Remember, La Cieca is just the messenger
Writes a spy:
Today at the final dress, it was pretty obvious why Reneeeeee would cancel her Normas – the “Sempre libera” was SCARY bad – completely off the voice for the mewing and really sloppy coloratura, and then she had to go back on-voice to try and get to the Bb/B/C/Db area. The repeated C’s were especially hair-raising, and she didn’t actually get up to the pitch on any of them in the whole aria. A friend [also] watching the dress said it was uncomfortable and worrisome to have to listen to her try and get through it. While she can still produce creamy sounds in her basic rep, her ability to sing fioritura (which, while totally wrong for bel canto, was impressive at one time) is basically gone.
Virginblogger, Hvorostovsky pulled out of the LA Traviata because of a scheduling conflict. Maybe Bruson was the best they could get at short notice.
I haven’t heard the performance, so I can’t comment on the singing. Those jacked-up ticket prices didn’t stop it from selling out though. No one forced you to go.
And, those of you who don’t like her Violetta, why do you keep going back to see it? So you can complain about how awful it is?
Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!!!
I have tickets for this production this Saturday.
Having been a dyed-in-the-wool Fleming fan for her exquisite velvet throat and a disser of her fake, phony acting, I am dismayed that I won’t at least, get a decent “Sempre…” out of her.
I am fervently praying that she doesn’t break the sad moment of “Addio del passato” with her abominable “E TAAAAAARDI!”
Maybe the stars will be in their heavens for this Saturday matinee which is completely sold out!
And the idea that Levine would know how to cast bel canto is ridiculous – there’s a reason why he’s never conducted Lucia before, he hates bel canto, mainly due to it being singer’s opera, as opposed to orchestral opera. It bores him, as he ends up having very little to do with his players, outside of trying to turn bel canto into Verdi (which he did numerous times during his performances of Lucia). It doesn’t surprise me at all that he talked Renee into Norma – he doesn’t know what he’s talking about in this area.
balabanov11 stop spreading lies, Levine loves bel canto, you don’t know what you’re talking about. He might not be the ideal conductor of the school but the first score he ever studied was Don Pasquale. He adores L’Italiana in Algeri and praised the score of Lucia to heavens, “every number is a work of genius.” And his Lucia didn’t sound like Verdi, it’s Verdi in general that sounds like bel canto, you’re just confused.
Interesting to hear that she is having such trouble. My bet is that, at 48, she’s beginning to dry up down below, and we all know what happens to the voice after that…..
Sorry TK, but balabanov is spot on. Levine is about himself and what he can have the orchestra do. Please… count the number of bel canto productions he does in comparison to everything else. I love bel canto, but it’s something we’re in short supply of these days.
And – You couldn’t PAY me to go hear Fleming ruin Traviata. I’ve heard it ruined before by a different cast (and especially a STUPID conductor and his ‘bel canto’ leanings), and have vowed never to allow Verdi into my ears like that again. I can always count on La Cieca to post snippets of such horrors on parterre anyways. Hint: Amazon donation! LOL
P.S. La Cieca… because I can’t seem to access your archives, weren’t you the one who posted the “e taaaaaaaaaaaaardi” clip? I personally would love to have access to that again…
Picky picky–but it’s Swannee, how I love ya. Mammy is another song. And what is the story with RF’s bare arms? Does she have Popeye arms, or an Orange County Chopper tattoo? As an incidental–besides losing Goulet, Kerr, and Joey Bishop in October, Theresa Brewer also passed from us. RIP all of you.
TKLogan11809 is correct. Levine loves bel canto. Just because he doesn’t do it all the time doesn’t mean he doesn’t like it.
Still, even if Levine doesn’t do bel canto, it would be nice to have heard someone else conduct bel canto once in a while. It’s flabbergasting how much behind the Met has been on the Donizetti and Rossini revivals. (And it was as true under Bong as it is under Levine.) Then again, the Met has been one to follow repertory trends rather than to set them, the Francesca da Rimini revival apart.