Trilogy of chatter
La Cieca invites all the cher public to a troika of talk during tonight’s Met season premiere of Il trittico. The performance begins at 8:00 pm.
For vocal scores of these operas, try the Giacomo Puccini page of the IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library.
The librettos:
anyone home? I’m loving Racette so far, I might have to go see this.
Here comes the crazy cat lady.
Ha. I’m here.
Hmmm. I’m surprised that there’s only the two of us. Trittico must be very unpopular. It’s become one of my favorites.
Is this the best cast for Trittico the Met can present? Maybe it should be given in English. At least those Americans new to opera could understand it. The New York City Opera before the 80’s could have done much better.
LOL. Well, that’s not going to do us much good now since that was THIRTY years ago. What specifically don’t you like about tonight’s performance?
Please suggest a better cast from today’s performers.
I guess narraboth couldn’t think of anyone. LOL.
Listened to the broadcast on the way home.
I’m back. I do like Antonenko (sp?) and think Giorgetta is a good match for Racette. But I’m listening to the RealAudio stream and the audio quality is not very good so I’m just listening and wishing I was in the house so I could hear decently and see the big-ass boat.
I think the Met’s boat might have a bigger ass than we had in SF. Our view was lengthwise.
why did the audience laugh when Lucic said “sgualdrina”? that’s not really supposed to be funny.
Racette did this in SF too, no? How was she live?
The boat is big. Though I only saw this production on the PBS broadcast.
was that laughter or gasps?
She did. I thought she was fantastic in every piece. She really disappeared into each role and was barely recognizable in appearance, manner, and voice.
Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi aren’t on the IMSLP; you have to use Google for this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ITtYAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover
or here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzwzitkdmdz
I meant to say they can’t be downloaded from the IMSLP at this time.
Racette has a sweetness in her voice tonight that I don’t remember from Butterfly. It should be particularly effective in the next two roles.
Since I’m so impressed by Racette’s histrionic use of her voice, I was defensively trying to come up with a way to describe what was distinctive in her voice (lack of distinctiveness, despite the theatrical uses to which she puts it, being the main complaint usually registered against her)–and had just settled on “sweetness” when your comment came up. I usually feel my efforts to describe voice are so hopelessly idiosyncratic and impressionistic that they’d mean nothing to anyone else (especially given the different ways we all hear)–so it’s a thrill to find your use of the word.
A few people here were making that exact complaint (in an earlier thread): that her voice isn’t distinctive. I didn’t understand that complaint but maybe it’s connected to what you say, that she uses her voice histrionically.
Well I have to agree with Zerbinetta about the sound quality on RealPlayer. It is so choppy that I really don’t think I can listen to the rest of the night. Which is too bad because based on the dress rehearsal, the best is yet to come, particularly the debut of Pirgu in Gianni.
Glad to hear Racette was good, between her and Antonenko I’m sold on this revival. Lucic’s good too.
I wasn’t on board, so to speak, at first because I’m lukewarm on Puccini in general. On that note, I really can’t stand Suor Angelica and am going to go listen to some Wagner or something. Also, I want to escape Margaret and William. See you for Gianni Schicci.
Her enunciation is fantastic. I can follow every syllable. I don’t know Italian very well, so I don’t know if her pronunciation is correct, but it works for me. And the orchestra played very well, I thought. Very menacing.
Cruz, I think one of racette’s big strengths is her use of the words. she puts a lot of shading and color into them. It’s something that I really like.
Haha. OK, Zerbinetta, see you in an hour. Tell us then why you don’t care for Puccini. I didn’t like him so much at first, but the first thing I heard by him was Boheme.
Just checking in and THE NUNS ARE STILL SINGING. And then we’ll have the intermission of eternity and I kind of want to sleep soon. I fully support the reordered version described below, though for different reasons.
I’m not sure quite why Puccini isn’t really my thing. I definitely like him more than I used too. I think the music strikes me as just too lush and romantic too much of the time, I tend to go for things that are snappier or at least have some contrast (see my nom di Parterre). Schicchi is my favorite Puccini, which probably makes me a bad Puccini fan (though I like Turandot as well).
The nuns finished as I was typing. Finally.
I can understand that. People like different things. Lush and romantic isn’t for everyone. When I first started listening to Puccini’s music, it struck me as a precursor to film soundtracks. I’m still not completely sold on Boheme, but I now like Trittico and Fanciulla and even Tosca. I say “even Tosca” because Act III seems to me filled with soundtrack music.
They’re undoubtedly unprepared to see “BITCH!” pop up on their MetTitles.
Could it be shock, perhaps? For me, it’s a shocking moment after Michele’s tenderness.
bitch is not a very descriptive translation for sgualdrina. Sgualdrina means WHORE.
It’s a big step forward from the prissy translation that used to be used in England (according to Spike Hughes): “Flirt!”
WHORE is what pops up. It’s a sarcastic laughter from the audience.
Oh, haha. In my libretto, it’s translated as Slut!
In mine, it’s Alto.
Is that translated, or illustrated?
La Cieca, this “new” format for chat during live broadcasts is NOT very satisfactory. Since it lacks spontaneity and any real sense of “chat” at all, not very many people participate. I suspect you are already very aware of this, and can probably do little about it. But move whatever you have to move to get our “old” chat format back–I enjoyed those very much.
I think it depends on the opera and the amount of anticipation. Tosca was a good chat for obvious reasons, but for Il Trittico, maybe no one cares. I’m not listening now. Is it still going on?
OH Jesus, javier. Yes. It’s only one-third done.
Yeah, I just started listening.
I assume Blythe is the Princess. I like her. She reminds me a bit of Marilyn Horne.
I am not a Lucic fan. Tonight he sounds as if he doesn’t know what’s going on. Antonenko has a very “manly” voice, pretty adecuate for Luigi. Racette’s Giorgetta is very lyrical and sweet. I sort of liked it.
Was Lucic “Michele”?
Yes, Racette’s voice is sweet, in the same way that Amara’s was ( and that’s meant as a complement).
SGUALDRINE!
Yes, I think Blythe is the Princess. Have you seen her live yet?
Nah.
The Met Opera Website is very bad about displaying the cast lists, I must say.
Go to the Archives. They list the entire cast for the performance in progress and the next scheduled one of the opera in question.
Thanks, messa di voce.
When I saw the HD of this production, with two friends, we were so emotionally spent after Angelica (Fritolli, Blythe), we agreed that the show would have worked better with the comic relief (Schichi) in the middle. It will never happen.
A trivia fact I know! It was done this way by NYCO in 1967 (the season Sills did it, though she didn’t sing in the re-ordered sequence).
After 2-1/2 hours of heavy opera, even tonight at home, I’m not in the right mood for the silliness of Schichi. But I would be eager for the wrenching emotionalism of Angelica.
I’m debating checking out before Schicchi. I can see why it comes last, but my mind is wanting something big and dark.
shhhhhh. quiet. she’s singing her big aria.
Sounds like the audience likes her tonight.
I’ve enjoyed the first two operas. I don’t think Teresa Stratas had a distinctive “identifiable” voice, but she sure was a brilliant actress (especially in these three roles), and I feel Racette is following her career path as a singing actress rather than as a Voice.
I envy the people who got to see Stratas and Scotto do these three roles.
You mention Stratas…. I saw the Boheme of my life in Austin last Sunday. Afterwards, I said to the tenor (Gueze) that he and Stratas would be the ideal Rodolfo and Mimi, because they both sing the Story, rather than the Voice.
I saw one of the, I think, 3 1/3 performances Stratas did of Trittico. One of the great opera experiences of my life. Absolutely hilarious in Schicchi. Overwhelming in Angelica, though maybe with one slice of ham too many for my taste. Jimmy stood on the podium clapping through ALL the curtain calls. The great revelation was Tabarro. Giorgetta was the the older sister of Stratas’s street urchin Nedda. Her desire to get out of Bellevue for something better was the driving force of her life. At the end of the act, I was shocked to find my cheeks were covered with tears.
ENVY those who suffered through La Screecho’s “Trittico”? You’ve GOT to be kidding. I envy anyone who escaped it.
So, did anyone else detect an ugly note at the end of “Senzo mamma”? I’ll listen again next week to see if tonight’s croak was a mistake or if Racette caught her voice as an acting choice. What did the rest of you think?
I didn’t notice a croak, but I did want the two high Cs held longer. Greedy me.
At least those high C’s were in tune and didn’t sound like cat had been grabbed by the balls. They were real, honest to gosh high C’s – which many here have claimed in the past Racette doesn’t have.
I think the rather girlish timbre of her voice is a good match for this rep, because Puccini asks for voices of spinto weight to play “young”. She’s got the “sweet” timbre, but the voice is big, and can ride the climaxes without strain. The comparison earlier to Amara was apt. it’s a voice that doesn’t sound as substantial as it really is.
Puccini’s Manon would be good for Racette… A young girl who needs a substantial voice.
I heard it. The ending of “Senza mamma” was kind of bad so I went and gave myself a haircut, not because she was bad, but because I needed one. I missed “O mio babbino caro”. Was it bad?
It wasn’t her best. To me, she sounded a little tired. But I’d seen her perform it live and so expected her to do it in a non-traditional way: a little bit dopey, a little bit scheming. I didn’t mind it but verdilover really didn’t care for it.
“I heard it. The ending of “Senza mamma” was kind of bad so I went and gave myself a haircut”
LOL that’s so funny, because right about then I clipped my toenails. And I was in the house!!!
this tenor sounds like he’s really pushing. hard to judge off RealAudio, but I am suspicious.
Good Baritone, and the best singing so far.
Blythe has a great voice that fits well for this rep. It is a pity that she does not have mastery enough of her voice to be able to sing more demanding rep (Ulrica, Azucena, Etc…) – but it is a wonderfull instrument.
The Schicchi tenor screams.
Racette… well I only picked up the broadcast at the end of Suor Angelica. I quite like her, but the evening definitelly took its tool. It seems that all notes above an A are unfocused (you can’t tell if she is tune or not because the note does not have a center to it). The “babbino caro” was particularly bad. I don’t think the same artist should sing the three operas, even when the same artist is a much more accomplished singer.
Blythe sang Azucena here in SF just this season (Sept-Oct). I didn’t see her because the second-cast Azucena had taken over by my night.
“the evening definitelly took its tool.”
Good for you. I’ve had way too many evenings where the tool was definitely not taken.
Lol, being a non-english speaker the evening can certainly take is TOLL on me as well
It’s amazing how much people can actually understand what has been written incorrectly with a lot of typos and misspellings. So to make fun of a typo is just STOOPID.
No making fun of a typo. Just picking up on an unintentional double entendre. Get a sense of humor.
I like Racette a lot, but that unfocused quality that Verdilover talks about, the tendency for the voice to spread, especially when pressure is put on it in the upper middle, as well as the actual timbre is reminiscent of Sills past her prime.
Did you notice it throughout or just from the end of Suor Angelica and through Gianni Schicchi? I’m afraid it wasn’t strong enough for me to notice until Schicchi. Not a perfect evening, by any means, but I thought she was pretty good. (And I don’t mean to start another round of the “since when does the Met traffic in ‘good enough’?” game.)
Blythe did Azucena in London a couple of years ago and she was sensational. It changed my views on her. Having heard her on CD, I didn’t really take to her, but live she was magnificent. Huge sound, but well controlled and at the service of the drama.
I’m pretty sure the San Francisco Performances in September were Blythe’s first Azucena.
Sombody please commission these new operas for Racette:
Pirgu is much better than he sounded tonight…quite a strong lyric tenor. Check him out on youtube.
I saw him with Ms. Dessay in Traviata. Not a huge voice but I enjoyed his Alfredo very much.
Hey Y’all
Was in the house tonight. From my seat up in the rafters, all the voices sounded pretty damn good except the Baritone in Tabarro who was just a great big ole bore.
Nice work from Racette – not legendary but totally worthy of the house. O Mio Babbino Caro was slow as hell. Shoudn’t it have that magical kind of floaty tempo in between two and six? This was a grueling six. No idea where they got this Ranzani guy.
chin chin
Buoso Donati
Was in the house tonight as well and thought Racette kind of ran out of gas by Schicchi (her “O mio babbino caro” being maybe the weakest moment of all), but that she was amazing in Suor Angelica and very good in Tabarro. I thought Schicchi is one of those operas that works much better in the theater than on recording. I thought that the ensemble tonight overall was of a very high level. Corbelli as Schicchi, Blythe as Principessa, and Antonenko as Luigi deserve special mention.
The production and sets were opulent but never tacky, the intermissions were long but not that long and the opera ended on time.
Here’s a shallow question: how did Racette look tonight? As voluptuous as in SF (see videoclip on previous thread)? Did the dresses flatter her as in SF (except for Suor Angelica, I guess)?
And did she look tired by Schicchi’s start? Those of us listening on sirius also detected a little fatigue by “Babbino.”
Racette looked okay but not great in all of them, which is fine by me. I don’t think Giorgetta and Angelica and even Lauretta are supposed to be glamour pusses. She’s a bit pear-shaped, and her face was always somewhat plain. She’s one of those performers who can really disappear into a role though, and it’s not until the curtain calls that you start even noticing or wondering what she really looks like.
She’s one of those performers who can really disappear into a role though.
That’s one of the things I really like about her.
I’ve always sort of hated the operas in “Il Trittico” but had never seen them together before Racette just did them in San Francisco this fall in her out-of-town debut in the three roles. Racette was not only a phenomenal performer all night, but the supporting cast was obviously a lot better in San Francisco than New York. Paolo Gavanelli in “Il Tabarro” and “Schicchi” was simply great, Brandon Jovanovich as the young lover in “Il Tabarro” was perfect luxury casting, and Ewa Podles as the Princess literally blew an explosion into the middle of the opera (in that awful “Suor Angelica”) and Racette stepped up to match her in a pair of performances I haven’t seen since Soderstrom and Sena Jurinac were doing “Jenufa” together. Too bad the Met is such a sausage factory and didn’t do as good a job in their subsidiary casting.
just back from the opera: huge success for Racette, very committed performances, great Puccini sound, best of all in Suor Angelica, but in all of them she was having some trouble controlling the very top of her voice, and yes she almost flubbed the last note of Senza Mamma; Pirgu sounded very good to me in the house; Lucic was disappointing; Blythe was splendid throughout; the production is quite satisfying; I enjoyed coming back from the intermission and ending with the comedy, which had brilliant ensemble work; and I really liked the debut conductor, thought he was getting some great work from the orchestra. . .
and much as I liked Racette, I think that in Suor Angelica Frittoli was even better. . .
I’m very dismayed to hear that Racette’s having trouble with her top notes. I hope she’s just ill or something and it’s not a sign of more permanent distress.
I thought that Blythe was best in Schicchi, but will admit that I was completely into Racette during the first two operas and so might have been blind (deaf?) to Blythe’s charms earlier in the evening.
I take that back. I noticed that Blythe was also very good in Suor Angelica.
Most definitely a success d’estime. As someone mentioned above…I too found frittoli more effective in Angelica. She really went all-out and pushed her voice to its limit, unlike Racette who had to manage it due to the length of the evening. But who knows…she just may have not been in great voice tonight….I will see it again and reserve my final judgement.
Did Frittoli sing only Suor Angelica during the last run, with other sopranos for Tabarro and Schicchi?
Guleghina sang giorgetta and some young russian soprano sang lauretta. I’ve heard racette make more of an impact in butterfly, which is more difficult than the trittico heroines, and makes me think she just wasn’t in very good voice last night.
FYI: Olga Mykytenko sang Lauretta during the 2007 Schicchi (I just found in the Met Archives online — thanks again to messa di voce).
“Dyke, ya know.”
Trumpet player too, ya know.
But what’s her revolution in dance?
I was in the house.
Racette was great in Tabarro, good high C.
Lucic…wtf? It sounded like a non-voice until the opening of the aria, and then it went away again. Too straight-toned and whitish, no squillo or excitement. The duet (La notte e’ bella, etc) was uncomfortable and not Italianate-sounding or really anything-sounding. The audience laughed at ’squaldrina’ because of tht title but also because of his awkward manner on stage. They also laughed when he put his cloak over the tenor.
Speaking of the tenor, he was good…good voice, too slavic-sounding for my taste and again not enough squillo, but at least we didn’t get stuck with Licitra.
Blythe sounded a mess in the house, must have been an off night for her, probably fatigued. Loud as hell, and the top was very unstable. She needs to rework the aria about the cat.
The young tenor singing the song vendor (Plenk?) was noteworthy. Pingy, Italianate sound for a lyric. Needs to smooth out the passaggio but he’s probably early 20s.
Racette was great in Suor, kind of biffed the release of the final note in the aria but everything else was so well sung that it wasn’t a big deal. She sounded done after this, though… I worried for her Lauretta.
Blythe was better in Suor, but still struggled on the top.
Schicchi was fun, the set change at the end is a great trick.
Corbelli is good in the this, the voice sounded a bit dry on top, but there are only a couple high notes in the role so he disguised it. Great acting performance from him.
Blythe again sounded hard-pressed to manage even an A-flat in this.
Racette made it through admirably, considering all that had come before. It’s a bigger voice than you would get for this role without the other 2 shows, so I wish she would just sing it out at this point in the night, instead of trying to finesse too much. They should have had her for Tosca.
Schicchi tenor Pirgu sounded great in his first ‘piangerem’. The rest was very unstable, sounded like he was cracking a little the whole time. The voice is small for Puccini (even Schicchi) at the Met. I heard his Traviata in Santa Fe also… it was just okay. He comes off the voice too much which gets him into trouble, causing the instability.
There were minor musical issues throughout and some unusual choices by the conductor. I wonder how much rehearsal he had?
Well I only listened to Tabarro but I was impressed with Zeljko Lucic. He seemed to get a good hand from the audience at the curtain calls.
I also saw the recent Trittico in San Francisco. The SF audience also tittered at Michele’s “sgualdrina.” The supertitles translated the word as “slut.” Doesn’t seem comical to me, but whatever…
San Francisco’s Luigi was stunning, Brandon Jovanovich. I believe he’s making his Met debut this season. Antonenko was not in the same league in my opinion.
I am not Ms. Racette’s #1 fan (though I am good friends with her #1 fan!) but I don’t understand the idea that her voice is not distinctive. I find it instantly recognizable myself. I liked her performances in Trittico but in the past have been most moved by her Butterflys in SF and most especially her Jenufa.
The finest Giorgietta of the postwar period was Betty Fretwell.
It seems La Tinsley would have been 62 at the time of this Turandot!
By the way, is La Cieca’s title for this thread taken from this classic?
httpv://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy1r4_trilogyofterror1975dvdrip_shortfilms
She certainly AIN’T no Birgit……
Nor Eva Turner, nor Joan ‘wonderlungs’ Sutherland not Gwyneth Jones either, or the other Eva.. Marton.
Perhaps the announcement was made just before Pauline Tinsley’s In Questa Reggia’ … ” Please fasten your safety belts, as of NOW! you have been warned!”
This piece can appear at times like: the listener has been unsuspecting being lead into the ‘Driller Killer’s chamber of horrors’.