The Spanish Panic
The votes are in, and the cher public have chosen wisely, La Cieca thinks. Our listening/chatting experience at 1:00 this afternoon will be Verdi’s Don Carlos (or, as it should be called in this context, Don Carlo) in a performance recorded earlier this year at Covent Garden.
To hear the performance, tune in online to Polskie Radio about 1:00 pm EST; according to Operacast the performance proper will begin at 1:05.
Don Carlos: Jonas Kaufmann; Elisabeth de Valois: Marina Poplovskaya; Rodrigo: Simon Keenlyside; Philip II: Ferruccio Furlanetto; Princess Eboli: Marianne Cornetti; Grand Inquisitor: John Tomlinson; Tebaldo: Pumeza Matshikiza; Carlos V: Robert Lloyd; Count of Lerma: Robert Anthony Gardiner; Voice from Heaven: Eri Nakamura. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
- The vocal score
- The libretto: Italian; English.
are we going to get the old chat back today, or are we stuck with the comment system?
I hope we’re stuck with the comment system.
Doesn’t Kaufmann look great? Too bad his voice doesn’t equal his face.
The majority leaned toward the comment system. If those of you who really like the faster-paced “instant chat” want to get together, all it takes is for one of you to create a chat room here and then Share the code provided at Option 4: Standard Link (URL) in a comment here. As always, you can contact your doyenne here or via email if you have any questions.
Here is a preview of what Jummy Jonas sounds like as Don Carlos:
This one is better…..
Wieczór operowy will begin immediately following these updates on the Roman Polanski story.
It should be noted that from the very beginning of the opera the edition may vary between what is heard and what is shown in the linked libretto and score. The introduction to the Fontainebleau act exists in two versions, a longer, more elaborate choral setting and a faster “crossover” for Elisabetta. So don’t panic when everything doesn’t match up. (Or else blame the stage director, he’s used to being the doormat.)
“L’hiver est long,” and so is this announcer’s introduction…
Ah, short intro.
All those Don Carlo versions…
Can’t chat this afternoon (have to go work in a minute), but I have to say: if it’s not in French, it’s the wrong version. For example, listen to all the places Verdi sets “Carlos” (French version) and then “Carlo” (Italian version). Carlos has the accent on the second syllable and Carlo on the first. Whenever anyone sings “Carlo,” it comes out somewhat awkwardly.
Actually, carlos being a Spanish name, the accent is the same in Spanish and Italian. I am not sure i would get used to a carlOs…
The Verdi sounds more natural (if that this the right word) in Poplavskaya’s voice than Liu did.
It’s me or Poplavskaya’s passaggio is bit constricted? There’s a sense of ampleness and freedom I feel is lacking in her voice.
That’s exactly what i said in my Turandot review and got smacked for it (elsewhere).
This woman pinches from the passagio up.
BTW Lindoro: What happened to your Turandot review?
I spoke with Maestro Bychkov when he was here in San Francisco last month about these Don Carlo performances and he raved about them. He also said they had been recorded by Decca for a later CD release although he had not heard any of the recordings yet. The SF Symphony members loved him and want him back as often as possible.
This is the point where the first Elisabeth, La Sasse, absent-mindedly answered, “Non.”
Talking about Don Carlos, is there any truth to the story of Decca recording the French version with Kiri as Elisabetta with Solti conducting? Was it finished and, like the Pavarotti/Sutherland Ernani, languishing in the vaults for one reason or another?
Have a good listening guys, the hubby want to have lunch out and I don’t like to say no to the hubby.
Is this from a recital disc or does this complete recording actually exist?!
It’s from a recital of Verdi and Puccini arias in the 1980s. She’s holding yellow dahlias on the cover.
Well, you can certainly see why everyone thought Carlo Quinto has been dead for years.
For his age, Lloyd is still very good.