full dorsal
A bit of Salome from the Royal Opera, with a somewhat less skittish sense of cinematography than what we got from the Met’s HD!
Finally a chance to see Naked Busker Guy Duncan Meadows in action! (And, forgive La Cieca for saying so, but if your leading lady sounds like Nadja Michael, you’d better offer your audience something extra for their money.)
Well, the busker is cute, but apparently he just stepped out of the ocean, because he’s got a little shrinkage goin’ on.
Oh, and La Cieca, the solution I found to the issue with Nadja’s singing was to watch the video with the sound off. She’s sounds quite wonderful that way
Wow. Hope she sounds better on the DVD, I had such expectation to see and hear a young Salome. After the retarded gand-ma we had at the Met HD, it would be another disappointment here. At least she acts like a Salome should and the orchestra seems good.
She actually seems to sing much better than Mattila in this role. But nothing is real until you hear it in the theatre.
That was a busker? I thought it
looked like a flaccid dick! Who
was the soprano – Nadja who? Nice
figure. Did she take it all off?
Innocent
in santa foo
She has an interesting voice. It seems quite accurate musically. It is not the gigantic sound that one expects in the part. But she’s doing it.
As for the Busker, they should have given him a viagra and had him fluffed before walking on with the head in his hand. (That is, the head of John the Baptist in his hand).
She is not bad at all….we need to see more nakedness in operas, so hail to this production.
Off topic, but La Cieca, are we very going to find out the answer to the last Regie quiz? It’s been more than two weeks.
I’m surprised that La Cieca takes issue with Nadja Michael’s voice. I find it to be a rather singular instrument: she cuts a great figure on stage, is a marvelous actress, is very musical, and sings with plenty of passion and fervor that so many singers today seem to be lacking. I find her French Eboli to be quite refreshing and wonderfully interpreted. Perhaps it is not the most “attractive” voice to many American ears, but there is nothing bland or vulgar about the way she produces her sound.
Quiet as it is kept, Salome is not a “heavy” role. We are often too expectant to hear extremely weighty voices in the role, which is probably due to the very centralized tessitura of the part, but, all things considered, it is much lighter than Trovatore or Aida or Nabucco or Fanciulla or Hérodiade!
As for nudity in opera, I don’t always see the point of it. However, I would venture to say that if nudity is an *essential* element of a director’s vision, it would be preferred if the singers were not nude, but rather supers or dancers. Perhaps many of us are waiting for a nude Don Giovanni with Erwin Schrott–I must admit that I wouldn’t refrain from having a glance, but I seriously question the apparent need for asking classical vocalists to bare all for what often seems to theatrically function solely for shock value or the amusement of the audience/director.
Oh my…was there someone singing the final scene of Salome? I am enraptured by that executioner! *squeal!*