It’s Pat!
Tonight’s Met season premiere of Il trittico features Patricia Racette‘s first local whack at the three heroines, which means La Cieca expects the parterre posse to be out in force. Check back here at parterre.com beginning at 7:45 for a live chat coinciding with the Sirius/RealNetworks broadcast of the Puccini three-parter.
Racette is all well and good and all, BUT HOW WAS MS. BLYTHE?? I was saddened having to miss her in the 2007 premiere production and was delighted to see her return to the part(s).
Blythe didn’t sing in the SF production, I don’t think. She was fabulous in the Met premiere. Her Principessa was perfection.
wrong because she’s “not your father’s lesbian,” or … ? What word do the kids use these days?
I don’t know what you mean by my father’s…
No, it just sounds kind of mean to me, that’s all.
I was afraid of that. Haven’t you ever heard “not your father’s Oldsmobile”? It was a joke.
I just realized that you might not even know what an Oldsmobile is. Never mind, I’ll shuffle back to the Home now.
Whoops. The above was meant for javier. Kashania, Ewa Podles sang the Pricipessa in the SFO production.
A vocal score for the entire Trittico can be found here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ITtYAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover
and here
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzwzitkdmdz
Doh! Just realized that the revival premiere is tonight. Jumped the gun a bit!
Podles was fabulous.
I didn’t see her as close up as the video camera in the clips above. Her “bustin’ out all over” look as Lauretta reminds me of Patricia Arquette in “The Medium.”
I really like both Racette and Frittoli but at the same time feel their voices are not distinctive at all.
On a tangential note, is anyone going to the Richard Tucker Gala Sunday? I heard that this year they are neither telecasting nor broadcasting it… Has anyone heard anything to the contrary?
That’s really a shame. I have enjoyed the Youtube videos of past galas.
I actually think Racette is one of the good ones out there. I heard her Elisabetta di Valois at the HGO in 200? and she was superb in a role not ideally suited to her voice. The upper register has real gleam and spin and she is the mistress of her instrument. Admittedly, the timbre is not truly distinctive, but she is a REAL singer.
Fritolli was an almost great that never happened. Frankly, I think she moved into the Verdi roles way too soon. While her voice was roughly the same weight as Price’s – heavy lyric – she lacked the technical security to sing those roles safely. Have heard little of her since. Any idea of how she sounds today?
Fritolli was a vocally convincing Amelia in the BSO concert version ( with Levine) of Simon Boccanegra this last January. Technically secure – no problems there.
I saw Patricia in La Traviata many moons ago in Santa Fe, and her voice was so much better in those days. I loved her in Butterfly which I saw on the internet though the voice doesn’t do much for me anymore. and, how is Ms. Blythe? Now that voice….the best I’ve heard in any HD production since O&E.
O&E ?
I wonder if Sally ever lusted after those boobs!
I’ve tried to like her voice but it is a shade too raw, or perhaps “dikey”. Who knows?
To me, it’s a really Anglo-Saxon sound. The sort of thing Vicar John ought to like. But with that blonde wig on as Lauretta, she really reminds me of the late, great Madeline Kahn. If anyone ever makes an opera of Blazing Saddles …