Nun zäume dein Ross!
When Peter Gelb really wants an artist at the Met, he pulls out all the stops. La Cieca hears that Bryn Terfel, on his way back to New York after a brief visit with his family back in Wales, arrived at the airport in the UK this morning only to discover he left his passport and work visa behind in NYC before the trip. The Met honcho, our informant whispers, dispatched a Met staffer to fly to Manchester tonight with Bryn’s passport so that she can hand it to him in person, tomorrow morning. Terfel should be in place for a rescheduled Rheingold rehearsal tomorrow afternoon.
ZZZZZZZZzzzzxzzxxxxzzzzzz…..
Terfel will probably do most of the autumn Rheingolds, but I am more curious if he shows up for the two scheduled in March/April 2011 including the radio broadcast. That will probably go to his cover Evgeny Nikitin
:):)
Mr. Philip Joll has the Spring dates all clear.
A terrible singer, mediocre voice. No support, just wobble from start to finish.
I agree about Joll’s lack of usefulness. He debuted at the MET in 1988 as Donner, in the first presentations of the previous production of RHEINGOLD. He was really there to cover James Morris as Wotan, and I suspect he was lined up for Gunther in the following season, too.
Can you imagine being so poor as Donner that they didn’t renew the contract. He’s never been back to the MET. His Kurwenal and Amfortas in the Goodall recordings are truly mediocre.
Yet there Joll was over the last three seasons, in Seattle for Thoas, Wotan and the Wanderer and Phoenix for Rigoletto and Sharpless–SHARPLESS!!!!!–in San Francisco.
No North American baritones were of sufficient stature…
Byrnham Woode: Agreed. To think that most British patriotic music magazine The Gramophone in its review of Goodall’s Parsifal, even slammed his contributions as bad….not even The Vicar I don’t think could dare defend Joll.
Some of those strange ‘casting fill-in’s’ we hear about, are nothing more than managements fulfilling a international – complimentary ‘or obligatory gesture’ – in the Artist ‘visa to work’ schemes of understanding between Performer Equity Unions and Governments.
The paying patrons suffer the result.
Terfel is scheduled for Walkuere starting April 22, so the two performances of Rheingold would fall at that start of the rehearsal period.
The March/April RHEINGOLDs occur just as WALKURE is in final rehearsals. Terfel is scheduled for that as well. By having a radio broadcast of RHEINGOLD as part of the schedule, the MET insures the “A list” cast is in place. Carrot-on-a-stick thinking, I suppose.
And Terfel will certainly want to do WALKURE, which also includes a double whammy of radio and HD Theater performances.
What a dumbass! When is everyone going to figure out he’s a big flake?
Remember about a year ago he showed up at a concert without his pants, wearing shorts, or something like that, and had to borrow some from somebody there?
Also, I wonder what the phone call that he had to make to New York and presumably some PA type individual was like? They’ll probably laugh about it for years.
Perhaps you can undertake Mr. Terfel’s schedule and travel requirements while having to have larger repertoire memorized before an international public. Get back to us on how well you handle it.
Oh, come on–REALLY? This is his fucking JOB!! This is what we do. And he’s pretty good at it (tho I’ve heard him live only once) he ought to be able to handle a large repertoire (memorized! Oh my god!) and travel too…PUHLEEEEZE
And you would know how much pressure someone at the top of this profession is under how? Please tell us about it. Also, try memorizing 6 hours of archaic German text sometime and fill us in on it. Perhaps your book can give away the secrets.
This is off track but I had to mention that today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Jussi Bjorling. One of the greatest singers ever! Wish I had the expertise to attach some of my favorite stuff but alas, I’m deficient in that regard. If I could it might be the “ah si ben mio” and cabaletta from the Covent Garden Trovatore. Anybody out there have a favorite?
Tim
Tim: Now with Bjorling….you are mentioning someone who could sing.
Obviously. Only dead people can sing.
could someone please explain to me the process of rehearsals for opening night? opening night is less than 11 days away and theyre just starting rehearsals for it??? a 10 day rehearsal for that intricate a set???
There were rehearsals with Terfel earlier than this week, actually starting toward the end of August. La Cieca’s understanding is that he had a few days off over the long Labor Day weekend and took the time to visit his family. So the cast of the opera will have rehearsed for a month or more before the opening night. This week marks the start of rehearsals on the main stage; previously they were on “C” level I assume.
I wonder how much stage rehearsal the principles need. From what we’ve heard, most of their action will be on the downstage lip in front of the 60-ton movable Vegas-style video see-saw thingy, which will mainly be populated with supers. Wir werden es früh genug erfahren…
“I wonder how much stage rehearsal the principles need.”
It depends whether they are sound principles, well-accepted principles, general principles…
Oh what a nasty schoolmarm you are Ms Nelli. Let me tell you, any single one post from LittleMasterMiles has more operatic real content than a million of your vicious, bitter as gall, content-free nastygrams. Plus LMM has GREAT taste on divas, judging from his beautiful contribution (the very first!) to the divas thread.
You may know how to spell “principals”, but catching a typo a thinking person does not make you. Quite the contrary, your astonishing lack of logical capacities was amply demonstrated when you had the brilliant idea of blaming a music critic for the failings of his successor. I assume you had no ideas on how to discredit the said critic, so the best you could come up with was the faults of his successor. That must go to the annals of of idiocy. Are you on the short list for the Nobel Prize? By God you have an enviable brain!
Wow, you are a poor stylist, as well as a bore, Marshie! Can’t recall–was it *you* who thought Donal Henahan a genius? Anyway, the TIMES way has ALWAYS been to consult and cite its own critics’ collected opinions– only a few brave/smart writers like Anne Midgette (who was a stringer there) have bucked that tide.
You can belch bile and call names all you like; Behrens was not the vocalist you claim her to have been, whatever her virtues. Period.
OT; Millennium Park, free concert this Saturday. I will attend, mostly to be with friends and eat and drink at our picnic. Half the “stars” usually cancel, and people talk all through the thing–using it as background music. It’s very annoying if you are really interested in the music.
http://www.lyricopera.org/pressroom/millennium-park-concert-2010.aspx
PS I am most interested in hearing Nadja Michaels, who will sing Lady Macbeith this season.
Anyone here know her singing?
Michaels sang a hideous Marietta/Marie in Die tote Stadt last year in London. Some of the ugliest singing I have heard in the opera house. She looks good, but is a very mannered actress, and she swallows the German text, even though it’s her native language. That apart, I loved her!
She’s a very committed stage performer (from the few clips I”ve seen) and has a good voice but she’s just not a good singer. I can’t imagine she’d fare well with a role that has bel canto roots.
From friends who saw her Salome in San Francisco, she’s a great dancer!
I heard an Eboli in Dresden– *very* mediocre singing but she was exciting onstage. Not a good bargain in the final analysis, but the kind of singer theater directors with no ears like.
Björling! My favorite tenor. Saw him sing Don Carlo, Turridu (with Simionato) and Cavaradossi + a number of concerts including the 1958 Carnegie Hall concert.
A GOD!!!!!!!!!
Aside from a huge case of envy at your good fortune I’m glad I’m not alone. He didn’t go the celebrity route, could care less about publicity, and did not act the divo. He wasn’t much to look at and was pretty immobile on stage but people loved him. Typical of Jussi, one time when he was asked how he wanted to be remembered when he was gone he said “tell them I was an honest musician”. Would that several gifted singers of this day and age had a bit of his humility and dedication to the art of singing. And yes, he was, and in my mind, still is a god.
Tim
Any reports on J Levine at these rehearsals? Healthy? Robust? Weight class?
Well, thanks for theNadja Michael info. I don’t know what she will sing, but I will let you know how she does. Doesn’t sound promising.
Whatever it is, it’ll be mostly flat, regardless of where in the range the particular phrase lies, with just the odd maddening flash of truly brilliant timbre at the top that makes you wish she could just pull herself together and make an effort to sort it out.
^^^ this.
Perfect summary.