecilia Bartoli. Sigh.
I run around looking for something to interest me. I literally have nothing else to do. I hired someone to clean the house, so what else is there? As long as the stock market continues to go up I can do what ever I please. There's walking for health, but I can do that anywhere.
I missed Tosca from the Met, but enjoyed enormously Maria Guleghina's Turandot. The emphasis is always on the spectacle, and she managed to push through all that and give us the deeply personal. Aida did not impress me.
I'm not to get From the House of the Dead from New York, so I have watched the DVD and feel content. The New York version seems to have a gimmick--the words are projected on the walls. It wouldn't be worth it to go to New York just for that. Maybe I'll travel for The Nose, but we'll have to see.
I get only a half season in San Francisco, but keep going to everything. I got a senior rush ticket for Racette's Trittico, and it was incredible. I couldn't get excited over Abduction from the Seraglio--too much bad German. Sondra Radvanovsky made Trovatore a pleasure, and while I liked Diana Damrau in Daughter of the Regiment, she didn't make me forget Natalie Dessay.
I loved my sudden trip to Germany, and enjoyed seeing my two heart-throbs on back to back nights. But perhaps I will have a new heart-throb found closer to home: Joyce DiDonato. I'm always on the lookout for someone with talent in the song area.
Closest to home has been Dido in Davis, a constant flood of emotion in under an hour.
Listening to gossip about things going on behind the scenes, quarrels and so forth, I brought up the La Traviata production of two years ago. I mentioned how much I admired the way Natalie Dessay jumped from one ridiculous giant box to another with grace and conviction.
Then I was told that before every performance she would come out in full costume and practice the jumps. The house could not be opened until she was finished. Natalie is always the complete performer.
