Tales of the Dresden version
“As the flirtatious Musetta, American soprano Takesha Meshe Kizart won the audience’s hearts with the charm and flair of her personality and a potent upper register, including some formidable high C’s for her Waltz Song.” [AP]
The article appears to have been corrected. It now reads “high notes” rather than “high C’s.”
I’d like to point out that they took advantage of the online format and changed the sentence in question, which now reads “some formidable high notes for her Waltz Song.”
I wonder whether it is ethically correct in journalism to make modifications without reporting them…
OT Wanna see gruberove sticking her tongue out while singing QOTN?:
Um, no.
At least it’s good to know her voice hasn’t deteriorated that much.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/10/14/multimedia/1248069181554/opera-s-next-tenor.html
NOTICE GRIGOLO’S VOICE IS SO…..HIGH? BOYISH? RASPY? NASAL?
Was he ‘saving’ it or something?
Too light for the part? Time will tell if his technique has improved since this 2-year-old clip, but he appears to have kept the arms-wide-open dramatic posture:
Fennel, ya know
I remember reading a review for Caruso’s Duke at the MET that complimented his ‘top Cs’ in ‘La donna e mobile’.
Some of those reeeal old reviews (via the MET Database) are really a hoot to read. They are short, sweet (actually, rather brutal), and to the point. I highly recommend reading them when you get a chance!!
Aloki wrote: Grigolo’s “performance seemed to be more conceptual than experienced, which makes sense as he has not performed very much in live opera.” I wonder why this misunderstanding that Vittorio Grigolo has not performed much in live opera seems to be so firmly ingrained. He has done live performances of Faust, Don Carlo, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, La Bohème, Lucrezia Borgia, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi, Lucia di Lammermoor, Il corsaro, Manon, Rigoletto, West Side Story, Otello (as Cassio), L’Elisire d’Amore, Il Turco in Italia, Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Falstaff (Fenton), I Capuleti e i Montecchi. It seems that his “popera” overshadows his years singing at smaller houses in Europe.
Amazing! Some parterrians can be as ill-informed as music critics. Who would have thought it?
Meanwhile, the BBC makes an utter mess of paying tribute to Joan Sutherland…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9089606.stm
Oh that is hilarious. I’m going to admit to having been sad enough to have emailed Newsnight after the ticking off we got on the second night. I didn’t realise they’d re-visited it yet again.
Back to infelicitous translations:
“Courage, brother; dare the grave passage”
and
“Now is this nonsense at its noon”
from Tippett’s CHILDE OF OUR TIME, and from THE MIDSUMMER MARRIAGE.
Oh, wait. Those aren’t translations…
A friend of mine who is a professional translator (but not specialized in music) came to me to check his translation of the following sentence from the bio of an opera singer:
Nach 1933 beschraenkte sie sich ausserhalb von Berlin auf Charakterchargen.
His translation; After 1933, she could no longer perform outside of Berlin because of a personality disorder.
My suggestion; After 1933, she limited herself to character roles outside of Berlin.
*L*O*L* (quite literally)