The Vienna Philharmonic brought along no star soloist for their three-night residency at Carnegie Hall this past weekend. Their programs didn’t include any commissions or flashy new works. The repertoire choices hewed closely to the core Austro-German corpus for which they are justly famous, including multiple works they had given in their world premieres.
In the opera world, one of the pieces that underwent a multitude of changes in its reception was undoubtedly Richard Wagner’s longest and most Germanic opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Christian Thielemann is widely regarded as our time’s preeminent master of the Austro-German symphonic ensemble.
Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann will sing (with each other!) Puccini’s Turandot at the 2021 Salzburg Festival.
In May of last year tenor Piotr Beczala and soprano Anna Netrebko sang in Lohengrin for the first time under the baton of Christian Thielemann in his home house at the Staatskapelle Dresden.
We leave behind the Vienna of the 1740s, the time of breeches, fans and white wigs.
Now we have considered the three “winners” in the Tristan competition, let’s turn to the also-rans, or, to be more optimistic, the runners up.
La Cieca’s spies in Dresden report that there were HD cameras aplenty in the Semperoper at Wednesday night’s performance of Lohengrin.
In an unprecedented move, the Bayreuth Festival has named conductor Christian Thielemann official “Music Director.”
Christian Thielemann’s spirited, precise conducting and the superb, sumptuous playing of the Staatskapelle Dresden are the finest features of this strongly cast performance of Strauss’s Arabella.
Last night’s complete concert version of Die Csárdásfürstin from Dresden is viewable, after the jump.
Maestro Christian Thielemann has made his choice for Lohengrin casting in Dresden and, later, Bayreuth: “Anna Netrebko als Elsa und Piotr Beczala in der Titelpartie.”
“Conduct Salome and Elektra as if they were by Mendelssohn: Fairy music.” Seriously, how often has that happened?
The complete recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Bayreuth Festival is now on sale
for only $5.99. And, no, I am not making this up.
Christian Thielemann has proved himself to be the preeminent Strauss interpreter of the current generation of conductors and he’s in striking form here.
Zachary Woolfe (not pictured) makes his way to Bayreuth to try to unravel the Evgeny Nikitin mystery.
On Saturday I attended the premiere performance of a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. It was Renée Fleming’s debut in the title role…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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