Ether or
La Cieca is delighted to announce the 2009-2010 Saturday afternoon broadcast season brought to you by the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Radio Network, beginning December 12. For each of these broadcasts, La Cieca will host (or at least leave the doors open for) a chat amongst the cher public.
So, while you’re getting your radio tubes revarnished or whatever it is you do, put your mind on this, my dears. Shall the chat format this season be the comment-based one we have followed recently (which allows for archiving of the comment thread, and helps out parterre.com’s circulation numbers) or the “instant message” form we used in previous seasons?
Your comments and discussions on this issue will help guide La Cieca in her continued service to her cher public. The complete broadcast schedule follows.
December 12 (12:30 PM) Puccini: Il Trittico. Ranzani; Racette, Murphy, Blythe, Licitra, Pirgu, Lucic, Corbelli
December 19. Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann . Levine; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held
December 26. Strauss: Elektra. Luisi; Bullock, Voigt, Palmer, Schmidt, Nikitin
January 2 Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel. Davis; Persson, Kirchschlager, Plowright, Langridge, Croft
January 9 Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier . De Waart; Fleming, Graham, Schäfer, Cutler, Allen, Sigmundsson
January 16 Bizet: Carmen . Nézet-Séguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Kwiecien
January 23 Barber: Vanessa (Archive Broadcast from February 1, 1958). Mitropoulos; Steber, Elias, Resnik, Gedda, Tozzi
January 30 Verdi: Stiffelio. Domingo; Radvanovsky, Cura, Dobber, Ens
February 6 Verdi: Simon Boccanegra. Levine; Pieczonka, Giordani, Domingo, Morris
February 13 Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment . Armiliato; Damrau, Palmer, Te Kanawa, Flórez, Muraro
February 20 Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos. Petrenko; Stemme, Kurzak, Connolly, Ryan, Schmeckenbecher
February 27 Puccini: La Bohème . Armiliato; Netrebko, Cabell, Beczala, Finley, Cavalletti, Gradus, Plishka
March 6 TBA
March 13 Shostakovich: The Nose . Gergiev; Popov, Gietz, Szot
March 20 Janácek:: From the House of the Dead (performance from Fall 2009). Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White
March 27 Thomas: Hamlet. Langrée; Dessay, Larmore, Spence, Keenlyside, Morris
April 3 Verdi: Aida. Carignani; Papian, Zajick, Licitra, Guelfi, Colombara, Kocán
April 10 Mozart: Die Zauberflöte . Fischer; Kleiter, Shagimuratova, Polenzani, Gunn, Pittsinger, König
April 17 Verdi: La Traviata . Slatkin; Gheorghiu, Valenti, Hampson
April 24 Puccini: Tosca . Levine; Mattila, Kaufmann, Terfel, Del Carlo
May 1 Rossini: Armida . Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg
May 8 Berg: Lulu . Levine; Petersen, von Otter, Lehman, Schade, Pittsinger, Morris.
I vote for the older version. That was a real chat. This now you have to refresh to see the latest comments and at that point we are already somewhere else in the music.
I vote for the old way. The current way is more of a forum and less of a “chat” in the real definition of the word. Or better yet, why not just post a link to a chat room like there used to be, and those who wish to comment here can do so without entering the room? The real chat way is more fluid, allows for more conversation without having to hit refresh all the time. Let’s go back to it.
Instant chat. Comment-based discussion on a live opera performance is odd and lethargic in response time.
I like the new way. A couple of times already this season, I’ve listened to the beginning of the broadcast driving home from work, then caught up with the comments as I listened to the rest at home.
Though the sub-comment thing and my laziness combined mean I really only get the comments that appear at the bottom of the page after I refresh…
Anyone know why March 6 is TBA? Atilla is scheduled for that day. Are they afraid to broadcast it?
I think I read on this blog that Riccardo Muti is conducting he will not allow a live radio broadcast or HD transmission. Those seem like very strange demands to me. I think the simplest solution would be a get a different guy to stand in front of the orchestra and make spastic gestures with his hands. They’re all replaceable.
Geeze what a prima donna!(in the negative sense). From other things I’ve heard about him I’m not surprised. Sounds like something Karajan would pull. Then again, it does conjure up the Golden Age, when opera was full of Eccentrics.
They’re not airing a Turandot either? (Jan. 23)
(Not that they should – but normally they would…?)
If it is true, and I suspect it is, that Muti is roadblocking “live” transmission of ATILLA then I really think he should be replaced for that date now. Armilato is scheduled to lead the final group of performances and should be promoted. The MET should not allow Muti to set a precedent as to what is presented live on radio – let alone HD transmissions.
Karajan broadcast WALKüRE and RHEINGOLD – the latter with a substitute as Fricka. Reiner’s Strauss broadcasts are famous, and so on. It’s true that Carlos Kleiber refused to lead live broadcasts when he was at the MET. So they didn’t schedule any of his performances for Saturday matinees, which at the time were the only broadcasts.
If Muti is told that Armilato will handle the broadcast on 3/6, that’s “trouble” enough. There may be consequences, but the MET management has to be in control of what it schedules and when, and must have a free choice in choosing what it broadcasts.
Muti has always been a bit of a trumped-up bandmaster. One of the chilliest concerts I’ve ever been to was a programme of (I think) Mozart and Schubert in which he conducted the Vienna Phil, and a recent glitzy Chicago Symphony programme wasn’t exactly brimming with soul.
With a comparative rarity like Attila, at least no-one will know where singers are being deprived of interpolated high notes. (I mean, what’s Abigaille’s cabaletta without a huge top C to cap it off?)
Early Verdi isn’t “conductors opera”;thats why I think it is silly to withhold a braodcast of Atilla because of the conductor. Anybody can lead that oop-pah-pah stuff. And after hearing Sutherland cap off Odabella with a high E natural, its gonna sound like a let down with no high note at the end.
Provided that I agree with the fact that it’s silly to withhold a broadcast because of the conductor, I beg to disagree with your statement that anyone can conduct early Verdi. It takes a great conductor to make sure that early Verdi results much more than oop-pah-pah. Just compare any Gardelli recording (competent but pedestrian and monotonous ) with Levine’s stirring Giovanna d’Arco.