Journalists ruin everything again
Linda Watson and John Treleaven have issued a joint not-apology, blaming “selective and biased representation of these interviews” for giving the impression that anything was less than stellar at the “fantastic history-making project” that is the LA Ring cycle. [Class Act via OperaChic]
I see there are opinions all over the place, some good and some bad. One item seems to me a horror of horrors. I read about a 45 minute intermission! What torture!
What is it people do during those long intermissions? Go gamble in Vegas?
45 minute intermissions are in fact not really long enough for the Ring, certainly not if one follows the composer’s intentions (which in this case are perfectly explicit and thoroughly documented.)
I only wish the Met could (or would) schedule at least some Ring cycles on the Bayreuth timetable, beginning performances at 4:00 pm and allowing hour-long intervals.
I’m very interested to know why La Cieca would prefer 60 minute intermissions during Ring cycles. What would she use the time for? I’m happy to have enough time to use the restroom and nibble on a snack from the bar, then get back to the action. And an hour’s not really enough time to leave the Met for a meal.
I imagine no American house would spend the money on additional overtime that would result from two 60, rather than 30, minute intermissions.
News of the Death Knell for LA Opera may be exaggerated:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-ring-tickets-20100529,0,6531843.story
“[CFO} Rountree said the Ring’s underachieving at the box office will not be a death-knell, as some opera fans have feared given the project’s cost, and …
” …tackling the “Ring” has brought at least one potential long-term dividend: Some new board members who love German opera were drawn by the company’s commitment. Also, he said, the company is in talks with a South Korean opera company that’s interested in importing the production within a few years…”
Well mashiemarkII; Eve Harrigton eat your heart out Dear! You sure have got your layers of underskirts all ruffled. Why is it when we hear your comments about Hildy Ball Bearings, we are always reminded of that other similar obsessive fan that loved Cherry Studel in a strange fashion? I will grant one thing about Ball bearings she did a good Salome for Von Karajan. When I first heard it I was impressed and still, am. . But then… other than that, it was a down -hill run. One can listen to just about any other single recording of hers and it is a case of (‘Oh shit!). The woman could not have played a comic role to save herself. Vocally role type -cast by her own individual technique unfortunately : by that increasing neurotic unsure, insecure sound, she produced.’ Any hint of ‘legato’ was non existent, unless by chance it was in the area of her voice, then at that moment -- not under any pressure. Dramatically it was ‘rather perfect’…but the musical results though……..yikes!
I.E A bit like Ricciarelli playing Turandot for Von Karajan!
As for talking and gloating about meeting ‘”the great Goodall and even the greater Bohm” ( your words)…. frankly after meeting such extremely nasty Fascist-minded pricks : respectable people would gladly dip their hands in disinfectant for a week or two. Were you sure, you dd not greet them as Heil Herr Bohm and Heil Herr Goodall whilst no doubt trying to charm and wet the pants off, those models of music’s Zig and Zag?
Bohm… ever heard him do a Tchaikovsky symphony? Its Germanic sounding ‘Looney Tunes’. His Tristan Act 2, the quickest, bluntest interupted blow job in the forest -anyone has ever heard of. Goodall….snail in pace, snail in learning a score….as well as being a mental snail that slimed around, ‘for jobs’.
Any singer working with him deserved a ‘endurance survival marathon run’ medal.
P. S What a delightful golden train wreck it could have been….Ball Bearings screaming Brunnhilde out for one of Goodall’s 5 and quarter hour -- actual running time Gotterdammerung’s!!!!! I relish the wicked thought of ‘what could have been’! What ‘frankfurter musick’ they would have made, marshiemark II. ‘Voice Fast-fries Before Brunnhilde Frys Herself’ would have been the remarkable headline….!
And yes I am extremely well briefed on myriad of leading motifs, all the Wagner mythology of his operas, his writings and that from others. Yes even the total clap -trap of Cosima’s decades-long daily diaries. Yes, I have shelves and shelves of Wagner recordings……I enjoy it as ‘simply music’ but I will still not succumb to all the philosophical shit, contained in it, becoming one of Wagner’s ‘little Ludwig’s’ Healthy detachment and mindful about where it came from: keeps one in a good mind.
For all this continuous name -dropping of yours (Your Claim to Fame!) and ‘who you met here and met there’ (all of course no doubt by and while, clinging to Ms Ball Bearings’ dress hem) betrays the inability to accept who you are ,individually -- for yourself. All of us deep into opera -- get the chance to meet or perhaps make friendships with opera singers. But at least, if possible -- should always try not to use such associations or their fame -- to ‘make big people of ourselves’. Having worked as a artist’s agent in the past………..I QUICKLY LEARNED TO RECOGNIZE SUCH TYPES! -’The Users!. The honor, the admiration, and the right to bask in glory earned- belongs to the performer: not those that may aid or befriend them in some way. Sure one may know privately of health problems that seriously affected some singers’ health, their performances or career….. but ‘that is where they will stay’. Even though I might see someone here ‘bagging something they did’; and being ignorant of other influences in that singer’s life.
After all they are are also human, too..
If I could decipher what is written I would gladly try to address it, but alas I am totally unable to comprehend most of it, so I give up in utter frustration, it must be my limited mental capacities, getting in the way…….. chuckle chukle…
That is interesting. In other instances, text often confuses me too. I wonder. Do you get equally confused on some soprano’s singing? Which?
How bizarre, La Valkyrietta. Just this morning, I put my shoe on my head, thinking it was pomade.
marshiemarkII; That is the sort of pathetic and exhausted reply, one expects from ‘besotted gushing’ fans. From too busy fans ,always frantically blowing up a pretty balloon full of hot air, promoting someone, far out of their depths. Then something comes along…. and bursts the inflated ideas and pretenses held by that obsessively fixated fan.
Watch there, see the pricked balloon , it goes now off into the yonder….shriveling up… making an awful protestation sound of its own, if one listens. It is remarkably just like that voice -- THAT VOICE! The one that was contained inside that ‘miniature Wagnerian toy voice box’… and with which, some fixated balloon blower wished to desperately impress others with..
Your hollow empty chuckle is transparent. It, compliments you perfectly. You remind everybody of someone, wanting to be reduced to being: some form of an operatic Norma Desmond’s ex husband…(even though she may deceased) .Being her ‘Max’ : ‘the adoring never-ending flunky: always tongue -licking her old shredded door-mats. Hilarious!
Harry and All: I think you are being a little hard on both Behrens and
her friend MarshieMark. I heard her sing three roles in the house:
her final run of Brunnhildes, and I must have hit good nights, for
she was quite apt and delivered the goods -- my partner said, “it’s
not a large voice but she sure lays it in your lap,” and she was
most sympathetic on stage. Surely there is nothing to complain
about there. Who, pray tell, today could do as well? NObody! I heard the Elektra that excited everyone so much, and I agree it was a mad delight -- literally; she absolutely out-sang herself and was a study in psychological grief-cum-craziness; I was profoundly moved by her,
and I don’t even like that opera!
Then there was that Tosca which in spite of all the right notes and boundless energy, did not do much for me; I don’t really think she was ideal for Italian opera. Teutons are, you know, just …. well, different from Italians. So, that is two out of three — not bad.
As for Marshie, why are you so hard on him and so personal? Can’t you detect his emotional involvement with the lady? That has to be respected, even by this bunch of buzzards and quail (the proper name for bob-o-links!). Harry, you really are a bit much at times, do you know that? Are you entirely healthy? Do you need more vitamin-D3? Best off to see the doc, old turnip! We always want you at your
best, it is so wonderful!
MrM/Santa Fe
Harry, since it is Sunday and had a few more minutes to spare, I did make the extra effort (huge effort) to decipher your rant, but sorry but no sale.
On Wagner: until you impress us with a coherent discussion of Wagner as a dramaturgist, Wagner as a musician, and especially as an orchestral composer of miracles, and you apply that to a discussion of say the influence of Bach in Act III of Die Walkure or why the second act of Goterrdammerung is so thickly chromatic, then you can “list” all the “things” you know about Wagner, Cosima, and all the other falsifications you are so fond of, but THAT does not make you a Wagnerian connoisseur of any kind (except as a legend in your own mind). It makes you a pamphleteer at best! You can “say” you have shelves of Wagner records, but since we cannot see them, the only evidence would be if your impressed us with your favorite divas peformances and why they were so great, but Hunter?????? In a world that had Leider, Flagstad (the very greatest), Varnay and Nilsson, you talk about Hunter?
It’s all of one piece with liking some of the music (what, the Ride of the Valkyries or the Dutchman Overture????) but not the complete musician and man, you are simply a very strange dude indeed (I am trying trying yes trying to be kind here).
On Behrens: You are on record as stating that you do not like the “sound” of her voice. Fine, totally your prerogative, but don’t talk about her voice not being large enough when she sang Brunnhilde and Isolde from Bayreuth to the huge Met (where she had some of her most immense successes) in no less than 8 productions of the Ring, five created especially for her. Did you ever hear her at the Met (or any theater for that matter), where she effortlessly filled the house in Act II of Goetterdaemmerung for example? As I said before, since her untimely passing and the overwhelming outpouring of both grief and love and recognition from every corner of the world, there is no question that she has entered the Pantheon of the immortals, your opinion of ONE notwithstanding!
See this:
On your cheap personal attacks on me: Of course my public persona in this forum is that of a die-hard and opinionated Wagnerian, and a devoted admirer and friend of the great Behrens. That is the sum total of what you know about me and let’s keep it that way. But let’s just say that I do not feel terribly insecure about my standing in the world, as a professional in a field that has nothing to do with music. Sorry to prick your balloon (pun intended) but your fantasies of a Norma Desmond ex-husband could not be further from my real life persona physically or intellectually, but it is your loss that you will never find out, so keep on dreaming.
My darling gemahl, I kneel in utter embarrassment and shame that I strayed, and twice in one week, first making goo-goo eyes to BABs and then threatening to even stalk, yes stalk, the irresistible Cruz, but YOU are the only true and loyal GEMAHL. Danke
“Sein Mannesgemahl bin ich,der ewige Eide er schwur,eh’ Mrmyster je dich ersah”
Well marshiemarkII; I was not trying to ‘sus’ you out. I was merely making a comical reflection of the type of person that one would quickly make in passing….of someone so enthusiastically besotted and totally fixated on one person.. It gathers to the point they make ‘silly asses’ of themselves, the onlooker tends to keep straight face out of politeness.
I have seen many another person, be similarly afflicted. The claims tend to get bigger as time goes on, time ticks by and the number of people to verify claims made, get less and less.
Wanting to virtually devote oneself to one singer, no matter how good one might find they appeal…. I find indeed, funny and yet scary how some minds ‘lock onto things’. Do we give ‘special kudos’ to people just because they have seen the Sound of Music or Les Miserables 300 times???!!! Usually people just all- knowingly ‘smile’. ‘The poor pets’ know nothing else to amuse themselves with.
Remember when singers are dead and gone…..all that really exists any longer , is the recordings….any proof of what excellence they had. Scientifically : aural memory is exactly about 30 seconds (proven)in a live situation.. After that all else is personal opinion. For posterity’s sake, some supposed live glorious performance (unless recorded) is but a ‘bump’ in one’s own personal memory box. It then becomes pure and simple hear-say or perhaps if taken to other levels : gilded fantasy to foster self aggrandizement. So often, fixated fans wanting to push their view of some singer will say “Did you see such & such in such & such on some particular night?” The answer may be a no. Then could get the litany of “Oh! But you do not know what you are talking about”.
It may surprise you besides the Salome I have quite a few other recordings of hers as well, over her recording period. Surely you are not going to tell me : microphones were the cause ” caused the fluctuating / intermittent vocal problems I have personally heard, on those recordings.. Since apparently they also recorded the moments she was steady, too!. I find it a bit rich for you to suggest I do not know Wagner…..since I have been familiar with the complete operas ‘not just bits’…. nor ‘highlights’ for the last 50 or so years!!!!Is about 600 recordings of Wagner alone, enough?. Or do you I need more of Brehens’ quite inconsistent interpretations to ‘truly understand the inner thematic structures’ of Wagner’s music? What shit!