Misc

There are now at least five women in the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig played Mahler 9 on Saturday to great effect. The maestro was very pleased.

I got back to my hotel after in time to see the final credits roll on Don Carlo on the ORF.

The seats in both houses of the Salzburger Festspiele are very uncomfortable, especially in long works like Meistersinger. 

Tried Kaiserschmarrn today and liked it. When in Austria, do as the Austrians do.

Lotfi Mansouri has died. He was formerly head of the San Francisco Opera.  His obituaries are saying he invented supertitles.  I didn't know that.

I no sooner said that Eva-Maria Westbroek was ready for something bigger than I found she is scheduled to do Isolde in Bayreuth in 2015.

Norma Viene

I came for this, of course. I wanted to experience the Norma at Salzburg for myself. Now Cecilia Bartoli is talking about taking it on the road, so look for it in a theater near you.

I saw Norma once with Sutherland and Horne in San Francisco. They mostly just stood around and sang. It was very beautiful, mind you, but it could have been a concert. Cecilia's Norma--what else can you call it?--is sort of the opposite. Norma is the leader, the sacred object, the chaste priestess, the leader of men, the leader for peace in a crowd of people who want war.

This is a modern dress production. My theory of modern dress holds here. Dressing the actors like people we know makes them feel to us like people we know, makes their loves and hates feel like our own.

Then their leader whom even her father loves and follows, turns out to have been living a lie. Instead of chastity, she reveals first to Adalgisa and later to everyone else that she has been the lover of the proconsul and has had two children by him. Once she knows that Norma has been with Pollione, Adalgisa wants nothing more to do with him and fades from the story. She's there mainly for duets.

In this production all the cuts are restored. The opera doesn't seem that long to me so it's hard to see why cuts were necessary. Orchestrally the bel canto was a period of transition. New instruments were invented and moved gradually into general use. Cecilia has chosen to move unambiguously back to an antique instrument ensemble.

Once she has found out the ugly truth about Adalgisa and Pollione, Norma considers killing everyone by turns--

first her children,

then the entire Roman army,

then Pollione whom her partisans have captured trying to kidnap Adalgisa,

and then finally herself. 

She confesses. It is a role waiting to be discovered.

I felt that this production by Mosche Leiser and Patrice Caurier completely worked. Every concept was theatrically viable, involving, even jolting. "Guerra" shouted at us from the front of the stage was particularly thrilling.

Michele Pertusi as Norma's father Oroveso has sung with Cecilia since her early Cenerentola recording. He is always strong vocally and theatrically. Liliana Nikiteanu is another long time colleague of Cecilia's from the Zurich Opera. John Osborn appeared with her in Rossini's Otello. Only Rebeca Olvera is new. She is a member of the Zurich ensemble.  They are a strong cast.

But this is Cecilia Bartoli's production, and it rises and falls with her. This marvelous theatrical concept requires Cecilia Bartoli to bring to success. She is attempting nothing less than the complete recreation of Anna Magnani, the passionate Italian actress. The result is more like Broadway than opera, because the emphasis shifts to the action, and no one sings dramatic recitative better than Cecilia. The strength of characterization is powerful well beyond the normal confines of opera, but vocally it is less than a perfect fit for her.

The character of Norma disintegrates into drunkenness at one point. At the end Pollione calls her a "sublime woman." Yes.  I can say nothing more.

Talking about Opera

I am with a group here and have a lot of opportunity to talk about opera. Those of us who have been watching opera a long time have had the opportunity to see the operas presented as they are originally intended.

But if you are new to the opera, how would you know that Snow White and the Seven Drarfs do not normally appear in Die Meistersinger? How would you know that it isn't supposed to be a dream? How would you know that Don Alfonso doesn't normally die of poison at the end of Cosi?

I am hearing a lot of confusion. Why did that happen? The only possible answer is Who knows?

All Wagner Concert

Matti Salminen - Hunding
Eva-Maria Westbroek - Sieglinda
Peter Seiffert - Siegmund

Sometimes the stars align. Sometimes the musical phrasing is so strong that everyone is swept up in the experience. Sometimes perfection is achieved. Yesterday's concert was such a time. The Wiener Philharmoniker with Lorin Maazel was on the program.

I enjoyed the sweet playing of the Siegfried Idyll which began the concert, but it's not really one of my favorites. The joy for me came in the second half with a performance of Act I of Die Walküre.  I did not mind the absence of surtitles because by now I am very familiar with this act and recognize just enough German.

I saw Eva-Maria in this role in New York and San Francisco, but was unprepared for how truly wonderful she was here. The voice was big and glorious and for my ears ready to take on something more. She was the only one who did not use a score and attempted to act her part as she would on the stage.

Peter Seiffert, the true Heldentenor, perhaps the Heldentenor of our time, was completely on form. I saw him before in Tannhäuser in San Francisco, and he was very passionate and warm here.

Matti Salminen is a force of nature. He provided just the right amount of terror in the awkward situation that is the beginning of Walküre.

Such musical synchronicity among the three singers was met and exceeded by the synchronicity with this great orchestra and the musical leadership of Lorin Maazel. They started quietly and built steadily over the long act. Everyone was ready when the big finish came.

Great singing, great playing, great music. Keep your heart open and something wonderful will come your way.

Cosi from Salzburg

CAST

Fiordiligi:  Malin Hartelius,
Dorabella:  Marie-Claude Chappuis,
Despina:  Martina Janková,
Ferrando:  Martin Mitterrutzner,
Guglielmo:  Luca Pisaroni,
Don Alfonso:  Gerald Finley,

Perhaps it was too soon for me to see another Cosi fan tutte. I think if you get enough opera lovers together, everything will find someone to dislikes it. We used to say "Gesmacksache!"

So I will just tell the things I liked. The Despina of Martina Jankova was fresh and entertaining. I don't know why I never noticed this before, but Don Alfonso only wins because he cheats by persuading Despina to do all the work for him.

The set was a giant spa with a bath in the center and palm trees all around. In the second act the bath is covered and the palms move outside. This was a very conservative production, but still someone wanted to know "Why?"

Both of our baritones, Luca Pisaroni as Guglielmo and Gerald Finley as Don Alfonso, were excellent. Christoph Eschenbach conducted some outstanding ensembles, the key to a successful Cosi.

Our audience was very pleased, with sustained rhythmic clapping that went on for a long time.

The disguises were lame, as usual.  This time Ferrando gets Fiordiligi and Guglielmo rejects Dorabella, the consolation prize.   Don Alfonzo drinks poison and dies.  There's a lot to be explained here.  How about Fiordiligi goes to Ferrando and Guglielmo stabs him? Wouldn't that make more sense?

I bought a program for Cosi and it lists the casts of every performance of Cosi at the Salzburg Festival. It makes for some fascinating reading.

Die Meistersinger from Salzburg

Conductor:  Daniele Gatti
Production: Stefan Herheim

Hans Sachs: Michael Volle (bass-baritone)
Walther von Stolzing: Roberto Sacca (heldentenor)
Eva: Anna Gabler(soprano)

The production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Salzburg Festival takes place in Hans Sachs's mind. I can reach no other conclusion. He clearly loves Eva very much and then imagines a young knight for her to marry. If you came to this version from the Bayreuth version, as I recently have (see here), you might wonder what opera you were seeing. This version is much more traditional.

Only one bit I liked better in the Bayreuth version--when Walther rejects the Meister robes, in Bayreuth he has just signed for millions to become a rock star. Here he just thinks he's too good for it. This provides Sachs with the opportunity to praise German art.

The story doesn't really emphasize Sachs until the middle of the second act. Have I imagined the opening scene is usually cut?

Sachs, sung by Michael Volle, is everything here. He laughs. He cries. He falls down in terror or in sorrow. He embraces his Eva and then gives her away to another. I have tried to imagine this production without Michael and simply cannot. He receives the highest accolade--I have simply never before cried at Meistersinger. The first scene of the third act was especially intense.

So it is Sachs himself who imagines the glorious song that wins the prize. Doesn't that make more sense?

Roberto Sacca as Walther sang the prize song well, but was not so good elsewhere. I still remember him as a lyric tenor. If we are to make him a blond, he could perhaps have bigger hair.

Anna Gabler as Eva was beautiful and very passionate.

The audience booed Daniele Gatti, the conductor, and the mediocre-sounding orchestra by implication.  Since I am more inclined to like Meistersinger, I would consider it a flaw that the music did not sound as I expected. But my heart was only for Michael.

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Piano Dress of Mefistofiles

See.  I told you Spearhead News has all the best pictures.

Flagstad premier of Four Last Songs

This will be the Vier letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss in the world premier performance with Kirsten Flagstad and Wilhelm Furtwaengler.  I am posting this because I notice my contemporary singers are running way ahead of my classic singers.

This song set is performed in various sequences, but this is correct for this particular live performance.  It is my understanding that the publisher has arranged them differently.  Kirsten Flagstad was not Strauss' ideal voice, but he did nevertheless compose them for her.  The condition of the recordings is terrible.  I mean really terrible.


 

She is supposed to be terrible, past her prime, too heavy for the part, yadayada.  I can't hear it.  This is exactly what I would want.  The pieces are established forever in this performance.  Flagstad was an extraordinary singer who never came even marginally close to over singing, so here at 55 she sounds very much herself to me.  The later Tristan recording was very much messed with, but this is live.  She never sang Fruhling again.

She found truth through simplicity.   For those who truly love her she towers over everyone.

Anna Netrebko--what else?

We have this news:

"Anna Netrebko - Verdi is the first album in history by a female classical singer to hit #1 on the Austrian pop charts, and is also #6 in Germany, #8 in Denmark, and #1 on Russian iTunes!"

Perhaps my opinion is not really relevant, but I will say a few words.  The sound of her voice at this point is very pleasing.  Of course, with Netrebko you don't get the full experience without the acting, but nevertheless it is a very impressive recording.  She is at her peak now. I don't know that I agree with her that she shouldn't sing La Contessa, though.

It's nice to see this much excitement over an opera singer.
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The Leontyne Price Requiem

I was raised on this.  Leontyne Price was the greatest Verdi singer that ever lived, and she wails this like no one else.  Watch how relaxed she is in her body when she sings.  The energy all goes into the phrase.  Karajan loved her and said she gave him goosebumps.

But I like to hear new things, new voices, new phrasing.  They are not required to top Ms Price because no one ever will.  I notice the more I blog about music the more love I feel, both for the music and for the artists making it.

The new Barenboim recording has soloists that all come from Germany and Latvia, singers who feel it differently.  I don't require other singer's to top Leontyne Price, but could they please try to wail just a bit now and then.

Footnote.

This is Renata Scotto, and she definitely wails.