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.
Labels: fleming, la cieca ci guarda la cieca ci vede, met
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48 Comments:
Fortunately, Fleming "is not just one of opera's most celebrated sopranos, but perhaps its most convincing actress"-- it says so right there in the Rolex ad!
As with Netrebko's bel canto lapses, any complaints will be dismissed by Tomassini as emanating from "purists", a word he invoked again the other day to disparage those who (like Massenet) would prefer to hear a mezzo or Falcon in the role of CENDRILLON's Prince Charmant. One might as well cast a (strapping) tenor as the Komponist!!!
If RF goes AWOL, maybe Angela is due for her own "I'm back in the Game" moment after "things didn't work out" in Chicago.
can someone please define what "off/on the voice" means for the those of use without a singing background?
has anyone seen the new Traviata dvd with her violetta in la?
a friend of mine in LA who saw her there said it was "maybe not the worst, but certainly the weirdest" sempre libera she'd ever heard
According to LA Times music critic's review (Fleming is singing the blues!) published at the time of La Traviata performance at the LA opera, he said that to make a DVD with Fleming it was a mistake. There is no way that it could compete with the 2005 Salzburg production of La Traviata with Netrebko and Villazon. Fleming agreed to sing Violetta with the LAO on the cndition that a DVD will be made. If LAO were smart, marketingwise, it shoud have spent the $600K to make a DVD of the 2006 LAO production of Manon with Netrebko and Villazon. The Salzburg DVD was sold out pretty quickly, and now it's in its second printing.
Oh noes. I knew this Traviata would be not so good. I also hope Angela swoops in & saves it.
so she's dropping norma and keeping armida?!
I have tickets to the nov. 15th performance and I honestly got them partly just to see exactly how she fares with the role (i didn't see her in it in 2003)
Oh, come on. Anyone who spells Renee's name like your spy did obviously hates her to begin with and hasn't an ounce of objectivity.
Constantine, why do we have to have competing DVDs? There's certainly room for more than one Traviata DVD. You have your favorite and I have mine, but I certainly don't want to see and hear Netrebko in everything (or anyone else, for that matter).
La Cieca never misses opportunities for Fleming disses. One note wonder!
thomas,
There is nothing wrong with having competing DVDs as long as you're willing to lose money. I was just referring to one music critic's opinion for which some would care less.
It's true: La Cieca's Fleming disses do get a tad tedious (not that LC is taking any hints from me, I've been saying this for some time now).
Still, Fleming's Sempre Libera was already worrisome when she sang the role at the MET for the last go-round. The aria just doesn't suit her strengths (it's a damn difficult aria that has tripped up many a would-be Violetta). And I am not surprised to hear that the high Cs are scary. I am a fan, but I do not understand her insistance on singing this particular (hackneyed) role.
I doubt HIGHLY that Gheorghiu would do much better these days, as her own pseudo-technique has begun to unravel and the voice is TINY from what I have heard in pirates over the last two years.
Scifisci: There is a WORLD of difference between the roles of Norma and Armida. It could be completely understood to drop the former while retaining the latter. Armida's tessitura is much lower and the coloratura requirements are stylistically very different between Rossini and Bellini. Fleming might ooze all over Armida, but she will get through it just fine, and probably with honors. I still think she will sing NORMA anyway (let us not forget that La Cieca's anti-Fleming forum is the only place where her "dropping" of the role is being touted as big news). I doubt she can resist singing this seminal opera, but I could easily be wrong. We shall see...
Constantine, how do you know the Traviata DVD is going to lose money? Since you're so fond of quoting box office and sales figures, you should know that all of Renee's Traviata performances in New York, LA and upcoming in Chicago sold out. Obviously someone wants to see her in this role.
The $600K cost you talk about was partly to refurbish a set that was damaged. I'm assuming LAO covered that cost.
I agree with Evenhanded, I don't think this role is a particularly good fit for her and the Sempre Libera can be worrisome, but there is much for me to like in the rest of her performance.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how Flemming sounds when performance time comes. Maybe a bad dress will make her aware of where she needs to really tighten some things up?
If she is really not in with this role anymore- and I have never admired her in this music - the one to save the day is Devia.this is her music.....
Story has it that L.A. Opera was surprised that Fleming insisted upon pulling an old production out of mothballs. The company had concluded its prior season with a 20's version of the production with Futral and Calleja. Again, rumor has it that Fleming didn't want to appear bare-armed, and strongly urged them to resurrect a more traditional looking show - in a sort of 19th century, red brothel look - and her upper arms were covered. I understand that the company was surprised about the DVD and had to charm the subsidy out of some angel...Her first act singing sounded fearful, which is not what one wants from Sempre Libera. Sometimes I think that Mr. Verdi was winking with that text, and that he really was referring to the soprano's upper range. Anyway, the subsequent mugging and mewing became irrelevant for me after the vocal shortcomings of the first act. For those of you who understand more than I do vocally, couldn't she take a few months to realign, resupport, reconnect the top of her voice. Isn't she too young for this sort of difficulty?
There's no need to rag on La Cieca for pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes. Renee has been shoved down our collective throats and been touted as THE voice and THE singer of her generation. She has tried to sing every thing but the kitchen sink. And when she doesn't deliver, she tries to portray herself as a victim. She's divorced, a single mother, she had a hard childhood, she got booed, etc. Yes, the voice is supremely gorgeous, but she is a taste-free zone with an insatiable appetite for fame. So, yes there is some schadenfreude when she overreaches and falls. She should sing things that she can actually sing. La Cieca praised her for a particularly fine bit of singing just a few days ago, but those occasions are few and far between. Have you heard her version of "Cäcilie" on Youtube? It's a horrendous parody of how the song goes. Thank goodness that someone points out that she is not even close to attaining the artistic level her talent and fame could allow her.
She would be great as the Marschallin...her technique is not at all italianate....and speaking of the Marschallin, Mr. Gelb if you are reading any of this...why are there no Strauss operas being done at the Met? Please give us some great Strauss operas and while you are at it, fire Deborah Voigt and let Christine Brewer sing Isolde...Please please please...I just can't hear Voigt in that music at all
thomas,
LAO DVD of La Traviata was listed on Amazon.com for $29.98. Within days, the price was dropped to $19.99. That's a big discount for a newly issued DVD. For Fleming, at the age of 48 or 49, maybe Violetta in not in her bag any longer. By her own admission in an interview, it took her 10 years- from age 34 to 44- to learn Violetta. Don't get me wrong. I like Fleming's voice, and I owm several of her CDs. She sill can sing other roles effectively, but not Violetta as well as other sopranos- no names please!
Virginblogger, Renee's contract with LAO (signed several years in advance) stipulated the older set, so it was no surprise to them. At the time there was no Roaring 20s set, which, by the way, was a travesty. And I seriously doubt she wanted that production because of the costuming. Renee has bared her arms plenty of times lately in concerts and recitals.
Constantine, Amazon always discounts new CDs and DVDs. Netrebko's is discounted. What's your point? Look at the sales ranking.
And, please, do not hold up Netrebko as a paragon of good singing in Traviata or any other role.
OK This may be long.I have always liked Fleming, so I am definitely not in La Cieca's camp however.....The Traviata Dress was nothing short of a vocal disaster and the worst casting I have seen at the MET since that Disastrous Otello with Heppner. It was about as painful, with just as much cracking, coming from all 3 principals not just horrible Heppner. This production is so full of holes that the only singer on the stage that had a consistent sound was the Flora. I think her name is Lea Pantalano. And that's sad as she only sings for 10 minutes of the opera.
The assessment of "the spy" in the first act was dead on. She always has had problems with the Ah forse lui...Sempre libera, they have not been fixed yet what is worse is that she now spreads on G, G#, and A making the C's sound like a Geschrei. At some point during the aria, it seemed like a wild horse running into a burning barn would be more comfortable to watch.
Her portrayal of Traviata admittedly has grown. They took out that STUPID throw the glass in the fireplace crap in between verses of the SL which is much better, it was so contrived. She is staged more downstage during the aria which does help her sound get out more. She of course barks at all the wrong times and has NO feel for this style. And, every once in awhile she aligns the voice perfectly and you are almost willing to forgive her particularly in Act 2.
In Act II She of course is completely overparted and her voice when creamy is good and when she tries to ACT it gets very brittle and knurdly, particularly "Dite alle giovine" Act 2 scene 2 had her losing her crown at the end of the scene. However she certainly takes top vocal honors compared to the disastrous vocalism of Duane Croft. He just needs to be fired until he can prove that he can sing anything above a D without pushing, going nasal, and/or cracking . Oh Yes he CRACKED during the piangi piangi section, and then in the aria had to to take the "Dio, m'esaudi" phrase up to the G down an octave. Letting him on that stage is criminal. Her saving grace is Act III. She can sing beautifullly and lyrically in bith the addio del passato and parigi o cara. And when she starts in with a huge voiced Ah!!Gran Dio.... you wonder why the hell we have waited 2 acts to hear her full voice and why do we only get to hear it for one phrase in the opera.
On to Polenzani. He is completely out of his league in Verdi barring perhaps Fenton. He sounds like Kermit the frog the Irish tenor spreading every single vowel. During the "Parigi, O cara" it sounded like Al Jolson singing "Mammy..how I love ya" His vocalism continulaly declines. He was choppy, no sense of legato and pushed evry note at the top and then does a Falsettoish high C at the end of" O mio rimorso infamia." He is passable in the Mozart repertoire as he has no color to his voice and sings like a Senior in college. Why he has ascended through the ranks is a mystery.
Duane Croft = fired.
and Armiliato's conducting was nothing short of ridiculous. The tempi were consistently s fast NONE of the singers had time to take a breath and the production suffers for it. If Gelb wants to continue his success he has to understand that building stars requires that they sing appropriate repertoire and their vocalism stays on a stars level or they get the boot.
Sorrry for those of you who have tickets, the stars of the evening are the Flora and Zeffirelli
Ironic, Debbie Void - I remember the first time I heard & saw Ms Fleming; a telecast, Tucker gala, maybe, and she was the Marschallin in the final trio. I remember thinking at the time it was a lovely voice though a bit too "juicy" for my taste.
I've not been able to take her Violetta seriously since those clips of the reeling, drunken Sempre libera from Houston. What a bad idea that was.
Another bad idea - assuming the cast at final dress is in full voice, doing exactly what they plan to do, interpretation fully in place. No two performances are ever identical and rehearsals rank even lower in being consistent with performance levels.
I am surprised that no one mentioned that she GROWLED the beginning lines of the reprise of SL... it was amazing that she could growl and then sing high at all.
This dress rehearsal aside (maybe she was "marking" lets be fair she has sung very well for most of her career)
So here is a question... where are the Leontyne, Pavarotti, Horne, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Caruso ect ect ect voices of our current time??? What has happened to the actually SINGING in opera??? is it REALLY about who can sell a Rolex and wear a size 2???
What has changed? If Sutherland was a young singer today.. what would be her fate? Is it that there ARE no voices of such quality (and I don't mean same as hers.. but as thrilling as hers in their own unique ways) OR are they not getting through the system?
Thomas, set and bare arms aside, what about the singing? That production also replaced an ailing(?) Horostovsky - sorry about the spelling - with a 427 year old Bruson, who, though stately, was senior. They also jacked up the ticket prices for this production precipitously which might have been fine had the singing been gorgeous, but for less than gorgeous singing, in my opinion, the prices were crazy. Thank goodness for Villazon in that show...
Her Violetta is the reason I started disliking Fleming in 2003 and after witnessing 3 Sempre liberas this week, I'm sorry to report that the voice is in considerably worse shape. Act 1 simply exposes the most unfortunate aspects of the register and there were MANY moments of pure ugliness, she sounded like a man at times. Someone mentioned the GROWLING and I thought it had just been a miscalculation on the first day, but she repeated it twice on the same spot. She never for a moment served Verdi's music, the music served her.
The cast is below the standards of the Westchester Grand Opera, and even worse than Fleming is Dwayne Croft, an abomination as Germont. Polenzani has absolutely no business singing Alfredo, he's dull. There's absolutely nothing distinctive in the sound, he put me to sleep faster than he had done singing Edgardo with Dessay.
Isn't it funny when the cover cast
of Hong, Melo & Taylor sounds better even on paper than the "real cast" on stage. But they are not stars, oops Mr.Gelb.
1. I'm pretty sure she was marking at those rehearsals. I'm not terribly worried about this "Traviata."
2. The Amazon "Traviata" DVD quickly ran out of stock, and many people who had pre-ordered aren't getting their copies for another two to four weeks.
3. James Levine asked her to sing Norma. I think he is a more reliable authority on voice than any of you anonymous betches.
dear "of the kosmos"
you are right...none of us here can figure out without a second's thought that Fleming CANNOT sing Norma...now or ever...we are all cluless bitches...all of her vocal issues (and they are major) are just a figment of our imagination...the fact that she sings what she should not be singing and sings it badly is a testimonial to our bitchiness...she sings Norma beautifully but we can't hear it...only James Levine and you can
For some echt coloratura singing this new album from Damrau should be a winner.
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/home/detail/-/hnum/9221305/iampartner/news2
Of the Kosmos
I have seen her in this role 4 times all in the Orchestra. This is as good as it gets.
Second, If fleming sold a "I am taking a poopy CD, listen to the sounds" If it is highly marketed and on a Major label it will sell.
James Levine has made huge mistakes in casting, like Angela Brown in Aida, an essentially lyric voice, Franco Farina as Pollione, a dead voice.
Also, not mounting anything new and substantial in the next few seasons for the Divine Ms. Zadjic. Amneris and Adalgisa are great but cant he think "outside the box" She is such an important voice. In my opinion She would be ideal for Dido and Aeneas which has not been done by the MET since the early 70's and that was in the Vivian Beaumont. She and Heppner, something quasi baritonal would do him better. As well the production would sell out with the early music crowd..
I wouldn't call Levine such a great authority in singing. The man has forgotten more about opera that I will ever know, even if I live a couple more lives, but he should have never allowed Battle to come within a mile of Zerbinetta. The voice was never the same after that (however fetching she might have been on the part).
I heard Renee sing Thais live on the internet this past summer, and her highest notes (both interpolations) were among the most hideous screams I've ever heard!
Opera is on a downward spiral. You're in trouble when the best soprano in the world is probably Netrebko. Tenors? Baritones? Forget it!
So true, so true. Opera's other foot is practically in the grave already. I understand that Walmart is looking into buying the Met's space at Lincoln Center and Levine and Gelb are studying maps of Manhattan after hours in preparation for second jobs as cabbies.
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.
studer's traviata, as bad as fleming, but it seems the marschallin has returned from the grave (what a shame!!!)
Is it possible that hey sounded bad because they were not singing in full voice for the dress rehearsal?
Yeah, Levine "loves bel canto". Just about as much as he loves adult women.
The difference being that he can actually be persuaded to do bel canto once in a while.
I hesitate to recount third-hand info, but it seemed that LA Opera fully intended to remount the Marta Domingo 20's interpretation for Fleming. I'm murky on whether she saw the production or just design sketches, but then dug in the heels. If the company had fully planned on mounting the old production for her, they surely wouldn't have had to scramble at seemingly the last minute to unearth it and refurbish it at a cost which wasn't budgeted originally. Fleming may have said that the 19th century look was contracted all along, but I believe the company was surprised. The "bare arm" conversation was borne out of the reaction to the 20's production's costuming. By the way, no one forced me to attend. I have absolutely no hassle with Miss Fleming, and, til that point, had never heard her live; I try not to snipe arbitrarilly...
balabanov11, sorry but in this instance you don't know what you are talking about, your suppositions aside...
James Levine is a great conductor, and loves singers, but that doesn't make him THE authority on what singers should sing what rep any more than Renee is THE voice. He makes mistakes. The Met is a great opera house, and they make mistakes.
I saw Renee in Rosenkavalier in 2000, and it was some of the most divine singing I have ever heard. I saw her in the Trav a couple seasons ago at the Met, and left after the first act because I literally couldn't stand to hear anymore of the horrible horrible singing. I saw her Rusalka in 2004 and she was inaudible any time the orchestra was playing, and while some solitary notes were that beautiful luscious creamy sound we all used to love, her line was non-existent, and it just wasn't beautiful music making - THIS, for me, is the real problem. She claims to be a musician first and a singer second, but I find her inability to produce consistent tone and line distracting and un-musical. She really needs help.
There are excellent DVDs of La Traviata like Stratas', Georghiu's, and now Fleming's, among others. There is one- Netrebko's from 2005 Salzburg Festival-though, that it will remain unique, for it captures something missing from the others, and it will be difficult to replicate in the future: intimacy. The protagonists bare their souls in a chamber music set-up, denuted from staging that has become the norm for generations.
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