Blogging

In the intermission for Tosca live from the Met in HD was a short look at a piano rehearsal for Falstaff which will simulcast on my birthday.  They were rehearsing the end of Act II where Falstaff is thrown into the Thames in a laundry basket.  Angela Meade is Alice Ford, Lisette Oropesa is Nanetta and Stephanie Blythe is Mistress Quickly. 

James Levine was conducting in his automated chair, but next to him was a white-haired woman with a score on a music stand making gestures that at times resembled conducting.  Levine conducted all the time in the way one is accustomed to seeing, but the woman seemed only to conduct the singers.  She would hold up her hand with the palm toward the singer, and when it came time for the entrance, she would point at them.  I am revealing the incredible limitations of my professional experience when I say that it took me a minute to figure this out.  This person can only be the prompter.

When I sang in a professional theater, there was a prompter in the wings who only spoke the words just prior to when the singer sang them, usually not loud enough to be heard.  The woman in the film today never seemed to say anything.  Levine ignored her.

Magic Flute from Salzburg

Papageno and his Papagena

The Salzburg Marionette theater showed The Magic Flute at Mondavi Center tonight.  I especially wanted to see this since I had missed it in Salzburg.  It was enormous fun.  I can now feel my trip to Salzburg is complete.

In the puppet theater the singing was in German and the spoken words were in English. I was glad the translation was appropriately dignified and silly at the same time.  The nasty cracks about women found frequently in Flute were omitted.  Below is a link to the recorded version of the opera used for the music. 

The marionettes are about 2/3 life size.  At the end the human performers were shown to the audience, and we could see there were 8 of them.  I was especially fascinated when the characters seemed to circle one another.  How do they do that?  Their movements seemed very natural.

The marionette theater was positioned rather far back from the apron of the stage, making it difficult see.  The stage itself is much less than 2/3 the size of the average opera stage, but the action was always clear.

#ad

 

Interview with Nina Stemme

Here is an excellent interview with Nina Stemme.

Rock Stars of Opera

Noah Stewart points out this article in the November issue of Details magazine called Rock Stars of Opera. A short blurb appears for each of five young American tenors.  I am listing them in the order shown above.

Alek Shrader

I have seen Alek in Thomas Ades' The Tempest and in Rossini's Barber of Seville.  He is a lyric tenor with great flexibility.  In San Francisco he was sometimes difficult to hear, but this happens a lot for us.

Stephen Costello

I have seen Stephen in Moby Dick, at the Richard Tucker Gala with his wife, in Anna Bolena with Netrebko and in La Boheme in LA.  He is a lyric tenor of great sweetness.

Michael Fabiano

Michael is the most spectacularly gifted of this group.  I have seen him as Cassio in Otello with Botha and in Lucrezia Borgia with Renée Fleming.  He is IMHO a spinto tenor with a bright, almost Pavarotti-like tone.  His phrasing is also mature and sophisticated.  For him the sky is the limit.

 Noah Stewart

I know Noah primarily from the years when he trained at the San Francisco Opera.  He appeared there in the world premiere of Glass' Appomattox.  Then he was swept up into the Katherine Jenkins world in Great Brittain.  He works out and appears frequently in Hunks lists.  He recently won Operagasm's sexiest man award.  Right now he is in Madrid singing Purcell's The Indian Queen.  I think he needs to find his path.  All of them have commercial releases, but only Noah has his own album.

Bryan Hymel

I have seen Bryan in Faust at Santa Fe and in Les Troyens in HD.  He also sang Les Troyens at the ROH with Pappano.  Les Troyens is a big chunk to bite off, and Bryan was outstanding.  I'm going out on a limb here, but if you are looking for the Domingo type tenor that can sing anything, Bryan may be your man.  In any event he is the heaviest voice of this group and needs to choose his repertoire with this fact in mind.  Maybe I need to hear him live more.

I have posted all of them before.  They are all in the part of their careers where they are trying to find their niche.

Antidote for too much opera

This is in case you thought old people could not keep up.

Interview with Angela Gheorghiu

Translated from Munich Abendzeitung

Staging, jokes and Wagner - Angela Gheorghiu, the last diva, talks straight about Jonas Kaufmann
Christa Sigg, 04.11.2013 16:29 Photos? Please do not! As good as they already are of Angela Gheorghiu. Photo: Cosmin Gogu / EMI

Don't worry, Angela Gheorghiu remains loyal to Verdi, Donizetti and his cohorts. She also sings their arias on Thursday at the Philharmonie

On the table are fruit kebabs. A fabulous figure wants to be cared for, especially if you put it into skin-tight dresses like Angela Gheorghiu. She did photos in the late afternoon but now has no more desire. After umpteen interviews she should also stop talking. In spite of that the capricious singer gave a spirited conversation.

AZ: Ms. Gheorghiu, your life provides enough material for an exciting opera. 

GHEORGHIU ANGELA:  But the most interesting thing you still do not even know. That I'm saving for later.  [She has a secret but does not reveal it.]

You really don't want to say anything? What was the craziest thing in your life? 

To marry Roberto! But I should have known; all have told me not to do it.

After all, much has been written about you, which is also PR. 

Negative. About cancellations that were due to Roberto [Alagna], such as Zeffirelli's "Traviata".  But that will now all come out gradually. There were moments in my life that gave people a completely wrong idea of me. Now I want to give the real Angela.

And sing with other tenors, like Jonas Kaufmann. 

When I heard him several years ago for the first time, I was immediately impressed and wanted to sing with him. The fact that he was not well known didn't matter.  I completely trusted this voice, pushed him properly. Then came the "Butterfly" CD.  And everything he tackled was good. Now I am very proud that I trusted him.

Jonas Kaufmann is often heard here, which cannot be said of you. 

You have here such crazy productions. If you asked me to sing in "Trovatore" - thank you, never with Angela!  We cannot make jokes with the opera.  Please just stop it!

There is currently in Munich no new production in which you want to sing?

I have a few ideas. The Director's my fan! I adore Nikolaus Bachler, and he adores me. All over the world he has seen me.  He knows me very well. We'll find something, because I love this opera house! It is so wonderful, the acoustics are great. And I also like your food.

Are you sure? 

But yes, it is close to the Romanian food: pork, desserts - wonderful!

Many young singers come from your homeland, Russia, the former Soviet bloc. Is the training there better? 

No, everywhere there are good singers, it's like pearls. You just never know where to find them.

But in the top league at the present time many come from the East. 

Sure, because they are not that expensive. At least at first.

What are you going to sing on Thursday? 

A little bit of everything.

Specifically? 

We'll see.

Have you ever fancied a bit of Wagner, at least in the year of Wagner? 

If Wagner were alive today, I would ask him to write something for my voice. Or even a voice! Wagner wrote such beautiful phrases, but as a singer you pay dearly for it. Actually, I would ask Jonas to finish this and only sing Verdi and Puccini.

[As a person of ambiguity towards Wagner, I cannot but laugh at this last paragraph.  I'm good with Jonas singing Wagner, at least so far.  He mixes it up a lot, which seems very good to me.  ]

Here You Go

Pierrot Lunaire, or at least a bit of it.

Moby Dick again

For all who watched Moby Dick on television or who are watching it now on pbs.org, isn't it wonderful?  When ever did anything so wrap you in its arms?  I am not articulate enough to tell its horrible overwhelming beauty.  It is a work of deep love which flows out from all who are involved.  Who could be more mad than Jay Hunter Morris, or who more lyrical than Stephen Costello?  In the new world of opera and electronics you can write about the experience while you are experiencing it.  The twitter postings are fun:  see #whalewatch. 

Flying Dutchman and Moby Dick on successive nights.  Have we had enough of the ocean yet?

Something to listen to

The Flying Dutchman

Dutchman and Senta

Conductor:  Patrick Summers
Director, Set Designer:  Petrika Ionesco

The Dutchman:  Greer Grimsley (bass-baritone)
Senta:  Lise Lindstrom* (soprano)
Erik:  Ian Storey (tenor)
Daland (Captain/Father):  Kristinn Sigmundsson (bass)
Steersman:  A.J. Glueckert (tenor)
Mary:  Erin Johnson (contralto)

* San Francisco Opera Debut

On Halloween I saw Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer. According to Not for Fun Only, "The director Petrika Ionesco was fired by David Gockley the previous week [before the opening,] the production hastily re-staged. The rumored laser beams, spaceships & alien zombies were nowhere to be seen"  Zombies would have been cute for Halloween, but we had only dead bodies.  People are complaining about the projections.  For me projections in opera stand in the place of special effects in movies.  You may not like them, but they're here to stay.  Gray waves were for the living, and red ones were for the Dutchman and his dead crew.  Features of the remaining production seemed to be borrowed from Falstaff.

I was shocked to hear how old fashioned the score sounded.  Now that I listen to opera all the time I hear more than ever before. It reminded me of Der Wildschütz by Lorzing written only 1 year earlier.  This is undoubtedly the most performed opera of this genre.

If I am to be a normal reviewer, I must decide:  it was terrible/wonderful and then explain why.  I never seen to manage that.  I don't care how great they are, but I can't really tolerate an extended duet between two basses such as comes at the end of Act I.  Once this was over, I enjoyed all the rest.  The chorus was marvelous, as usual, both on the stage and roaring at us from somewhere in the balcony.  We attributed their bad dancing to the fact that they were supposed to be drunk.

The plot here is rather horrible.  Daland is supposed to be watching out for his daughter's welfare but cares only for the Dutchman's money.  Senta realizes that the only way she can be sure she will be faithful until death is to die now.  She leaps to her death suddenly, rather out of the blue, here in a manner much like Tosca.  I couldn't tell if this leap would make the right effect from the orchestra, but from the balcony Senta's leap off the back of the stage worked well.  

Greer Grimsley and Lise Lindstrom were pleasing both to see and hear.  They have intense, cutting voices, more or less in a category with Hotter, Callas and Radvanovsky.  I understand that Lise is from San Francisco and yet is making her company debut.  It worked for me.

P.S. People complained that the tempos were fast. There are two parts to this complaint. 1. Were the tempos fast? I would have to say yes. 2. Is that something to complain about? It kept the pace moving. I felt the opera went by pretty quickly.