No, the E-flats were not good, and she’d be wise to take them down. Also the shriek is ridiculous and NOT bel canto. But I don’t see why people are so fierce about this. It’s no sort of disgrace.

I recall my first Rigoletto (9/19/68, debut of Aragall and Judith Forst), when Peters ducked the high notes after Caro Nome and the quartet. I was very disappointed (I was a kid and I’d been listening to the first Sutherland recording), but I knew even then that they were not written by Verdi. And Peters just didn’t have them any more. Did she owe me a pie in the face? She did not. (She sang wonderful Adinas and Oscars that same season.) Ten years later, when I knew a bit more, I heard Ashley Putnam’s Ophelie at NYCO and was impressed that she omitted high notes she didn’t have. The result was a far finer performance. Netrebko should consider that, or simply transpose it down. (As Sutherland transposed the Queen of the Night, by the way, never having had a reliable F.)

Other than that, Netrebko sounds rather lovely here – I’d certainly rather hear her Donizetti than Dessay’s. But I’d rather hear Damrau’s Lucia than either of theirs (it was a very good one last fall the night the set broke and she had to improvise a new staging of the mad scene), and I’d rather hear Devia’s Donizetti than any other soprano now singing him (to my knowledge). Based on the Maria Stuarda last year, she has perfect command of the style, the technique and the POINT of the whole thing.

Has Radvanovsky ever sung Lucia? It’s higher than Lucrezia, and more exposed, but not by that much.

Was the glass harmonica used or not? I doesn’t sound like it on the sound clip. But the review above refers to it…

Erika Miklosa – she already looks a little crazed when she sings and she’d have no trouble with the coloratura.

Young Ok Shin – She’s sung Lucia at the Met already

Or…. how about transposing it into mezzo keys and letting Bartoli claim it’s the Maria Malibran version.

Why is everybody bashing Netrebko left and right!? We all know she is no second Callas, we all know where she delivers her goods and where not. But at least she gives a little attention to opera. If there are about 100 people who get really interested in the art form we all love so much, isn’t that a good thing!?

How can this man not be ashamed to be a shameless apologist for Gelb’s stsr system and the record company darlings?

The LUCIA review is proof if ever such were needed that Tommasini is not fit to review operatic performances.

Previous Callas comparisons by him include Flanigan and Hunt Leiberson, plus there have n=been more, along with all those “cool Nordic sounds”.

A disgrace.

What do people think the chances are of either Netrebko being replaced as Anna Bolena, or an alternative opera being mounted as Netrebko’s season opener in 2011? They’ve probably made too much of a fuss about it already to substitute anything (or anyone) now, and it isn’t as wide of the mark for her as Lucia is, but I’d still prefer somebody with a more dramatic voice and a more precise approach for Anna Bolena.

It’s a pity that Rolando’s voice still is in decline (started four years ago…).
It looks like Anna Netrebko has to get another manager, who knows better what to do with the voice (learning and daring to say “no” to Mr. Gelb).

Best whishes from overseas.

Jazz and white tone. I will try to remember the freak’s name, but he told a young student who worked a few things with him that the way to sing bel canto is like dessay and Renay.

So, let’s al;l get this straight, lush gorgeous tones mean nothing. You must sound white, straight toned, ugly, reestablish the legato on every new word, throw in vocal screams wherever possible, leave portamenti out, what do all those Italian composers know any way.

Anyone who finds Dessay on any chart at any level passable is forgetting what food sound and singing is supposed to be about. Forget Renay withher hideous misuse of a great sound, forget it entirely, when she behaves it is still possible to care. BUT I mean are we crazy to think some freak teacher is coming here from london the land of the white ugly voice to tell us Dessay is better than Callas!

Coming to an HD near you!

Quite frankly I’m complacently unsurprised and nonplussed at the outcome of this casting and the “filth” of the performance being discussed. To put it simply, Villazon needs to get a teacher and Netrebko needs not only a stable and good teacher but also needs to move far away from anything considered “Bel Canto.” It is a grave disappointment that the “stars” who sell tickets are seemingly incapable at delivering barely decent singing; forget expecting great or stupendous.

Both Dessay and Damrau were spectacular in this production, albeit in extremely different ways yet both outstanding actresses and both vocally secure (even if Dessay is not quite in the same shape she was a few years ago, she knows how to make her resources work to her advantage).

The demands of the operatic industry today are truly singer-suicide. As I have told many of the vocalists I’ve worked with on numerous occasions: No one cares about your voice more than you should and it’s up to the singer to take care of themselves because no one else is going to do it. Teachers and coaches are here to (hopefully) offer advice and positive assistance, but it is up to the singer to preserve themselves and make the correct decisions concerning vocal health and career choices. Anyone who jumps from one corner of the earth to a nother in a matter of days singing extremely varied repertoire is not taking the correct or professional steps at taking care of their instruments or themselves. They do a grave injustice to themselves, to those who hire them, to their colleagues, to those who are forced to listen to them, and to the music. It is always better to cancel in the event of illness than go out and “fare una figura di merda.” You end up being a huge disappointment to everyone involved and shoot yourself in the foot. I say: let the queens and critics speculate all they want—if you know that you are doing what is best to keep yourself healthy and sane and vocally fit, no amount of slander can harm you. Villazon, once a promising voice and talent has proven to be nothing more than an extremely foolish and arrogant personality who , much like Miss Gheorghiu, lacks the appropriate education in handling oneself professionally. I am referring to his famous interview where he states that he does not have a teacher or coach and that when he took time off to recover from his vocal crisis, how he boasted that he didn’t sing a note prior to his performance of Werther upon his return to the stage. It is simply unprofessional and disrespectful and idiotic. The issue is not whether he chose to sing the final aria transposed down (although I am personally against many such choices and many tenors of old have resorted to doing so: Corelli in Trovatore, Pavarotti and Valletti in Fille, various individuals in Les Pecheurs or in Boheme) but the fact that he seems to have such little regard for his vocal health and his ability to successfully execute a role after making some of his repertoire and schedule choices.

Netrebko, too, should stay home, be a mother and completely recover physically, work through the vocal changes affected by her various hormonal alterations, and learn from the mistake of other singers who have suffered vocal crises at the result of intense body modifications (Voight). It’s simply atrocious to walk out on stage and sound like that.

My last thought: Sutherland was certainly one of the greatest Lucia’s, but both Gruberova and Devia have carried that torch and both are able to do things that no one else is capable of executing. It is foolish to draw comparisons. Certainly one can state that one has a preference for one soprano’s rendition over another, but to withhold due credit to other great interpreters of a part (and I believe that with regards to recent history, both Dessay and Damrau have achieved such stature) is immature and ignorant.

I have spoken.

Stay warm!

It should have been the most glamorous of nights at the opera: the return of Russian superstar soprano Anna Netrebko, reunited with her longtime stage partner, tenor Rolando Villazon.

Instead, their joint appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” on Monday night proved nearly as ill-starred as the fate of their characters in this tale of love, betrayal, madness and murder.

Netrebko, fresh from six months of maternity leave, looked ravishing if a bit plumper than before, and opened the night in splendid form. Her penetrating sound, cushioned as if by a thick coating of honey, was as striking as ever. If anything, her voice seems to have grown in size without losing any of its allure.

Her characterization was well thought-out, too. Though she appeared too happy and healthy to be at risk of madness in her opening duet with her beloved Edgardo (Villazon), in subsequent scenes she persuasively showed Lucia losing her grip on reality. In one memorable image, after her brother, Enrico, has tricked her into believing Edgardo is unfaithful so she will marry another man, Netrebko crumpled to the floor and tried to scurry away on her back from Enrico’s outstretched arms.

But “Lucia” is all warmup and no payoff unless it climaxes with a dazzling Mad Scene, and it was here that Netrebko disappointed.

Appearing in a blood-drenched wedding gown after she has killed her bridegroom, Lucia holds forth for 16 or so minutes of solo singing that combines plaintive strands of melody with extreme coloratura fireworks to mirror the unraveling of her mind.

Netrebko simply lacked the vocal agility to pull it off. She stinted on much of the usual ornamentation and failed to hit the final high E-flat squarely. The applause that followed was surprisingly tepid for a scene that usually stops the show in its tracks.

For Met audiences who have heard both Natalie Dessay and Diana Damrau triumph as “Lucia” in the last 18 months, the question is why Netrebko should undertake the role at all when her voice is so much better suited to other repertory.

As for Villazon, he sounded in bad shape from his first entrance, an ominous rattle infecting his high notes. During his solo outburst in the wedding scene, his voice cracked and he froze for several seconds, then continued a half-tone lower. Before the curtain rose for the final act, general manager Peter Gelb announced Villazon “was not feeling well” but would continue. He made it, just barely, through his final scene, but the ovation he received was surely more a sympathy vote than a true endorsement.

It’s especially worrisome to hear this once-promising Mexican tenor in such ragged shape, since he suffered a vocal crisis nearly two years ago and stopped singing for several months. This was his first Met appearance since he resumed his career in early 2008.

The other soloists fared better. As Enrico, Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien pushed his polished sound to its limits, but he created a powerful study in cruelty. Russian Bass Ildar Abdrazakov sang sympathetically as Lucia’s tutor, Raimondo, though his lowest notes were barely audible.

As Arturo, Lucia’s hapless husband, tenor Colin Lee made a promising debut, singing his few phrases with fresh and ardent tone and all but stealing the scene with his memorably self-satisfied demeanor.

Marco Armiliato conducted with a few ragged patches, understandable since the new cast didn’t have the benefit of a full orchestra rehearsal.

There are three more performances over the next two weeks.

With her imprecise use of vocal colors, so bland her monotone
use of no word expressively, he DARES to compare this industry hoax with a pretty face and a warm voice to the greatest architect of music in the world of opera? When does he experience shame this piece of fluff that writes for the times. The AP was MUCH more accurate.

well put, Bill. Last night actually marked just my third year of going to the Met (not that young, just that late to the game) and having read so much about the “golden years” of the Met, here and other places, I find myself wishing for that quite often, and unfortunately being disappointed more than not, which is a different discussion.