Gone in 60 Seconds
“Why can’t a general director with the fame, charm and ability of Domingo roll up his sleeves and work to realize his vision, rather than distancing himself from the results? The answer: because he isn’t actually there, running the company. He’s conducting Stiffelio, or singing Simone Boccanegra, or trying to keep up with his other company, the Los Angeles Opera (with equally dicey results) instead.” Anne Midgette demonstrates a basic job skill of the arts journalist: kicking some elusive impresario butt. [Washington Post]
My main problem with Domingo these days is that his plate is so full, and he has spread himself so thin, that everything he does is half-assed. I have felt that way for quite some time. There have been exceptions in the recent past (his Siegmund in DC and the Met, notably) but even his stage presence is affected by his busy schedule. It is hard to sing well when you can’t remember the words (because you never bothered to learn them.) You can go back as far as 2001, and listen to the Idomeneo broadcast, you will realise he knew not ONE word of the role.
His conducting has never been great, and things are getting worse. His conducting of Stiffelio this evening was disgraceful. I shouldn’t be surprised. When did he possibly have the time to prepare that score, when he was busy in staging rehearsals for Boccanegra, which has a dress rehearsal tomorrow (at 11AM. Stiffelio got out at 11:15 tonight). Boccanegra has been a super publicised production because of Domingo as a baritone, and I hope he has put more effort into that than into the Stiffelio. Those singers deserved more respect than this not even pedestrian account of the score. The orchestra sounded like a second rate marching band. He should have been booed.
Well, Domingo has always had a terrific memory and is a very quick learner. He’s already done Boccanegra in Berlin, and has sung Gabrielle in the Met production. He’s familiar with the sets, the staging and the conductor. He’s also sung quite a few performances of Stiffelio, which means he’s familiar with the score. I doubt that the rehearsals were so time or effort consuming for him.
He’s always been accused of spreading himself too thin but somehow he’s not only survived but actually often thrived in that superactivity. That’s one of his rather special characteristics.
The problem as I see it is that he’s become so important, so popular, so indispensable, so powerful that he gets to do whatever he wants, as often as he wants, whenever and wherever he wants, with whomever he wants and people around him will still kiss his behind. And the public will give him standing ovations too, incidentally.
As to his voice category, I’ve never thought of him as anything but a tenor. Never mind that as many/most tenors, except the very lyric, they start in the baritone range. Yes, he was never a high C tenor. Never a high notes tenor. So were Caruso, Tucker, Vickers, and many others and no one goes around suggesting that they were baritones. Actually, high tenors are more of a rarity: Gedda, Kraus, Florez, Corelli, Pavarotti. Dark tone to his voice? Darker than Del Monaco, Corelli, McCracken, Vickers, Melchior, Caruso? Not to my ears.
I’ve liked some things he’s done and not others. I’ve admired his professionalism. He’s indeed a historic figure in operatic history if anything for his longevity, number of recordings and performances, etc. But I do avoid his conducting gigs. Do not favor many of the singers that he has promoted. And don’t believe he has the slightest business singing baritone roles. It doesn’t have to be a case of all or nothing.
I guess we widely differ on the concept of professionalism in this business.
The last time he sang Gabriele Adorno in this production was 1999. Given how many productions he sings, I doubt he could remember the staging.
Besides, that sort of thinking promotes the concept that opera is just a group of individual performances, which it is not. Understanding your colleagues, the color in their voices, their stage techniques, contribute greatly to making a unified whole. Not that Domingo seems interested in that. Chemistry between singers comes with rehearsals. Yes, I am sure there are many examples of great performances before which singers may have never even met, but I don;t think that should be planned as a strategy!
He may have sung Boccanegra in Berlin, but was he with the same cast? Doesn’t it matter what Adorno, Amelia and Fiesco do dramatically and musically? Rehearsals exist to make sure common ground is found. He may know Pieczonka, having done Walkure with her last year, but surely it might be worthwhile discovering how she adapts to a Verdian style?
He may have sung Stiffelio, but that does not mean he had any understanding of the singers he was conducting last night. He put ALL of them in great difficulty repeatedly, and hung the baritone out to dry entirely in Act III. Do you think a singer preparing Stiffelio as a role and a conductor have the same approach in preparing the score? How many singers do you really think go out and buy a full score to study the full orchestration, of the WHOLE opera? And if he had attended staging rehearsals, which, based on the poor display last night, I cannot imagine he bothered to do, he might have known what each singer needed from him as a conductor.
Therefore, I stand by what I said earlier. I think the great majority of all his recent artistic endeavors have been half assed, and mostly disrespectful to the great artists who appear on stage with him.
Was the talk about Barstow on this thread? Can’t find it. Her complete Alfano final scene of Turandot is on BBC Radio 3 at the moment … Oh dear.
Barstow discussion in “Throwing The First Chat” -- comments from 39/40.
Earlier there was a discussion of singers in their primes and the lengths of their careers, etc.
Two singers that I absolutely adored during their first few years at the Met were Tebaldi and Price.
After about 1958, Tebaldi’s voice changed: it became louder, edgier and forced. In 1955 it was gorgeous beyond belief (I even got to see her Aida in ’55). By the sixties, I rarely went to her performances except for the Gioconda.
Same with Price--I didn’t see much of her after ’67 ot ’68 when the mannerisms began to slowly creep in.
I eventually lost interest in both singers, although they were divine in their early-ish primes.
Clita, from what I can tell of Price’s recordings, her peak years were indeed 67/68 (the live recording of her Munich concert on Gala is proof of just how glorious she was at this time), but her voice and style did seem to seize up somewhat after that. Still love her, of course!