parterre box

30 comments

• Mme Singalotta says:

  I don’t get the talk about Trebs’ weight gain. To me she looks pretty much the same as always.

  on February 24, 2009 at 10:07 PM
• wotan_in_inman says:

  Tonight’s Trovatore (on Sirius) takes me back to the glory days of Kurt Baum, Mary Curtis-Verna, Elena Nikolaidi, and Anselmo Colzani.

  A feeble attempt at levity.

  For Trovatore, you supposedly need the four best singers in the world. Back then, they weren’t. Today, they are.

  So I ain’t laughing.

  But for all that, it’s enjoyable on its own terms for those with long-term memory loss.

  on February 24, 2009 at 10:37 PM
• actfive says:

  My first question is: Did Dessay wear that hat???

  I think Trebs sounds fine in this clip–Filianoti is struggling but despite some graininess, I want to hear the rest.

  on February 24, 2009 at 10:39 PM
• tinney says:

  Not half bad. IMHO, He attacks the sounds and therefore is a little too aggressive for bel canto. He does have a nice voice. She sounds lovely even if I can’t understand what she’s saying. The thing I think this is lacking is her way of abandoning herself and truly becoming the character. She seems timid. I love the fearless Anna! She’s still great and this is much better than everyone forewarned me it would be. She is so beautiful with a simple legato line. That, for me, is her greatest strength and it is truly beautiful.

  on February 24, 2009 at 11:08 PM
• Carlo Nome says:

  I enjoyed this clip and I enjoyed the actual HD transmission. That being said, there was much about the production I did not like. For instance, Lucia’s costume in Act I makes her seem too much the in-control horse woman, and not enough the fragile heroine of both Scott’s novel and Donizetti’s opera. Edgardo’s costumes, except for the last scene, make him look like a buttoned-up Victorian banker and not the impetuous, dashing hero. The photo shoot sextet betrayed a lack of faith in the essence of the opera. Why do the opera if you don’t believe in it? The umbrellas in the final scene were too naturalistic, too prosaic for a Romantic death scene.

  In this clip, Filianoti seems in better form than in the San Francisco performance I heard.

  In general, I have been quite saddened by the quite a few of the “star” tenor performances I have heard over Sirius this season. Say what you want about opera fans living in the past, I don’t remember so much strained vocalism from Met broadcasts or San Francisco Opera performances from the seventies and eighties – and I think the broadcasts from those decades will support my opinion.

  on February 24, 2009 at 11:26 PM
• Dante says:

  Carlo Nome: Thank you for a very fine precis of the stranger aspects of this production. Perhaps in the future some changes will be made especially with the Photographer distractions.
  Tolemeo: your comments are critically disgusting. It is one thing to criticize her vocal performance but what I saw was a highly creative intelligence reacting to the text and subtext of the words and music. I am sorry that you didn’t see that: presuming, of course , that you actually saw her in performance.

  on February 25, 2009 at 1:08 AM
• kashania says:

  Filianoti sounds dry and strained at the top. I’m glad to hear that he’s working on his voice, cause it’s a very nice natural instrument.

  I don’t get this talk about how “chubby” Anna is. Sure, she still has some of her post-pregnancy weight but it hardly affects her appearance on stage. She still looks beautiful.

  on February 25, 2009 at 2:47 PM
• kashania says:

  I’m curious to know what Alisa’s sudden entrance at the climax of the duet added to the moment, aside from completely distracting the audience from one of the classic moments in bel canto opera.

  on February 25, 2009 at 2:53 PM
• Perfidia says:

  Filianoti sounds better than he did in the broadcast I heard with Dessay. That was painful. I just don’t care for the darkening in Netrebko’s voice. It does not sound natural. Reminds me of June Anderson and Swenson. Eventually the voices started to sag.

  on February 25, 2009 at 3:09 PM
• GiacoPucci says:

  No. 25: The umbrellas were a steal from the last act of Wilder’s “Our Town.” Very moving in both instances.

  on February 25, 2009 at 11:08 PM