To be sure, it’s been only nine years, but it certainly feels much longer
“In addition to her work on stage and in recordings, Renée Fleming has represented Rolex timepieces in print advertising since 2001. Master Chef Daniel Boulud has created the dessert ‘La Diva Renée’ (1999) in her honor, and she has inspired the ‘Renée Fleming Iris’ (2004), which has been replicated in porcelain by Boehm.
“Having been added to Mr. Blackwell’s best dressed list in 2001, her gowns have been designed by Gianfranco Ferré, Issey Miyake, Bill Blass, Vivienne Westwood, Angel Sanchez, Oscar de la Renta, John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, and Karl Lagerfeld.” [voiceofthecentury.net (NSFW: autoplays verismo!)]
No, that bearded figure is supposed to be Renee Fleming. It’s actually a cute picture, but in chocolate her adorable smile does kind of look like a beard.
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V61N2/photos/f6-02.JPG
Steber, too? Midler. Farrell. My god, who DIDN’T sing at the baths during my youth?
Naxos also has that live 1949 TRAVIATA on their streaming site, but it’s blocked in the U.S. Boo. They do provide this review, though:
Jed Distler
ClassicsToday.com, March 2001
“For the most part, a vocal feast awaits you, broadcast live from the Met on January 22, 1949… The principals in this marvelous La Traviata are captured in their exultant primes. As Violetta, Eleanor Steber can do anything. Verdi’s florid writing fazes her not one bit: she brings fluid defiance to Sempre Libera’s quick, downward phrases, and instills Verdi’s long lyrical lines with ravishing, floating colors. Robert Merrill is a freer, more supple Germont than his driven portrayal in the famed Toscanini broadcast two years earlier, with just as huge a sonority. Heard in his first Met Alfredo, Giuseppi di Stefano fares best in the first act, and becomes increasingly erratic as he pushes his tone for effect, and causes a few small but noticeable derailments in Act 3 when he loses his place in the score. Still, you can’t deny that his voice is a force of nature. On the podium, Giuseppe Antonicelli takes the mishaps in stride, and elicits alert orchestral results that never smack of routine. A grab bag of Steber excerpts from opera, operetta, and Broadway, culled from live and commercial sources, fills out Disc 2.”
Never heard of Farrell doing it. Are you sure?
The only complimentary bottle I saw was on its way out the door as a “re-gift.”
The bottle of perfume that Willy sent
Was highly displeasing to Millicent.
Her thanks were so cold,
They quarreled, I’m told,
Over the silly scent Willy sent Millicent.
Indeed not; one can scarcely imagine anybody bothering to ask them.
And did you mean Midgley, by the way…?
Alto, I thought I’d read that Farrell had sung at the baths at some point. I must have mixed up this diva with that diva. Forgive me.
Just listened to Steber on Lala. Wow, she really takes Sempre Libera at a fast clip. It definitely sounds to me like a Violetta who’s trying to convince herself of her own words.
8. You must have been drunk — or had your head otherwise engaged — at the Baths — that was MIKE Farrell.
http://dumbfoundedone.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/mike-farrell.jpg
Im just curious-who is booking eight years in advance now?
Uh huh, and the Juilliard School fired Steber
from her teaching job because of her
appearance at the baths. Not a good
trade-off. Genuine dignity eluded the
poor woman.
don’t forget Steber singing Barber’s Knoxville 1915. . .
As a side track for a moment; who else has heard Bryn Terfel new disc ‘Bad Boys’?.
Everything from Iago’s Credo , Barber of Seville, Threepenny Opera, Faust to Mefistofele. Slightly correct in the titling….it is just plain bad…Terfel doing a portrait of himself , singing at his worst standard, possible.. Rating : Extremely Monotonous.
I forgot to add (if people are thinking of opera stars and connection to advertising endorsements )’Who has smoked a Jean De Reszke cigarette? I have.
The REAL question is, which designer wants to take credit (or blame) fo Angela Gheorghiu’s gowns:
http://angelagheorghiu.com/gallery/stage/929/
Admittedly they are not ALL in that vein:
http://angelagheorghiu.com/gallery/stage/937/
When does the worst dressed list come out? Is there still time to get a nomination in??
Guys (Gals?),
The Steber Traviata (and all the other Naxos Met broadcasts) are easily obtained from the UK. Try MDT or Europadisc. Both give excellent service and charge only $3.00 to say $5.00 for shipping. The Steber Traviata is currently on sale at Europadisc for @$10.00!
http://www.europadisc.co.uk/ or
http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/pages/home/default.asp
I cannot access comments beyond #16 or the first page. Does anybody else have the same problem?
You have to admire someone who first takes the trouble to correct an insignificant typo and then offers us a witty limerick – thanks!
I saw her wearing that very dress (929) at a concert the Royal Festival Hall a month ago – she also poured herself in two even more hideous creations: a black Halloweeny number and a red strapless job. The evening was originally billed as a solo concert, then she added James Valenti to the mix..and then of course cancelled. Valenti was not free for the alternative date, and she offered us a completely forgettable little Romanian tenor instead. But I forgave her because she sang “Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux” and gave four times as many encores as La Fleming.
Definitely needs more gay friends.
This is one of the meager encores La Fleming gave for her last concert:
“In that vein” is a most appropriate expression when discussing Draculette, is it not?
Harry, don’t you always feel that Bryn is more of a bully than bad? And his vibrato has gone all gurgly over the past few years.
Monty Nostry(18.1# comment.) Regarding Bryn Tefel: presently, what I find most noticeable is the lack of weight, the inability to project menace (if called for)or suggest a voice with glint of black steel or coal. A good litmus test : if one listens to the Iago’s Credo (Otello) on that new Terfel ‘Bad Boys’ CD, one is shocked. One, only has to vividly remember the likes of Gobbi, on that Serafin complete recording with Vickers/Rysanek and the problem is as plain a mud. Ditto: Terfel’s Scarpia (Tosca) contribution, his Sweeney Todd excerpt etc etc. He is fast becoming the baritone version of a Bocelli. An operatic- entertainer type for the non discerning.
The CD is what I would call ‘a stinker’.
P,S The pathetic woman used in the Sweeney Todd excerpt as Mrs Moffat makes its original star Angela Lansbury, appear a interpretative Callas by comparison!
I luckily do not own the CD. I heard it repeatedly played complete, over & over on a all night digital radio channel. The dream that was once held that he was set for stardom as a ‘Wagnerian’ I think we can now put to rest, once and for all
The Steber Traviata was broadcast by Sirius a few weeks ago and will likely be broadcast again. Easy to tape it off the air.
Thanks for that heads-up, iltenoredigrazia.