parterre box

51 comments

• 41
  tinney says:

  July 2, 2009 at 10:17 PM

  I am not the biggest Fleming fan when it comes to her attempts at Italian repertoire. I do agree that the addio del passato is a bit of a fiasco but the brinidisi isn’t bad to me. As for the whole role, I would prefer to hear her in something else. It is not my favorite portrayal of the character or the music. I still think it’s a beautiful voice and I don’t care who agrees or disagrees with me. Maybe not how she uses it all the time but the tone is lovely.

  I hate to sound ignorant but who do you guys consider to be a great violetta these days? So many have bashed Netrebko, Fleming, and Gheorghiu and they are the latest slew of successful Violettas so who is left? I prefer older recordings of Zeani, Moffo, Gencer, etc but who in the heck IS comparable now?
• 42
  Buster says:

  July 3, 2009 at 3:14 AM

  @41 Tinney, I was much intrigued by the little I saw of Christine Schäfer’s Paris Violetta. That should have been out on DVD by now, but does not seem to be yet.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11KlKBtNpZI
• 43
  manou says:

  July 3, 2009 at 5:02 AM

  Alto (40) :

  “J’ai vu Gheorghiu en 1994, et Netrebko l’an dernier, elles étaient toutes les deux supérieures a Fleming tant sur le plan musical que sur le plan artistique mais on ne peut pas nier que Fleming reste une diva du tout premier rang”

  “Ho visto Gheorghiu nel 1994, e Netrebko l’anno scorso, tutte due migliore di Fleming tanto sul piano musicale che artistico, pero non si puo negare che Fleming rimane tuttavia una diva di prima categoria”
• 44
  Camille says:

  July 3, 2009 at 1:01 PM

  The party’s over and the champagne is flat.

  What is she going to sing when she is 60? Already done the Marschallin ten years ago.

  At 50 she’s still doing the jeune dame roles.

  How and what will she do now that she’s past her sell by date? Such a shame she could never sort herself out enough to give a Elena Makropulos? I mean Karita Mattila will doubtless latch onto that role in a couple years, anyway. Too bad “La Voce” could never learn to produce a consistent sound in a well chosen repertory. Hop scotching from Bellini to Handel to Rossini to Dvorak to Floyd, then Korngold, and Massenet on to Verdi and the dreadful dreck of Previn, I mean what in the hell is she, except, TIRED?

  I dislike, even more than the twittering vibrato, the look of contempt she has for what she does, like she’d so much rather be singing jazz…only she would never have made it in that genre nor have been accepted.

  So tired of Mme. Renata Flambe.

  Love the Chunderland dessert.

  So glad I saw Netrebko.
• 45
  scifisci says:

  July 3, 2009 at 1:08 PM

  Well Camille…Fleming has a disc of Verismo “lost treasures” forthcoming, does that qualify as jazz?

  I do think that’s the route she’ll take once she gets over this whole elsa/ariadne thing. In seven years, we’ll be seeing Fleming’s Fedora, which will also be available for purchase for $400 at Bergdorf’s.
• 46
  OhNO says:

  July 3, 2009 at 2:24 PM

  verismo? fleming? yes that does constitute as jazz/
• 47
  Alexythymia says:

  July 4, 2009 at 1:00 PM

  @3 What precisely does looking like Neblett have to do with anything?

  @41, ITA. But I think the reasons one’s not aware of better people is that whoever is establishing Netrebko and Gheorgiu as recordings stars rather than better people couldn’t care less about opera qua divine art. It’s all bland showmanship. Speaking of which, I still see great similarities between Fleming and Dame Kiri, Traviata included. Except that I still think Te Kanawa was more innately musical. Perhaps a Nelson Riddle or showtunes phase is in order for RF. Now what has happened to my Serafin/De los angeles record? That was a nice thing in a world where there are no more really nice things.
• 48
  Harry says:

  July 4, 2009 at 2:10 PM

  I must confess I find Verdi’s La Tart’ one of the lesser Verdi successful operas , I like. Sure it has some exquisite moments, but too often the emphasis is on ‘did the Violetta sing a top ‘this or that’?. All I can think of, is some screaming diva creature running about at her own glittering parties, frantic to be the center of attention. AND haven’t we seen THAT all, at some parties we have attended? It is ’so so tragic’ -with all that ‘dark side campy M.G.M operetta-like Merry Violetta’ plotting – ‘Garbo sings’! – one wants to laugh. Imagine what Gilbert & Sullivan would have done with a similar plot…..’changed it to a happy ending with a false tuberculosis report.
• 49
  Alexythymia says:

  July 4, 2009 at 2:28 PM

  @48 Oh My God, You’re absolutely right.

  ::rips down Stratas/Domingo poster, or is tempted::
• 50
  florezrocks says:

  July 4, 2009 at 5:21 PM

  Speaking of Traviata, what’s going on with Dessay? She just made her Violetta role debut (and Verdi debut!) last night in Santa Fe? A coloratura-turned-bel-canto-turned-lyric….was she able to get through act 2 and 3?
  Come on people – what’s the story?
• 51
  Sanford says:

  July 4, 2009 at 5:40 PM

  Harry,I think that when you have that reaction to Violetta, it’s because the wrong emphasis is being stressed in the role. When I think of Violetta, I think of Moffo, because her voice had such an innate pathos. And I was recently sent her Met broadcast and she doesn’t sing the high note at the end of Sempre Libera. What she *does* do is capture the anguish during the scene with the elder Germont.