parterre box

51 comments

• Joe Conda says:

  As always, she’s able to work in some of her signature moos.

  on July 1, 2009 at 8:42 AM
• OhNO says:

  you are wise to put the brindisi and not the sophomoric later posting of a very ordinary, non Verdi reading of the addio del passato. It is time to let this role go now, the brindisi was mannered and not glamourous in tone, and the tenor was amateur.
  This aria is so bad it seems an afterthought, just do not understand her desire to sing something for which she has NO CLUE.

  [YouTube]

  on July 1, 2009 at 8:56 AM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  What a weird sound she makes here in the brindisi – so throaty and unpleasant sounding. Looks a little like Carol Neblett too in this video.

  “Il tAHmpo mio giocondo”; “muore” and “ignora” colored so strangely too. Overall, the addio del passato is no better and never reaches the heights of artistry. She just slugs through TWO verses with no magic in either of them: http://www.youtube.com/user/moniquetb#play/all/uploads-all/0/Q3BYMIB7exA

  on July 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM
• sandytheslayer1 says:

  I was there watching it as well last night! Renee was amazing, especially in Acts 2&3, it really was heartbreaking! However in Sempre libera, she made these really ugly noises before she did the high notes which was a bit off putting.

  on July 1, 2009 at 8:59 AM
• enzo says:

  That’s a beautiful voice? I don’t get it. Te Kanawa was far superior in every respect.

  on July 1, 2009 at 9:04 AM
• Gualtier M says:

  Okay, smokin’ cutie alert at 2:36 – who is the hunk who steps between Renee and Joseph with the slicked back hair and the medal around his neck? I WANT HIM!!!!

  on July 1, 2009 at 9:09 AM
• scifisci says:

  smokin’ cutie? really? to each his own I suppose…

  Renee looks and sounds ridiculous. Her gargled tone doesn’t do her any favors in this rep and her acting is just embarrassing. I saw her “new and improved” traviata at the MET last year and it was still as maddening as ever. Whoops and strange rhythmic hiccups everywhere.

  on July 1, 2009 at 9:56 AM
• Will says:

  OK, I’m generally a “glass half full” kind of guy, but I found Renee’s singing far cleaner than usual with only two minor outbreaks of what Joe calls “moos”.

  Let me also point out something that I think gets lost in discussions of singers’ “mannerisms”. Go back to the earliest recordings, those from what everybody always praises as the “golden age” (one of many ages that seem to be golden as long as they aren’t today), and LISTEN to Fernando de Lucia, Lotte Lehmann and many, many others. The liberties taken with note values, phrasing, and other aspects of performing the music are staggering–I have heard these liberties defended passionately by those who don’t want any limits placed on what singers can do on stage. And during that “golden age”, quite a few composers whose works make up part of the Repertory we have today were alive and writing.

  on July 1, 2009 at 9:57 AM
• mrmyster says:

  come on troopers, you and your barracks talk about
  the perfectly competent Miss Fleming!!! Tut tut!
  Don’t tell me that was Calleja? Looked like some
  common Maltese stevedore — he needs to watch that
  waistline beginning yesterday! I did not find, on this
  recording, his vocal quality anything special; in fact
  the whole clip was Nichts Besonderes — maybe
  Kansas City Lyric Opera in a routine night, either
  that or Omaha. At least, it was in Italian (I think),
  so it wasn’t St. Louis.

  on July 1, 2009 at 11:06 AM
• florezrocks says:

  At least Calleja sounds great – bigger sound than I remember. Hoffmann may be great after all

  on July 1, 2009 at 11:10 AM