Rolando ritornato?
There hasn't been much chatter about it, but it seems that Rolando Villazón is emerging from his four-month period of silence. His recently updated website states that the tenor is scheduled for staged performances in Vienna (Manon and Werther) beginning January 5, followed by a series of concerts and a couple of Verdi Requiems in the spring. Engagements for the summer of 2008 include a new Don Carlos at the Royal Opera and Roméo et Juliette at the Salzburg Festival. La Cieca looks forward to hearing Villazón here in New York in the fall, when he and Anna Netrebko are to star in a revival of Lucia at the Met.In fact, according to Mike Richter, Villazón has already made at least one public singing appearance in recent days. Mike has posted on his website a video identified as "Rolando Villazon sings unfamiliar Ponchielli - 9 December 2007." La Cieca doesn't know the aria, but she does hear a healthy voice with an easy high A-natural at the end of the piece.
Thoughts? Corrections? Or shall we all just remain guardedly optimistic for the moment?
POSTED at
12:03 AM
54 Comments:
But what Mike Richter has posted is just a part of the Netrebko-Villazon concert at the Theatre des Champs Elysees, on March 27, 2007, that was telecast by ARTE, ON the 9th of December 2007! You can watch it again on ARTE on the 20th and 25th of December...
What sort of a Lucia does Netrebs make? Can't imagine the role would suit her- am I wrong?
A mediocre Lucia...Sha has already sung Lucia in Los Angeles in 2003 and she someimes sings Regnava del silenzio in her recitals. Try youtube, you can also find her Spargi d amaro pianto there...
She did a wonderful and highly succesful Lucia in LA in 2003 with Jose Bros. I am looking very mcuh to see her as Lucia on stage.
Villazon in Don Carlos? Of Verdi? Are we losing the last remnants? He is too small for that rep.
He's sung Don Carlo before. There's a DVD. I haven't seen it, though.
This is a production from Amsterdam with Chailly conducting, Dwayne Croft singing Posa, Amanda Roocroft as Elisetta and Violetta Urmana as Eboli. Willy Dicker directs. Rolando sings well but the characterization is more like what Carlo was in real life: moody, high-strung, and a literal royal pain in the butt. I was happy to see the character dispatched.
I do hope that Rolando returns in good voice and good health, physical and mental. There are plenty of fine tenors out there and he adds immeasurably to the pantheon. Que se mejore!
That'll learn me to post without previewing. Willy Decker is the director and Roocroft is Elisabetta.
The only thing that matters is that Netrebko and Villazon will sell out those Lucias, which will make you jealous queens spread even more absurd rumors about their sexuality. Oh by the way, I once saw Villazon in the MET cafeteria having lunch with Domingo's son, do you girls think they're in the closet?
Netrebko will be a terrific Lucia, despite her vocal shortcomings. Callas couldn't sing bel canto either but that never stopped her, did it? Villazon is much worse of course, the belting is dreadful. He oversings everything but that's what happens when you have Domingo as your mentor. Just by staying away from Placido (which I hope Villazon did during his vacation) ANYONE can do their voices wonders, we shall see.
wtf are u talking about.....
I think the Ponchielli aria might be "Tenda natal" from "Il figliuol prodigo."
Yeah, TKLogan, WTF are you talking about? P-diddy is terrific, and Knows. How. To. Sing. Have YOU ever worked with him? I have, and the man is technically brilliant, and a musical and dramatic genius.
I was under the impression, although I don't know for sure, that Rolando was experiencing vocal distress because he was oversinging - I would have thought that a revision of some of the rep he was doing would be the prescription, but I guess not. Does anyone actually know for sure what the hiatus was about?
Yep, all that matters is that "tickets will sell out." That's what artistic achievement is all about these days it would seem otherwise people like Netrebko and Schrott couldn't get jobs except, perhaps, as escorts for the idle rich.
Callas couldn't sing bel canto? Someone needs to have their ears checked. Complain all one wants about her shrill top that woman certainly was an exemplar of "how" to sing bel canto rep.
oh deaaahh you guys sound like Sue Ellen Ewing after a drunken binge with this "I don't know what you're talking about" swindle, I was talking about Netrebko and Villazon being hot ticket-sellers and that's all that matters at the end. If you think 'artistic achievement' is what matters, I hope you never get to run an opera house, or you'd sink it after one season.
And I don't think I need my ears checked, thank you, I know bel canto when I hear it, Caballé, Sutherland, Gencer, Horne, not Maria Callas, I'm afraid. She was great in other things.
I just listened to Netrebko singing Regnava on YT, and I have to say, the quality of her voice is incredibly lovely, but she just doesn't sing this music very well. She doesn't seem to have figured out how to shape her vocal line to allow the innate expression of the music to come through. It's a shame. I wonder if it's a vocal issue or a lack of musical understanding - some people just don't "get it". Others TOTALLY get it, but only in their heads and can't get their voices to comply. Maybe she should just sing other rep.
Oh, and I wanted to say that one of the BEST BEST BEST Lucias I ever saw was Ruth Ann Swenson (anne?). I was slightly biased against her, because I had seen her a few months before in a Manon that was N.O.T. very good, and her Lucia was just absolutely stunning. It was everything - the quality of her voice, the way she used all the coloratura as a mode of dramatic expression, her acting, her movement, everything - it was just divine, and she really won me over.
Swenson was a great Lucia in late 2002, not in 1998 under Carlo Rizzi, who destroys everything he touches. In 2002 she brought down the house every night and sang incredibly. Superior singing to Dessay's, equal to Massis', I'm glad someone made me a copy of that run.
"Dramatic expression" and "Acting" from La Swenson?!?!...oh please!
Is there ANYBODY stupider than TK Logan posting here? Callas no good in bel canto???? Yes, and Flagstad failed in Wagner and Rysanek tanked in Strauss.
Meanwhile, has Alagnha been singing as badly as this all month? He sharped constantly and had an ugly edge-- really not pleasant to hear. Have all the ravings just been codpiece-field? Bring back William Lewis.
THanks folks- I looked at the Regnava on You Tube and its "respectable" enough considering its concert version- perhaps she gets more into the skin of it as Sugarmezzo so rightly mentioned, in performance. Having seen Joannie do it live three times, it's hard to be satisfied with anyone else. Even Sumi Jo only did an ok job of it but....
On recording, DVD, I don't mind Sills and Moffo- but I think I may have been "too spoiled" and now there seems to always be Joan- and then a couple of others and then there's the rest.
I think that's part of being an opera queen- one artist in a role "stuns the senses" to one individual- then there's all the others to argue about ;0)
"Is there ANYBODY stupider than TK Logan posting here?"
I am, but fortunately I sound a lot smarter after a glass of red veen.
http://cultureonthecheap.wordpress.com
Just when I felt that something should be said to insult TkLogan and his now towering sense of stupidity, he goes and does it for me. The biggest insult for this freak who wuvs the mediocre and says, get this, Callas isn't a bel cantista?!!! The biggest insult is...He has to live his whole damn life being a stupid fuck. There.
I realize that saying something as vulgar as this will only earn insults, but ... Netrebko does not phrase Bellini and Donizetti terribly well. Glinka and Prokofiev, yes (born for it); even Verdi and Lehar.
But going by her Puritani and Norina, no. Still, the Sonnambula and Giulietta on radio sounded lovely. It really is a beautiful voice and I like to hear it ... but not in music that makes me wish Joan and Montserrat were still singing their youthful rep, or June and Ruth Ann and Mirella and Edita for that matter. (Tidbit for La C: I heard Scotto sing an awesome Giulietta back in ... I forget. Also a tidy Amina.)
Callas knew her way with those guys in her day ... but her day ended too soon, too soon. (Weill -- she should have switched to Weill! Oh what might have been.)
I did like Villazon in the aria from Prodigal Son; I wish someone would put on Marion Delorme and I Lituani sometime; Ponchielli deserves to be better known. Villazon sings such boring rep -- that's been my problem with him all along. Domingo and Carreras used to sing amazing oddities in their youth. But of course the Villazon aria sung here is nearly a year old.
I dislike the Met's Lucia production heartily but I suppose I'll endure it again for N&V. I don't care if they are both lesbians. Butch is butch. (He'll probably cancel.)
You could have driven a panzer division through Sam Ramey's wobble tonight, but everyone else (the entire population of Russia it looked like) was pretty good. Even the goat. (A poorly supported upper bleat, however. NOT a bel canto goat.)
I hear the goat is engaged to Erwin Schrott.
http://cultureonthecheap.wordpress.com
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Mmm ... fall 2008. Lucia at the Met? How about a little Schrottrebkin upsetting those plans. And if so, good luck to them!
nerva nelli honey, Callas was a bel canto assassin and sorry, you're an idiot for liking her in the repertoire. Callas sang Lucia and Elvira the same way she sang Brunnhilde, screaming her lungs off. All her revivals were cut to the point of irrecognition. She often cut the second verses of the cabalettas too, destroying the rhythm and structure envisioned by the composers.
Yeah yeah she was a good actress, but so is Meryl Streep. It doesn't mean Streep should sing bel canto. Oh you're also a moron for comparing Callas singing bel canto to Flagstad singing Wagner or Rysanek singing Strauss. Get a grip honey.
You are such a frustraded queen!!!
If Callas was a bel canto assassin then why is she consider the most famous soprano of all times, and why her cd´s and dvds sell like hot choclate, Please I understand that you may not like her but I dont think its right for you to insult her because you can be hurting a lot of people feelings, or maybe as a typical liric Queen you dont care about that, Remeber also how many sopranos go burned before time trying to be Callas..
Okay, now I get it. You go home and get nothing, so you come hear spouting crap on callas and people pay attentin to you, the drive by assassin of the "wings"-not good enough for the stage-at the Met. Pay no attention to this twit.
Callas is secure in her contribution to the world of opera. So are we. She was fabulous
It's amazing to me how so many of you allow yourself to be goaded on by TKL, in one conversation thread after another. He knows exactly which buttons to push (like saying that Callas can't sing bel canto) and people fall for it everytime, allowing him to highjack almost every conversation thread.
As for Netrebko's Lucia, she may have been vocally passable in the role in 2003, but I have doubts about her it would sit with her voice. Putting aside the fact that she's not up to the bel canto demands (having neither sufficient breath control nor coloratura capabilities), I just think the role is too high for her at this stage.
I agree that in Swenson's last Met Lucias were great. I saw one of them and the Mad Scene was simply fabulous.
As for Villazon, I had heard that he was having thyroid problems. Anyway, I'm glad that he seems to be recovering. As for why he's singing Don Carlo, it's because he's determined to use up whatever voice he has as quickly as possible.
Hans: Netrebko is currently working with Scotto. Assuming that this statement means she is actually working with Scotto, she should be garnering a much better understanding of how bel canto goes -- assuming (again) that Netrebko has an ear for this kind of music to start with.
I don't know whether Netrebko will ever have the technical ease of coloratura necessary before one can actually sing coloratura expressively. To my ears, she does have a good sense of how to shape a legato line. It's not the kind of exquisite (or as some critics might say, "lapidary") polish of someone like, say, Scotto in her thirties, but it's still a valid and honest way to sing the "slow" parts of a bel canto work.
Something that does strike me about Netrebko is that she seems to sing spontaneously, in both the positive and negative senses of that word. She rarely sounds arch or mannered, but on the other hand, you get the impression from time to time that she doesn't look far beyond the next few notes.
What I think would serve Netrebko very well would be to work with a strong conductor with firm musical ideas, someone who would challenge her to work past the great beauty and appeal of her voice to the level of interpetation that I do believe she is capable of. (This is why La Cieca sometimes calls Netrebko "the Elizabeth Taylor of opera." And so, La Cieca thinks, what Netrebko needs right now is a Mike Nichols or Joe Mankiewicz of the baton.)
I can't wait to see how quickly Villazon's "Thyroid Problems" return with a docket of Don Carlo, Verdi Requiem and other such parts. Why not just sign up for the Otello's and Chenier's and get it over with quickly. Sometimes his 'technique' is reminiscent of late Carreras, with the jaw being pulled wide open and all that tension in his neck and head. Other times he seems like a La Gran Scena parody of Domingo.
Netrebko would make a lovely lyric soprano, so why does she insist on singing such florid parts? He sustained lines a gorgeous, and she has a lovely top up to about C# or D. Her coloratura however is sloppy and the voice becomes screechy. When she made such a wonderful first impression on NYC in the Kirov War and Peace she was stunning. These Bel Canto roles make her seem ordinary.
For someone who claims to work in an opera house ( perhaps he cleans or otherwise services the johns on the Garage level) TK Logan is ignorant in spouting off about Callas cutting this and that. Maybe that applied later in when working with Rescigno, but Gui, Bernstein, Serafin and Gavazzeni made those cuts, and not always at her behest , either. Many of the bel canto works-- ARMIDA, ANNA BOLENA, PURITANI-- did not have much if any recent performance history and as often happend in revivals at early stages ( c.f. the German Verdi revival, more recently with Handel) major cuts are made until people figure out how to perform them.
How would Far Gone Logan know how Callas sounded as Bruennhilde anyway? She never recorded or broadcast it.
Things go better with coke.
I've enjoyed some of TK Logan's observations, but he is way off-base saying Callas was not a bel cantiste.
Sutherland and many other singers have credited Callas with inspiring them in the bel canto rep.
If Netrebko keeps falsely weighting her lower voice, she can sing the Schumann-Heink version of LUCIA.
Nerva Nelli you're so sincere in your abysmal ignorance and superstitious, cultist devotion to Maria Callas, I'm impressed. She could do no wrong, right?
Callas was as much to blame as the conductors were for all those butchered bel canto recordings she gave us. She must be praised for bringing these operas back from the dead, of course, but her contributions had little artistic value. Callas adapted the music to fit her limitations pretty much the same way Fleming does today, and if it's shameful for Fleming, it's shameful for Callas.
She was good in heavy Verdi, Puccini and verismo, if you can stand the often unatractive, matronly tone of the voice.
by the way honey, yes you totally guessed my job at Lincoln Center lol I clean the urinals and the latrines on the concourse level!! And trust me, it's a more dignifying activity than listening to Maria Callas sing bel canto.
Yes sterlingkay - it was AWESOME. I agree whoever said it about her mad scene - OMG, it was so good.
TKL--
Well, that's a job which shouldn't (too often) tax your capabilities.
I am in no sense a Callas cultist. I dislike several of her recorded performances, including BARBIERE and TURCO, and am well aware of her limitations. These do NOT extend to incompetence in bel canto, to put it mildly.
Whether it is sheerest ignorance-- or perhaps a desire to appear "interesting", which the dull often display-- for you to write such nonsense about her, there is little point in so doing.
Maybe someone somewhere will be impressed, but rest assured no one here will be. Va via!
La Cieca, After watching the R&J HD broadcast, I emailed a friend that Netrebko needed a strong disciplinarian who would beat her senseless with her Fendi bag if she didn't start singing the score with more care. There is a wonderful instrument owned and operated by a person who seems sometimes indifferent to the score as written, much less the nuances of the word setting. The words sloppy and lazy come to mind.
I'm glad to hear that she's working with Scotto (if, as you question, she is actually working), who has just what she needs - precision, better breath control, more varied tone and dynamics and clear diction. You mention a strong conductor. Keep in mind she developed in Gergiev's company. (The early RUSLAN and LUDMILLA reveals the splendor of the original instrument near the beginning of that association.) That might explain a lot. Right now, I don't see roles like Lucia as a good fit for her. Luisa Miller, maybe.
I read that Villazon has Grave's disease - that's hyperthyroidism and can be very serious. It explains the bulging, Mr. Bean eyes. It triggers a whole host of seemingly unrelated symptoms, some quite debilitating. Here's hoping he and his doctors are getting it under control.
Scotto just returned yesterday. When oh when is the Russian girl to have worked with the Scotto.?
orestes: I don't know that I would be quite so harsh as all that. There are some singers who have naturally "questing" intellects, great curiosity about performance practice and a fascination with how tiny details shape meaning. Callas certainly could be called one of these "questing" singers in one sense; I think it's fair to say Renee Fleming is also "questing," though her methods and (ahem) results are not very much like those of the Greek diva.
Other singers work in a somewhat more intuitive and generalized way, basically just standing there and singing the music. These singers very often have intrinsically glamorous voices which means that "standing and singing" is pleasing to a wide audience. Another point is that in a good deal of the standard repertoire, much of the music in fact profits from a straightforward intuitive approach.
These "intuitive" singers, I think, do benefit from some external challenge to examine the music more carefully and, essentially, to think beyond the gorgeous surface. I don't know that Netrebko has had that much opportunity to work with great "detail" conductors or coaches. These last two seasons she has taken on a huge amount of work including a number of new roles, and it is to be expected that with so much preparation to be done (along with all the other time-consuming tasks attendant upon opera superstardom), there is going to be a weak link. In Netrebko's case that weak link seems to be what you might call "calculated finesse," in other words, planning ahead for the bits of the role that are either a) just plain tricky to sing, or else b) needful of a little additional shaping and caressing so as not be be lost in the wash of beautiful tone.
My intuition is that Netrebko wants to be a great artist but is not entirely clear in her own mind on how that task can be accomplished. This is why I am encouraged to read that she is working (or will work) with Scotto, who I think will indeed challenge her to work past the relatively easy solutions she has found in the past.
I disagree. I'm not at all certain Netrebko or her handlers really care about her improving as an artist. If, as you say, she has already attained opera superstardom (which I would question), then what is the incentive to improve?
It's amazing to me how some people are so willing to gloss over her vocal flaws because she's a pretty face with some stage presence.
Thomas: I am afraid your argument is circular. My impression is that being a Weltstar in opera is not all that satisfying an accomplishment. If someone were only interested in fame and glory, she'd more likely choose a different art form to pursue, e.g., pop music or television acting.
The incentive to improve is that resting on one's laurels is dull and unchallenging. This is true in any sort of pursuit, not only art, but I think it is particularly true of performing artists because the product of their work is relatively intangible. The reward, then, is the process of creation, not the applause and all that stuff, though of course bouquets are always nice.
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I do think by far most opera singers really do want to be expressive artists, and they do work as best they can to improve themselves artistically though choosing challenging projects. Netrebko's pursuit of bel canto roles I think represents this kind of "challenging project" even if the early results are not universally acclaimed.
La Cieca, what you say is basically true. I'm just not sure Netrebko totally buys into that theory. From what I've read in interviews she comes across as immature and undisciplined, and even though she may admit she needs work, I'm not convinced she really wants to put in the time and effort to improve.
It could be that bel canto represents a challenge to her or it could be that that's where she thinks the most acclaim lies.
But perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic. Time will tell.
I think that it's a good thing that Netrebko has identified the great bel canto roles as something that she should be doing now. Developing the skills required to sing roles like Elivra and Lucia can only result in greater breath control and flexiblity and will help to keep the voice healthy. She could have opted to stick to the lyric roles only, pouring out that silky yet dark sound and combining it with her effective acting and brilliant stage presence. Instead, she has eschewed the easy path and taken on the challenge of bel canto.
What's frustrating to me is that she's chosen the more difficult path yet has refused to really work at it as hard as she should. Either she needs to scale back how many new roles she takes on in a year, or she needs to actually buckle down and work hard at accomplishing the best that she can do in these roles. Unfortunately, she has settled for (what she considers) good enough, instead of really trying to fulfill her potential in this rep. It's a gutsy move to take on both Amina and Elvira in the span of a year but it's only gutsy if the results are equal to the talent.
Opera singers are very special people. They have to memorise all those words and notes, sing the notes all in tune and pronounce the words correctly, all the while paying attention to phrasing and the sense of style appropriate to the type of role being performed. On top of all that, they have to learn to act and achieve a complete characterisation on stage. All this stuff take a lot of hard work. My ears tell me that Netrebko has only done some of the work and hasn't really devoted the time necessary to conquer the repertoire and all of its challenges.
Netrebko singing Lucia? Oh give me a BREAK. I just happened to catch a Met Broadcast of Romeo et Juliette over the weekend, and the only nice thing I can say about it is that Netrebko's "rendition" of Juliette's waltz was grade A CRAP. She smeared it everywhere, didn't get all the way on pitch through most of it, and her cadenza was missing the top note. What the HELL is going on? I know that opera isn't ONLY about artistic achievement, but COME ON. That STUPID audience went bonkers after she sang. You would think that Callas or Sutherland had returned to the stage from all the noise, but what were they cheering? C.R.A.P. LOADS of it. Alagna too. He took what was basically a beautiful lyric tenor voice and made it into something fugly. He should change his name to Franco Farina if he's going to sing like that. If people STOP buying tickets for bullshit, opera companies will have to step it up. It's not only the singers that are lazy. The houses bear MUCH of the blame for the aural emetic I hear every damn time I hope for something good. REGIONAL houses have better singers than the Met. How sad is that?
beauboi: i knot this has been said over and over, BUT, netrebko is an artist you have to hear in the house. Before I heard her live I really really did not get what the fuss was about. This is not an excuse, but an observation. I think this is true of any singer. And it goes both ways. I.e. dessay, who sounds much better on the radio.
You know, I'm getting really sick of this "but you've got to see her" crap. I've seen everything Netrebko has ever done at the Met, and I still don't get it. How does seeing her excuse her vocal flaws? Is she that great an actress? Is she that gorgeous? I don't think so.
Scifisci- I'm well aware that singers sound much different in the house than they do in a recorded performance. However, I'm not talking about the sound of Netrebko's voice, which is basically a pleasant, dark hued, pretty sound. What I'm talking about is that she sang horribly. Before I turned the radio up, I thought that it was some older, past her prime soprano squealing out a bumch of barely there notes. by the time sho got to the waltz I knew EXACTLY who it was, because the waltz was sung with all the accuracy and polish of Olive Middleton. It sounded unrehearsed, uncoordinated, labored, and above all, SLOPPY. Even in a radio broadcast you can hear that. Even my boyfriend, who knows next to nothing about opera and in general wouldn't even bother with it if not for me said "what the fuck is WITH that lady? Can't she just fucking die already?". After I explained that this was not a mad scene, but more of a happy, joyous piece of music, he said something along the lines of her sounding like someone just farted on stage and she coudn't really get a good breath without inhaling the stench. I know that's a bit of a tangent, but in other words, she stunk it up. Plain and simple. If she can't get through one aria with coloratura that is NOT fiendishly difficult, I can't even imagine what in gay hell kind of Lucia that would be. The tessitura in Lucia is CRUEL, and I'm sorry, but her technique is NOT sufficient to sing a role with that many "little notes" well.
And oh yeah, I forgot. The Met chorus STILL sounds like hammered shit. Have to be an equal opportunity offender. Hope no one felt left out.
Blogger Kashania said...
"I think that it's a good thing that Netrebko has identified the great bel canto roles as something that she should be doing now. Developing the skills required to sing roles like Elivra and Lucia can only result in greater breath control and flexiblity and will help to keep the voice healthy. She could have opted to stick to the lyric roles only, pouring out that silky yet dark sound and combining it with her effective acting and brilliant stage presence. Instead, she has eschewed the easy path and taken on the challenge of bel canto."
I would think any cognizent human being would be ashamed to write such brazen apologistic nonsense.
So, now we are to laud Netrebko (backed by her billion dollar P.R. industry) for " developing her skills" in roles like Elvira-- for doing so on the stage of the Metropolitan and Los Angeles Operas, where in the past Elviras and Lucias have "developed their bel canto skills" before asking a paying public to come hear them in the roles.
Let her develop them in private, or at the Mariinsky, where every pretty girl now hopes to become the next Anna and sweep to world fame. Then when and if she can sing Lucia and Amina and Elvira she can take them on tour. She's been toying with this rep for some time, and I don't think Juliette's waltz the other day showed evidence of "greater breath control and flexiblity".
Bring on Tatiana, Lisa, Iolanta, Suor Angelica and Manon Lescaut. That's the Fach she should be cultivating now and I bet she'll be superb.
I hope she works on her technique, period. I like seeing her but hearing her can be a challenge. The waltz was sloppy and those runs had more smears than my students' painting. She's supposed to sing the three roles in Hoffman at the Met in 09/10--how in the world is she going to do that without serious study?
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