Comments on: To be sure, it’s been only nine years, but it certainly feels much longer

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:42:54 +0000

Thanks for that heads-up, iltenoredigrazia.

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:03:22 +0000

The Steber Traviata was broadcast by Sirius a few weeks ago and will likely be broadcast again. Easy to tape it off the air.

By: Harry

Harry — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:28:41 +0000

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

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:57:24 +0000

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.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:54:30 +0000

“In that vein” is a most appropriate expression when discussing Draculette, is it not?

By: javier

javier — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:37:09 +0000

This is one of the meager encores La Fleming gave for her last concert:

By: manou

manou — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:12:02 +0000

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.

By: manou

manou — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:04:39 +0000

You have to admire someone who first takes the trouble to correct an insignificant typo and then offers us a witty limerick – thanks!

By: Constantine A. Papas

Constantine A. Papas — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:39:34 +0000

I cannot access comments beyond #16 or the first page. Does anybody else have the same problem?

By: Howard

Howard — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:05:13 +0000

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

By: casualoperafan

casualoperafan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:41:12 +0000

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??

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:24:12 +0000

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.

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:08:26 +0000

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.

By: parpignol

parpignol — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:54:16 +0000

don’t forget Steber singing Barber’s Knoxville 1915. . .

By: mrmyster

mrmyster — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:15:33 +0000

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.

By: Noel Dahling

Noel Dahling — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:52:17 +0000

Im just curious-who is booking eight years in advance now?

By: Krunoslav

Krunoslav — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:40:18 +0000

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

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:04:16 +0000

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.

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:32:46 +0000

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.

By: Baltsamic Vinaigrette

Baltsamic Vinaigrette — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:17:02 +0000

Indeed not; one can scarcely imagine anybody bothering to ask them.

And did you mean Midgley, by the way…?

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:14:45 +0000

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.

By: Alto

Alto — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:09:16 +0000

The only complimentary bottle I saw was on its way out the door as a “re-gift.”

By: Alto

Alto — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:08:06 +0000

Never heard of Farrell doing it. Are you sure?

By: Alto

Alto — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:03:41 +0000

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.”

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:44:40 +0000

Steber, too? Midler. Farrell. My god, who DIDN’T sing at the baths during my youth?

By: javier

javier — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:42:50 +0000

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

By: The Vicar of John Wakefield

The Vicar of John Wakefield — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:38:33 +0000

One can scarce imagine Joan Hammond touting salad cream or Walter Midgely lending his image to peddle lozenges.

By: Violetta

Violetta — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:29:31 +0000

Would that bearded figure on top be Isaac Hayes ??

By: Violetta

Violetta — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:24:55 +0000

CruzSF, you can take a listen here:
http://www.lala.com/album/1009087791584652176
It’s 1949, so you’re not missing much with the MP3.

By: Sanford

Sanford — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:24:26 +0000

So not true. At least not true in all cases. I’ve smelled me some pretty hot men in my day.