parterre box

113 comments

• GiocondasmacksdownLaCieca says:

  God Met audiences are so fucking vulgar. You would clap George Bush if he produced as wiry and shrill an high E-Flat as Dessay.

  Poor fools.

  on April 23, 2008 at 4:08 AM
• The Logical Tenor says:

  All of us attend with baited breath for GiocondasmacksdownLaCieca to demonstrate her perfectly spun high E flat.

  on April 23, 2008 at 4:28 AM
• Carlos María Eduardo García de la Cal Fernández Leal Luna Delgado Galván Sanz says:

  God Met audiences are so fucking vulgar.

  Judging from your comment, you must attend the Met regularly.

  on April 23, 2008 at 4:49 AM
• Evenhanded says:

  Well.

  Tinhtraiviet – a couple of things. First off, the descending passage in Vespri is certainly not a “three octave cascade”. Caballe never had three octaves in her (unless she could get down to C below middle C, which I guarantee she could not – at least in public). I don’t have a score handy, but the phrase in question is TWO octaves if memory serves (perhaps wider than that by a tone or two).

  Second, why in heavens name would that particular phrase prove a worthy comparison with the Fille cabaletta? Yes, it is a wonderful moment, but nothing about it would cause an audience to stand up and cheer in comparison with the “stadium event” style of the Florez cabaletta. (Also, how long did it take you to sit and listen with a stopwatch to all those examples?)

  Third, it’s funny that you heard such an improvement in Florez the second time. I listened intently – granted, over Sirius – and I was astounded by how similar the two renderings were – nearly carbon copies. The greatness was in the utter security of the high notes and how they were blended into the phrases as a whole. Why do we need to compare to such past luminaries as Kraus and Pav?

  on April 23, 2008 at 8:52 AM
• ping says:

  From Daniel Wakin’s piece in today’s Times: “Before Monday night the only [solo encore] had been Luciano Pavarotti’s repeating the second-act tenor aria in Tosca in 1994, Met officials said.” I never knew there was a tenor aria in the second act of Tosca. Do they mean “Vittoria, vittoria”?

  on April 23, 2008 at 9:40 AM
• jimupde says:

  I don’t have a score available, but the Vespri aria in question is closer to 2 ½ octaves. I believe the cascade starts on a high C# and descends to the F# below the staff. Certainly not all sopranos go all the way down to that F# (Carol Vaness opted not to, not sure about Radvanovsky) certainly Caballe sang whole thing. To me it was thrilling, just as thrilling as Mr. Florez singing his aria in Fille. That’s just my opinion, and certainly we aren’t required to defend what thrills us. Moments like that are visceral experiences, not an intellectual one.
  Also, just because we find Florez exciting, doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy both Pavarotti and Kraus just as much. It’s not an either/or situation. I have heard that aria sung badly so many times that I usually cringe when I hear it sung. The three tenors mentioned above have been the exception.

  on April 23, 2008 at 10:40 AM
• iltenoredigrazia says:

  Come on, everyone, relax. It’s not the end of the world. JDF’s bis is not necessarily a result of how long the applause went on. It’s simply a fun show-off of very special talent: he can sing high C’s on and on. It’s the equivalent to a soprano interpolating a high note or a trill that she’s good at. A skater’s quadruple jump. He did it once, then again, and now it’s part of his interpretation of the role. If he’s in good voice, he’ll do it. Just like the high E flat at the end of Sempre Libera or Lucia’s mad scene. There’s always the question, will she or not? Just relax and enjoy it when he does.

  on April 23, 2008 at 11:05 AM
• The Logical Tenor says:

  Let’s see, I found this video of Alfredo Kraus in Parma at age 60, receiving an ovation lasting from 4:53-7:20. No bis, though. After the early part of his career, Kraus tended not to bis unless there was a monumental ovation.

  I remember the ovation he got for “Salut, demeure chaste et pure” in 1977— I forgot how long that one went on, but it went on for quite a while. Does anyone have the count for that one?

  on April 23, 2008 at 12:50 PM
• DirkVA says:

  This talk of how long the applause was is not relevant to Monday night’s performance, since throughout the evening there were attempts to keep things moving. Dessay twice gave the audience a signal to stop applauding, and Flórez’s applause would have gone on longer both times if he’d wanted it to. He and the conductor purposely made it clear the encore was coming while the applause was still going on.

  Anybody who was there and thought there was anything the tiniest bit wrong with the way the phenomenon was handled really is a kill-joy, and I wonder if an opera house is quite their milieu. There was a sense of occasion and a kind of intimate fellowship between stage and public that can be the very life-blood of opera.

  on April 23, 2008 at 1:56 PM
• mariod says:

  You know what?? I agree with the fact that the ENCORE was engineered down to the T by Gelb…of course he knew EXACTLY what he was doing with that quote in the TIMES last week. Was it a PUBLICITY ploy??…ABSOLUTELY!! And it succeeded brilliantly…how many people here want to take bets on whether this Saturday’s HD transmission sells more tickets than any other so far??

  That’s why I want GELB running my opera house…

  on April 23, 2008 at 2:13 PM