Les Papotages d’Hoffmann
Here’s the place for all your chatting needs, cher public, during tonight’s broadcast of Les Contes d’Hoffmann from the Met.
The official chat begins at 7:45 pm for an 8:00 curtain, and La Cieca invites Twitters and whatever other technological frontrunners to contribute their opinions and dish.
Following this performance with a score is going to be difficult, as the Met uses a mix-and-match edition, but if you’re interested, bad old Choudens can be found here.
sorry, hit the submit button too soon….this was Calleja’s night. My opinion.
It’s interesting to hear that some people thought the tempo dragged–I found myself thinking quite the opposite. I thought it was, overall, quite lively, and not at all like the oratorio approach that started to become common once everyone decided how serious and important Hoffmann is. (Then again, I most enjoy that old Cluytens recording of a “corrupt” edition, for the spirit of it: a weird fantasy opera, rather than a therapy session.)
I thought Levine struck a nice balance between the comic and the grotesque, without letting one outweight the other too much.
Loving Calleja today. Clearly husbanding his resources at times, but with time he should learn to manage the long evening. But a beautiful sound for the role, I think.
I wish the MET radio had a “listen later” function – I was only able to catch the first 2 1/2 acts, and Calleja had the part down, but he sounded sort of “husky”, like he still had his cold – I hope he takes good care of himself. Oke also sounded really good, and so did the orchestra.
I wish so too, but that sort of thing has enormous contractual and monetary implications.
Which, by the way, is why the BBC Radio 3, which broadcasts the Met radio shows, does not keep them up for 7 days the way they do almost every other thing they broadcast.