Quantum of Naxos
La Cieca’s spy reports from the Met:
“A promising and delightful final dress of Ariadne yesterday.”
The operative continues:
I’d say Fabio Luisi and the orchestra were the real stars. He conducted a strong and rhythmically sensitive and supple performance of this rather tricky score. A very brisk and energetic first couple of pages set the tone for the performance. But when he had to gently caress a luscious melody, he had no problem with that either. The orchestra seemed very responsive to his approach. (Fashion note: He conducted in a very fetching transparent white puffy shirt, which became even more transparent in the upglow from the conductors brightly lighted score desk. This gave us an opportunity to take in he outlines of his shapely arms, shoulders and upper body. It was a bit distracting, but I heard only positive remarks in that area.)
I was not too keen on Violeta Urmana‘s previous Ariadnes, but although I found her voice a bit hard-edged, I liked her performance yesterday. She has a bright and incisive sound, good diction, and fine stage presence. She has a great stage face, and was very expressive and responsive (and funny when called to be). We’ve had some very good Ariadnes since it was first done here in 1963. Rysanek, Della Casa, Price, Norman, Caballe, Johanna Meier. And most recently the superb Voigt and Stemme. Not bad. Urmana might not be the best, but she is quite fine in the role in many ways.
Kathleen Kim, I remain a bit unsure of. When did Zerbinetta become so cutesy ? I know I’ve seen others take that approach in recent years, and it’s not hard to see why. It seems to me that Damrau and Dessay brought much more sophistication to the part, and a good bit more real musical insight. Vocally I found Kim to be all to frequently “not enough,” and then forcing to make up for it. She’s talented, and the role is a bitch. And I know a Gruberova doesn’t come along every day. But her performance does not quite come together for me.
I liked Robert Dean Smith a lot. He and Urmana worked very well together in the duet, and it seemed much less of an anticlimax than it can. And much less bloated than it is often accused of being. Actually, from my very good (free) seat, I found the end very moving.
I expect that Joyce DiDonato will cause a sensation as the Composer. Her voice is wonderful, her musicality very impressive. Her acting, movement and facial expressions were perfectly calibrated. I have heard her speak a few times, and she is clearly very intelligent and sensitive. I look forward to enjoying her work many more times in the next few years. She is brilliant.
I still miss Theodore Upmann as Harlekin. (That’s how love is.)
While she may be laughing all the way to the bank, I’d say Voigt has lost her mind doing ERWARTUNG with the NY Phil soon. But then, maybe 3 people in the whole audience will know if she’s singing the correct notes. The conductor might not even be one of them because it’s such a difficult piece to hear what’s on the page.
DISCLAIMER:
When done right, though, the ovations can be longer than the actual work, as was the case when Marie Collier first sang it in San Francisco.
This is just perfect:
Seeing Erwartung done right is one of my ongoing quests. The recent one at NYCO was a valiant attempt, but not quite it. Anja Silja did a good concert performance a few years back at Carnegie Hall. I wonder if she can still sing it.
QPF: You are right on. I once heard Mme Steber “sing”
Erwartung with the St Louis Symphony, de Carvalho conducting,
and she was ill-prepared for it, claiming she had not known
she was to sing it at those concerts, only the Mahler 4th.
At one point the artist turned two pages of her score at
once – nobody knew, though I wondered why the Mo.
was giving her strange looks. At the next performance
she was much better and the pages were turned
correctly. It was not suitable for her voice, however.
On the other hand, the Mahler Fourth floated out over
Powell Hall as of yesteryear – heavenly. And this was in
the mid-1970s!
Mrs. Claggart, sorry about that. I do remember The Toilet, as a matter of fact. And I did see a good Outrud with La Rankin. I have a story about her, but cannot type on this fucking phone.
Love your posts here. Opera-l is a shithole, but
I find it amusing like Ticked-off Trannies with Knives.
Clita:
Would that be TTK, ToTK or ToTwK? And is this a movie or book or play, or just the fertile imagination and glistening tongue of Clita (ne Amneris) del Toro.
[img]http://parterre.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/puffy-shirt.jpg[/img]
That is a fabulous number. I am here seething in a jealous rage.
The talk about Zerbinetta’s aria’s 2 versions led me to listen and compare both of them. Since Mrs. John mentioned she had not listen to the Gruberoba version in a while, here it is, the whole thing:
and for contrast, here are 2 of my favorite versions:
1. Madi Mesple, in a fearless performance from Aix in which she trills the high D right after flashing a smile to the audience as if to say “have your flavor of the month Zerbinetta do that, bitches.”
2. Patricia Wise from RAI in 1973 (I think). This broadcast stands as the only time Julia Varady ever sang the Composer. Sadly not all of it exists.
Varady is the Komponist on the Philips Masur recording. Maybe her only live performance of the part?
Brava Gruberoka!! that’s the way it should be done, see.
From the discussion of the BSO Sills Zerbinetta earlier:
This has been bugging me since I read it last weekend (and I see this comment made from time to time here and elsewhere), because when I watch the telecast, it sound like the 1912 version as I know it. So I decided to listen to it once while following the 1912 score, and if it matters to anyone, this is what I found.
Basically, the allegation is not true. The orchestra is playing the unadulterated 1912 version, and Sills renders her share of it just about intact. The exceptions are as follows:
1. She ducks the 2 F sharps (one a short note in an arpeggio cadenza, one a brief sustained note in the slow section late in the aria), as I think she always did in live performances of this aria.
2. She tacets a measure (at rehearsal 141) of E-major arpeggio, presumably to get ready for the phrase with 3 scales that follows.
3. Two after 142 (just after the foregoing) she cuts the high B (with trill) short, presumably to make sure of the final high E immediately following. These latter two may have been on-the-spot expedients if she felt she was running out of steam as she neared the end (this really is a ridiculously relentless piece in this version).
That’s the total. Exactly a dozen notes (most of them short and transitional) not sung, out of many hundreds. I guess one could fault her for that if so inclined (or for having the final “stinger” chord moved a beat earlier as in 1916, so that applause is possible afterward), but this hardly amounts to “a concoction of parts of both versions,” or “major rewriting.” It’s definitely the 1912 version of the aria, no question.
Thank you.
My favorite remains Ruth Welting. San Francisco opposite Leontyne Price. I love a Zerbinetta who prances around the stage during the prolonged ovation and milks the audience for another minute of sustained roaring.
As this ancient old queen crawls even closer to her open grave, she can’t help but think on the glorious past. Leonie and Leontyne. Welting and Battle and Dahl. But even with two superstar sopranos (and a great high mezzo), you still have the problem with the…er… tenor.