Metaphor, thou mighty monster
“Marianne Cornetti‘s Amneris…. gives the audience a heart attack every time she opens her mouth, possessing an ability to literally drown out the orchestra.” La Cieca has a new favourite opera critic, and his name is Jamie Tabberer.
EF: possibly so, and it would lend an interesting twist to the character of Radames, who is generally played as an incredibly earnest and nice guy. However, part of the war-like persona in any modern form of media that includes the visual aspect is the appearance of the actor playing it. It’s not 1910, it is 2010. I guess Alvarez should have lived a century ago.
I wonder if Jonas Kaufmann has any outings as Radames planned soon…..
the one time i heard cornetti at the met, she was pretty inaudible as ulrica. i think she was having a bad night. i’m glad she’s able to drown out the orchestra, but i somehow don’t trust this reviewer.
why does anyone think gerard butler is hot? the man has the fattest cheeks around. not attractive.
It must have been a really bad night. I heard her in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago as an emergency replacement for Blythe. She’d been flown in from Europe less than 24 hours before curtain. I could still hear the orchestra, but just barely – and she couldn’t have been 100%.
How many new productions of a “sure fire warhorse” do you pay for before you get it right? The ROH total of should-have-been-pulled-at-the-design-stage Aidas can only be rivaled by the MET’s with Trovatore.
‘Elvis’, the new Cirque du Soleil show at Aria in Las Vegas got mixed reviews, but most of them were bad. I am not surprised that if you can’t do Elvis in Vegas, you can’t do Aida in London.
The really sad thing about this is that Aida seems to be increasingly considered as a somewhat unviable piece, though Graham Vick’s super-spectacular at Bregenz last year (revived this year) was generally praised. It’s such a gorgeous piece with so many heart-stopping moments. Of course, casting the title role seems to present a constant problem these days, though there do seem to be sopranos around who can manage both the amplitude and the subtlety — though not, it appears, Signora Carosi.
Carosi is slammed in both the reviews linked in responses here. I saw her do Aida at the Met and she was awful–her O patria mia was totally out of tune all the way through. Her Tosca at Covent Garden was no better, and miserably acted. If Tabberer didn’t notice these flaws, I don’t think you can place much credence in his posts.
Ms. Cornetti was very effective and majorly audible in Opera Orchestra of New York’s L’Arlesiana several years ago, creating a brass-balled Rosa Mamai of considerable power and dramatic interest. It was my first experience of her in performance and I remember thinking, “Aha, so THAT’S what she’s all about!”
The other day when a large number of production photos were published here, I thought the thing looked pretty good. It won’t happen unless a DVD is released, but I’d love to see the production.
DVD due out on Opus Arte later this year.
Off-thread, but a BBC Radio 3 interview with Villazon. The guy is clearly intelligent, and probably sincere, but too much of a meshuggeneh to make pleasant listening, whether he is singing or speaking.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s6rzb
When you remember how famous Sutherland was for her incomprehensible diction it’s interesting to hear in this early recording what excellent articulation she once had before she altered her voice production.Unfortunately the result is slightly absurd because the translation she delivers is so abysmal.Still it’s an interesting reminder of her beautiful Aida at the ROH which some of us remember with great affection.
Sutherland and Bonyge discuss this development in the following clip. The question that precedes it(from Part 1 of the interview) is “Dame Joan, what in the whole bel canto artillery, what was the hardest thing for you to master, what gave you the most problems?… What didn’t come naturally?”
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=GkUwecGOz5g&feature=related
Bonyge claims it was legato in the middle register that was lacking, which, based on this clip of her third performance of Lucia at Covent Garden, seems quite accurate:
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=ITlUAA46AFw&feature=PlayList&p=D652E998BFB62091&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=12
Apparently this is what led them to choose to cover the voice so heavily (decidedly not in evidence in the above clip, which is why so many commenters swear that this is NOT Sutherland).
Bonyge: “And in looking for this wonderful legato line, I think that was the cause of all the mushy diction which we got hauled over the coals for for many years.”
And she seems to agree that covering the voice to get the middle register legato led to the mushy diction.
I find this interesting with regard to the similar choice to cover the voice that Kaufmann made for other reasons (I’m assuming so that he could sing bigger roles?).
Compare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXEjZqYhgQQ
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=pUms5I_bYtY&feature=related
Vocal experts, please discuss: Is this really necessary (for particular voices)?
ipdmc, I find what you say here fascinating; unfortunately, the Sutherland/Bonynge and Covent Garden clips won’t work for me–Youtube gives me the message that they can’t be found. Did anyone else have this trouble?
I think it’s a failed attempt to embed- try them without the extraneous ‘v’.
No, ignore me, that doesn’t work either.
Sorry, guys, the “v” was not my idea, it was in the URL and inserted a carriage return in the link when pasted.
Sutherland vids above, Kaufmann before vs. after below.
Oh crap everything’s out of sequence. Oh well, you can reconstruct the intended sequence.
Thanks so much for re-posting these, ipdmc!
Thet virry corrict announcer is priceless, as are Joanie’s rolled r’s at the end of the words.
Nicely sung, though she is only ever really exciting when the voice is having to move around a lot.
I think that this production really looks interesting. Marcello looks really sexy. I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD. Does anyone have any clips of Ms. Cornetti–I would really like to hear that big voice. She looks like someone you wouldn’t want to mess with. Love her headress–love the look of the whole production.