A Masked Ball
Squirrel is using his Parterre Pulpit to make a pitch. If the Met wants to produce a work that has never been seen in New York, they could do worse than a new production of Carl Nielsen‘s excellent comic opera Maskarade. It’s easy listening for sure, melodically akin to La boheme or Lehar, but marked by Nielsen’s mature style – folk-song simplicity, and a love of cacophony and unlikely orchestration.
The Met has been beat to the US premiere by Sarasota Opera, who offered a Danish-language production in 1995 (which Squirrel saw when he was still just a small squirrel). But this opera is ready for the Big Time, having been produced in recent years at the Bregenzer Festspiele, Salzburger Festspiele, and Covent Garden. So who will get there first, The Met or City Opera?
To hear more, there is a wonderful 1970s recording, recently re-released on Da Capo
UPDATE: A member of the kære publikum has pointed out that Maskarade was indeed given a New York performance by the Bronx Opera in 1983, and reprised in 1999. Thanks for pointing this out. Sarasota still has the American Danish language premiere, and the work still awaits a major US stage with a top professional cast.
Forget about the opera. I just want to hop into the shower with that snacky bear. WUF!! Drop the soap, you bad, bad baritone!
If one wants a worthwhile opera to stage for the first time , what about Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus(King Artur). If you love the Wagnerian style….this is a beautiful wallow with Chausson’s ear for musicality. The love duet is long , very long, perhaps longer than the Act2 one from Tristan. I play the Erato discs of the opera with Zylis -Gara, Quilico and Winbergh, often.
Le Roi Arthus was done in here in NYC in the last decade by Botstein with American Symphony Orchestra with, I felt, kind of only a serviceable cast(the poor Roi himself was a replacement/understudy for whom one had to feel sympathy).
It would please me no end to see this marvelous work staged, but greatly fear what a Regie Theater director would make of Genievre’s self-strangulation! Could you imagine what the Zimmerwoman would make of it?
Nevertheless, a lush score, with many beauteous moments.
Mr.Harry, could you kindly give me some advice as to how one could obtain a copy of the Linda Esther Gray Tristan und Isolde? You seem to know a great deal about recordings and I would so love to have this marvelous interpretation.
Thank you very much for your trouble.
Reuter was a rather fabulous Orest in Elektra at Covent Garden. He outsang the ladies (Bullock, Schanewilms, Henschel), none of whom really made the grade on the evening I was there.
Agreed – he was impressive, more so than the ladies (which makes for a pretty terrible Elektra, really).
I did once see a concert performance of Le Roi Arthus, with Siegmund Nimsgern in the title role and the melon-breasted Nicole Lorange (who I believe sang a Francesca da Rimini at the Met, as well as one of Renata Scotto’s handmaidens in the same piece).
Melon-breasted Madame Lorange!!
Ca c’est drole!!!
It’s always better to have breasts like melons rather than oranges.
It was not a criticism, just an observation. They were rather splendid breasts, in fact. And, as I remember, she sang very well in a clear, but powerful soprano.
Hey, off topic… but Opera Depot has a 1969 performance of Carmen, starring…. wait for it… Dame Kiri!
The one in English? They’ve had that for years.
One of my favorite pieces of music of any genre.
And the great Helen Donath:
Utterly delightful — Thanks.
What a lovely singer, Ms. Donath!
I would trade the proposed Maskerade for this Lustigen Weiber, no contest.
And an acorn (and peace offering) to Squirel:
Thanks, Sanford! Lovely!
It really wasn’t personal – we can’t see ALL the concerts in NYC now can we??
The one I’m kicking myself for missing was Michelle de Young (today, I think?) at the 92nd St Y
Ah, Dame Mags. A little Golden Age all of her own.
Another acorn with a renewed invite:
Hans Lick, it’s just not true about GUILLAUME TELL being boring. San Fran did it with Merritt, Noble and Vaness and it was quite thrilling — “I went down twice.” It certainly has one of the great finales in all of opera and EVERYBODY stole from the score.
I often think it’s the great black hole in most New York-based critics’ knowledge — though several of them have many other gaping holes waiting to be plugged up.
With Kaufmann on the scene to plus up eager holes, the Met should revive KOENIGSKINDER with him, Terfel and ?????? as the Goose Girl – maybe it’s time for Fiend and Billingsgate to field a new production for Susannah Glanville.
And Kaufmann can also do TIEFLAND, which actually does bear revival.
Maybe Dancin’ Danielle can bring back LA MUETTE DE PORTICI and MLADA, perfect for her vocal gifts. *Bless* William R. Braun for blowing the whistle on her grossly deficient Mozart album in OPERA NEWS and kudos to them for publishing it despite “the industry”
having so much wrapped up in her promotion.
Marooned in the soggy Netherlands on a Christmas Day of 1995, I was lucky enough to see a transmission of a broadcast (repeated twice on the same day) of the last two acts of Guillaume Tell, featuring Francoise Pollet and, I think, Chris Merritt. It was a real eye and ear opener as that flipping last act, the way Riccardo Chailly conducted it, was one of the most fan_fucking_tastic things I’ve EVER heard!!! It’s worth the whole opera just to hear the end.
No wonder Rossini stopped composing after that. Nobody would have comprehended him and probably he didn’t know how to surpass himself.
Well, still haven’t heard the first few acts, but what an indelible impression that made upon me.
Just cut the ballets, and let it play.
oh also, I think ‘Dancin’ Danielle’ as La Muette de Portici is a SCREAM! She is SOOOOO L.A.! She should go back to L.A. and get a talk show.
She could do an opera version of ‘Single Ladies’.
Stuart Neill sang Arnold, Timothy Noble Tell.
Pollet replaced Charlotte Margionio, who withdrew one week before the rehearsals.
Thanks, Buster, for jogging my memory!. . Surprising, as Stuart Neill made a big impression on me at that time, later giving me high hopes for his Puritani debut at Met.
Things did not go as well there, it seems and we’ve heard little from him since. Seems a shame.
(Yes, I know he was in scaligera Don Carlo last December)
.
All in all, a wonderful Christmas Day present for all
The other day, one of the French TV stations in Toronto showed a Guilleme Tell with Hampson/Giordani/Papian and it was pretty good. THe sound quality from this station is never very good but the opera had its exciting moments. It strikes as the kind of opera that only comes to life with really exciting singing. Part of the excitement for me is the tenor part of Arnold, which has such a high tessitura while still requiring some heft of sound. When a singer nails it, it’s quite thrilling.
Camille 21.1.1, You asked about the Linda Esther Gray Tristan & Isolde. It was a digital recording released on Decca (5Lps)-Goodall conducting with a support cast of John Mitchinson (Tristan), Anne Wilkens, Phillip Joll, and Gwynne Howell and Welsh National opera forces. I may be wrong but i do not think it has made it to CD as yet.
Thank you VERY much, Mr. Harry for that bit of information.
If I have got to buy another turntable, I will, as that performance is out of this world.
And Harry — RANT ON! I love your rants.
Someone has got to have the brains and bluster to do the dirty work of separating the wheat from the chaff.
Sweet Sanford – #23 As one who was there, I can tell you I’m not sure that I remember much fire but the music was beautifully sung and she did look hot!
There was a production of a fully uncut William Tell on video and CDs from La Scala (in Italian) from 1988 with Zancanero, Merritt and who else but.Ms Studer…………….(yes Cherry Studel cake)! “I am already shutting down the defense hatches…the brick bats are falling as I write… I plead guilty I have those CDs in my possession……what is the punishment?”