Notorious cumblogger JJ has finally cleaned up his mess. [New York Post]
La Cieca is delighted to note that two of the best-remembered and most-coveted “Live from the Met” telecasts have at last been made available on DVD. Otello (25 September 1978) and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci (5 April 1978) are now available at the Met Opera Shop and online at www.metoperashop.org, “as well as through other outlets.”
La Cieca’s cher public will be happy to know that both these releases may be purchased at amazon.com:
Otello really is a gem, with Jon Vickers in excellent form (a stray high note or two notwithstanding), a superb balance of passion and intelligence. The vocal and physical dignity he brings to the role firmly places the work on the plane of high tragedy. The Desdemona is (as you all know) Renata Scotto, in a part that is not a natural fit vocally — her timbre is narrow and steely where one would want a more plush sound. But to hear her phrasing a line like “Oh! come è dolce il mormorare insieme” or “Guarda le prime lagrime” is to remember just how specific and committed an artist she always was. (More, including previews, after the jump.) Read more »
La Cieca would like to introduce a new feature to parterre.com in which questions on opera-related etiquette (and probably “life issues” and stuff) sent in by the puzzled, the concerned and, perhaps on occasion, the merely inept.
Our first question come to us from “Baffled By the Bay” –
I have an opera friend who never fails to bring up how Verdi injected his nationalism into his operas. This same friend overlooks Wagner’s abhorrent extra-musical tendencies. Could you please advise me on a polite way for me to tell my friend to shut his trap?
La Cieca thinks this sort of query is best done by crowdsourcing, which means she’ll let you, cher public, offer your suggestions.
So, cher public, those of you who are buying tickets for the Met today. What’s the experience like?
George Steel recently gave Anthony Tommasini a sneak peak at his bulging Koch Theater. The Times scribe, “dodging sparks from welders and ducking under hanging cables” soon realized that the “boyish” intendant is just like President Obama, sort of. [NYT]
Naughty Feldmarschallin spoiled the most recent Regie quiz by blurting out the answer, so La Cieca will repeat her usual entreaty in advance this time. The point of this quiz is not to see if you can recognize a production you have seen (or have seen reviewed) but rather, working from the images, to try to guess what opera it might be. Now, the next blurter will have commenting privileges suspended, so stop with the blurting. The solution to the quiz, as well as a new puzzler, after the jump.
The Gran Teatre del Liceu has posted 70 clips from a variety of their opera productions over the last decade or so. Great singing and improbable regie: who could ask for anything more?
Cher Public