Put on your Tuesday clothes
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Intermezzo (not pictured) reacts to last night’s prima of Manon at the Royal Opera: Anna Netrebko “sang strongly, the voice fuller and darker than ever before, looking gorgeous” and Vittorio Grigolo‘s “technique and stamina were truly spectacular.” The pair “were, deservedly, a huge hit with the audience…. authentic and vital.” The Laurent Pelly production offers “some stylish stage pictures, but his storytelling doesn’t hang together.” [Intermezzo]
you should see Vittorio shirtless on the Otello DVD, and he is on my facebook, check him out, only 33 yo.
Wenarto…your comments are lewd, bawdy, and disgusting to serious students of the High Art of opera.
In other words: I like you!
as far as ANNA….hmmmmm, I think I have to compete
Wernato – so much one could say if only one could find the words…..
Not shure about the production…and I’m not shure if the Met public will like it… :S
What are your reservations, Flamingo?
I’m not sure…it’s just that it looks a bit plain… But that’s only by looking at the pictures. It’s just my first impressions. Maybe it’s very good!
Since we were talking about VUVUZELAS on Parterre long before OperaChic, don’t miss the great vuvuzela recital now at DIE ZEIT (also embedded by the ever savy Chic): http://www.zeit.de/kultur/musik/2010-06/konzerthaus-vuvuzela
The intonation of the vuvuzela players in the Ravel Bolero put many singers to shame in terms of accuracy of pitch!
With all due respect, QPF, I don’t believe the majority of visitors to this sacred site are all that interested in intimate aspects of the female sexual anatomy…
ah! ah! for the vuvuzela, sounds like an old serpent. I tried mine, but my heart exploded.
To play tunes on them, one should have 6 holes pierced in it, it will then give a lot of harmonics.
Hey…a bit out of subject but was Sonia Ganassi going to sing Eboli in don Carlo at the Met next season? Its because I just checked the brochure they sent us after the season announcement and its written her name. Now its Anna Smirnova who will sing the role according to the Met’s website…
She’s recently had her first child: she withrew from the ROH’s first revival of this production due to pregnancy. If it’s any consolation, Eboli is really not her role, and I would think definitely not in a house the size of the Met.
I think she was great in the first outing of this production. I was expecting her to be too light for it, and while it’s true that she was very much at the lyric end of the role, she didn’t disappoint in the garden trio or ‘O don fatale’ – her top notes (bs? or are they c-flats in the context?) were spectacular. Her voice has enough brightness and release for it not to matter whether she’s at the ROH or the Met, she could convince in the role in any house.
I would have to agree with Cocky. There is a strong tradition of Rossini mezzos growing into this role (Ganassi, Horne and Balsta are but 3). The clip of O don fatale shows that she was much better than Podles in the role.
Yes the voice is on the lyric side, but that makes the accomplishment all the more impressive to me. At this point she is tired and she is obviously paced herself well to be able to sing it like this. Personally i prefer her in it, I never liked her Rossini.
The aria starts at around the 3 minute mark.
She’s definitely on the lighter side for Eboli but I liked this very much. Great involvement in the role. Gleaming hight notes (and yes, that big note near the beginning is a C-flat).
Never heard Horne’s Eboli live, but I remember reading less than adulatory reviews when she did it for the first time and a New York friend told me she didn’t really cut the mustard at the Met. I did hear Baltsa and the role was a HUGE stretch for her, although she’s exciting on the Karajan recording, more so than Lucia Valentini-Terrani on the Abbado French version. I’m not sure if LV-T ever sang Eboli in the theatre, but on disc she sounds like a Rossini mezzo getting above herself. Ganassi at Covent Garden was fine, but again she sounded like a Rossini/Donizetti singer, at least compared to my first Ebolis, Fiorenza and Grace – Borodina and Zajick I haven’t heard live, either, but I guess they are the best Verdian options for the role in big theatres. I really can’t understand why we never hear Zajick in London when we get Marianna Cornetti as Eboli and Amneris. As for the new CG Manon, I think it looks pretty grim and will look worse at the Met – the Hotel de Transylvanie looks like a green multi-level prison and is hard to move in. Nebs looked gorgeous, and her high Ds were fine, although one sounded as if it might sag and Grigolo has a surprisingly large voice which he is already pushing. He’s fantastic on stage and Pappano got him to sing some really lovely mezza voce phrases, which might sound like crooning in a bigger-theatre. I think Beczala is a better choice for the role when the production goes to the Met, but he’s not as cute as Grigolo.
I hope a broadcast of this production is coming to Operacast. From the photos, at least, Anna looks totally invested in the part.
Speaking of broadcasts, I’ll try to put out a list of available things as I did last week, but so far nothing is listed. I visited a couple of websites, and found that there will indeed be a MANON but it’s from Canada and features Nathalie Paulin and Michael Schade.
Nathalie Paulin has a very beautiful voice – she was Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s Lia here, earlier this month.
She was also one of his soloists in tonight’s broadcast of the Mahler 8th. Of course, it’s hard to judge who is who in that. Except that MacMaster made me cringe.
Yes, dress in yellow is a excellent idea:
It is being relayed and streamed on 10th July by BBC R3:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnpy
Last night I attended the 3D filming of Carmen at Covent Garden, and operatic first . Two great booms across the auditorium , a dolly at the front of stage, and a peripatetic hand held cam. Pity it had to be Hymel, constricted with truly awful French, rather than Alagna as earlier in the season.. To be screened in the autumn.
The prima of Manon at the ROH got great reviews by all critics. One described Netrebko’s E-flat as “stratospheric.” It was a great night for both Netrebko and Grigolo. It seems that with the eclipse of Villazon, Netrebko will partner more often with Baczala and Grigolo, with Giordano and Alagna in between. I saw the HD re-run of Met’s Romeo et Juliet tonight, and Netrebko and Alagna looked and sang better than I originally thought.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t recall opportunity for Eb’s in Manon, I do remember several D’s that can be sung, but no Eb’s.
Nebby looks possitively fantastic in that pic. A vision from heaven And she looks fantastic in pinks.
Yeah? Maybe, I guess. I keep expecting Kramer to come through the door.
Deaf critics again. Nothing higher than a D was emitted from Netrebko’s variable throat all evening. As much as I adore reading Intermezzo’s blog, she has no ear for music at all. Netrebko looked a million dollars but sang with all the panache of a fish wife. God awful French throughout, breaths snatched everywhere, which constantly destroyed the line and real pitching problems throughout. Her gavotte was as clumsy as I’ve ever heard, but by Acts IV and V she was sensational. Why is she so variable?
Deaf indeed. I’ve never heard Netrebko sing a high D on pitch. There are many people who think that a high note is either a C or an E-flat. And today’s critics are a hopeless bunch.
What’s with this Grigolo hysteria? Do we have another Villazon here? I’m beginning to suspect that the ROH uses sound enhancement.
I think there’s no question Grigolo is heading towards Villazon burnout. There’s some unfortunate clips of him singing Nessun Dorma out there and he literally does Kathleen Battle face, lips over the mouth, at a number of points and it definitely creeps you out. Here’s hoping he’s not on a shortlist to sing the whole role any time soon. Why aren’t these guys ever willing to sing, light lyric stuff until they get into their late 30s or 40s? Sure the six pack may soften, but there are lots of opera goers who will ooh and aww over a sexy 40something who hasn’t ruined their voice.
Okay, please tell me what is more “light lyric” than Des Grieux? There are simply not enough productions of Don Giovanni in the world for everyone to sing Ottavio for the first 20 years of his career.
And for heaven’s sake: singing an aria is not singing the opera. Or has Renee Fleming been singing Marietta in Die Tote Stadt for the past two decades without anyone noticing?
I might add to La Cieca’s post that a young lyric cast in a French opera brings more opportunity for the kind of delicate singing that French music requires and which young lyrics can do with more ease.
Ciaca carissima, de Grieus is not all that lyric. there are parts that feel truly spinto to the voice. The scene after the Ah Fuyez is a trial for any lyric tenor who has not paced himself well. I saw several tenors crack their way through the aria and the following duet.
I’ve never heard Netrebko sing anything on pitch. Well, maybe the happy birthday clip.
I can see Nebs’ appeal — and her top notes are impressive — but am I alone in finding something vaguely unpleasant in the tone itself, though I appreciate that it is bascially rich and rounded? It’s hard to describe, but it’s a slightly sickly edge: a bit like the sour fatty taste you get in a Krispy Kreme doughnut!
And for heaven’s sake: singing an aria is not singing the opera. Or has Renee Fleming been singing Marietta in Die Tote Stadt for the past two decades without anyone noticing?
I wish, she’d be a terrific Marie/Marietta! Instead, she decides to punish bel canto fans…..
I saw it too, I’m still high.
I don’t even like Romeo and Juliet (the story) in any form. This one had magic.
“Stratospheric”? Were they tuning at A=442 or something? I mean, don’t most E-flats possess around the same amount of stratosphere? Or is that a nice way of saying she was singing a little sharp?
I’m going to see this on July 4th and I can’t wait. I just hope Trebs doesn’t get bored and leave town before the end of the run. Maybe it has just been my bad luck, but she seems like the Caballe of our age in that sense (and that sense only).
Does Netrebko have a reputation for leaving a production mid-run? This is news to me.
Netrebko has appeared in over ten productions here, and never left one earlier than scheduled. The closest she’s come was renogiating her Traviata contract last summer after the birth of her child, skipping her originally announced two performances in July; however, this was done more than six months in advance, so ticket holders had plenty of time to make an exchange if Perez or Futral weren’t to their taste.
Her record in L.A. is also excellent, at least once she shows up for the opening. She did cancel an Idomeneo production down there on relatively short notice, but she wasn’t as big a star at the time and Domingo was the headliner, so it didn’t exactly leave them high and dry.
To my knowledge, her track record in this department is better than average (though that final Met Boheme this spring looks a bit suspect).
Can you tell us what you’re talking about? When did Netrebko do this? In New York, she’s got a superb attendance record.
Just my bad luck then, I expect. Of the 4 times I’ve booked to see her in something, she has actually appeared only once.
Teh amazing buffo Paolo Bordogna as Mamm’Agata in Donizetti’s “Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali”
For Netrebkophiles with time on their hands :
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/classical/article2570444.ece
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/massenet-manon-royal-opera-house-london-2008402.html
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/182665/Jules-Massenet-s-Manon-Royal-Opera-House-Covent-Garden
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-23848165-manon-provides-inspirational-times-in-high-society.do
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/23/manon-review
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/28686/manon
http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/opera/E8831277278093/Manon.html
There may be in problem accessing The Times as you now have to register (free….for the moment). Quote : Cast in the role once more, Netrebko burns up the Covent Garden stage with her sexual allure, creamy top notes and dramatic fire.
Two of those three compliments had nothing to do with singing…hmmmmmmmm
However one describes her top notes – penetrating, brilliant, just about on pitch – they could hardly be called “creamy”. I’d love to know of a soprano with creamy high notes – possibly Leontyne Price but brilliant and gleaming would be a better description of those, too. Maybe he meant knicker-creaming high notes, if you’ll pardon the vulgarity.