Classical Music Forum banner

Miscellaneous Opera-related Chat

689K views 2K replies 175 participants last post by  Birmanbass 
#1 ·
Since I am guilty of getting several threads off-topic, I wonder if the powers that be have ever thought of having an off-topic "discussion area". By that I mean, not about our personal lives, but about opera-related items.

For instance here are a couple of things I'd like to discuss:

Is anyone in the US using Spotify?

The new Fidelio CD is available on Spotify if anyone is interested (although maybe this qualifies as opera news? or streaming, if you have Spotify)

Advice on ordering tickets for the Met (seating etc. too late for me now, but maybe for others)

Do you know any cheap places to stay in NYC (or on the train line in NJ or CT)--this follows of course on the previous question! :lol:

In January our local opera company is doing a Glass opera called Les Enfants Terribles; does anyone know this opera?

Now I'm betting that you have tried this in the past and it didn't work, but I thought I would ask.
 
See less See more
#408 ·
Turandot is a great opera with absolutely fantastic music, but it has some nearly crazy parts (like the pingpangpong scene). And the idea of a Chinese princess who wants to kill everyone who love her, is quite absurd. And Nessun Dorma is really the best thing of the whole opera.

I just realized how much I love Die Entführung. Nearly as much as Der Ring. I hope my favourite production (what ended last Saturday) has been recorded... And that it will be played also maybe next year... Let's just see.
 
#409 ·
I just realized how much I love Die Entführung. .
I like Entführung too. I'm a sucker for "Turkish music" and Enlightenment principles.

I hope my favourite production (what ended last Saturday) has been recorded... And that it will be played also maybe next year... Let's just see
Why did you like it so much? And where was it?
 
#412 ·
I LOVED the last Turandot Seattle Opera did. It is an opera that is highly dependent on really superior singers and a dynamic production. Ping Pang Pong scene can be boring but the staging and acting really brought it alive. In Seattle there was never a static moment on stage, always someone moving to keep the opera visually exciting as well as vocally. Nilson and Corelli in Turandot would be my number one choice of a past opera performance to see.
 
#413 ·
I have to agree with those who say that Ping, Pan, and Pong's scene is one of the best parts of the opera. It's so morbidly humorous, and the music is melodic but very odd and dissonant in part.

The story isn't really that crazy. There are countless examples of stories and fairy tales like this, from the Brother's Grimm to classical literature. The Turandot story originally comes from 1001 Arabian Nights. I have a feeling that if Puccini had lived to complete the opera, all of the talk that we hear about how problematic the plot is wouldn't exist.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sonata
#414 ·
The story isn't really that crazy. There are countless examples of stories and fairy tales like this, from the Brother's Grimm to classical literature. The Turandot story originally comes from 1001 Arabian Nights. I have a feeling that if Puccini had lived to complete the opera, all of the talk that we hear about how problematic the plot is wouldn't exist.
Really? Puccini wrote all of the problematic parts. At least quite a lot of them.
 
#416 ·
Has anyone heard Janowski's Ring? I'm facing a very difficult decision right now: to buy a cheaper Ring that is still very good or wait until I can finally afford Solti's Ring. If Janowski's Ring is good enough, I might bite. The only other rendition I have is Barenboim's Ring on DVD, which is pretty magnificent.
 
#418 ·
Rupert Christiansen reviews the UK opera festivals for this summer.

Considering I don't live far from Buxton, I'm ashamed to say I've never seen an opera there but this year I'm going to the Festival and seeing these:

Talk by Roger Parker
La finta giardiniera [Mozart]
Ottone in villa [Vivaldi]
La Princesse Jaune [Saint-Saëns]
La Colombe [Gounod]
Literary Britten
The Church Parables [Britten]

and going to Iford to see Acis & Galatea. Iford venue (below) is tiny but looks interesting & hope it doesn't rain.

 
#419 ·
Saw a broadcast version of La Donna Del Lago from the ROH last night. Great stuff. JDF and DiDonato were on their usual forms. The other tenor in the production, Colin Lee, was also excellent (I think I might have preferred his timbre to Florez...). Lots of people seemed confused at the production but I thought it was a clever twist that added some moments of humour and didn't interfere intrusively on the story itself. Really enjoyed the experience overall.
 
#420 ·
Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky - Red Square Concert
19 June 2013


Part I:


Part II:


(Before an audience of 7,500. Tickets were 2,000 USD each.)

Location: Red Square, Moscow, Russia
Date: June 19, 2013
Time: 19:00 BST/20:30 CET*

Cast
Anna Netrebko soprano
Dmitri Hvorostovsky baritone
Constantine Orbelian conductor
with
State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov"
and
Grand Choir "Masters of Choral Singing" of the Russian State Musical TV and Radio Centre OR Choir of the Academy of Choral Art

Program:
1. Giuseppe Verdi - La forza del destino
Overture (Orchestra)
2. Giuseppe Verdi - I vespri siciliani
Merce, dilette amiche (Anna Netrebko)
3. Giuseppe Verdi - Don Carlo
Io morró, ma lieto in core (Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
4. Giuseppe Verdi - Il trovatore
Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie (Anvil Chorus) (Chorus)
5. Giuseppe Verdi - Don Carlo
Tu che la vanitá (Anna Netrebko)
6. Giuseppe Verdi - Il trovatore
Il balen del suo sorriso (Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
Udiste? Come albeggi... Mira, d'acerbe lagrime (Anna Netrebko/Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
7. Giacomo Puccini - Tosca
Va, Tosca (Te Deum) (Dmitri Hvorostovsky/Chorus)
8. Umberto Giordano - Andrea Chenier
La mamma morta (Anna Netrebko)
9. Giuseppe Verdi - Nabucco
Va, pensiero (Chorus)
10. Giuseppe Verdi - Rigoletto
Cortigiani, vil razza dannata (Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
11. Francesco Cilea - Adriana Lecouvreur
Io son l'umile ancella (Anna Netrebko)
12. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin
Bolyat moyi skori nozhenki so pokhodushki...Uzh kak po mostu, mostochku (Peasants' Chorus and Dance) (Chorus)
Polonaise (Act III, No. 19)
Final scene (Anna Netrebko/Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
 
#423 ·
We had the chance to hear Diana Damrau, Joseph Calleja and Ludovic Tézier in a concert performance of "Lucia di Lammermoor". Mr Calleja had to drop out for his finale due to what was announced as an "allergic reaction" (they did not say to whom), but anything after Damrau's madness aria would have been anti-climactic. She was sensational, mastered the bravura but avoided no risks, absolutely modelled the character and lived out the drama with her vocal choices ("acting with the voice" is so much different to "acting plus singing").

I've heard Mr Calleja for the first time; I liked his voice best, which is strong and wonderfully manly but not "stern". Great diction; I could understand every word. His characterization was not quite up to that level. Mr Tézier gave a wonderfully round performance that satisfied throughout.

I'm tempted to hear this again on the 10th (we have a friend in the chorus who kindly supplies us with tickets!).
 
#429 ·
I'm tempted to hear this again on the 10th.
I did, and again enjoyed it very much (it was their third performance now). The energy level, of all performers and from Act I on, was palpably higher. Mr. Calleja was definitely in better form and gave a full vocal performance, also opened up more for the part. He and Diana Damrau had also developed better chemistry together. The madness aria though, didn't quite get under my skin as the first time; I found Damrau sang impressively, but her characterization was different and more showy, and the authenticity of the character suffered. Maybe it was because they recorded the performance for Internet video stream; as mentioned in another thread, it'll be up for two weeks.
 
#430 · (Edited)
I finally got to listen Der Ring des Nibelungen! I'm watching the recording conducted by Boulez, from 1980, with english subtitles, and so far i have watched Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (by the way, it's my first opera).

Wow! Just, wow! It's quite different from what i'm used to listen, but those have been great hours of music and voice! I told myself i didn't like vocal works, but definitely, Wagner has made me regret that. Lovely, great moments of passion and power.

Siegfried and Götterdämmerung are yet to be watched :)

By the way, i enjoy the lack of coloraturas, that i guess they are not usual in the romantic period.
 
#432 · (Edited)
From Das Rheingold, when Alberich curses the ring:
- Meinem Fluch fliehest du nicht!

and from Die Walküre, when Sieglinde wakes up around the Valkyries (and the later supplications and 'reveals' by Brunhilde):
- Soll um die Flucht
dir, Maid, ich nicht fluchen,
so erhöre heilig mein Flehen:
stosse dein Schwert mir ins Herz!


Two of my favourite moments, so far! :)

Also, when Brunhilde is speaking with Wotan, at the end of Die Walkure:

- Auf dein Gebot
entbrenne ein Feuer;
den Felsen umglühe
lodernde Glut;
es leck' ihre Zung',
es fresse ihr Zahn
den Zagen, der frech sich wagte,
dem freislichen Felsen zu nahn!


So beautiful and powerful!

I'm loving all the characters right there, Wotan's paper by Donald McIntyre, i just find it superb.

Damn, i'm starting to get this little dwarf inside... "learn german! learn german you b*stard!".
 
  • Like
Reactions: mamascarlatti
#434 ·
excellent singer, R I P ..............
 
#439 · (Edited)
You and I seem to be linked by lots of coincidences, CoAG. I went to the library to look for some Thomas Tallis and I found on the main shelf a front page article about Jonas Kaufmann, labelled the "Prince of tenors". I paused and hesitated to photocopy the article :p

Otherwise one of my latest operatic discoveries was the beautiful Maria Stader. I cannot stop listening to her. I am slowly moving towards her interpretation of Mozart's Mass in C minor.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top