The picture hat of Dorian Gray
La Cieca invites the cher public to gather “just like girlfriends—with hats on…” for this week’s round of discussion re: off-topic and general interest subjects.
La Cieca invites the cher public to gather “just like girlfriends—with hats on…” for this week’s round of discussion re: off-topic and general interest subjects.
well he never sang fully out. These were intimate Lieder and not Carlos or Siegmund so difficult to tell by last night. In Linz he sang arias but have not had a chance to hear that concert. The voice never cracked and he sang beautifully with a smooth emission. Much shading, piano, few mezza fortes but nothing above that and of course no high notes. After the Hoffmann I have Wozzeck on Sunday and Mitridate on Monday. BTW the Mitridate starts at 18.30 and not 19.00 as noted on the tickets so if anyone else is going please beware. Garanca is next Wednesday.
Ay fellow Parterrians gonna be at Caramoor, this Saturday evening?— just giving ya fair warning that I WILL be there, as well……!!--lol!
( anyone taking the Train up , from Grand Central, to attend the afternoon lectures—and wants to share a cab ride/fare from Katonah Station….?)
“Ay”…should have read “ANY”……
I am going and looking forward to it. I’m taking a late train up, and riding the Caramoor Caravan back home after.
Prunier:
I am taking the Train up mid-afternoon, to try and make the 4:00 pm concert(s)…I have already hear Will Crutchfield’s lecture (at 3pm) on the influences Bellini had on Wagner-- and as fascinating as it is-- I don’t have to rush up there, to hear it again….
Just back from a disappointing Hoffmann. Villazon has hardly any voice left. Massive reduction of volume and struggling and forcing. Schimmer long gone. Rae has the extreme top but tiny and nothing in the middle. Damrau did so much more with shading and differences between piano and mezza forte. The less said about the other two the better. The best singer on stage who was quite good was Angela Brower. This performance was hardly Festspielwürdig and would have been fine at the Stadttheater Meiningen but not at the Staatsoper.
I thought thast Damrau cancelled ALL of these two performances. I’m surprised Villazon did not cancel too. So sad that this production was not festival caliber.
QPF, I understood Feldmarschallin to mean compared to Damrau in a previous performance.
Yes Damrau has had a very bad case of bronchitis since Feb. which she has not been able to get rid of. That apparently is the reason and not the pregnancy. She sang high pregant Aminta during the Festival two summers ago and had no problems whatsoever. I would have prefered Marlis Petersen who just sang all the roles in Wien to great acclaim.
It seems somebody liked Villazon’s Mozart:
http://www.rolandovillazon.com/news#nid7434
Now I am really looking forward to the Hoffmann at Salle Pleyel in November. No idea what John Osborn will be like as Hoffmann, but the rest of the cast looks very good on paper:
Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
Choeur Aedes
Marc Minkowski : direction
Sonya Yoncheva : les quatre héroïnes
John Osborn : Hoffmann
Laurent Naouri : les quatre diables
Michèle Losier : Nicklausse, la muse
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt : les quatre valets
Eric Huchet : Spalanzani
Laurent Alvaro : Crespel, maître Luther
Sylvie Brunet : la voix de la tombe
Marc Mauillon : Peter Schlémil, Hermann
Julien Behr : Nathanaël
Odd: it seems like Dessay would be much more obvious casting in Brunet’s role.
Evil sneer!
Or maybe Dessay as Franz, demonstrating *la methode* in song, dance, clown and transliterating Cyrillic?
Bring back full length Ballet-in Opera stagings….!!!
(…WELL-- (MAYBE) ONLY IF one can cast such wonderful dancers as Fracci and Ealing were, in their primes….!)
Anyone know who choreographed this??
Brroklyn -- someone with the lovely name Micha van Hoecke
http://www.comecinema.it/SebinaOpac/.do?idDoc=0087773
I KNEW that you would provide the answer, manou….!
THANKS!!
Brooklynpunk, there is also this.
The choreographer was Flemming Flint who was formerly with ( and brought up in the tradition of )the Royal Danish Ballet. The tradition goes back to August Bournonville, who was active at the time of Rossini ( in fact Rossini wanted him to be a singer) Anyway, here is part of the clip from the La Scala “William Tell” with the beloved Cara Fracci
sm:
THANKS…and I know this ballet VERY WELL, as Bournonville ismy very favorite choreographer (after Mr. Balanchine, of course….)
I am always bummed out when a production of “Tell” tries to leave out, or deeply cuts the dancing segments.
NYCB does excerpts from the “William Tell” dances, when they perform “Bournonville Diverttisments” (sp??)-- a piece I WISH Peter Martins would revive for the Company, as it has been out of the rep for a decade or more (after all, Martins is a Dane , himself--and started out at The Royal Danish Ballet…)
Born on this day in 1926 baritone Andrew Foldi
Happy 65th birthday soprano Colette Alliot-Lugaz
On Superconductor a review of the new documentary Wagner’s Dream, which could have been subtitled “A Man, another Man, and a Machine.” And no, the dorky snake from Siegfried didn’t make the final cut. Nor did the poppin’ heads.
Has anyone here seen Saariaho’s “Émilie”, which opened on Thursday night? Elizabeth Futral in the part Mattila originated at Lyon? Have seen the UTubes…..and still deliberating.
Did anyone hear the Trovatore broadcast today from Castell de Peralada in Catalunya? I am still not a great admirer of Angela Meade (particularly when she rewrites the score) but I enjoyed her Trovatore Leonora today -- she was particularly good in the Act 4 duet with Count de Luna. She seems to run into difficulty around the passagio -- she cut very short a note in that area (Act 1 Tacea la notte) but in it’s place she immediately went above the break to a lovely sustained pianissimo (sounded awkward but at least she kept on singing). When she deigned to sing in full voice she sounded richer than I remembered her sounding in Ernani -- but I wish she would shape & mold a more dynamically rhythmic legato line -- often she seemed to jump from one group of phrases to another with very little musically connective coherence (like she was going down a checklist of items -- quite a technician, isn’t she?). Her best assets are her beautiful sustained upper register pianissimos and her keen fioratura attack. Her intonation on a another sustained note around the passagio went awry in D’amor sull’ali rosee when she tried to crescendo it -- but being keenly aware of pitch she corrected it immediately. Misha Didyk attempted the high at the end of Di quella pira -- something came out but I am not exactly sure what.