parterre box

51 comments

• MontyNostry says:

  True, Often, but I quite like tenors who sound like baritones with extra top notes!

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:24 PM
• Zerbinetta says:

  Now I’m wishing I had left the thing on for the intermission. I missed part of the beginning of Act II because I was thinking of Met intermissions too.

  I can’t tell how he would sound in the house but there are a few really lovely moments from Heppner, mixed with some not so good ones. I guess he’s always like that.

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:26 PM
• Often admonished says:

  Agree, that is the preferred route. But it seems harder and harder to train reliably now. So I am looking at the virtues of tenors (Heppner, Gambill) who move into heroic roles.

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:27 PM
• lenski says:

  This Tristan seems to be dying during Act II

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:30 PM
• Joe Conda says:

  Finally, an Isolde doesn’t jsut get through the role by the skin of shortened intestine. And you can actually tell what pitch she’s singing. What a concept.

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:36 PM
• Often admonished says:

  Stemme is extraordinarily good. She is a musician. But the Melot was cast to make Heppner sound good.

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:40 PM
• Jay says:

  Was Berkley-Steele covering for Heppner? Salminen is amazing; hard to believe I first him as Marke in 1981. He’s lost some resonance but he sings, rather than barks, his music.

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:42 PM
• enzo says:

  Heppner sounds as though he’s nearing the end.

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:46 PM
• Jay says:

  Oops, Berkeley Steele, not Berkley-Steele (who in any case sounds like an over-the-hill Herod).

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:50 PM
• lenski says:

  I have to agree about Salminen. Amazing indeed. What a smart singer he is to achieve such longevity.

  My favorite Salminen performance/moment. I flew to Chicago to attend one of the Götterdämmerungs before the complete Ring. At the end of Act 2, Hagen (Salminen, duh) starts singing and sits on a long table facing the audience. The lights dim and only his silhouette is visible, dark, menacing. We were all spellbound.

  Weise von neuem
  der Niblungen Schar,
  dir zu gehorchen,
  des Ringes Herrn!

  That is why I go to the Opera….

  on October 31, 2009 at 4:51 PM