parterre box

12 comments

• 1
  Buster says:

  July 2, 2009 at 1:52 PM

  Yes, and it is also Inga Nielsen’s birthday, who sadly passed away last year.

  Her Chrysothemis is unforgettable. Too bad she did not record an awful lot – her Fidelio has been mentioned here as a great version, but not much else seems to be around?
• 2
  Drammy says:

  July 2, 2009 at 2:04 PM

  By 59 years young, you mean “30 years old”?
• 3
  manou says:

  July 2, 2009 at 2:12 PM

  Is she played by Ellen Burstyn?
• 4
  Will says:

  July 2, 2009 at 6:30 PM

  There was a video of Abduction from the Seraglio with Inge Nielsen that I saw on Bravo many years ago. As I recall, Dion van der Walt (who died young) was the Belmonte and Heinz Zednick the Pedrillo. The production wasn’t much–some directors were going through a phase where one character would pull another close for a dialog and then push him or her away roughly–but for those who admired Nielsen it is a good example of her earlier work.
• 5
  armerjacquino says:

  July 2, 2009 at 7:08 PM

  That was from Covent Garden, Will, and the cast was completed by Kurt Moll and Lilian Watson, with Oliver Tobias (who had been in all those schlocky Joan Collins 70s films called things like THE HUNK) as Selim. It was a dull old production, in thrall to the Sidney Nolan artwork which had been commissioned to go with it- I remember that the intro to ‘Marten Aller Arten’ was a colourful curtain being slowly pulled across the stage, and, um, that was it. Nielsen was great in it though, as she is in the Naxos Fidelio.

  Poor old Deon van der Walt, of course, shares with Marvin Gaye the sad distinction of having been shot dead by his own father.
• 6
  Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  July 2, 2009 at 7:31 PM

  Hang it up HAG – leave NYCO ASAP
• 7
  SuorAngelica says:

  July 2, 2009 at 11:49 PM

  Inge Nielsen, Deon van der Walt and Lillian Watson did two Abductions together–the Covent Garden under Solti with Oliver Tobias, and Kurt Moll as Osmin, and the year before, 1989, I think, in Salzburg with Heinz Zednik as Pedrillo. Both productions have their merits, and in light of the regie madness since, are models of restraint and clarity, especially the Salzburg.
  There’s a Freischutz on DVD under Harnoncourt, with Peter Sieffert, slightly past it, I think, Laslo Polgar, Inge Nielsen as Agathe and Malin Hartelius as Annchen. But it’s a Ruth Berghaus production and is beyond absurd, cruelly lit, doing no one any favors, particularly Nielsen, who sings it well enough. Hartelius looks about twelve and is the only one who isn’t too disfigured.
  Glad to see Inge Nielsen fondly recalled here. Her Salome is quite good, too. And if you can find it, there’s a beautifully sung but hilariously campy album of duets Ms. Nielsen made with her husband, the bass Robert Hale. It’s a Danish production, and the arrangements are pure Perry Como, Bell Telephone Hour!
• 8
  Krunoslav says:

  July 3, 2009 at 12:27 AM

  Mme. Baker could begin earning her keep at NYCO by enacting the last moments of Elena Makropulos.
• 9
  Camille says:

  July 3, 2009 at 12:37 AM

  I also love Bad Boys.

  And boys, the baddest ass in town right now is Robert Bolle, at the American Ballet Theatre, last night as Aminta the shepherd(!) in Frederick Ashton’s “Sylvia.”

  Believe me, one sight of him and you’ll all be flinging your old opera discs in the air.

  Think he has one more performance, in another ballet. If you want to know and see more, go to Opera Chic and check out the reams of information she has on Signor Ballerino.
• 10
  Meimei says:

  July 3, 2009 at 12:58 AM

  How’s that for irony? Beverly Sills died on Baker’s birthday in 2007.
• 11
  Buster says:

  July 3, 2009 at 2:34 AM

  Thanks all, for the Inga Nielsen comments. I loved her Chrysothemis in the great Willy Decker production. She had an open purse over her arm all the time – a great image, and very telling, but no longer so, when the production returned a couple of years later with another soprano. She really could act – and the voice was just glorious. I’ll definitely look out for that album with Robert Hale.
• 12
  Often admonished says:

  July 3, 2009 at 5:06 AM

  Nielsen also does a stunning Ozean, du Ungeheuer! for Janowski on the RCA CDs of Oberon. Her clear, forward sound and excellent technique more than make up for any presumed lack of heft.
  If you can’t have Frida Leider (no longer returning calls, alas) it is definitely the way to handle this role.