Don't ax, don't tell
"...the veteran dramatic soprano Gwyneth Jones, who, at the age of seventy, has lost remarkably little of her decibel capacity, made a comic tour de force of the Queen of Hearts. Memories of Jones’s Elektra at the Met added an aura of menace to her antics; when she sings, 'Off with their heads!,' you stroke your own neck a bit nervously." Alluring Alex Ross reviews Unsuk Chin’s opera Alice in Wonderland in the current New Yorker.
Dame Gwyneth and underling in Alice in Wonderland. Photo by Wilfried Hoesl.
Dame Gwyneth and underling in Alice in Wonderland. Photo by Wilfried Hoesl.
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2:09 PM
7 Comments:
I love it! Keep them coming!
I have seen the clips of this opera over at (the other) Steve Smith's site. It looks really scary.
All the reviews that I've read, in both German and English, suggest that Dame Gwyneth has had a triumph in the part. It's really remarkable, in particular as the role of the Queen of Hearts is written for a dramatic soprano (instead of, say, a character mezzo).
My Dame Gwyneth moments:
A Die Frau Ohne Schatten in San Francisco, singing The Dyer's Wife, me in the 7th row orchestra in the center. She unleashed a B above the staff that pinned back people in their chairs it was so powerful. Seriously, it was like the first 15 rows or so were like that guy in the Maxell ads.
A few years later in San Francisco, doing Elektra to Debra Voigt's Chrysothamis, Helga Dernesh's Klytemnestra and James King's Aegisth (Chrisitian Thielemann conducting the hell out of Strauss' great score) in a wild production with snakes and slabs of meat everywhere, Dame Gwyneth towered over them all. One of my greatest nights in an opera house, I thought the applause was never going to end.
Here in Los Angeles, she did an absolutely wonderful Minnie to Placido Domingo's Dick Johnson. You can be sure that those orgasmic "Il mio! Il mio"'s at the end of the Card Scene were unbelievably powerful.
Good for Dame Gwyneth if she's enjoying a success in Munich. Too bad the Los Angeles Opera, during a budget crunch, dropped Ms. Chin's opera in favor of the turgid Beowulf.
Yes, Henry Holland, that SFO Elektra was beyond thrilling!! I saw it twice, and I still get chills thinking about it. Added trivia -- Patricia Racette was the Fifth Maidservant.
Winpal, agreed, it was an amazing night in the opera house, thanks for the trivia about Patricia Racette; luxury casting, it would seem. Probably not recorded or filmed professionally. :-( She's fantastic on the Conlan recording of Zemlinsky's wonderful Der Traumgorge.
Speaking of out lesbians, I love the maid scene in Elektra, especially if the Overseer is really butch and really knows how to crack a whip.
Uh oh. Note to all you can-belto fans who natter on about smudging runs and aspirates and poor fioratura, from her Wikipedia entry, don't be around Patricia Racette with all your fancy talk:
She dislikes analysis of opera in strictly technical terms, insisting on asking "But how does it make you feel?"
Dear Henry: The "Elektra" in San Francisco had Nadine Secunde as Chrysothamis rather than Voigt. I only remember because I was expecting an Eastern European with that name, and instead her first name was pronounced "NAYDEEN" as if from "Steel Magnolias." She was also pregnant at the time, if I remember correctly, and sang the part beautifully. And Patricia Racette wasn't luxury casting at that point since she was just starting her career.
I still have hearing loss from playing one of the supernumerary slaves in that production and having Gwyneth sing "Oreste!" right into my ear during the recognition scene. Ms. Jones was singing with a laser beam intensity that will never be forgotten. Glad to read she's still trucking.
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