Comments on: Les Papotages d’Hoffmann

By: CruzSF

CruzSF — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:58:00 +0000

louannd, how happy have you been with Wiretap. I’ve used Audio Hijack in the past but it didn’t record streaming media in stereo.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:23:05 +0000

I can sort of understand what you are saying. While Olympia is an automaton with–presumably–no soul of which to speak, some performances have more character than others.

I’m thinking of Dessay’s performance in 2001 at La Bastille, the one in which she mimes sex with Hoffmann. That Olympia wasn’t just tee-hee-hee amusing. It forced six-pack-sculpting laughter. Dessay’s Olympia in that production had wants, desires, *needs* (hitching a ride on Hoffmann’s disco stick) and, strangely, some sense of a “soul.” It made it all the more funny and grotesque.

But I do agree with above posters that an Olympia without a soul is to be expected. And if she is in possession of some semblance of ontological awareness, it doesn’t need to rival Hamlet’s.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:09:32 +0000

Isn’t that the whole point, that she’s a machine? I generally don’t expect or require my machines to have souls.

By: Alto

Alto — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:07:15 +0000

And yet I can remember when she was reviled around the House — known as Obscene Lucine.

Odd how these things change.

By: Alto

Alto — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:57:15 +0000

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.

By: Alto

Alto — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:54:57 +0000

I wish so too, but that sort of thing has enormous contractual and monetary implications.

By: Violetta

Violetta — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:28:32 +0000

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.

By: djedushka

djedushka — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:57:34 +0000

Tim

I have been worshipper of Jussi since I bought my first recording of him in 1960 singing duets with Robert Merrill- it was imported from England and I still have it. It is about 8″ in diameter.

I was astounded last night listening to the Sirius broadcast that Calleja’s voice has a lot of the Bjorling sound in it. If I closed my eyes and thought of Bjorling, I could absolutely hear his voice.

I hope tht Calleja takes care in his choices of roles and that he has a long, long career.

I missed hearing Bjorling live by one year.

By: Pelleas

Pelleas — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:38:51 +0000

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.

By: Krunoslav

Krunoslav — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:40:40 +0000

Actually, Warren never sang any of these roles at the Met or San Francisco.

Did you hear him do the parts somewhere else, or are you thinking of Tibbett, or are you just assuming that he sang the villains on the basis of his recording of “Scintille, diamant”?

By: Baritenor

Baritenor — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:46:56 +0000

No soul is….kind of the point.

By: njshoreman539

njshoreman539 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:24:37 +0000

sorry, hit the submit button too soon….this was Calleja’s night. My opinion.

By: njshoreman539

njshoreman539 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:22:39 +0000

Hearing Calleja tonight brought back memories of the first time I heard Carreras, as a high school kid in 1981. The performance was (my first) Boheme, on a January Saturday afternoon in 1981, with Stratas and Scotto in a TV broadcast available on DVD. I had no idea walking in (given my relative youth) who Carreras was or whether I’d like Boheme, but I was stunned by the performance. Tonight, 28 years and easily 400+ Met performances later, I heard a magnificent new (to me at least) tenor at the Met and I am thankful for it. Other than a handful of early-life Kraus, Gedda Vickers and Pavarotti peformances, by and large for 28+ years Domingo was the only tenor I could count as great on the Met’s stage. This guy tonight had a beautiful, sweet, large voice, and he looked quite fine. I hope he manages his career such that he is around and able to sing for a very long time.

Others in the performance tonight were wonderful also,…..but in my opinion this was Callejs’s

By: mrmyster

mrmyster — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:00:52 +0000

Cupo – Coupola or Cupola — dome, rounded high top.
In voice usually means ‘more room at the top’ more room
over the note. Subjective.

By: Pelleas

Pelleas — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:16:07 +0000

Perhaps that’s it–too much cupo. Cupotissimo, even.
I also always feel as though, had I no idea at all what it was she was singing about, I’d have a hard time telling whether it was a dirge or a love song. Not an overabundance of expressivity.
Giulietta sounded and looked entirely too matronly. Unless this was intended to have it au courant with the whole cougar nightmare the country’s been having of late.

By: Constantine A. Papas

Constantine A. Papas — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:12:34 +0000

I think tonight’s performance was one of the Met’s best this season. Cast changes didn’t make any diffrence, and the orchestra and chorus were tops. Calleja’s diction for a non-French born was good, and it reminded me of Gedda’s. Calleja’s timbre is very interesting, and it moved back to the 40s and 50s; something between Bjorling and Tagliavini. Levine’s physicality may be still restricted due to his recent back surgery that can explain the slow tempo and dragging of the score.

By: Sanford

Sanford — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:00:13 +0000

http://www.davidpomeroy.com

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:58:41 +0000

Esperano. I’m ROTFLOLing as I write this. Not really, but I did laugh at that. Interestingly, in the rehearsal on Monday, Netrebko sang about three words in her first exchange with Hoffman. They sounded much different than the other stiff she was singing, and I sat up in my chair and thought carefully. What was it? I racked my brain. Then, it hit me like a shit ton of bricks. They sounded FRENCH.

By: Sanford

Sanford — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:58:03 +0000

I don’t know it in the lower key, so to me it’s fiendishly high.

By: Sanford

Sanford — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:56:57 +0000

Yeah, I guess. I have a pretty lyric baritone but always wanted to sing Verdi and when I was with this particular teacher, he said I should make the sound darker, and yes, more covered.

By: rysanekfreak

rysanekfreak — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:49:08 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever heard that particular ending? Where did it come from and who found it? Are those some of the “lost” pages that Offenbach’s heirs were wrapping dead fish in? I’m sure I read that story somewhere. I liked the performance. I liked the tenor. A week without Will and Margaret?–how will we live?

By: Reggiani

Reggiani — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:48:37 +0000

The only thing I know about new singers is what I hear on youtube, and David Pomeroy is not there.
Leonard Warren always did the four villains…I can still his two (2) high G-sharps in the aria.

By: wotanzeus

wotanzeus — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:39:34 +0000

hmm, darkness. Hillis with Chgo Sym Cho used to ask that we put a patina on our sound. Like that?

By: wotanzeus

wotanzeus — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:36:16 +0000

What does cupo mean? Cupped, covered? Please?

By: sppny3

sppny3 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:28:17 +0000

a young tenor named david pomeroy took over from calleja at teh dress. He was very good. Anyone know much about him??

By: sppny3

sppny3 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:27:19 +0000

The chorus sounded very good at teh dress and tonight. What a great improvement since Palumbo took over.

By: sppny3

sppny3 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:26:09 +0000

I liked the production. Levine’s tempi were quite subdued.

By: sppny3

sppny3 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:25:24 +0000

i was at the dress-Calleja was ill and had to leave after act 1. He still seems under the weather

By: mrmyster

mrmyster — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:17:37 +0000

None of the Act III singing seems very interesting to me;
what a case of the wobbles both those Barcarolle girls
had — that famous number went for very little; Levine
did not help either; the Diamant was almost an
embarrassment. Not a role for Mr Held? Surely he
could have ended with the F.
The tenor sounding very pressed. Well, it’s opening
night; I do feel the tenor has this role in his voice with
lots more vocal work with it. Perfunctory applause. I
think if I’d been in the house I would have left by
now to get home early.
Sanford Diamant is not “fiendlishly high” in the lower
key; both keys are used — it seemed a bit low for
Held and he took no chances at the end, but I found
him uninteresting in it tonight.
Gosh, one forgets what a “series of numbers” this opera is.
Ho hum.

By: Sanford

Sanford — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:09:38 +0000

It’s a pretty boring aria to sing. And without the high note, it’s pretty pointless. Pelleas, you do fine describing how you feel about how she sounds. Don’t appologize for your opinion; it’s as valid as any of ours, whether we agree with you or not. I also think the voice is too far back. I had a teacher briefly (a former Chorus Master of the Met Chorus as a matter of fact), who kept saying “Cupo, more cupo”. And to me, she sounds as if she’s trying to make her voice more “cupo” than it naturally is.