missing minghella
The recent death of Anthony Minghella leaves at least two Met projects in limbo. First is the opera commissioned from Osvaldo Golijov, Daedalus, currently scheduled for the 2011-2012 season. Minghella was set to serve as librettist and to direct the completed work.
According to Variety, the late director’s plans at the Met also included a new production of Eugene Onegin to open the 2012 season, replacing the Robert Carsen staging currently used at the Met and telecast last year. (La Cieca’s guess: this Onegin is for Anna Netrebko and Mariusz Kwiecien).
Mrs JC – the Gezeichneten was terrific in the theatre, too. Real Grand Guignol stuff. Not so sure about Korngold except Die Tote Stadt – Das Wunder der Heliane proved a real stinker in concert under Jurowski at London’s RFH. Heliane did Pat Racette no favours in the UK, either – a shame as I remember her Liu with Welsh National Opera and Musetta in Amsterdam fondly….
I heard both Die Gezeichneten and Der Ferne Klang and enjoyed both very much. Schwanewilms sang in both and Ferne Klang is even better IMO. She is recording a CD this fall with excerpts from Schrecker operas. How she made everyone believe she was this 15 year old girl in the first act of FK was amazing. Then turning into the elegant Lebedame and then to a street prostitute. All in one opera.
RE:Golijov
Ainadamar was pastiche. Golijov knows his way around the orchestra and can work in many styles. Just lacks a voice of his own.
That makes for occasional entertaining passages, but nothing worth an evening of the little time we’re given.
The problem with the Royal Festival Hall performance of Das Wunder der Heliane was that they put the singers at the back of the orchestra. The orchestra had 130 players and was on stage not in an opera pit. It is no surprise that the singers were drowned out. The Decca recording reveals a good opera that would be even better with 20 minutes pruned from it.
Well.
What a thrill to take a break from a LONG day of teaching and see that the GREAT Korngold is being discussed, and then the GREAT Schrecker, and the GREAT Braunfels. I love them all.
I think Die Vogel would do quite well at the MET: there could be appeal there for a wide variety of listeners, though the important Nachtigal herself is a scary bit of casting – who might they find?
Korngold is so sadly overlooked, and I too love all his five operas. Perhaps Polykrates and Kaithrin might be less suited to the MET, but the other three would be just grand. The idea to combine Iolanta and Violanta is a great one.
I knew the London concert for Wunder would be doomed from the moment I saw Racette in the cast. I am not a fan, but nevermind, she is the WRONG VOICE for the role. Yes, maybe the score could use a trim, but my is it lush and thrilling. Levine might kill it, but someone like Thielmann would do very well, I would think.
Schrecker I know the least (operatically) – the songs are interesting. Where should I start with an opera recording?
I put this in the other thread, but I’ll repeat it here since we’re discussing obscure operas we’d love to see at the Met. I would personally love to see Kurt Weill Die Buergschaft. I love the music and think the story is interesting. I’d love to see it staged. I think they did it a few years ago at Spoleto USA, but I wasn’t around for it.
Cocky Kurwenal: Re Trebs and The Snow Maiden. I would love to hear AN essay Snow Maiden. I really enjoyed the excerpts from it on her Russian album, especially her death scene where Snow Maiden dies by melting at experiencing true love for the first time. Talk about Love-Death! BTW, did anyone catch the Kirov’s reading of this score at Carnegie Hall in early December? I came up from D.C. especially for it and was NOT disappointed. Gergiev may be iffy in some Italian and other repertoire, but no one can hold a candle to him in Russian works. All of the singing was marvelous except for one tenor, as I recall.
Konrad,
I’ve been kicking myself — on and off over the last few months — for missing Snow Maiden in Dec., so thanks for reminding me it’s time for another self-rebuke.
But as long as we’re talking Gergiev and obscure operas, how about last night’s Gambler? Most folks around here were probably already familiar from the previous run, but it was my first exposure. Tour de force. (Not that you’d know it from the tepid response.)
Did anyone record the Sirius broadcast?
Thanks all for the Braunfels recommendations. My public library has a copy of Die Vogel which I think I’ll go check out now. Also, while we’re on recommendations, I’ve never heard a note of the Snow Maiden which others on this thread are talking about. Are there some good recordings of that?
Taking the other discussion further, do any of you see any prospects for Korngold’s operas or any of the other late romantic works to be staged more frequently around the world in the future, or are they likely to remain mostly forgotten and obscure? I think the public would be more receptive to many of these works now than at any time since they were written now that the tide of atonality and minimalism has come and (mostly) gone. After all, if there can be a Bel Canto revival and a baroque revival, why not these even more deserving pieces from the last century? Thoughts?
I too would like to see Kurt Weill’s “Die Burgschaft” staged (I have the Spoleto Festival recording). Perhaps a director could find a throughline for it by setting its epic sweep against the turbulent history of 20th century China. Read the opera’s libretto and then think of Zhang Yimou’s 1994 film “To Live” and you have a good throughline and backdrop for staging the opera’s generational conflicts and betrayals.
Also, I saw a wonderful “Die Vogel” at the Vienna Volksoper in 2004. Some may dismiss it as second-hand Strauss, but it can be quite the thoughtful and tuneful spectacle.