parterre box

236 comments

• operaassport says:

  ON: Costello’s downfall? Talk about premature ejaculation. Amazing the nonsense that some opera slash drama queens come up with.

  on October 19, 2011 at 9:40 PM
  • uwsinnyc says:

    I agree. He’s barely 30 and hasn’t even hit his prime, let alone downfall.

    on October 19, 2011 at 10:26 PM
    • Cocky Kurwenal says:

      It’s more that he is showing every sign of never reaching his prime, the way things are going.

      on October 20, 2011 at 5:09 AM
  • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

    No doubt in 2008 you were calling those troubled by Rolando’s vocal estate “hysterical queens.” In fact considering your politics you probably bought Lehman stock that summer too.

    on October 19, 2011 at 10:50 PM
    • Camille says:

      OpneophD: that was a vid of Costello, back there, right? I hardly recognised him. The guy scared on the last note and looked scared a lot of the time. I wonder what gives?

      on October 19, 2011 at 11:08 PM
      • grimoaldo says:

        Hey Camille I was hoping to see you in the chat for Barber to say that I had an e-mail exchange with mrsjohnclaggart the other day and told her that she was remembered by many here and that you especially mention her quite often. She was touched to hear it.

        on October 19, 2011 at 11:11 PM
        • Camille says:

          oh dear, I always bugger up everything!

          I didn’t even know there was one! Unless I see that Casa della Cieca thing, I don’t know where to go. No matter, I am not a chatter, it makes me so vertiginous.

          Yes, mrsjohnclaggart is very great.

          I will love her In Ewigkeit. I only wish her well and pray for her health and happiness, like Elisabeth. I know I will die for it, too.

          And thank you, very much indeed, grimoaldo, for extending yourself on her behalf, and I especially cannot thank you enough, again, for your utterly delightful little piece on Cuzzoni/Bordoni. My husband loved it, too!

          on October 19, 2011 at 11:21 PM
        • grimoaldo says:

          That’s a very sweet message Camille, but please don’t talk about dying!
          Hugs!

          on October 19, 2011 at 11:32 PM
        • Camille says:

          Remember, grimoaldo,
          Camille indeed DOES die for love…O GIOIA!

          om mani padme hum, mrs.jc.

          on October 19, 2011 at 11:40 PM
      • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

        Dearest Camille, that was Costello IN 2006! The slide has continued, pointing it out, apparently, gets one smeared as a hysterical queen. It *is* a shame that some parterre members are so invested in this internalized homophobia. If you’re going to insult someone, why suggest that a hysterical queen is something one wouldn’t want to be.

        on October 20, 2011 at 4:27 AM
        • Cocky Kurwenal says:

          ON, I agree Costello is over-rated and always has been. Simply a case of a very impressive student singer hitting the big time long before he’d worked out how to release his voice in a solidly healthy, tension free way, and ever since he just hasn’t had time to address it, so the difficulties are getting compounded. I heard a Boheme from Vienna in which he ws just doing this embarrassing impression of a 3rd rate old fashioned Italian tenor- Stoyanova, who was singing Mimi, must have been wondering what on earth the Vienna State Opera were thinking casting her opposite some struggling kid probably young enough to be her son.

          I don’t really agree on Stayton though (was that his name?). He sounds altogether more healthy, and like he has a voice organised a bit differently from Costello’s- higher natural placement, and much less encumbering tension. He just needs to do what any young singer does- go and work doing big roles for small companies and small roles for big companies if he can, always ensuring there are gaps in the schedule to have time to properly prepare for each assignment, and keep in regular contact with his singing teacher to prevent bad habits and compromises from developing. At the moment, i don’t really hear many Mozart roles in his voice- Arbace and Marzio maybe, Ferrando if it’s a small regional company. Better to keep developing in all directions, as long as none of it is in too exposed a situation- he’d do well to learn from Costello’s mistakes.

          on October 20, 2011 at 4:59 AM
        • OpinionatedNeophyte says:

          Cocky, we are in agreement, if you look back I said that *initially* I was reading Layton as a Costello redux. But then I went back to 2006 and realized that Costello (like Villazon) was exhibiting signs of what was to come early and often. Layton has a wonderful sweet ping to his voice and (but for a few slide-y high notes) seemed to have a very controlled approach. Rather than the throw it at the wall and see what sticks approach of Costello.

          on October 20, 2011 at 5:38 AM
        • Cocky Kurwenal says:

          Haha, fair enough- I did manage to spot your ‘initially’ but took it to mean that while you thought both were troubled, Costello turned out to be even worse than you thought. Also that there are similarities in the first place, which I don’t really think there are.

          on October 20, 2011 at 6:08 AM
        • operaassport says:

          ON: you need to take a chill pill or maybe a time out which might be more appropriate for someone your age.

          on October 20, 2011 at 11:43 AM
        • Camille says:

          He seems to be in great distress in 2006 and he was in distress when I saw him the one time, and heard him over Sirius the other two time. Perhaps that accounts for the fact he tweeted that he was “so tired” after the dress rehearsal. At that age, it’s hard to understand why.

          I agree with Cocky, below -or above- that he has been shoved out there prematurely and that fixing the problem now will not be easy. Hope he gets the help he needs as he does have talent.

          on October 20, 2011 at 12:31 PM
        • marshiemarkII says:

          Queens, hysterical or otherwise, you have to be kinder to the poor dude. On the opening night he sounded like someone at the end of his tether, he was very audibly in distress, with some high notes that just peeled the paint (by the way I heard Polenzani do exactly the same in La Traviata last year, in the cabaletta, sorry louann ). But then he came for the HD and sailed through all the very passages that had troubled him, and sang quite beautifully. And that under the microscope glare of the microphones, so nowhere to hide any imperfections. The role is really hard, he is very young, the order was very tall. Don’t you think he could be given the benefit of the doubt for now? Singers do suffer from nerves also you know.
          Signed MMII the hysterical queen

          on October 20, 2011 at 2:11 PM
        • louannd says:

          @Marshie –
          Polenzani was magnificent over the radio in that Traviata, IMO, but it was several performances in. I am looking forward to his Traviata with Dessay in the spring.

          His recent Hoffman at LOC was truly a marvel (radio) as he managed to sing within himself and convey nuanced singing and *passion* throughout, especially the Antonia act. His voice has grown somewhat, but he seems able to keep that tender limpid voice quality in the bigger parts. He has clearly worked very hard for this role!

          I have been watching Don Pasquale again and it is an angelic experience to hear his Ernesto. His face tells you he was feeling good about his singing. I pulled out the last Tamino he did, and, frankly, it was dreg. I hardly recognized this voice from two years ago. He clearly was burned out on Mozart.

          I managed to get a hold of a bootleg of his Schubert recital. He NEEDS to record the Die schöne müllerin – it’s exquisite.

          on October 22, 2011 at 6:19 AM
    • Unfaithful Zerbinetta says:

      All that Lehmann stock I bought back in 2008 was doing so well, even through the whole Jungfrau Railway scandal. It was only today that it took a big hit.

      on October 19, 2011 at 11:13 PM
      • Camille says:

        Have you never been to see Lulu, Ungetreuer Zerbinetta? You are a smart girl, you should have foreseen this!!

        I hope you have had a pleasant Oktoberfest, whether in New York or wherever else.

        on October 20, 2011 at 12:33 PM
        • Unfaithful Zerbinetta says:

          Thanks a lot, Camille. For Oktoberfest, after extensive testing I have concluded that Weihenstephaner makes the trip from Bayern the best, though Hacker-Pschorr does OK too. Paulaner seems to be sadly diminished.

          The last time I saw Lulu it was Herr Lehman as Alwa who lost all his money in Act 3 Scene 1, actually!

          on October 20, 2011 at 6:27 PM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  Listened just now to the Angela Meade Coppia iniqua. The first strophe was fine, but her second verse was misguided, slightly under pitch, with a senseless Dessay-likeinterpolated high Q shriek several bars before the climax, which was badly accompanied (not sabotaged) by Armiliato not observing her fermata and bringing in the orchestra too soon. It was all too frantic, lacking the polish of a virtuosa like Devia. Rudel would never have let that happen to Beverly and it was shocking to hear it so poorly performed by the resources at the MET, who seemed eager to get home for the evening. Hopefully Ms. Meade will have her own run of something significant so she will feel more supported in the limelight. I hope Meade did not turn upstage like Netrebko did for the final moments. Meade deserved better than she received from her maestro and the pit.

  on October 22, 2011 at 2:46 AM
  • tinhtraiviet says:

    Notwithstanding the mess at the end, Meade’s first MET Bolena was exciting and finely etched with bel canto pastel colors wafting in floated pianissimis (in contrast to Netrebko’s lush oil splashes!) The jolting acuti in the second verse of Coppia iniquia were perhaps misguided, though she did sail through them valiantly, even surmounting for the second time those murderous ascending trills on “si scenda”. It was rather anti-climatic that the performance stumbled at the last seconds on some technically much easier sleight-of-mind and sleight-of-hand: it’s a failure of coordination rather than technique. Marco Armiliato seemed stunned for a moment after Meade absent-mindedly dropped half of the phrase “clemenza E FAVORE AL COSPETTO” then picking up the next phrase at “d’un Dio di pieta”. By then things started to fall apart when Armiliato brought the choral ensemble in a few beats earlier than Meade’s syncopated cadential preparations for the climax. It sounded like a no-win tug-of-war to the point that she gave up on chasing after the chorus, and saved herself for the interpolated high Eb. Like Netrebko (probably as part of the director’s blocking) Meade still walked up stage toward the executioner’s door, but thankfully she had enough sense to stop just before the threshold and TURN BACK FACING THE AUDIENCE to prepare for the Ab-Eb in alt. The climactic high note came out bravely enough if somewhat on the brief and disheveled side, but still a triumphal save given the near-train-wreck that had preceded it. To be fair, the rapturous ovation that greeted Meade at the curtain calls was even more intense than the ones for Netrebko (at the 5 performances I had attended). Perhaps it was because Netrebko no longer has the Eb in alt to go all out at the end to rouse the crowd into a climactic frenzy (and the directorial monkey business of having Netrebko singing up stage beyond the sound-muffling door/wall with the back to the audience is definitely anti-climatic). I’d like to think of this as Meade’s final dress rehearsal and it was a good try overall. I don’t doubt that after this experience she’ll do much better at the next 2 performances next week.

    on October 22, 2011 at 4:06 AM
    • tinhtraiviet says:

      Sorry, I meant Bb-Eb in alt.

      on October 22, 2011 at 4:17 AM