Too darn Schrott?
Reactions to last night's Figaro prima? Anyone?
POSTED at
1:18 PM
03 October 2007
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20 Comments:
Schrott fell short and flat! All the other singers in the cast outsang him. Undistinguished voice lacking character and color. He may look like a hunk but sounded like a midget. I'll take D'Arcangelo's 2006 Salzburg DVD- with all its shorcomings- any time. I kept Sirius on because my wife liked his voice! But who am I, and how much do I know to judge?
I hope it looked better than it sounded. The whole performance was hammy and not very stylishly sung. Pertusi was miscast, and Hong sounded out of sorts. Schrott "acted" a lot of things that needed to be sung. Terrible conducting, too. The whole thing seemed undercooked and slapdash, a flashback to the Volpe era.
Just curious. What IS that thing stuck inside the boot?
Schrott may have an impressive body, but that sneering face of his is not at all attractive.
Now Brandon Jovanovich is another matter. Much more appealing (and much furrier) ... though I tend to prefer the sound of a baritone to the sound of a tenor.
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Kekszakallu: looks like a boot tree.
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No comments with any musical or artistic content to make since I haven't heard the "Nozze" yet (and outside of Schrott, am not all that interested...). However, here is a much more flattering photo of Schrott in the CG "Don Giovanni" for you all to enjoy...
http://tinyurl.com/2pal8v
BTW: being a furry man myself I think that Erwin is nicely pelted -not to too hirsute but just enough. Also, all of last season and a lot of this season IS a Volpe season. Most of it was planned by Volpe and his staff. I don't really think that whatever Volpe's personal shortcomings and artistic blind spots that his era represents a low point in Met history. The standards were often quite solid and fine especially when compared with many other theaters. For example the widely hyped and promoted Julie Taymor "Flute" was a total Volpe project premiering a good year before Gelb took over and planned before he was even hired. Many of last seasons other hits were planned by Volpe. Of course the multi-media telecasts, moviecasts, internet streaming, satellite broadcasts, etc. and the glossy expensive publicity campaigns are all Gelb. And working.
Just curious - does La Cieca delete anonymous posts as a rule, or is there some principled basis for removal?
anonymous: La Cieca's rule is that anonymous postings are all removed. However, she breaks her own rule when an anonymous posting (such as yours) asks a pertinent question or shares some important bit of information.
But, in the future, please sign in using the "Other" option.
In the house Schrott was very good and incredibly magnetic...he does not sing Mozart in the "classical" way..he takes liberties with the vocal line and sometimes he goes too far...but I find it exciting...I've heard enough boring Mozart singers to last me a lifetime.
Trebselina was there watching her man opening night...and she was very gracious to the many people who approached her...
On the Sirius broadcast of ROMEO tonite, M. Juntwait mentioned that Erwin will replace Villazon in a concert with Trebselina and Domingo in Puerto Rico next week....ah love!!!
(Michael Farris)
It's also super easy to type in a user name (real or imagined).
You know, for someone who gets so much press for his looks, he's strangely unattractive in the photographs that you see. Anna Netrebko can have hime.
I wouldn't say he's conventionally handsome but he is very sexy onstage...
Oh, he's very sexy in person too, let me tell you. He ISN'T conventionally good looking I suppose, but he's really sexy. Mmmmm. Mmmmm.
But people HOW DID HE SOUND? I have tickets for Oct. 10th. I would have much preferred to hear Keenlyside, but unfortunately my schedule would only allow for this performance. I can't imagine Hong contributing anything other than that bland sound she does so well. I haven't heard a decent Countess in this production since Isokoskie a couple of seasons back. Now that was a Countess. What about the Susanna?
NYCOQ - I would agree with Sterlingkay's comment that "he takes liberties with the vocal line and sometimes he goes too far", though I would omit "sometimes" - unlike Sterlingkay, I find his vocal performance (which I would not necessarily characterize as "singing") shocking and unacceptable. steve rugare's comment above that 'he "acted" a lot of things that needed to be sung.' is an excellent, concise description of his vocal output. If you care about recitatives, he will set your teeth on edge.
Houseseats -
Thank you & Sterlingkay for the vocal critique. Despite the fact that most bloggers bemoan the "image" casting going on in opera today, yet they all seem to get excited over a singers looks and not how they sound. Well I love this production anyway.
NYCOQ -
I agree. Over the years I've seen many bloggers/posters on various forums lament that opera goers today have a tendency to "listen with their eyes". To me, this is the only possible explanation of Schrott's popularity. And I don't mean to imply a criticism of anyone's ability to derive pleasure from a performance - in fact, I'd say I'm envious of it. It's just that such a lowering of purely vocal standards makes it hard for those of us whose souls are nourished by "la voce" - a much reviled group nowadays - to find what we seek.
So I took a look at some of the other pics available on the web, and I have to say that the pic Cieca posted did him (Erwin Schrott) no justice (Cieca you naughty tease!) He's much hotter than Nathan Gunn.
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