Happy Birthday Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Don’t worry: no clips from The Music Lovers to mark the 170th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Instead, after the jump, a treat from the summer of 2009.
Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky after the play “Kong Renés Datter” by Henrik Hertz
Iolanta: Anna Netrebko
Graf Tristan Vaudémont: Piotr Beczala
René, König der Provence: Mikhail Kit
Robert: Alexei Markov
Ebn-Hakia: Alexander Gergalov
Alméric: Andrei Zorin
Bertrand: Fyodor Kuznetsov
Martha: Natalia Evstafieva
Brigitte: Eleonora Vindau
Laura: Ekaterina Sergeeva
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 2009
Years ago I heard a performance of Iolanta sung in English and one line of the antiquated translation of the great duet near the end of the opera has always stuck with me: “Take the light from out mine eyesight, even though I cannot see!” It’s a lot better in Russian. Happy birthday Piotrek.
As Monty Python put it so aptly – and I paraphrase ‘Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – musical genius? – or just a great big poofter who wrote good tunes’….
Discuss.
Doc, y’know…
(Gasp) QPF has justified her continual postings of videos. (Gasp)
One look at that video and all thought of opera fly from my head. Opera? What’s opera? Richard Chamberlain was the handsomest man I’ve ever seen on television. Once saw him in real life, too, emerging from Joe Allen’s, and he was utterly magnetic simply walking down the street. (Second handsomest: James Franciscus.) Opera? What’s opera? Oh, yes, I remember: Io ardo, io gelo, io manco…
How boring. Happy Birthday, Tchaikovsky!
The Sorceress (Charodejka): I’d give who knows what to see this opera on stage. Gorgeous music and an over-the-top plot involving a sorceress of easy virtue, a father (the Prince) and his son in love with the same woman (the sorceress), a jealous Princess bent on revenge (role for a hyper-dramatic mezzo), a poisoning, and a father who kills his son. Wow.
Tamara Milashkina, one of my loves, a voice that in its prime I could describe as melted gold.
Too bad Gergiev didn’t bother presenting it here.
I want an uncut Maid of Orleans in French with huge voices (the likes of which we probably don’t have). But a freak can dream.
Huge voices we’ve got, good huge voices, well …
I would settle for huge voice who had a minimum singing technique…
Uncut. To each his own.
Why in French? Tchajkovsky wrote it in Russian.
The first music I ever heard from it was in French, the Eileen Farrell version of Adieu, forets. I thought the whole opera was composed in French. That’s how I imagined it. (It makes it more Meyerbeerian.) It was quite a shock much later to hear Mirella Freni sing a heavily-cut version in Russian. That’s not what I want. I do not like the Dolora Zajick heavily-cut version in Russian either. Uncut French!!! A freak can still dream.
The Melodiya recording, uncut, in Russian has never appeared on CD – conducted by Rozhdestvensky with the late great Arkhipova on blazing form – one of the first Russian operas I heard as a kid, and it blew me away. As a grown up, I have to confess, there’s an awful lot of cardboard in that piece, but the big moments are good.
Speaking of Gergiev – the Rossini Il Viaggio a Reims conducted by V.G. is currently on sale at Amazon for $14.99. Three left as of right now
Speaking of Rossini, any reports on the Geneva ” Donna del Lago ” with Joyce? The only review I could find was in German and from what I (poorly) understood the role of Malcom has been eliminated! Isn’t that rather extreme? Anyone know anything about this production?
What I understood is that Malcom has not been eliminated in the sense that the singing part is still there, but the singer represents a character who is part of Elena’s personality.
Thanks for the clarification. Sounds a bit confusing, but if the singing is intact that’s what matters!
Yes, I can see this opening many opportunities. Alberich and Wotan are just two sides of the same personality. For that matter, Wotan and Fricka are two sides of the same personality. Siegmund and Sieglinde are not really twins but just the Yin and Yang of a basic impulse. All those yammering Valkyries are sort of a Greek Chorus. That brings Walkure down to just three characters, plus a chorus. Inside the hut is the same as outside the hut, so we can eliminate any scenic differentiation. Put the whole cast in tuxedoes and long black dresses to emphasize the timeless element of the story. And then — oh my God, the wonder and beauty of it all — call it a “Concert.” As long as all the music is there.
Hopefully one of our Francophone correspondents can confirm that the linked website is saying that the Geneve La Donna del Lago will be broadcast (and web-streamed on Radio Suisse Romande (Espace 2) on June 12th:
http://www.rsr.ch/espace-2/dare-dare/selectedDate/7/5/2010#20100507-la-donna-del-lago
Exactement!
Reviewer not very happy with Loy’s staging, is disappointed by Kunde, loves JDD and and the conductor (Paolo Arivabeni).
Now, manou, is Loy’s production by any chance a bunch of people in dreary modern dress, a couple of chairs and a brick wall? That’s what he did for both Tristan and Lulu at the ROH, wasn’t it?
More reviews – doesn’t sound good – actually it probably sounds better than it looks.
http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/f01d2b62-594d-11df-9452-34b1487217fa/Une_Dame_du_lac_arrim%C3%A9e_%C3%A0_son_r%C3%AAve
http://www.diapasonmag.fr/news.php?id=599
http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3895&Alias=wzo&cob=491754
Isn’t there some way of stopping this? Must we put up with this to hear great singers?
Plenty of photos on JDD’s blog: http://yankeediva.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Liana, I hadn’t checked JDD’s site today.
I admire Joyce for trying to explain the “concept” of this production.
Too bad there isn’t someone out there,though, who can sue on behalf of Rossini and his librettist.
If Loy wanted to stage an opera with his concept, he should have gone out and found a composer who is willing to write the music for it. He should NOT have vulturized a composer who cannot defend himself ( because he is dead) There is a lot of “wiggle room” within libretti as they are- without turning productions into parody or travesty.
… and at least Joyce gets her usual rave reviews.
By the way, I noticed that JDD, perhaps the most admired female Rossinian of today, didn’t give Renee a namecheck in her blog comments on the HD broadcast of Armida.
JDD is a generous colleague and a total pro, so I am loath to read anything into that omission …
I noticed that omission as well. Actually she did give a “shout out” to all the cast, but I think that she was particularly happy to see Brownlee have such a success since I believe they’ve sung together – and I don’t believe she’s sung in any operas with RF?
Slightly OT, there is a 9 part history of the Rossini Festival on youtube ( first one is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6UUaB9xKqE&feature=fvw ) Lots of spoken Italian, but it is interesting to see the singers that are mentioned ( even if they don’t appear) – the omissions are pause for thought.
Back to the “peach” scene from the movie “Ropes & Spanking” so cleverly enacted at a Bed Bath & Beyond in Chino, CA by our very own BAB and CruzSF: That scene was actually a homage to the movie THE MUSIC LOVERS which had a “peach” scene wherein Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky drifted into a very large dining hall in the mansion of Nadezhda von Meckand bit into a “peach,” Nadezhda von Meck followed and rubbed the half-eaten “peach” all over her face.
Back to the “peach” scene from the movie “Ropes & Spanking” so cleverly enacted at a Bed Bath & Beyond in Chino, CA by our very own BAB and CruzSF: That scene was actually a homage to the movie THE MUSIC LOVERS which had a “peach” scene wherein Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky drifted into a very large dining hall in the mansion of Nadezhda von Meckand and bit into a “peach,” Nadezhda von Meck followed and rubbed the half-eaten “peach” all over her face.
SF Photo has not made an error; it is not a double posting of the same thing. If you turn your head sideways and stare at a point between the two posts, it will emerge in three dimensions.
BAB, how I laughed…. I wish I knew what I was thinking when I reposted the same thing save for one “and.” But “Ropes & Spanking” brings back so many fond memories of my scandalous “youth” when I shot porn in San Francisco.
Which was . . . what? Last week?
3D is amazing, but I prefer the real “thing.”
“…shot porn in San Francisco…”????
Details, S.V.P.!
Opera? What’s that??
Tchaikovsky WHO???
“…shot porn in San Francisco…??? (Drooling sound.)
I assume SFPhoto had his own “gallery” years. Doesn’t everyone?
Miss Cieca, ma’am, I would like to report that we have gone seriously off-topic, and would like not to be disturbed for a while.
It warms my heart to know that “Parterre Box” is one of the few places on earth where the participants still fondly remember my brilliant photography as Drummer Magazine’s staff photographer in the ’80′s.
Girls, I suspect we are going to approach this topic from a slightly viewpoint than we anticipated.
I’ll only admit to: hell yeah!
. . . and THAT post was beyond salvaging.
Fist things fist, Betsey: Edit before posting.