Talk about this, that, or the other here, cher public, in your general discussion thread for the week of December 11.
Now that the retirement of James Levine is basically just a matter of patiently waiting out 18 months of inaction, it’s about time you, the cher public, were heard on the subject of the appointment of a new music director for the Met. A couple of polls for you after the jump. Read more »
Once again the Friday afternoon news dump reveals the Byzantine means by which the honchos and honchesses who rule the world of opera attain and consolidate their power. Read more »
James Levine will not conduct this spring or in the entire 2012-2013 season, says a press release from the Met. The most apparent result of this decision is that Fabio Luisi is now officially on the podium for all three of this spring’s Ring cycles. The complete press release follows the jump.
“After putting off for a week trying to make some sense of the horrific mess that is the Met’s new Faust, I’m finally just going to give up. There are some disasters that bear writing about as what you might call teaching opportunities: this season’s Don Giovanni, for example, as a cautionary tale about the perils of timid conservatism. But there’s nothing to be learned from this Faust besides, perhaps, ‘never hire Des McAnuff to direct another opera under any circumstances’.” [Musical America]
“The reaction to Grandage’s Don Giovanni was revealing. For the critics, it seemed to fall between two stools: the show had been marketed as a theatrical event from a director who has won plaudits on Broadway; but what they got was something that looked, on the surface at least, rather old-fashioned.” The “dome-headed” general manager of the Met talks “in careful sentences” about the usual topics. [The Guardian]
I’ve been a big fan of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena since I first heard it on recording and have always felt that it deserved a definitive recorded performance. Here’s a brief tour of why this hasn’t happened. There’s the Bible, also known as the live Scala relay with Callas and Simionato and musical cuts so egregious to anyone who appreciates the full score it will bring them to tears. The Sills recording is complete to a fault but has a few hollow performances and a diva who overdecorates the vocal line to deflect notice of her less than majestic tone. Shirley [...]
It was indeed a curious sensation making a late morning trek to East 59th Street, a block devoted to showro0ms for bizarre upscale furniture and lighting fixtures, and then to enter a boutique cinema specializing in Hindi films (the big coming attraction right now is Desi Boyz) — and all this before sitting down in an auditiorium half- full of retirees to see a live performance of Don Giovanni from La Scala. That it worked as a Mozart experience I think can be chalked up to two factors: Robert Carsen‘s production and the constantly improving (if still imperfect) HD technology.
Cher Public