Comments on: Sex, Lies & Octavian

CruzSF commented

CruzSF — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:27:47 +0000

It’s certainly easier to listen to all those big people with big voices on the radio.

Thanks for the heads-up at Norma on Sirius. I’ve not heard this opera yet (because I like to have the libretto on first listen and I don’t own a recording of this yet). Caballe seems to be enunciating well enough for me to make out the words, so while I don’t know exactly what they’re saying, I can at least tell who they’re addressing.

The duet at the end of Act II was just beautiful.

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:20:51 +0000

By the way, isn’t this a moment for our dear friend the Vicar to expound on the line-ups at the dear old Coli c 1972?

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:37:09 +0000

Jay, who needs all those big people with big voices when we can have little people with little voices these days?

Jay commented

Jay — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:14:43 +0000

One of the 1976 Caballe/Verrett Normas capped a weekend that began with Puritani on Friday night and continued with Aida on Saturday matinee. Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, Placido Domingo, Cornell McNeil, and Caballe and Verret, all in about 27 hours. It rarely got any better at the Met than this.

parpignol commented

parpignol — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:12:18 +0000

MontyNostry: she’s not sounding very vulnerable right now in the duet with Pollione; if I were he I would head back to Rome on the next chariot; but she’s going to soften in the duets with Norma. . . I am really loving this performance. . .

squirrel commented

squirrel — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:06:11 +0000

right you are! so nice to be retired…

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:59:58 +0000

parpignol — can the fabulous Shirl do sweet and vulnerable, though?

parpignol commented

parpignol — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:55:27 +0000

easier than traveling to Vienna: Caballe and Verrett are singing a 1970s Met Norma on Sirius right now; I heard it once already this week, tremendous stuff!

CruzSF commented

CruzSF — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:53:33 +0000

MN: Renee is OK for me, but I find JDD to be always exciting. There’s a spontaneity in her performances that … hmmm … La Fleming sometimes lacks.

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:41:22 +0000

Allerseelen … Reich’ mir die Hand …

squirrel commented

squirrel — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:40:24 +0000

Don’t expect much, except some pumpkin soup!

CruzSF commented

CruzSF — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:37:32 +0000

Sure! I’ve never spent Halloween in Vienna, so why not?

squirrel commented

squirrel — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:31:55 +0000

cruz — cool, let’s all go to Vienna and camp out in the Stehplatz line! Sigh… the old days!

The Isokoski Desdemona which I saw was also ruined by one russian conductor who seemed to cruise in and lead the performance without so much as introducing himself to the cast. It was all over the place, wishywashy and BAD. I didn’t really blame her entirely.

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:30:30 +0000

Isokoski is also due to do Contessa and Marschallin in London this season.

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:29:14 +0000

ellerveira … Joyce DD has the most stunning technique. No sliding around there. Every note is in place and she can trill and purl with the best of them. I am no Renaaay fan, but I find the actual colour of her voice more beautiful than JDD’s — or at least, it used to be until she started colouring each note separately — but I know which of them I would rather listen to (and look at) for an evning. JDD is wonderfully HONEST.

CruzSF commented

CruzSF — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:24:10 +0000

squirrel: Isokoski seems to be hanging out in Vienna, from now until May (at least, she’s singing Lohengrin, Figaro, and Rosenkavalier there over these months).

I have to admit, I can’t imagine her as Desdemona either.

La Cieca commented

La Cieca — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:16:40 +0000

ellerveira: I think the word you are looking for is “ubiquitous.”

squirrel commented

squirrel — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:16:16 +0000

cruzSF -I’m glad to hear this! Isokoski was absolutely amazing as the Marschallin in at Vienna State Opera. I had found her ill suited as Desdemona in Paris and wasn’t sure about her, but boy am I now!

ellerveira commented

ellerveira — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:12:42 +0000

I wonder how many hold my invidious opinion that DiDonato is a better singer than Fleming. Better voice, better technique.

CruzSF commented

CruzSF — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:03:29 +0000

Kruno: I saw that Rosenkavalier with Isokoski and DiDonato in SFO. Both of them were very good — DiDonato was dazzling — and that performance transformed my fling with opera into a full-fledged love affair. I hope both of them return soon to SFO.