Gloomy Saturday
All the cool kids will be watching Die Walküre from Bayreuth tomorrow afternoon.
That leaves Betsy Ann Bobolink and the rest of us sitting by the radio and chatting, chatting.
11:00-2:00 LRT KLASIKA: CARMEN from Vilnius
Carmen delecti, the musical slut,
A rose ‘tween her teeth and a cob up her butt,
Saying that this one will just entertain ya
Is only a way to rhyme Lithuania.
12:00-5:00 WRTI: GOTTERDAMMERUNG from LA.
A cult, a cabal, you can call me a liar
But I can see there’s frat in the Freyer.
1:00-5:00 CBC TWO: THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN
A Cunning Little Vixen from Florence
Has music that pours out in torrents
But when it is done
I ain’t had much fun
And so I view this with abhorrence
1:00-3:00 DEUTSCHLANDRADIO KULTUR: ORFEO ED EURIDICE
Lethe’s disturbed, oh ye sad sons and daughters,
I suspect someone has Muti-ed the waters.
1:00-4:00 FRANCE VIVACE: LAKME
On your Amazon shelves this set can be bought,
To hear Natalie say “You can Lak me or not.
1:00-5:00 KBYU: SIEGFRIED from LA
Have I died? Is this Heaven?
I suspect not; I can still hear Treleaven.
1:00-5:00 NPR World of Opera: TOSCA from Orange
“Purple” and “orange” are words that won’t rhyme,
To that list, I add “Tosca”, “Cavaradossi,” and “Sacristime.”
1:00-3:30 NRK P2: Chopin and Handel from Oslo
Some piano from Chopin, from Handel some arias.
From Oslo some music, from Yorkshire just terriers.
1:00-2:00 RADIO CLASICA DE ESPANA: Bach with Goerne and Shafer
Matthias and Lisa regale us with song,
And sharing the load, neither goes on too long.
1:00-5:00 RTP ANTENA 2: ORFEO ED EURIDICE
This particular opera is not one of Gluck’s.
Instead, it’s the brainchild of one Johann Fux.
The potential for wordplay being so enormous,
I yield the floor for Manou to inform us.
1:00-5:00 WFMT Network: DIE GEZEICHNETEN from LA.
I yield now the floor to Monsieur BPK.
Of Schreker our resident devotee.
I shall sit in my corner fumin’ and fettin,’
And think of a way to rhyme “Gezeichneten.”
2:00-5:00 CESKY ROZHLAS VLTAVA: THE DEVIL’S WALL
Smetana’s time has, alas, not yet come,
Except, of course, for the Czechs.
I still have hope that his fuczure
Might be brighter than – say — Janacek’s.
2:00-5:00 ESPACE TWO: PIRAMO E TISBE
I resist the temptation to sermonize
On the charms of the obscure Baroque.
The music that pleasures the ear
And how it can vistas invoque.
2:00-6:00 KLARA: HANSEL UND GRETEL
Gretel is bossy; Hansel’s a boor,
And Pete’s an inveterate souse.
I keep a shotgun right close at hand
If someone comes eating my house.
4:00-5:30 NRK KLASSISK: Schubert recital by Katherina Gericke
When it comes to Schubert,
I’m really sort of picky.
Has anyone ever heard
Of Katherina Gericke?
The doors never close at La Casa della Cieca.
Seeing this room is Chatty Corners today, I’ll join in and wonder if any of you have seen the M. Butterfly at Santa Fe Opera? We attended last evening; it was an unqualified flop, an embarrassment.
The set was ho-hum, but could have been dealt with had other aspects been first rate and memorable; unfortunately, they were not. Among the points noted:
1> Cio-Cio San (Miss Kaduce) was in vocal distemper all evening – much of her
mid voice register just plain flat. She was not adequately expressive in the role,
the American identity she was given in Act II draining her performance of the
contrasts of East and West — as my friend said, it was an All-American Butterfly.
I feel bad about what she is doing to her voice; she is way over-parted as Butterfly as in Salome, which she has taken up. In the final scene, “Tu, tu….” and
onward her voice was so exhausted she could not make her series of top notes;
they simply were not there. I wonder where this career is going?
2> The final tableaux was one of the most vulgar and tacky things I have ever
seen on stage — immediately following Butterfly’s bloody death (her father’s long
dagger is inserted into the carotid artery insuring that blood spurted everywhere), little B F P, Jr. pulled his blindfold off and toddled over to look
at mom – gave her a poke – she did not move; he picked up the bloody dagger
just as Lt B F P entered the room, and made a slight menacing move towards his
father, whom he had never seen before of course. Quite a lot to ask of a three-
year-old. I was and am speechless about this; I just describe it. You decide.
3> What’s all the hoo-ha about Brandon Jovaovich? I found him well south of John Alexander or William Olvis as Pinkerton. The voice through mid-
register is pleasing if not special, but all top notes are fake, hollow and sans
ring and thrust, and his dynamic was often at a disadvantage to the orchestra:
in short, he could not always be heard. It is not a spinto voice, and it’s in
trouble at the top end — what’s a tenor to do? Why, sing Wagner of course. I
guess he debuts as Siegmund in SFO’s upcoming Ring. Good lucky, buddy!
4> Maestro Walker. Forget about him. Dry boring conducting, no shape,
no dramatic accenting, it dragged at times, was never thrilling or adequate.
If the orchestra played well, it’s because they are a good orchestra. Everyone
has noted that.
5>Suzuki was pretty good – best of the evening perhaps? BUT the rest of the
ensemble were so American!!! What was up? Yamadori had nothing Japanese
about him; nor did the Imperial commissioner who officiated at the wedding -
no attempt to make him Japanese, he was Craig Verm, American baritone; and
so on down the line. When we get to Sharpless, one James Westman, he had
almost no voice whatsoever — he simply was not heard. How very odd!! And
the theatre is only 2200 seats and has a good responsive acoustic. Goro
could have been a party arranger in Kansas City or Oslo for all we knew, though
his sniveling manner was well accomplished.
6> The city of Nagasaki never looked more dreary, and this was maybe 1904
long before Harry Truman said “fuck the Japs.” Drear and drab including the
colorless costumes; large electric power poles along stage right with sagging wiringtell us it’s early 20thC. and I guess that conjured something for some.
So why go on? That’s enough. And by the way: The audience gave a standing
ovation, screaming a roar of approval; Kaduce, covered with blood, grinned
and bobbed in her bows like a school girl; when big strapping Pinkerton came on he was loudly booed — he feigned surprised, then grinned (it happened at every
performance), and we all realized it was his character not himself that was being
disapproved. La la la ….. see ya next year!
There was a critic sitting next to me who said his coverage would center on
how “regieoper is creeping into Santa Fe.” Creep, my ass; it is here!!
Is anybody else listening to WKCR right now? They’re doing Salome with Nilsson now, and then they’re going to be switching to Nilsson in Elektra in about half an hour. The recording sound is incredible!
Also, the host sounds great! He does not sound like a college student at all!
YES…!!!
…The sound on my ‘puter is astoundingly FINE for this…..amazingly clear…!
….Except…didn’t he just say that the Salome was Nina Stemme?…(who sounded glorious…whoever it was…!)
They had just finished Salome with Nilsson; and then they switched off to Nina Stemme’s recording of the final scene of Salome. Now they’re doing Elektra with Nilsson
Message for CL in DC. I have Elektra ready for you, but I need your address. Ditto whoever it was who asked for the Tosca from Orange. Contact House of Bobolink at ditzbobble@gmail.com