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50K views 387 replies 30 participants last post by  Aksel 
#1 ·
More trouble at La Scala

Seeing a favourite opera at La Scala is on my bucket list but I'm put off by these horror stories.

I met someone recently who had booked flights & hotel in Milan & four tickets for the new Boccanegra with Domingo as a special birthday present for one of their party. They arrived at the opera house in their finery to be told it was cancelled due to a strike.
 
#386 ·
Well, I am CERTAINLY behind the times here! Good grief! I thought when Bartoli sang that high E-flat at the end of one of those interminable Vivaldi arias that it was just a fluke ... and yet ... has she sung NORMA? Talk amongst yourselves and catch me up. I can't imagine that vocal quality in soprano territory. But then, I couldn't with Grace Bumbry either.
 
#8 ·
I've got Stemme in Tristan and am waiting for Jenufa. Like you I've never heard Eva-Maria Westbroek but she's been getting good reviews in a recent Ring (can't remember where). Agree with him about the "idiosyncratic" comment on Bartoli. I have a kind of love hate relationship with her, but absoulutely cannot watch her - all that grimacing.
 
#11 ·
Interview with Ferruccio Furlanetto.

...Why does Fiesco appeal to him? ... Fiesco suddenly has the courage to admit all the mistakes he's made in his life up to the moment he realises that not only was Boccanegra not guilty of the death of his daughter, but also that he has found his niece.

:confused:

Maybe this bit was lost in translation - we are never told how or why Fiesco's daughter (Boccanegra's lover) dies but there was never any suggestion it was other than natural causes. And it's his grand daughter (Boccanegra's daughter) Fiesco finds.
 
#13 ·
I kind of thought that Fiesco blames Boccanegra for Maria's death in an irrational "you seduced her so she died, sex = death and disgrace" way.
I've never looked at it from that angle.

I thought that Fiesco blamed himself for the death of his daughter because after she dies he asks for forgiveness Ma che dissi!... deliro!... ah mi perdona! and asks Maria to pray for him prega, Maria, per me, but it might just mean now she's an angel that's the sort of stuff angels do.

But then when Simon discovers the corpse, Fiesco is exultant and exclaims L'ora suonò del tuo castigo... & that definitely seems like a wrong avenged.

I don't know... I'll have to ask Maestro Pappano when I see him. :p
 
#14 ·
Sospiro's message giving the link to Rupert Christiansen's article "What Makes a Great Soprano?" inspired me to invest on Nina Stemme. The first to arrive was her studio recording of Richard Strauss (CD). After listening to that I felt disappointed, to say the least. Misquoting Despina a bit: "Di pasta simile son tutto fatto". When the finale of Capriccio was beginning to sound similar to the finale of Salome, I was seriously doubtful. The Four Last Songs didn't help any. The voice itself is admirably strong, clear and even beautiful, but where are the nuances, the expression? I mean, this sounds like mere vocal gymnastics. So, if this were my only experience of hearing Stemme, I would just wonder, why she ended up on this list in the first place.

But, as it is, I have also her Aida and Isolde, which I will deal with in the Opera on DVD thread. I have already watched Aida, and must say: don't lose your faith yet!
 
#16 ·
#18 ·
More news of Plácido Domingo's Rigoletto.

The BBC will broadcast the production over two nights on the weekend of 4 and 5 September, with further live music, from the proms, following the opera's opening night.
Interesting that Jan Younghusband is quoted in the article as saying: "It's an enormous production and totally unique." when it's exactly the same concept as the Tosca you've just bought, Annie.

I hope Plácido is not taking on too much because it's pretty demanding to do this kind of thing. But he seems to have boundless energy:)!
 
#25 ·
I recently heard that Jean-Christophe Spinosi was one of three conductors who had applied for a position as a new conductor of the Orchestra of Brittany (? - I had to use google translate, in which the region Bretagne is translated with Great Britain....), but that there was some controversy and a petition had asked him to withdraw his application, which he did. It seems the founder of the Orchestra supported Spinosi, but I read an article where representatives from the orchestra got a word in and they were pretty harsh. I'm kind of worried that the controversy; this and the fact that he was also forced to leave the conducting engagement at La Scala not long ago, will do harm to his reputation. :( From what I've seen of him he seems to have such passion for what he does and such contagious energy and enthusiasm. I can't imagine why so many people would dislike him, professionally or personally.
 
#27 ·
I liked Nina Stemme a lot in her recent Tristan und Isolde which is available on DVD from Opus Arte, it's the Glyndebourne production, and she has incredible dramatic impact.
 
#30 ·
New giant Levine box set.....

http://www.metoperashop.org/product/detail/1080.aspx

I'm considering buying this when it comes out. I don't yet have any DVD's of the Berg operas and I want that Rosenkavier with Kiri and the Corigliano with Renée. :)
Well, I'm tempted too, but you can't order online outside the States. Somehow the thought of ringing up puts me off.

(Phew, credit card breathes sigh of relief:cool:)
 
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