Comments on: Nico vs. fucking Brits

By: La Cieca

La Cieca — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:51:04 +0000

To continue commenting, cher public, please go to http://operazineparterrebox.blogspot.com/2009/10/nico-vs-brits.html

By: The Logical Tenor

The Logical Tenor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:38:58 +0000

By his sophomoric attempt at humoUr (oh so clever), It would seem to me that Mr. Muhly has as loose a grasp on the realities of language as he does on music-making.

By: The Logical Tenor

The Logical Tenor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:12:56 +0000

#21: That’s what happens when Garageband gets a virus.

By: Cocky Kurwenal

Cocky Kurwenal — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:28:20 +0000

Incidentally, I once met Charlotte Higgins at a party, during which she said to me ‘I know nothing about classical music’. It is remarkable just how often that comes across in her writing, not that the above article is necessarily a case in point.

By: Cocky Kurwenal

Cocky Kurwenal — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:26:19 +0000

Oftenadmonished, thank you for saving me the bother of correcting shorttop. I’ll just add that I’m surprised at just how often Carter does get programmed in London. When I was doing my degree and hence attending as much live contemporary music as I could, I was struck by just how much gets presented in this city from all major post-war names, American or otherwise.

By: browser

browser — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:25:13 +0000

Shorttop – I’m sorry; but do you need a passport to enter your world?… To say that John Adams and Elliott Carter (yes, you really ought to learn how to spell the name of this composer that you admire so much) are ignored in this country is so far wide of the mark as to be laughable! In a small country, major companies have mounted productions of Nixon in China (twice!), Dr Atomic and the Death of Klinghoffer in the last 5 years or so! And Carter’s works are often commissioned by UK arts bodies.

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:56:19 +0000

I can’t wait for ReNAY’s recording of “Do I know you from Somewhere?”

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:47:28 +0000

OY!

Earplugs will be included with each set of opera glasses.

By: Will

Will — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:28:03 +0000

shorttop, I don’t know your personal tastes but Britten and Elgar are truly a pretty tough act to follow. If young, developing composers are being compared with them, it is grossly unfair to be sure. Even Ades is well established now with at least two celebrated opera scores, so even he isn’t a fair stick to beat Muhly and others with.

I don’t know Muhly’s music but the proper comparison would be to some young Brit into electronics and pop crossover, genres that may or may not produce anything interesting.

By: Often admonished

Often admonished — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:25:55 +0000

“shun the talents of John Adams and Elliot Carter”

Nope. Adams just concluded a successful 3 year Composer residence with the BBC Symphony; UK Channel 4 was lead producer for the Klinghoffer film; The London Sinfonietta is a leading Carter commissioner and Oliver Knussen’s one of his best interpreters.

Try to get something right before you post.

By: shorttop

shorttop — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:00:55 +0000

re: Cousin and von der Weth, its easy to suggest a singer is having vocal problems when you dont see them on the scene anymore. Its a difficult and lonely life, and if you dont have a partner to keep you sane, grounded, as well as entertained it can be a bit depressing. Especially early on. No one tells you in conservatoire that being in a new city each month, not knowing where to call home, and not having anyone to go ‘home’ to, will make the fees and the adulation of an audience not worth it sometimes. Enough of that.

re: these fucking brits – they praise George Benjamin and Thomas Ades and they shun the talents of John Adams and Elliot Carter. No matter what an American composer does, they will never be as good or better than their holy grails of Britten and Elgar. Good on Nico, the music isnt bad. I personally cant hear his ‘voice’. His music doesnt have its own life just yet, to my ears. But it’s getting better. He is young, not many have it all figured out at 28.

By: Often admonished

Often admonished — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:48:50 +0000

With a legion of mediocre crossover minimalist arrangers pretending to be composers swarming around Hoxton there is absolutely no need to import another. This kid’s opus is dead in the water. Already.

By: browser

browser — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:36:10 +0000

She still sings for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Was scheduled for Donna Anna, Lucia and Aspasia at Covent Garden when it all unravelled. As I understand it, it was an emotional problem, not a vocal one. But artists shoved forward too quickly can suffer in either way…

By: hab mirs gelobt

hab mirs gelobt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:01:06 +0000

speaking of alexia cousins, didn’t something similar happen to alexandra von der weth? she sang a fabulous daphne in london in 2002 and soon after she cancelled everything she was supposed to do here (lucia, donna anna…). apparently she sang norma and that wrecked her voice!

though she is still singing i heard, but has changed her repertoire drastically…

By: browser

browser — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:31:33 +0000

To suggest that Nico Muhly is the saviour of classical music is just too much. This is very ordinary. Not poor, just ordinary, and I wonder how much attention he would have got if he hadn’t been PR friendly…

By: browser

browser — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:26:10 +0000

Alexia Cousin was pushed far too far, far to fast, far too early. Casting Directors participated in a collective madness that led to there being only one victim. It was rather shameful in my opinion…

By: Noel Dahling

Noel Dahling — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:06:17 +0000

Squirrel, at #6: God that pisses me off. He looks like a chicken before you cook it.

By: Henry Holland

Henry Holland — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:49:12 +0000

Well, Nico Muhly’s music does indeed suck, in that minimalist “Right, got it, you’ve repeated that idea for 3 minutes, let’s move on” way; he’s an orchestrator, not an interesting composer, let alone someone I would consider in the classical tradition (Downtown, yes) and the Brits love to give “flavours of the moment” a good kicking, so I look forward to updates about this vital matter from La Cieca.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:42:41 +0000

Mystery indeed. I assumed at the time she may be quite ill, but now years have passed and no further notices about her. I speculate she just had a total burnout with the pressures and mindfuck of a singing career. She debuted at 19, for god’s sake, it must have been a roller coaster ride.

Still, it defies all logic to see someone with such a tailwind just give it all up like that! Perhaps she had a “breakdown” as they used to call it.

By: Graciella Scusi

Graciella Scusi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:34:56 +0000

I wondered myself, squirrel, but wasn’t able to find a reason; it seems to be a mystery. So, whether it was the pressures of a budding major career ( she cancelled an upcoming vienna Opera debut as Manon Lescaut) or something personal, ???? I’d like to know myself.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:08:32 +0000

Graciella, Thank you! Yes, that’s her. I was in paris around that time and people were talking. My friend and I were wondering if any good reason was ever discovered for her decision.

By: Graciella Scusi

Graciella Scusi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:04:24 +0000

@3 squirrel…. I think you’re referring to Alexia Cousin who I believe announced her retirement when she was starring in Martinu’s ‘Juliette’ in Paris. She had a beautiful voice and was quite young.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:41:11 +0000

Conan o Brien two minutes ago: “Royal Opera House in London is commissioning a Twitter opera, written 140 characters at a time… it’s part of their new initiative to help people hate opera in a brand new way”. Bravo!

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:38:54 +0000

no, that’s way earlier. This girl was singing her first roles at Opera de Paris from like 2000-2004 and then just gave it all up – or so she announced. I was speaking with someone about this and wondered what ever happened to her. I think she did a noteworthy Manon??

By: Troppo Primavera

Troppo Primavera — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:32:27 +0000

Re 3…Is it Isabelle Vernet?

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:04:26 +0000

can anybody help me with an offtopic thing, I’m racking my brains…. a young rising French soprano ended her career mysteriously in 2005. She cancelled all engagements and said she “wished to pursue other endeavors” through her website. I remembered it to be Mireille Delunsch but I was wrong… can anyone tell me the girl’s name? It’s driving me crazy!

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:56:04 +0000

When will the comments about ReNAY’s Juilliard masterclass begin?

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:52:25 +0000

oh brother here we go

no such thing as bad publicity!