parterre box

12 comments

• Buster says:

  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?

  on July 2, 2009 at 1:52 PM
• Drammy says:

  By 59 years young, you mean “30 years old”?

  on July 2, 2009 at 2:04 PM
• manou says:

  Is she played by Ellen Burstyn?

  on July 2, 2009 at 2:12 PM
• Will says:

  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.

  on July 2, 2009 at 6:30 PM
• armerjacquino says:

  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.

  on July 2, 2009 at 7:08 PM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  Hang it up HAG – leave NYCO ASAP

  on July 2, 2009 at 7:31 PM
• SuorAngelica says:

  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!

  on July 2, 2009 at 11:49 PM
• Krunoslav says:

  Mme. Baker could begin earning her keep at NYCO by enacting the last moments of Elena Makropulos.

  on July 3, 2009 at 12:27 AM
• Camille says:

  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.

  on July 3, 2009 at 12:37 AM
• Meimei says:

  How’s that for irony? Beverly Sills died on Baker’s birthday in 2007.

  on July 3, 2009 at 12:58 AM