Shirley, no jest!
La Cieca hears that the one and only Miss Shirley Verrett will grace the airwaves this afternoon as an intermission guest during the broadcast of Macbeth.Do join La Cieca in the comments section of this posting to enjoy this afternoon's broadcast -- especially the words of La Verrett!
POSTED at
12:54 PM
81 Comments:
There's a coincidence. The great Mme Verrett shares a birthday with Frances Alda.
(And Walt Whitman. And Clint Eastwood. And me)
How wonderful. A real singer on a Met broadcast.
Maybe she will take the vapid Margaret Juntwait to task for describing Lady M as a role for mezzo soprano. Yeah, pianississimo top D flat -- a shoe-in for your average mezzo (which, of course, La Verrett never was).
How wonderful. A real singer on a Met broadcast.
Maybe she will take the vapid Margaret Juntwait to task for just describing Lady M as a role for mezzo soprano. Yeah, pianississimo top D flat -- a shoe-in for your average mezzo (which, of course, the extraordinary Ms Verrett never was).
could the gain on Guleghina's body mike be turned up any higher?
Just listening to Guleghina on the broadcast ... Come back Shirl, come back Grace, come back Ghena!
Well, I figured out after spending hours looking for a streaming audio ripper, that I can record he broadcasts in Real player, but there's no way to set a timer that way, like on a dvr or vcr. So I'm going out and will be recording from about 1:30 til about 11:30. Will I have any space on on my hard drive? Who knows. I just caught the end of the Act I duet and it wasn't half bad, but then it's hardly a test for lady Macbeth.
I'm in the Act I finale. It's one of my favorite moments in all of Verdi. It was pretty darn good.
But La G was very naughty to hold on so long to her top D flat.
What a weird singer she is -- some spectacular notes, even whole phrases, and then botched stuff. Sometimes powerful use of the words, and then bars of verbal mush.
The voice does lack colour, though. And there's very little at the bottom.
John Relyea's "pancake story" I think will stand as an all-time highlight of the Met broadcasts, right up there with Joan and Birgit discussing vocal terminology.
Shirley Verrett's Eboli is one of my most indelible memories (Vienna, 1970, with Janowitz, Correlli, Waechter). To me she is one of the true greats. I wish we had heard more of her during the intermission than the ridiculous (and intrusive) interviews.
At full volume, Guleghina sounds impressive, if a tad worn out. But boy when she tries for finesse it gets really straight toned, and the grace notes in the Brindisi are like hiccups. I wish the bottom notes where fuller and more expressive. She is really careful with them. However, for ugly bottom notes for her, nothing tops what she did in Nabucco (at least over the airwaves). I think that was the beginning of the end for her. Too bad. There is quite an impressive voice in there. I also love the way she holds notes after the ensemble cuts off. Great old diva trick.
It sure would be nice to hear a singer as Lady M who could actually sing it. Is there anyone around just now who could manage it? Gorchakova or Stoyanova perhaps? The latter might be a bit bel canto for it.
SO PLEASANT to hear the witches without being able to see what Adrian Noble has done with them! (Killed those scenes for me.) Also to hear Maria sing with Zeljko without being able to see them pounding away in bed, another betise of this production.
I think I meant Guryakova, not Gorchakova. Whoever sang Amelia to Dmitri's Simon in Houston in '06.
Can someone tell me what Relyea said? I missed it!
I tuned in at the end of Act I. Guleghina is no Verrett, but this is much better than her earlier run; la luce langue and the brindisi were actually listenable. She sounds in much better control.
I bet if Callas rose from the dead for an interview, Juntwait would ask her about her dog. What a wasted opportunity!
Wasn't Shirl great. So gracious. Just what a diva should be.
I love this understated biographical blurb from the website tonight's soprano ...
"Maria Guleghina is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed sopranos of the world. Her performances are invariably rewarded with standing ovations throughout the world’s foremost opera houses. She has been described as the “Cinderella from Russia”, “Russian soprano with Verdi flowing through her veins” and “Vocal Miracle” ... Her voice of great power, warmth, thrust and with immense acting ability made her a permanent and welcome guest everywhere."
Wasn't Shirl great. So gracious. Just what a diva should be.
I love this understated biographical blurb from the website tonight's soprano ...
"Maria Guleghina is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed sopranos of the world. Her performances are invariably rewarded with standing ovations throughout the world’s foremost opera houses. She has been described as the “Cinderella from Russia”, “Russian soprano with Verdi flowing through her veins” and “Vocal Miracle” ... Her voice of great power, warmth, thrust and with immense acting ability made her a permanent and welcome guest everywhere."
Those who love Shirley should hie themselves to Birkshire and get the pirate of her BBC interview (about 90 minutes long, from 197?). It contains the single most spectacular O Don Fatale I have ever heard. This despite the ridiculous McKerras' dragging and poor rhythm. Her attack on the C flat and her holding it FOREVER (I suspect a fuck you to maestro) is just amazing. Though McK prevents the aria from having an urgent build (apparently he was above reading indications in the score or counting) Shirl delivers in spades.
It's perhaps her finest moment, though the acapella spiritual she starts with is stunning. McK ruins Mon coeur by dragging it so she loses focus on her tone, his jog trot through Che faro is preposterous (and really even in 197? people had researched what andante meant in the 18th century) and no help to her. But she gets her own back (mostly) in the Judgment Scene -- he drags that too and the BBC's treatment of the priests is preposterous. Shirley gets lost once or twice since he refuses to accompany her but her thrilling sound and the easy movement to the top are astounding, and there is plenty of temperament if not quite Cassotto's insanity or Gorr's immensity (when she was in voice).
I think it has the best singing in this series, next is the insane Grace, Monsty, Birgit and Big Joan are caught not at their freshest and only Joan isn't hurt by McK. However Birgit and Monsty have the most endearing personalities, Grace is pretty much the most fun. At this point Shirley had decided on dignity (she is a wonderful person) and keeps affirming her mezzo identity. I wish she had done the Niocle aria, one of the great moments in Met late 20th century history. We do get a superbly managed Mozart 'Alleluia'.
Excerpts from that BBC documentary are on YouTube. Eboli is blasting away at
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-0GAV15KRW8
You'd never get the BBC doing something like that these days. The Grace documentary in the mid 70s launched me on the slippery path to diva worship. The highlight was her leopard-clad visit to a very expensive jeweller's. Oh yes, and the Aida/Amneris duet in which she sings both roles. The soundtrack is available on a Dutch CD.
i don't think guryakova has the vocal weight to sing lady M, though at one point gorchakova probably could have. For once i wish we could actually hear what these esteemed guests such as ms. verrett (and miss sills at the puritani hd bcast) ACTUALLY think of the singing they are hearing.
Darn, I only caught Act 3 on the radio this afternoon, but I am seeing the HD retransmit here in LA tomorrow afternoon. What was Relyea's pancake story?
Just came from the live performance- how come almost every production at the met these days requires the soprano to sing on her back, on the floor, and how come there always has to be movement on stage during an aria - like the lamp swinging today , and the photographer shtick during the Lucia sextet?
la Shirl is pure class all the way-her video's of the two Samson & Delilah's and the one Lady Macbeth were all played ruthlessly here- hardly off the VCR until it blew the inevitable fuse.
Now, I'm scouring the net to replace them with DVD's. I don't think there is anyone who makes everything look as easy as la Verrett does.
If you're going to slag off Mackerras quite so comprehensively, it might be worth spelling his name right...
Johns,
I think it's a commandment of contemporary production. Thou shalt hate the singers, yea even as ye disdain the composer, and shall cause them to lie down upon the stage.
BTW, Devia's 1994 Lucia is on Sirius NOW. Fabulous!
una macchia -
THANK YOU for pointing out that youtube clip of Verrett! One of my favorite singers singing one of my favorite arias, and she blows the roof off with it! Made my day.
question for la cieca. When I click on your title "Parterre Box Presents La Cieca" - I get taken to http://parterre.com/, which is stuck on 01-02-2008. I have to type in the "www" to get your most recent posts. What is going on here? I am a frequent lurker (this is my first post!).
OMG! WHAT AN AWFUL PRODUCTION. It´s official: The Met´s stagings SUCK! big time! apparently they want to appeal the "bigger crowds"... and it stinks. I mean, its not like Macbeth is the best opera in the world, but it does have great possibilities, at least some scenes do. But here, the witches were completely wasted, the chorus scenes where a total bore (why do you put kids in there when you don´t need to??? specially if they CAN´T act at all) Set design. probably on a million dollar budget, to get some chairs and a few trees in the back. HIDEOUS!
Singers walking around with out actually anystaging direction whatsover...
And please would someone enlighten me on which fucking time period was this setted.... ´cause i have no idea.
And unfortunately, Verret was NOT at the intermission, just an idiotic blond woman (probably some silly american celebrity, i have no idea who she was) who kept asking the most stupid questions to poor Zelko and Maria.
And BTW, the television production sucked too!! i mean all those really really close close-ups where completely uncalled for! Man, noone wants to see the singers pimples! seriously people, WHAT were you thinking?!??
Anyway, i could go one, but it is absolutely not worth it. Never again a live Met performance.
(Hurray for Lucic, he was superb)
Bridget,
C'mon, don't be shy! Tell us what you really think! ;)
That "idiotic blond woman" was probably Mary Jo Heath, who is the producer of the broadcasts. I will see the encore HD broadcast on Sunday. Verrett was wonderful on the radio broadcast. We have nobody to equal her today.
Guleghina has been bashed so often on the blog. I saw her LM, live, this afternoon, and her perfromance, as a whole, was impressive. She sharped several times, and cracked at the end of the sleepwalking aria, but most of the time she was in character, vocally, dramatically, and theatrically. LM is a grueling soprano role, eaqual or surpassing some of Wagner's, with a demanding range almost of an alto, and extending up to a coloratura's, with a lyric/spinto/dramatic in between, and a size to kill. Souliotis, the first soprano to be called "the new Callas," sang LM in her twenties, and a few years later she was gone. Guleghina's matronly physique was perfect for a bitch like LM. Lucic was excellent, and these telecasts will show off not only good voices but also good acting.
Enough about Guleghina. Give us the real dirt - what was Relyea's pancake story???
My first HD movie show and I LOVED IT ALL. I could go on and on about it (and the audience reaction, here in provincial England) but I can't write another word until I get to hear
WHAT WAS THE FUCKING RELYEA PANCAKE STORY - it better be good !
i love La Verrett... but i was just listening to her 1973 Selika from SF today. definitely not one of her best roles, which is suprising; considering all her qualities and strengths (agility, high notes, dramatic sense), she should have done this much better. surprisingly bumbry's assumptions of this role from covent garden (1978 and 1981) are much better. i'm gonna take a guess that Verrett's 1983 SF Selika wasn't any better.
connie, connie,connie. Papas - the Gug did nothing today except inspire disgust. A major sound used by a truckdriver. She thinks to drive that truck makes us all think the role is too hard. Blather that Tom Ass in the times drools on and on. Roles of this nature are not supposed to be screamed and colorautra approximated. When in doubt LOOK like an actress.
That was hideous today. But wait for Tuesday......that will be something extra fun.
Here's what I remember about the pancake story for those who want to know. Mind you, I wasn't paying full attention. John Relyea was interviewed during intermission while fully covered in stage blood for his Banquo apparition. Prompted by and with contributions by MJ, he said something about how he never liked (or was afraid of?) pancakes growing up because of the gooey, yucky, sticky syrup and how ironic now he's covered head to toe in that red mess made of syrup and paint. But he was coping somehow. Either he or Ira said it takes at least 20 minutes in the shower to get it off. We also found out John loves watermelon jolly ranchers.
its not like Macbeth is the best opera in the world
Hrmmm...allow me to disagree? Bridget, what a distasteful comment you left. I saw the hi-def broadcast and loved every second of it. I'm sure if I'd just been listening to the radio I'd have thought Guleghina was having a rough time, but watching her was just thrilling; she was so committed. You see the determination and focus in her eyes and, honestly, you don't care as much that the high note didn't quite make it or overshot the pitch. She owned it. If you weren't watching, you missed Pittas cry right before "O figli, o figli miei." It was awesome.
My tastes in staging run pretty conservative, but I thought this was great. I'm not sure why the witches all had to look like Hillary Clinton, but I think that just helped them seem weird and not totally human, so it worked for me.
I wish La Verrett had emphasised her mezzo identity when she was singing at Covent Garden in the 1980s and eighties. By the time she sang Dalila with Vickers there was a huge breathy hole in the middle of her voice, presumably because of the pretty terrible Toscas and Normas she also sang here. I ADORE Shirley's recordings, Eboli especially, but when I heard her in the flesh she was already on the slide. If you heard her in the late 1960s and early 1970s in mezzo roles, I envy you. Can one of you lovely New Yorkers EXPLAIN John Relyea to me? How does he have an international career?
Bumbry was always technically a more secure singer than Verrett, attested by the fact that Grace SURVIVED all those ridiculous forays into Salome, Norma, Tosca, Turandot etc. I heard her Selika both times at Covent Garden - second time round with the hilarious Franco Bonisolli, who I never thought I would miss (but....) - and it was one of her best shows at the ROH. After her 1977 Eboli with Ricciarelli, Carreras, Mazurok/Bruson and Ghiaurov (now THAT was a Don Carlo cast, even with a somewhat wispy Elisabetta from Katia). It was the one they had to play against black curtains and in the four-act version (a no-no at CG) because of a strike.
I love all the excuse-making Ghouli's fans make for her bad singing. And she looks like a drag queen.
It's "shoo-in"...not "shoe-in", by the way.
Regina della Fate
Couldn't agree with you more about Verret. I heard her debut as Eboli at Covent Garden in the 60s. Sensational and I have never heard the like since.
I remember the cut down Don Carlos too. I think there was an overtime ban and no performance could last more than 3 hours. The final curtain fell with about 10 seconds to spare and I recall the conductor Jesus Lopez- Cobos proudly holding up his arm and pointing to his watch!
I heard the Macbeth broadcast but Lucic a good actor! Certainly not vocally. Bland is the word. This is one of the great dark tragedies and he conveyed none of that .
Andy, huneeey!, I never said a word about Mme. Guleghina. I actually liked her acting, even though vocally it wasn´t as good as one could have expected; so we actually agree on that. My critism was entirely against the staging. (Guleghina´s acting is her on credit, not the director´s). Which was horrible on every single account. If you loved it that doesn´t make it any better.
Oh, and I could run through a list of 50 operas that are better than Macbeth. to the least. Every musicologist in the world will explain you about the major flaws both dramatically and musically tha macbeth has, and again, i didn´t even say that I DIN´T LIKE the opera, i actually do. but guys c´mon...
Apprently americans can criticize every damn singer in the world, but when someone says that their beloved Met sucks (and it DOES) you cannot handle it.
I insist that their politics on appealing the "bigger crowds" just goes into crappy stagings. Like this one. And don´t get me even started with the last "Romeo and Juliette go to Disneyworld". Now THAT is distasteful. Not my comment, sweetie.
(Hurray for british and german stagings!)
The Gulag seems to have a strangle hold on the dramatic italian rep at the Met these days. I don't know if I enjoy it, but I LUV the way she hurls her voice towards the coloratura passages. It's a mess (and it certainly let her down during the Normas), but I haven't seen a singer in ages that has brought forth gasps from the audience. Will she make the note? Ya gotta say that it makes for soem good "theatre". Sorta like the car wreck you just gotta look at.
I am seeing the McB again with Gruber in May (the real reason of course is to see Pape as Banquo) - so any scuttlebutt about Ms. Gruber's vocal estate this season?
OMG! i just understood the comment on "My tastes in staging run pretty conservative".... You actually thought this was a "modern" production!!!!! Now THAT is hilarious. Huney, you are not worth even the fight. This staging was horribly conservative!!! and you didn´t even get that!!! You actually thought that because they had guns instead of spades and 20th century costumes it was modern??? well, then you should review your concepts on staging and then we can talk again.
ta-ta
Bridget Jones said...
(Hurray for british and german stagings!)
Well, you can revel in the "briliant" Sally Potter CARMEN and be P.C. and praise Chen Shi-Zheng's "briliant" POPPEA at ENO with the "glorious" Kate Royal all you like. No one is fooled.
There is rather a lot to say negatively about the Met, but, like many British commentators, you are painting the American opera world with the broad brush of ignorance, perhaps out of political convictions that most Americans in fact share.
And by the way, the Met MACBETH you excoriate was directed by Adrian Noble, your compatriot.
We all saw the enterview darling...
I could not care less whether it is belgian, american, britsh whatsoever... if the met pays him, the mets get what they want. shitty productions for "the whole family". EW.
Nick Name
Regardless of Guleghina's technique, I found her to be a woman who is attractive and owns her body. She is saftig but agile. And also, being a woman, I happen to think that there are some drag queens who are extremely beautiful.
Now, I hate to name drop but Shirley lives right down the street from me. I will be sure to tell her how much she is loved by the parterre cognoscenti the next time I run into her.
Bridget Jones
You may want to commit your thoughts to your 'diary' and refrain from blogging, not because you are necessarily wrong, but because there is something about your tone that is insulting.
With that easy top of hers, maybe Verrett was in fact always a soprano ... She seemed to suggest as much in her interval chat yesterday (though there might have been some post-rationalisation going on).
Yes, by the 80s she did sometimes have a big hole in her voice, but Dalila, for instance, was always on the low side for her.
We all have a bad habit of setting up Shirl vs Grace comparisons, but their voices and techniques were in fact very different, even if they did share so many roles. Grace always had a denser, richer sound, while Shirl's was brighter and more highly-strung. Both were certainly the genuine diva article!
Te following is all a matter of taste. No objective way to validate it. But...
I REALLY enjoyed the whole experience of the HD broadcast of "Macbeth", and the singers (their singing and acting), the staging, the fine choral singing and orchestral playing all contributed to that. It was very high quality entertainment, and everyone loved it. I saw it in Stratford-on-Avon, England, and all around me people were saying how it easily stood alongside the Shakespeare - tight, dramatic, universal.
It was not a profound experience of opera as an art form, or of singing at its very best, both of which can only, and rarely, be experienced in the opera house.
Macbeth is not the world's greatest opera, of course, of course. But it is a lot batter than many of the works that are done year in year out. Its weaknesses are evident, and no doubt there are more that close analysis will reveal. But it has some really great passages and as a whole is damn good. This production allowed it to be damn good - and the fact that sopranos have happened to roll over a couple of times in recent productions does not remotely change that.
I read JJ's review in "Gay City News" and a very fair piece it is - well worth reading for those interested in what the editor of Parterre Box thought of the show.
JJ does refer (as nobody else has done) to the ghastly horrible VILE mess that was the Met's "Macbeth" in the early 1980s. Directed by another Royal Shakespeare Company Brit, Peter Hall, it was simply one of the worst trashings of an opera I have ever seen. It was booed all through and loudly at the end, and I was among those booing (having moved to one of the many empty seats in the stalls from my student perch in the gods --- I have never seen so many people leaving during the performance, indeed during arias [not counting routine productions of "Pelleas"] though no doubt others have seen worse!)
Thank GOD this week's Macbeth was so much better than that. James Levine would have remembered that fiasco, and can be pleased to have given us something to wipe away that memory with.
Oh - I am a bit disappointed with the Relyea story. Maria G wasn't squirting the stuff up his **** at the time was she?
(Do people not like him? He seems a good singer to me.)
I agree that Shirley was probably a soprano all along. But there was a timbre to her voice which suited some of the mezzo repertoire. Her Samson and Delilah with Domingo comes to mind. I personally don't think there was ever much of a contest between Gracy and Shirley as I have never cared for Gracy, especially as a soprano. I walked out on her Ernani in Chicago... and I was seeing it for free.
I have never understood why anyone would think of Zschau as a Musetta. In my head, Musetta should be lighter than Mimi not heavier. Zschau excelled in Strauss, and the amazing Shostokovich. But I'd like to see it, nonetheless.
I also enjoyed the Macbeth broadcast, especially after spending hours trying to figure out how to record to my hard drive, only to discover that Real Player does it with one touch of a button. I though Ghulegina was really quite good, considering what horror stories I heard at the beginning of the season. Maybe the people who predicted further disasters were the same polsters from New Hampshire who got that primary so wrong.
Ms. Jones, I have spent a lot of time on this blog, defending myself and others against rude, nasty bloggers like you. It is not now, nor has it ever been to put someone else down or insult them, while expounding your own opinions. There is no such thing as a wrong opinion; they are, after all, opinions, and not facts. My opinion is that the singing was pretty darn good. The fact is that, while I did, other people didn't, and we are all correct. If we all always agreed on everything, what a boring site this would be. After all, how many opera sites have debates about the merits of bareback porn? And had other people not pursuaded me to try something outside of my comfort zone, I would not as we speak be listening to La Cieca's podcast of "Der Rosenkavalier". I stated elsewhere on this site that i needed to listen to more Strauss. And I'm thoroughly enjoying it. So in the future, express your opinions, but please respect everyone else's. Otherwise, you might very well remain in your apartment, waiting for Colin Firth or Hugh Grant to come knocking on your door forever.
necessary.... I forgot the word necessary.
Oh, I rather liked the Relyea story; I can easily visualize him covered with gooey, yucky, sticky stuff after some deep, bottom notes, and finally topped off with a 20 minute shower. But I can understand his childhood fears about it too.
Bridget, praytell, how would you have staged it? In a WC at Charing Cross station where Macbeth is transgendered and Lady Macbeth is a three-armed robot and they kill Banquo with a chainsaw, hmmm??? Or maybe they shove a pancake up his ass? (I, too, need to hear this story...why are y'all holding out on us?) You know, chacun a son gout and all that, but I liked the staging. I've been to a few theaters in Europe and I've seen some good things, and I've seen some kerrraaaaap, too. I don't think I'd ever claim that everything the Met did was amazing and perfect; I lived in NY for nearly 14 years and went to over 200 performances during that time, and I saw and heard some filth. I'm just baffled that because I expressed enthusiasm for ONE PRODUCTION that didn't similarly meet with your approval, this qualifies as evidence that Americans lack objectivity about the Met and have no idea what's happening on the other side of the pond.
I thought it was rather peculiar that Juntwait referred to the re-broadcast of L'Assedio with Verrett later in the month but not to the re-broadcast of her Norma this coming week. A subtle way of recognizing it's not a performance worth calling attention to ?
To me Verrett had a beautiful, sensuous sound in the lower part of her voice that made her sound like a mezzo. A gorgeous and very distinctive mezzo sound. Having said that, I'll admit that I saw her in a few soprano roles in the mid-70's (Norma and Lady Macbeth included) when she was in magnificent voice and would have had no one doubting that she was a true soprano. Alas, it went downhill soon after and I don't think she ever quite recovered. Her Met Norma's, Fidelio's and Mme Lidoine's were not successful. Even her Favoritas were lackluster and she had to cancel a couple. And by the time she sang Lady Macbeth at the Met she had to skip the high D flat at the very end. On the other hand, when she came back to sing Azucena in the late 1980's she was as good as ever, which is saying very good.
My conclusion: having good high notes does not a soprano make.
My greatest highlights with Verrett were highlights indeed:
(1) The first Met Toyens. When Ludwig got sick, Verrett took over both heroines for the first few performances and was incroyable. I was at both the dress rehearsal and the prima, and I'll never forget it.
(2) Sill's long-awaited Met début. Even though all attention was meant (appropriately) to be focussed on the history-making first appearance of the great soprano and local folk-heroine of the time, Verrett in many ways stole the show. I was again at both the dress and the prima, and at the latter her ovations were at least equal to those of Sills (though, naturally, the exception was the convulsion of joy that went through the house when Sills first stepped out on the stage). Verrett wore a mustache, which made her frisky little man all the more charming -- and was a touch I've never seen in a pants role otherwise.
On both occasions she was a complete artist.
Toyens = Troyens.
Sorry.
Maria is definitely a high wire act. People in the audience were literally squirming and gasping on some of those high notes. Fabulous. She is not afraid to let the blood flow.
Reading all of the Maria-haters comments is very entertaining.
FYI: I do not wish to be anonymous but cannot figure out the blogger/googl thingy.
I also saw Shirl as Casandre and Didon, but terrific as that feat was (and she was a better Didon than Christa who, rare for her, seemed a bit at a loss), it pales beside the Niocle (with that sunt Sills). That was just an incredible performance and I saw them all and yes, the dress. Her first Azucenas chez Met were wonderful, but when she did it next with Scotto and Pav, she wasn't a lot better than they were. But she did get to show off in the role to good effect later, as DirkVA (?) said.
At La Scala, I was at the Ballo where she was boo-ed off the stage -- enter one Mara Zampieri (I adored her, pitch troubles, unruly voice and all and her NY debut in Il Giuramento was one of the incredible experiences -- she had the ancient queens -- for I was a young bitch then -- screaming and banging their feet on the floor. That was the performance where this dwarf lady, one always saw her down front but did not meet, reached up to shake poor Agnes Baltsa's hand -- and pulled her off the stage!!! It was like watching that horror movie where the couple think that little girl in the red raincoat is their lost daughter but when they catch up with her and turn her around with open arms and tears in their eyes, it's a maniac dwarfess with a scythe!!!! My favorite movie. I AM THAT DWARF!!!)
Shirl returned as Lady Macbeth maybe two years later and I was there and it was one of the greatest performances -- she was amazing and the Loggione (who had boo-ed before) were screaming, 'perdona noi, Shirley,' and she cried!!! The next perf was just as hysterical -- and Capuccilli was thrilling, overwhelming (what do those idiot queens on Opera-L NOT get about him) and Abbado, though not MIO MAESTRO so to speak, was fabulous as was Strehler's work.
I've already mentioned the Amneris at CG where she blew the walls down (sweet Aida was the criminally underrated Krilovici). And I saw her do a goodish but not graceish Carmen.
She-Grace was just an animal on stage. And she had (has?) a great voice -- she could just be glorious and her lieder is wonderful -- and of course she could be ghastly too. You just never knew. But Carmen was her role, early and late, even when the poop sweepers who follow the horses in act lV somehow didn't get the poop up and she more or less had to die amidst it (they said Jon had paid them not to since if he shoved her around, she'd shove him around harder and she was twice his size and that was unforgivable!)
I have to say I adore both ladies personally -- Shirl is sweetness personified, Grace (with whom I visited Beijing and Shanghai)is a pricklier personality but hilarious (she would do a Lee imitation, so I picked it up from her and would call her early in the morning -- her time -- and pretend to be Lee and sometimes she'd fall for it!!!)
Mrs Claggart, that is fabulous - especially the bits about Grace - but what's a sunt?
haha i would pay money to hear grace's impression of leontyne. MJC - your wealth of experience is truly impressive!
Shirley is Royal Crown Cola- out of business.
Lee is Dr. Pepper (gone flat).
I am a vintage Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Grace Ann, we are not worthy.
But we know you wouldn't diss Shirl like that.
Mrs John Claggart - I do admire your enthusiasm for La Verrett but I can't agree with those who think she "was always a soprano". The voice has the sultry, velvety mezzo sound - it's a leaner more exciting voice than Grace's which may be why some of you think she was a soprano - of a classic Italianate mezzo. Alas I missed her CG Carmen, but her Dalila - especially the first time round - was something near her mezzo-peak. I think she was one of the best three mezzos in the world, with Bumbry and Cossotto, in her prime, but about 12th - 13th in the soprano league. Those strained Toscas and Normas in London were painful to hear for anyone who admired her.
I'm so happy to read Mrs J C breaking a lance for Mara Zampieri - a weird singer but unforgettable in London as Tosca and, especially Fanciulla - the only Italian I have seen in the role and quite unlike all those feisty blonde American ladies who cornered the role in the 1970s and 1980s. On the subject of Fanciulla, Eva-Maria Westbroek is slated to do the role in the next revival at Covent Garden and in the new San Francisco production in the centenary year, 2011 (?)
Ah Mrs John, what a pleasure to see you have not lost your touch
:0) and how I agree with you over Senor Capuccilli (who was until his untimely death a lifelong pal of a friend of mine).
You mention Mara and it is impossible for me not to wonder where she is these days. I scour the Net but there is not a sign of her.
una macchia is correct to point out that shirl and grace ann melzia were totally different singers, although it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing them. as GB herself said in Opera News mag in the 80's (apropos their joint concerts), verrett's rep was much more "florid." shirl sang much more belcanto and coloratura stuff -- rossini and donizetti for example. i think she also sang higher and lower than bumbry -- bumbry never sounded to me that she could have been a contralto the way verrett did. verrett had more facility with coloratura and high notes.
bumbry fancied herself a dramatic soprano, so she went for the more dramatic stuff: abigaille, salome, gioconda, medea, the big screamers. yes, i know verrett sang medea too but that wasn't her stuff really. as i said, i'm not enjoying verrett's selika at the moment (which is very surprising), but her live performances of norma (from SF, 1983 i think) and tosca (i have a couple from the 80's, boston and DC) were fantastic. in her biography, she blamed some of her inconsistency on nasal infections. and it's true, the singing instrument is very delicate. so maybe her normas at the met and london weren't great, but at least the one from SF was wonderful (at least from the CDs is).
so, josephine, tells us, which town do you and shirl live in? just curious.
If I may drop a sentimental note about La Verrett, I was a mere lad of 11 when she sang her first L'Africaine in San Francisco (with a glorious, hairy-chested young Domingo I couldn't help noticing). I went to the stage door, someone spotted me and asked for whom I was waiting. I said, "The diva Miss Verrett". At 11, I'm sure many of us could distinguish between real divas, and the "other girl singers".
The stage door person looked kindly on this strange little boy and took me to her dressing room. She was greeting admirers of course, spotted me and literally scooped me into her arms. All I remember is brown bosoms clothed in perfume, her serious fur stole and red red lips. She spoke, but I was stunned, never before having met a goddess.
She was graciousness de luxe and kindly; she chucked me on the chin I think and sent me on my way. Shirley; Grace; Leontyne. What a time that was.
Speaking of florid singing, there is a clip of Verrett singing the Esultate on YouTube that is really something. She had great facilite bien sur.
I know it is just me, but if I want to see Macbeth as drama, I will see the play. If I am going to see the opera, I would expect the music to be better served. I don't expect perfection, the Lady is an incredibly difficult part. But if Guleghina were an instrumentalist, she wouldn't be allowed near a stage, not for this opera. What is frustrating is that she had it in her to be much better than this. As overparted as she was, Scotto served the music and the drama better. At least her performances were cohesive. That moaning the low notes during the mad scene was just vulgar, and you know it was dictated by her unnecessary inability to do the low notes. People talk about Callas the great dramatic presence, but she, like Scotto, was a scrupulous musician. Again, I don't expect people to meet those standards, but there should be some degree of proficiency in meeting the demands of the music. I love that Callas anecdote where, during a master class, a mezzo comes to grief during a high note and tries to excuse it by saying it was a cry of despair, and Callas answered "It's not a cry of despair. It's a B flat."
And let's face it, Callas's cries of despair often simultaneously encompassed a B flat and an A natural, even is she didn't meant them to ...
Based on the tone, I always thought that Verrett was a more natural fit for the soprano rep than Bumbry. Though she had all the low notes, she didn't sound like a real mezzo on the bottom. I think she was right to sing both soprano and mezzo roles. It wasn't a voice that fit easily into categories.
Bumbry always seemed like the more natural mezzo to me. She had a real warmth and roundness to her lower register that Verrett lacked. However, Bumbry also had the high notes and obviously her forrays into soprano territory didn't damage her voice as she's still singing. The only soprano role I've heard of Bumbry is a Salome excerpt that La Cieca put on a podcast (BTW, I like the podcasts that focus on a single artist as opposed to always presenting full operas) and she was excellent.
Love both ladies. Great voices and great artists.
The divine Ms Bumbry had all the notes for Salome and she certainly had the sex appeal, but doesn't it need a voice that is more girlish and floating, less overtly womanly?
I've never quite got the whole Welitsch thing -- she sounds too pre-teen to me -- but Behrens with Karajan seems about right. I'd like to hear Maria Cebotari too, though again she might be a bit too soubrettish. Funnily enough, it's a role Renaay has said she would love to sing, though she wouldn't risk it. She'd probably be rather good, as it happens. Ms Goody Two Shoes gone baaaaaad!
Mrs John's evocations of La Bumbry remind me of the most thrilling performance of hers that I ever saw. It a rather late Gioconda at the Barcelona Liceu. (Probably in 1988.)
It was a very old-fashioned performance, which as far as I was concerned befitted the opera, the house, and the diva. She was in complete control and often just stood and center stage and presided, both vocally and dramatically over a performance that would not fit a lot of people's current ideas of staged drama. But it was glorious.
That it was also not lacking in its own kind of subtlety and discipline was emphasized by something I saw during intermission. I was in a stage box (what a joy that old-fashioned accomodation was!), so I could see her sitting meditatively, not many yards away, many minutes before the curtain went up at the desk where she would have her climactic moments, placing her hands on every object on the desk, picking things up and putting them back -- totally inducting herself into the place and moment that she was about to inhabit for us.
And inhabit it she did. It was a house -- though vast -- that was much kinder to voices than many smaller houses. She seemed not to have an uncomfortable moment vocally. And was in every way -- as I must be communicating so far as my own opinion goes -- radiant.
During the curtain-calls I got the people in my box to cooperate in a "Viva l'americana!" cry. She blew us kisses, and we were happy.
As for Salome, Caballe recorded it, as well as Nilsson. Personlly, I'd go for the Caballe. maybe that will be my next Strauss after I finish Rosenkavalier
I have to say blogger "bridget jones" reminds me of that other nasty bitch we mercifully lost? a couple of weeks ago, "sharon graham". Strangely, the "Hannibal Lechter tone" is almost identical.
As for "all the Met productions suck" statement, I've got news for her- "some of the worst excesses of theatrical doo doo have come to us directly from Europe- particularly Germany, the country that brought us 2 world wars now seems to specialise in them.
DirkVa,
one of those giocondas from barthelona was telecast cause there's a video of it. a couple of excerpts are on youtube. the laura was cossotto. now, is that a demented pairing or what???? in their duet, bumbry holds that last note longer than florinda cossottina.
as for salomes, price also recorded it, and it's pretty good too. one wouldn't think price could be so demented, but she was.
has anyone heard eliane coelho or sylvie valayre as lady macbeth?
La Cieca, you know your blog is popular when people are posting comments on items that aren't on the homepage anymore.
I didn't realise that L. Price had recorded the entire role (unless you're talking about M. Price). Anyway, I have L. Price's final scene and it is fabulous.
oops, kashania, you are probably right. leo price probably only recorded the final scene (and performed it live a few times), not the entire role.
Sanford:
Yes. Caballé as Salome.
I saw/heard her do that at the Liceu as well. Not only was she dramatically rivetting (in a production that took place on/under her skirt!), but I had never expected to hear the role sung with such perfect vocal/musical beauty.
DirkVA, I thought I remembered the final sene on one of Caballe's albums. I was just checking out Opera Chic's website, and discovered a singer who is new to me and who makes Garanca seem positively scintillating. Najda Michael. She apparently got good reviews for her Scala Saolme, and is repeaing it next month at Covent Garden. But I listened to her "O, Don Fatale" on Youtube, and it was pretty horrible. Her wobble is just about as wide as Callas' was.
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