Comments on: Gualtier tells “Tales”

kashania commented

kashania — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:44:37 +0000

Gualtier:

Pomeroy has a bright generic American tenor with one color and dynamic but a reliable command of most of the notes.

Having heard Pomery live a few times, I pretty much agree with this assessment (though it sounds like Pomery was suffering from nerves and not performing at his best). But I have to point out that the generic tenor you hear is Canadian, not American.

uwsinnyc commented

uwsinnyc — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:34:58 +0000

Going back to the conversation earlier in the thread about Hong, she would have made a fabulous Antonia (not that Netrebko did not).

I heard her at the Richard Tucker Gala singing the La Wally aria and the Final Trio from Faust. The voice is still all there, and the top is fabulous.

I do think she is one of the most under-rated singers around.

messa di voce commented

messa di voce — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:19:20 +0000

Hong cancelled her Mimis at Covent Garden last (or was it this?) season, saying the role no longer worked for her. She’s obviously cutting back.

Straussmonster commented

Straussmonster — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:22:21 +0000

Not that I expect you to have, but have you ever seen a woman naked? That’s not flab, that’s what boobs that aren’t silicone do.

La Cieca commented

La Cieca — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:14:17 +0000

Hong maybe needs to explore some more Handel roles

Yes, if there’s anything that’s in demand in opera, it’s a 50-something soprano who specializes in Handel.

Gualtier M commented

Gualtier M — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:50:24 +0000

BTW: I think I read somewhere that Hong’s husband has been ill with cancer, so she wanted to stay home. Hong has been successful in Europe but has chosen to stay close to her family in New York and to the Met. I also was told that after the Met stopped contracting her after Gelb took over, she didn’t speak out a la Ruth Ann but quietly took some European engagements including La Scala. Don’t know what happened with that but maybe it went by the wayside after her husband got sick.

Hong has always been very helpful and willing to step in at the last minute when another lyric soprano cancels. Her “Traviata” contract of just one performance is probably insurance for a likely Gheorghiu cancellation(s). Hong also probably has been offered many roles including Butterfly but is a canny voice preservationist who doesn’t overstretch her resources. You lose some excitement and risk but the payoff is a longer more consistent and satisfying career.

whiskey per tutti commented

whiskey per tutti — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:45:55 +0000

Maybe faulty memory here, but I seem to recall seeing Hoffmann at NYCO. I recall Faye Robinson as Olympia, Joanna Simon as Giuletta, and Malfitano as Antonia. Ramey (or Diaz?) as the villains? I can find nothing to corroborate this. Sokol’s history doesn’t have this casting, but it only goes up to ‘81.

neiln007 commented

neiln007 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:35:50 +0000

I know Sher said that he was influenced by Kafka but I didn’t feel that there was much of the flavor of Czech surrealism on that stage -it honestly felt more like the Kit Kat Club with the somewhat flabby topless girls in black panties pawing each other. I also didn’t get the sturdy Russian woman with a stern face as a Venetian courtesan. On the other hand, Netrebko looked luscious and was very gracious and supportive to the young tenor who jumped in after Calleja withdrew.

Gualtier M commented

Gualtier M — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:16:54 +0000

Yes, Hei-Kyung Hong is wonderful but we have had her Contessa for several revivals at the Met and her Susanna before that. I don’t bash the Met for trying out a new soprano with some reputation in Europe. Wonderful as Hong is she isn’t going to be around in 8 or 10 years.

However, the casting office seems to be drinking the kool-aid on overpromoted, undervoiced “it” girls and boys hot on the international circuit. Listening to Dasch on the opening night, she was undistinguished but not incompetent and was a treat to watch with good stage skills.

What would be lovely is to find some new roles for Hong and yes, I think there is still a place for her at the Met – middle-aged as she is as the voice is still so fresh and her musicianship so elegant. And she still looks a treat.

Hong maybe needs to explore some more Handel roles rather than trying to stretch her voice into bigger lyric roles like Marguerite and Butterfly. I think she would be wonderful as Magda in “La Rondine” and should alternate with Racette or Gheorghiu when the Met revives that production.

La Cieca commented

La Cieca — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:14:12 +0000

But surely the point here is that Dasch has a recording contract, not merely that she is young and pretty. (Though, obviously, youth and prettiness are most helpful in winning a recording contract these days.) And it’s not like the Met found her singing by the side of the road someplace: on paper anyway her resume is quite impressive.

Which all goes to show the proof of the pudding, etc. and (more to the point) let’s wait and see if she’s invited back.

squirrel commented

squirrel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:04:13 +0000

Dan is Tru.

They (The Met is not alone in this) definitely underestimate what tricks it will take to win the Young Hip dollar. Newsflash: Quality!

Graciella Scusi commented

Graciella Scusi — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:56:00 +0000

I haven’t seen the production, but from what I’ve read, the Kafka and Fellini concepts are meant to contrast or clash to emphasize Hoffmann the outsider, which at least reads like a valid approach. But, again, I haven’t seen the production and the lyric theater graveyard is littered with directors who talk a great production which is never realized on stage.

La Cieca commented

La Cieca — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:53:30 +0000

Contracts work two ways: an offer and an acceptance. From what I hear, Hong isn't accepting much of anything these days: in fact, her calendar shows only two upcoming opera productions, Traviata at the Met and Meistersinger in Cincinnati. I think I can say definitively that if Hong made a strong commitment to performing Butterfly, she could fill her calendar with as many engagements as she cared to travel to. Like it or not, and consider it racist or not, but Asian sopranos are always in demand for this role. Or if she offered, say, Simon Boccanegra, Otello, Luisa Miller, Elsa in Lohengrin and a few other medium-weight spintoish parts and was willing to commit to spending 3 or 4 months in Europe, I am pretty sure she would be working constantly. So how is it the Met's fault that Hong has no contracts anywhere in the world? Is it the Met's job to provide a sinecure for middle-aged lyric sopranos who are afraid to venture anything heavier than Mimi?

Cassandra commented

Cassandra — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:50:34 +0000

EXTREMELY studentish.

There’s a nice inherent color there, and the potential I think is pronounced, but she doesn’t have a single clue what she is doing. She needs about three years, and then a return.

Dan commented

Dan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:44:44 +0000

They’re trying to reach us, the young ones. But little do they know that we, too, like good music and solid performers, and aren’t easily fooled.

My friends and I like hot women as much as the next, but when a friend and I go to an opera or a recital, we actually DO want to hear something good. I vote to bring back Hei-Kyung Hong. That woman is is gift, and the Met is dumb to have abandoned her.

diva2themax commented

diva2themax — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:38:55 +0000

YES!!!! HKH is amazing i’m still pissed that they got rid of her.

Dan commented

Dan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:36:33 +0000

Well, I thought the Venice scenery wasn’t PARTICULARLY impressive or effective. It was nice, but not nicer than hearing the music.

tinhtraiviet commented

tinhtraiviet — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:24:12 +0000

I remember Vanness in the early 90s bravely attempting all the heroines with less than resounding success; to be fair she was adequate as Olympia with lowered pitch, an affecting Antonia and glamorous Giulietta; far from a disaster, but just unmemorable on the whole. Domingo was a vocally effortful Hoffmann as expected, but he still had the experience and flair to pull off the role. Alan Held was a magnificent 4 villains at the time (I didn’t see Sam Ramey in the fall run); too bad he’s now a decade or two past that peak to have it committed on HD, but better late than nothing I guess.
The last time the MET had a Hoffmann who could meet the vocal demands of the title role was in the sensational revival in 1998 with Ricky Leech back when he decided to throw caution to the wind and committed self-immolation with his gorgeous lyric voice by wading into spinto territory — it was not a wise move for his vocal longevity (even though he’s still singing heavier repertoire as of now in the provincial houses), but such thrilling bright flames it was for the audience. Dessay was a manic doll, interpolating high Gs to her aria and scena at will. Racette was devastating as Antonia. Even Antonia’s mother enjoyed super-luxury casting in Stephanie Blythe. I saw the single performance of the first cast with Victoria Livengood (who took over the rest of the run with a second cast headed by Sondra Radvanovsky as Antonia and Jean-Paul Fouchecourt as the 4 servants) instead of Jennifer Larmore as Giulietta; and that was surely a trade-up given how horribly hooty Larmore has sounded on the broadcast a week before (even if she might LOOK fabulously sexy in the role): in Vicky Livengood back in those days you had ample/lusty voice and vampy looks to spare. James Morris was in his growling/snarling phase and even though he sang with authority and projected an imposing stage presence, the quality of the voice grated on the ear after a while; I’d still prefer Alan Held who also shared the role with him in the second cast for that revival.
Since I had been out of the country for 2 years until early 2001, I missed out on the millennium revival in 2000 largely spear-headed by Ruth Ann Swenson as the last MET soprano to tackle all the heroines; with super-annuated Neil Shicoff back almost 20 years later in one of his signature roles (so the same could be tried for Alagna now to save the day in case Calleja proves he’s not up to the task of the opening and/or HD telecast); Bryn Terfel was the 4 villains. The cover cast lead by Keith Ikaia Purdy (what happened to him?) and a rotating group of female leads took over the last 2 performances. A constant fixture during those years was the superb Niklause/Muse of Susanne Mentzer.
The last revival of the Schenk took place in 2004-05 with a sweet-voiced albeit over-parted Ramon Vargas in the title role. I didn’t see the early part of the run with Aleksandra Kurzak in her debut role/season (my big regret was to have missed out on Hei-Kyung Hong’s Antonia). With an eye toward avoiding James Morris’ snarling 4 villains, I went to the very last performance of the run (and thus of the Schenk production, little did I know at the time!) with Dean Peterson acquitting himself quite honorably in the task. The Olympia for the second cast was a super-pregnant Jennifer Welch-Babidge, sounding shrill and wobbly at times, though showing some redemption with some very unusual and fanciful decorations to the second verse of her aria. Pat Racette was back for another knock-out series of Antonias. The unexceptionable and unexceptional Giulietta for the whole run was Beatrice Uria-Monzon. I greatly enjoyed Katharine Goeldner’s turn as Niklausse/Muse even if she didn’t quite reach Mentzer’s level. Not a particularly exceptional or felicitous revival, but I’d be far happier to hear something like that than what I suffered through yesterday at the final dress rehearsal of the new MET Hoffmann.

Chirper commented

Chirper — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:18:23 +0000

FWIW, I sat in the balcony yesterday and Kate Lindsey was clearly audible, though her voice is far better to suited to Mozart than French opera, IMO.

I caught that little maneuver around the piano, RDaggle, and thanks for posting it. I second your thoughts on Netrebko–wonderful performance with all stops out.

Quanto Painy Fakor commented

Quanto Painy Fakor — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:16:47 +0000

I promise never to post that video of the Russian Birthday song again.