Comments on: the end

By: GS

GS — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:17:10 +0000

Herr Villazon sang every performance like it was his last. He gave all that he had to the audience and we are greatful. We are lucky to have all the wonderful memories.

By: Cantantelirico

Cantantelirico — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:42:39 +0000

Could it be that some of those who sang Rolando’s praises a few years ago, have now turned their thumbs in a Southernly direction? How fickle and cruel. Best wishes Rolando.

By: ariel

ariel — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:10:13 +0000

kashania -you are right -she probably does not know
the role -it just that she sings and one can only hope
to hear the role “sung” and not screamed out as we hear
to-day , I have heard Ms. Brewer , and for me once is enough
for a full life time .O f course I am damned opinionated since 1946 in New york
Vienna , Berlin London, Madrid and even Toronto the good I have heard them all from one orchestra seat or another.
I have heard Brunnhilde sung ,yowled,and screamed . When
Wagner is “sung ” it is something indeed .Lately
all I hear is men barking at each otherand bosom heaving sopranos shrieking for all they are worth . That is not to
say that there are not good singers out there that can match any age.But just now going to the met can be quite disheartening for when youfork out acouple hundred bucks
for a ticket you wouldn’t mind getting back at least 25 for

the singing .

By: kashania

kashania — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:35:43 +0000

Ariel: If you interpreted my mention of “dramatic soprano” as chewing the scenery, then you don’t really know what you’re talking about — which is fine, except that your posts are so damned opinionated. You criticise the Met’s casting choices left and right and then you suggest that they should have tried to get Pieczonka (who neither knows the role nor should be singing it) to replace Brewer. Enough said.

By: harry

harry — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:43:10 +0000

Sutherland even sung an Eva in Meistersingers under Kubelik.

By: Sanford

Sanford — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:03:41 +0000

Ian, how sweet of you to ejaculate while telling me you love me. I can be had.

By: prosti

prosti — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:36:08 +0000

All in all, I say: Good riddance!

By: alexythymia

alexythymia — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:25:09 +0000

@ 315–Fair enough. Hadn’t thought about it in ages, and there’s something of a cliche afoot someplaces [?] that she swung from Wagner to Norma without so much as a pause, but Wikiing tells me she sang some crazy sh*t in the ’50s. Aida? Really? Well, I guess Sills did, too–miked in an arena …

Today, of course, the Bonynges and entourage might have had a reality show, been outed for racist views on CNN a la Blagojevich, so on.

By: armerjacquino

armerjacquino — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:26:45 +0000

@315- I think Sutherland would have had a career even without the bel canto revival. She would have sung a lot more Donna Annas, a lot more Violettas, a lot more Marguerites- but she would have had a career. I’d imagine she would have sung roles she’s not now associated with, too; Fiordiligi, the Marschallin and even Sieglinde spring to mind.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:38:13 +0000

@305- Sanford, every time you comment I think I fall a little bit more in love.

By: wotan_in_inman

wotan_in_inman — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:49:08 +0000

LogTen@324

I think it is common concensus taht anyone indulging in “kiss-and-tell” in all its permutations foregoes the privilege of being called a “gentleman.”

“Snarky Queen” seems to be the term used most often around here.

By: The Logical Tenor

The Logical Tenor — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:42:13 +0000

I know Dame Joan had some racism issues going on… but I’m not sure how much of what Von Crof says is reliable or not, I’ve never met the gentleman. If it is true, though, that’s certainly a Mommy Dearest out there.

By: sandytheslayer

sandytheslayer — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:34:09 +0000

Anyone else read the link at #273??? I mean seriously…Sutherland, the racist fag hag!?

By: maria

maria — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:31:50 +0000

“I hear complaints about many of todayâ€™s singers having small voices or being hard to hear who I think would have been considered perfectly fine 30 years ago.”

iltenore: I think those complaints are justified, and that’s why it’s getting harder to cast the operas of Wagner and Verdi.

By: wotan_in_inman

wotan_in_inman — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:15:21 +0000

Sorry, Maria, our posts crossed. I like your idea better.

By: wotan_in_inman

wotan_in_inman — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:12:42 +0000

#308 iltenoredigrazia. A most excellent idea ! Might I suggest any of three broadcast of DON CARLO with Maria Guleghina, back when she was singing under the names of Dalia Rigal, leonie Rysanek, and Mirella Freni?

In one of them, she even doubles King Philip using her stage name Nicolai Ghiaurov.

By: maria

maria — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:12:12 +0000

“Imagine one of our Cieca blog listenings to a Sirius broadcast and all our commentaries on a live performance by Callas, Tebaldi, Caballe, Priceâ€¦”

That would be a lot of fun. But it would be far more exciting if we were listening to Ponselle, Rethberg, Muzio, Galli-Curci…

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:46:08 +0000

Maria, yes, those names do mean something to me. I even heard some of them in the flesh. With the arguably exception of one or two, the singers you mention had big voices. They were giants. But I suspect that many others would not fare as well. My comment, however, was meant more in retrospect. I hear complaints about many of today’s singers having small voices or being hard to hear who I think would have been considered perfectly fine 30 years ago. I won’t give you examples because there’s no point on having a discussion. I, myself, find the orchestras and singers more often than not favoring volume over accuracy or nuances. That’s just and simply the way I feel. Then again, I have no problem whatsoever hearing Fleming, Gheorghiou, Battle, et al.

By: ariel

ariel — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:58:15 +0000

316 – perhaps you are correct -but she seems to infer
that she is not asked by the Met powers to be.
politics ? perhaps -her initial debut was not a great success
but the several recent NY appearances plus this last Met
bit all ending in great ovations hopefully will cause both to
reconsider -her Wagner work is a revelation .

By: messa di voce

messa di voce — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:30:19 +0000

Podles is a great singer. The bizarre arc of her career seems to be entirely her choice. She does not sing regularly in ANY of the world’s great houses, seeming to genuinely prefer to be in Philly, Houston, Seattle, etc. To slam Gelb for not using her more is ridiculous. La Cieca is one of the staples of her repertoire, and the Met was not dissing her in any way by hiring her to sing that role.

By: alexythymia

alexythymia — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:13:48 +0000

@ 311 I wonder if, in this prepackaged, HD world, some of those folks would have taken precedence over a Gheorghiu or a Netrebko … as well they should have.

Fashions change, too, in voices. Would a Tucker have made it today, a Farrell even (and I love these people with every fiber of my being … don’t get me wrong). We’d have different stars now if verismo were in the ascendant (like in Olivero’s heyday); Sutherland (don’t shoot me) might not have had the career that she had had there not been a concurrent rise of interest in the bel canto. Those are two examples that I can think of.

By: mj

mj — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:27:52 +0000

#280, yeah, Alek Shrader is super cute. His recital in San Francisco a couple of months ago made me (and I think the entire audience) fall in love with him a tiny bit.

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:56:45 +0000

“240 Cassandra: I see backtracking again when you are called out.”

No dear, you see what you want to see, and that is all.

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:53:24 +0000

“Erin Wall? Please. I donâ€™t care much for Netrebko but Erin Wall makes Nebtreko look like the reincarnation of Maria Callas. Wall is a total bore. I saw her recently as Konstanze in Chicago. Boring voice, screechy top, acted like she was in a different opera than the rest of the cast. She gets hired because sheâ€™s cheap. Thatâ€™s it.

Please donâ€™t wish that mediocrity on us. Or Eric Cutler as another poster mentioned. Egads. He was shirtless in Pearl Fishers and you just wanted to run and cover up those sagging man boobies and flabby stomach.”

On these two things we definitely agree. Cutler and Wall are both totally mediocre. I would also include Laura Claycomb who is randomly a “star” ONLY in Houston, and with good reason.

By: maria

maria — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:10:56 +0000

“I suspect that what was considered a reasonably sized voice a few decades ago would not be acceptable today.”

Do you actually believe that Flagstad, Traubel, Tebaldi, Milanov, Nilsson, Sutherland, Price would not be accepted today? Do you believe that Martinelli, Lauri-Volpi, Melchior, Del Monaco, Corelli, Tucker, Bergonzi would not be accepted today?

You’re kidding, right? Or do those names mean nothing to you?

By: alexythymia

alexythymia — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:54:57 +0000

btw, I would hope that Villazon could come back from this. Some people never seem to. I was just listening to some late model Carreras and thinking, cancer aside, he never got the stain of those ill-advised Carlos and Cheniers out of his voice :/ …

By: alexythymia

alexythymia — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:52:23 +0000

… or making the same derisive commentaries about a Caruso, say, as one reads about any tenor on YouTube. Or complaining about a Flagstad or a Kraus past their prime.

I agree with the remarks about Domingo and Villazon. Domingo strikes me as introverted (in the Myers-Briggs “derives functioning from self” sense, not in the sense of “not outgoing.”) I wonder how much he understands about other singers. But surely one test of an artist worthy to sing at the Met is whether or not they can stand up to the pressures of another personality. Villazon must do what is right for Villazon.

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:27:18 +0000

I do wonder how the golden age singers would fare under the note by note scrutiny that our web listening and commenting allows. Imagine one of our Cieca blog listenings to a Sirius broadcast and all our commentaries on a live performance by Callas, Tebaldi, Caballe, Price…

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:22:41 +0000

Albatrossity, could it be that out standards for judging voice size have changed? I suspect that what was considered a reasonably sized voice a few decades ago would not be acceptable today. We’re used to amplification for just about everything and the human voice may be at a disadvantage in the comparison.

By: harry

harry — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:19:54 +0000

Logical Tenor 300# & albatossity 304# have I believe the same concerns, which we all should worry about. Singers with voices ‘seduced’ out of their normal comfortable territory by all sorts of inducements be it money, flattery by various managements, ego, whatever. Fighting the fear ‘if I don’t take this ill suited engagement, they might not ask / won’t ask again’. That is the moment that singers have to resist and have a mind of metal! If some management was so stupid to make an ill conceived offer, ‘what best interest did that oper house have, personally, for a singer in the first place?

Then we have those singers that sing as if ‘nothing matters anymore’ as if they are about to go down on the Titanic in the next 2 minutes every time they open their mouth. You sit there nervously listening, pinned to your seat, making time estimations how much longer some voice will stand the apparent abuse they are doing to it. In such instance there is no joy, just dismay. Singing ‘AT YOU’………….not to you. No shade, no subtlety or finesse, no conserving of voice or proper preparation for a difficult passage. Singers shirt fronting the listener, trying to impress ‘blowiing the barn door off 50 yards away’. All with two precious vocal chors.