Cieca plays Criswell
This is the biggest limb La Cieca has ever gone out on:
Expect James Levine to make his official Met farewell at the end of the 2011-2012 season. (First hedge on this prediction: Levine will make occasional “guest” appearances with the Met after 2012.)
Remember, you heard it here first.
Since Pelleas has come up…
I hate to admit it, but I also have trouble with this piece. It’s always been something of a puzzle to me. I love Debussy’s music and always attributed my lack of enthusiasm to the fact that I don’t speak or understand French. It does seem to me that in this work, the relationship of text to music is especially important. And, it’s a little difficult to experience music when you’re glued to a book.
I do have a couple of friends who are musically very astute listeners that adore the opera. So, I’ve always assumed that one day, an appreciation will come. Much in the same way an appreciation of Monet came to me after years of considering him boring.
Just as long as it’s not Daniel Harding, who flailed his arms as the CSO pulled out a great Jenufa Act Two on their own (maybe he makes sense in rehearsal? I’m a professional conductor and I couldn’t follow his beat)… I’m a real Mehta fan, especially in Puccini. And I love the Colin Davis Berlioz–he hasn’t been resting on his laurels, but going deeper and deeper in his interpretations.
I’m with you on Levine. I think the Levine Gala killed him and he hasn’t been the same since. Do you remember the Narration and Curse that night? He conducted the hell out of that. Nothing since, for me, has been searing on that level, or even exciting.
I’m a big Andrew Davis fan, but we’re not giving him up!
I do love Pelleas. It’s gorgeous and I think the drama is really suspenseful every time I hear it (never seen the full opera live). It’s not long before my beloved Mrs John Claggart praises the Karajan/Schwarzkopf set, which THANK GOD she made me buy so many years ago.
I would love to hear Mrs John Claggart on the subject of Pelleas…or any other subject for that matter.
Well, I’m not Mrs. Claggert (where is she, by the way?) but I’ll give my two cents-
Pelleas is an opera that must be not only be listened to in the right mood, but also in the right season. It is impossible to listen to Pelleas in the summer, the opera requires a cold wind outside. I find it to be some of the most paralizing music ever written, if that makes any sense. Who remembers the Met production two years ago with von Otter and van Dam…pure magic. It should be performed more often…in December, that is.
Tell me, what is the general impression of Kent Nagano? There’s a conductor I admire very much. He basically made the Los Angeles Opera into what it is today, and that’s okay in my book. He also conducted one of the most sensual Ariadnes I’ve ever heard.
Yeah, what about Nagano? I have a recording of him conducting Carmelites I adore. I really like Donald Runnicles, too. Of course, I don’t get out much.
Re: Pelleas. The Tower Classical in West Hollywood used to sell this tiny (about the size of PostIt Notes) little “book” called Opera Plots Made Easy. For the Debussy it had one sentence:
Nothing happens, then Melisande dies
Perfect! I believe it’s a profoundly great opera and I wouldn’t trade every note that *shudder* Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and all the other can belto-ists wrote for the last 5 minutes of Act IV.
As for Nagano: he may have built the orchestra at the LA Opera but he is wildly inconsistent. A gripping Lohengrin followed by a boring as hell Bluebeard’s Castle/Gianni Schicci (!!) double bill followed by a blazing Moses und Aron concert performance followed by a dull as dirt Don Giovanni etc. etc.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how Munich takes to him after Mehta.
Runnicles? A 2nd tier talent, at best. He seems to conduct in sentences, not paragraphs, though I loved his Tristan from 7 or 8 years ago. The orchestra can also play pretty poorly under his direction as well. I wonder who San Francisco is going to get to replace him when he leaves at the end of his contract?
How old is Barenboim? I am a huge fan. Conlon is great too. But, I am still swayed in the Barenboim direction.
Conlon gave us a thrilling Don Carlo and a very weighty Traviata in LA.
I think Barenboim is a non starter. He’s shown no indication of wanting to leave the Staatsoper in Berlin, where he rules the roost. In fact, the Staatsoper recently announced that they’d be doing some co-producing with La Scala, Barenboim included. He’d be crazy to leave the heavily subsidized Staatsoper just to end up spending a good amount of his time trying to raise money like music directors have to do in this country.
I just noticed that Zager & Evans, our poster boys at the top, had a song called Little Kids. Don’t think they’d even get to release a song with that title these days.