Comments on: The Memory of Singing

VoiceOfReason commented

VoiceOfReason — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:41:58 +0000

Sigh… snipe snipe snipe. I guess that’s what makes it fun for you. Too bad. I’m glad the great majority of the attendees decided to find pleasure in the performance rather than in tearing it apart.

You admit she was suffering from a cough… why so charitable?

Buster commented

Buster — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:55:31 +0000

Anny Schlemm, stop.

Krunoslav commented

Krunoslav — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:26:41 +0000

Meanwhile Tony T looked at the NYT press file of Kirschschalger and saw that they always praise her — after all, Carnegie and Lincoln Center hire her year after year (despite her being so ordinary a singer) so he write a positive review.

Yawn.

Krunoslav commented

Krunoslav — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:24:21 +0000

11- “… who was better in Mahler 4?”

Well, ;Lucia Popp, Helen Donath, Netania Davrath, Roberta Alexander, Margaret Price, Judith Raskin, Dorothea Roeschmann… when shall I stop?

Zerbinetta commented

Zerbinetta — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:57:58 +0000

But I suspect La Cieca will find this for the Regie quiz next week.

I hope if Gaga tours Germany she stops by the opera in Hamburg or Stuttgart. Herheim is probably just her style.

Often admonished commented

Often admonished — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:44:48 +0000

One should also consider her (successful) breast cancer treatment. The chemotherapy was apparently severe.

Buster commented

Buster — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:33:25 +0000

Glad you like it – speaking about heaven, who was better in Mahler 4?

Tamerlano commented

Tamerlano — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:15:06 +0000

Thanks Buster! She is heaven in this.

Buster commented

Buster — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:23:22 +0000

Did anyone hear Sylvia McNair’s new Weill program?

This always cheers me up:

Too bad she stopped singing opera -- she would have been a great Nozze countess. I heard her sing the two big aria’s during one of Susanne Mentzer’s Jubilate evenings. She was singing Rosina in Ghosts of Versailles at the time -- I went back just to listen to her several times.

I also remember a fabulous song recital -- with the best Shepherd on the Rock of my life. Alfred Brendel wanted her for this in Salzburg, but I don’t know if that ever happened. She than cancelled a tour with the Four Last Songs, and that seemed to be the end of her “serious” career.

I am happy she is doing well.

kashania commented

kashania — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Often admonished commented

Often admonished — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:16:08 +0000

IU is where she teaches now.

La Cieca commented

La Cieca — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:52:24 +0000

Well, finally she knows why they shut her out of Heaven.

mrmyster commented

mrmyster — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:45:53 +0000

Yes, McNaiar – LOUD. A hard Broadway-esque sound
that rode and , in fact, the top of every ensemble. It was
very odd indeed, because earlier on in her career she had
been so much better. IU people from “back then” tell me
she did not take instruction well and never mastered her
technique. Ho hum. Who needs it?
So, Monty – I suspect you are correct on A. K. Too bad;
I had thought for a while the new Christa Ludwig. Not so.

mrmyster commented

mrmyster — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:44:43 +0000

Will commented

Will — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:35:39 +0000

Yes, that comment about McNair being loud struck me too. I never actually had trouble hearing her, but loud it was not.

Often admonished commented

Often admonished — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:22:41 +0000

You have to be impressed by a rock show that involves “a lesbian orgy in a dentist’s chair” and lines like “Scream for me, my little monsters!”

She’s got to be doing something right.

Tamerlano commented

Tamerlano — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:03:48 +0000

I just saw Gaga’s show in Montreal. She’s a unique talent, and her songs stick in your head with a vengeance. She has a Teresa Stratas-like presence (which is to say she has a strangely quiet charisma that draws you to her without you really knowing why). Also, she understands the art of intimacy. When she sits at the piano she can draw a stadium right into her world, like few can. The show was dynamite.
She also ended the night with a recording of a song with piano…it was in German, and I am guessing my have been Brahms or Schubert. A really fun night.

midispiace molto commented

midispiace molto — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:02:50 +0000

wait, mcnair was “loud”?

I agree Kirch has something to bring to the table, but not exactly sure what that is. Anybody see her Octavian? good?

MontyNostry commented

MontyNostry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:01:54 +0000

Frau K is no Fruehlingshuhn, so I doubt she is going to change direction much.

mrmyster commented

mrmyster — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:56:47 +0000

I heard Kirsch. sing Cherubino in San Francisco years ago
and she stole the show. The voice had a great deal of
‘presence’ in the house — it was right there in your lap.
Meanwhile, Sylvia McNair, the Susanna, was so very loud
and can-belto in style, we left before Deh vieni in the final
act so we did not have to endure her. Thank God she’s
retired from opera, but the lovely Angelika K. needs to
get her act together and rebuild her career, for she is a
lovely and could be major talent.