“I will have more to say on this question later.” So, three weeks ago, Anthony Tommasini left open the subject of how “[n]one of the versions of [Les Contes d'Hoffmann] that have appeared over the years, some of them corrupted, can be said to be authentic.” The Times scribe has at last broken his silence, though La Cieca will leave it up to the reader to decide whether he actually has “more to say.” [NYT]
“…Mr. Sher may have done too much analysis of the work’s psychological subtexts.” [NYT]
The amazing acute hearing of Anthony Tommasini detects an improvement in the acoustic of that place they used to call the New York State Theater, in fact, he’s willing to commit that the sound is “considerably better than it used to be.”
Which is pretty fucking impressive, considering that the last time TT heard an “unenhanced” opera performance in that space was more than 10 years ago. Read more »
Cher public, if you plan to see the Met’s production of From the House of the Dead (and you might as well know that she expects you move heaven and earth to do so!), La Cieca urges and entreats that you avoid reading Anthony Tommasini‘s review of the production in tomorrow’s New York Times.
“Mr. Okulitch and Mr. Hardy have matching black briefs over which they each wear half of a single suit: Giovanni, the jacket; Leporello, the pants. When they switch identities, they trade suit parts, again a vivid metaphor, and made more striking because both singers are so buff.” [NYT]
“…this stage still has a tendency, it seems, to swallow some of the bloom and resonance of voices…. For both works, the orchestra came through just fine. Less so the voice, though the sound was honest and clear…. the amplification did not make these singers much more audible than those who sang the old-fashioned way…. Yet the sound of the pianos, placed behind a scrim, seemed distant.” [Need You Ask?]
In the year and half that New York City Opera has been absent from the musical milieu of our metropolis, Tony Tommasini has been sadly deprived of one of his favorite topics of conversation.
Anthony Tommasini‘s Sunday Times think piece about opera direction (fetchingly adorned with the Susannesque headline “Halfway Won’t Do”) is online now. La Cieca thinks TT’s heart is in the right place (and of course she’s still all aglow after the Babs interview), so she’s going to stay mum about that Herbert Wernicke production of Die Frau Ohne Schatten that he and so many others seem to regard as the bees’ knees.
Cher Public