Comments on: Trilogy of chatter

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:09:12 +0000

I guess narraboth couldn’t think of anyone. LOL.

By: Harry

Harry — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:07:43 +0000

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’.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:02:21 +0000

It seems La Tinsley would have been 62 at the time of this Turandot!

By: Harry

Harry — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:57:31 +0000

She certainly AIN’T no Birgit……

By: La Cieca

La Cieca — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:31:21 +0000

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:31:07 +0000

By the way, is La Cieca’s title for this thread taken from this classic?

httpv://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy1r4_trilogyofterror1975dvdrip_shortfilms

By: The Vicar of John Wakefield

The Vicar of John Wakefield — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:41:14 +0000

The finest Giorgietta of the postwar period was Betty Fretwell.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:17:43 +0000

“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!!!

By: dorion

dorion — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:25:57 +0000

WHORE is what pops up. It’s a sarcastic laughter from the audience.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:49:35 +0000

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.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:00:20 +0000

FYI: Olga Mykytenko sang Lauretta during the 2007 Schicchi (I just found in the Met Archives online — thanks again to messa di voce).

By: scifisci

scifisci — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:33:31 +0000

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.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:26:42 +0000

Did Frittoli sing only Suor Angelica during the last run, with other sopranos for Tabarro and Schicchi?

By: mj

mj — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:55:42 +0000

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.

By: Indiana Loiterer III

Indiana Loiterer III — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:42:44 +0000

But what’s her revolution in dance?

By: Baritenor

Baritenor — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:42:37 +0000

I’m pretty sure the San Francisco Performances in September were Blythe’s first Azucena.

By: That Guy

That Guy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:35:14 +0000

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?

By: poisonivy

poisonivy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:52:59 +0000

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.

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:55:29 +0000

Trumpet player too, ya know.

By: Krunoslav

Krunoslav — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:06:01 +0000

“Dyke, ya know.”

By: scifisci

scifisci — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:16:06 +0000

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.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:11:25 +0000

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.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:55:26 +0000

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.

By: parpignol

parpignol — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:23:13 +0000

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. . .

By: sfmike

sfmike — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:51:38 +0000

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.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:47:08 +0000

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.”

By: poisonivy

poisonivy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:08:43 +0000

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.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:56:56 +0000

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

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:47:54 +0000

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.)

By: Graciella Scusi

Graciella Scusi — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:42:09 +0000

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.