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Our own reviews of operas we've attended

94K views 431 replies 56 participants last post by  ThaNotoriousNIC 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I think there may already be a thread for this but I've searched without success. Anyway this is my review.

Acis and Galatea; a pastoral by G F Handel
Iford Festival July/August 2013

Christian Curnyn
Early Opera Company

Acis: Benjamin Hulett
Galatea: Mary Bevan
Damon: Christopher Turner
Polyphemus: Lukas Jakobski
Director: Pia Furtado

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Each summer Iford Arts presents music and opera in the cloister at Iford Manor. This small Italianate cloister seats less than 100 and you're so close to the singers you almost feel part of the show. In fact towards the end, the chorus moves amongst the audience and you are part of the show.

The audience is seated in two rows on the four parts of a square behind a low wall with the performance area in the centre. The small orchestra takes up a section behind the wall.

Just a few personal thoughts. There's a good review here.

Mary Bevan was perfectly cast as Galatea. Vulnerable and waif-like but courageous in her initial defiance of Polyphemus, her lustrous soprano bringing out all of the emotions.

'Gentle Acis' was beautifully and sensitively sung by Ben Hulett. His love for Galatea was palpable but you could feel his helplessness, he knew he was doomed. This was the first time I'd heard Ben sing and I'll definitely seek him out in future. He is making his debut as Edmondo in Manon Lescaut at ROH next June.

Christopher Turner's Damon was 'on stage' most of the time as a sort of master of ceremonies. In fact he appears before the audience is seated, prowling around and checking things are in order. Charismatic and his face a mask of glitter, his presence was intriguing. I loved all his three arias with my favourite being Would you gain the tender creature,

Was Polyphemus (Lukas Jakobski) drunk or just audacious? Hard to tell as he swaggered in and with a powerful and resonant I rage, I melt, I burn intimidated the nymphs and swains and poor Acis. Only Galatea is left on stage & she stands trembling and vulnerable in the corner of the set. As Polyphemus makes his feelings and intentions clear, she endeavours to escape his lustful clutches but to no avail and he victoriously (symbolically) tears her clothes off, unwrapping her like a parcel.

His seduction of Galatea is at first brutal and he sings a spine tingling Cease to beauty as he laces her tightly into a corset and forces her to the floor; his domination complete. He drags her to his lair and despite (because of?) his "insistence" she is unresponsive and virtually catatonic. Then at Damon's advice "Would you gain the tender creature …" he becomes gentle and persuasive. It was mesmerising and riveting and Mary Bevan and Lukas Jakobski produced some of the finest acting I've ever seen.

Finally and reluctantly Galatea is won over and as she and Polyphemus leave together, he gloats at Acis' despair. Suddenly Galatea changes her mind & returns to Acis' side. The flocks shall leave the mountains,

At the loss of his prize Polyphemus' rage is terrifying. Torture! fury! rage! despair! is sung while he rampages around the small arena, tearing down ivy and hurling not only (polystyrene) bricks about but the odd nymph and swain as well. But then as he delivers the final blow and poor 'presumptuous Acis' dies, his rage seems spent.

When Galatea realises that her sweet Acis is dead, she lets out a scream and mad with grief, she rushes Polyphemus and pummels his chest until Damon intervenes. You have to feel for Polyphemus; he stands there bewildered and distraught, and just takes the punishment.

[Admin note: images and text, as well as the next post by same OP, were removed per the request of the OP]
 
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#84 · (Edited)
Just returned from Prom 25, Monteverdi: L'Orfeo. And what a wonderful evening it was. Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducted. He has picked the most amazing young voices to sing this opera. Krystian Adam as Orpheus, Mariana Flores as Eurydice/Hope, Francesca Aspromonte as Music/Messenger and Gianluca Buratto as Charon/Pluto.

When I bought a ticket I was worried that that the Royal Albert Hall was too large for a Renaissance opera. The opera has a small orchestra, and the voices should be suited to a more intimate venue. How wrong I was. Because the orchestra was small the voices projected more. And this was the quietest audience I have ever experienced, not bad for a 5000 seater. The diction and projection of the singers was incredible. I was at the back in the circle, and if I got lost in the libretto I could listen to key words from the stage and find the right line, and I don't even know Renaissance Italian!. The cavernous acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall gave this opera a most mystical sound that could not be achieved elsewhere.

Special mention must be given to the chorus the backbone of the production. And the semi staging worked perfectly. You could hear the audience gasp when Orfeo turns back and looks at Eurydice. The big dance at the end was the icing on the cake, but you don't get to hear the audiences laughter on the BBC i Player recording, when the cast dance around Pluto. Shame the BBC didn't film this, because musically and visually this hits a home run. And you will never get to see Krystian Adam playing Orfeo as an ancient Greek Al Jolson. Just listen the the audiences reaction on the i player.

Have a listen on the BBC Proms page http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e548gw#b0640j4n
 
#89 ·
I read about it and I also wished it had been filmed. Gardiner is great with semi staged opera, and he always finds the new talents for these productions, he doesn't seem to be interested in the 'star' singers. I remember the wonderful Don Giovanni from Amsterdam in the 90's, absolutely electrifying, and luckily that was televised.
 
#85 ·
I went to see Salome at the Santa Fe Opera on July the 22nd. It was a very warm evening in Santa Fe, making one wish for it to rain and cool things off. I was interested in how they were going to pull off staging it in 1905, the year the opera was first staged. It didn't quite work. They were going for a Freudian interpretation of the story, delving into the psychological aspect.
The setting was a giant rotating cube that was Jochanaan's cell and represented everyone's private prison. The orchestra seemed especially loud, causing the singers to have to strain a bit to be heard. Narraboth's suicide was oddly staged and comical. One moment this guy is just standing there doing nothing, then suddenly he is stabbing himself and writhing on the floor. It didn't seem to fit.
The Dance of the Seven Veils had neither veils nor dancing; it was a series of flashbacks that was more like watching a series of Salome’s therapy sessions, making the viewer wonder why Herod would be willing to give up half his kingdom. It also was performed in private, not in front of an audience, which makes Herod's desperation to save face out of place. Herod could easily have dismissed Salome's demands. I think Salome is dependent on its biblical setting to make sense. The producer's vision was ambitious and while some things worked, like the costumes and the scenery, others didn't. The singers did a good job with the material, and they sang really well. Despite its flaws it was a decent performance, Santa Fe always puts on a good show. :)
 
#86 · (Edited)
Just returned from Prom 39, Mozart: Abduction from Seraglio or as I like to call it Escape from a Brothel. The only other Mozart opera seen, Don Giovanni turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. However I really enjoyed this one. The production was semi staged, yet with props, action and full costumes. The production for the Proms was a transfer from Glyndebourne earlier this year. Robin Ticciati conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The cast was filled with excellent young singers (by that I mean they all looked under 40). Edgaras Montvidas as Belmonte, Sally Matthews as Konstanze, Brenden Patrick as Gunnell Pedrillo. The standouts for me were Tobias Kehrer as Osmin and Mari Eriksmoen as Blonde. They were my favorite characters and had a hilarious food fight at the beginning of the second Act 2. Franck Saurel starred in the speaking role of a rather dashing Pasha Selim.

My only gripes with the production? They played some background sound over speakers. The sound of water and bird song. Which drowned out the beautiful music that accompanies Konstanze's entrance (Mozart Serenade No 10 In B Flat Major K 361 III Adagio, I believe. I remembered the music from Amadeus, when Salieri first meets Mozart). And boy was it long. The BBC Prom website said it was 2 hours 20 mins. It turned out to run 3 hours 45 mins. My, that is Wagnerian length. Heck I have seen shorter Wagner operas! Apparently they kept in all the dialogue. Come to think of it that is longer than most Shakespeare plays I have seen. But apart from that brilliant. And Mozart's infectious music keeps you buoyed up all the way through.

Anyway Glyndbourne is touring with this in the autumn. Canterbury, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Plymouth and Woking. If you are in the UK and have four hours to spare, I highly recommend it.
 
#87 ·
Orpheus and Eurydice
Edinburgh
14-Aug-2015

Loge, one woman's abductor is another's rescuer, I guess. I was listening to it on the radio as I was driving away from the opera I saw in Edinburgh. Glad you enjoyed it. I've yet to appreciate it even though I've seen it live a couple of times. Don Giovanni should really impress rather more.

I saw Orpheus and Eurydice (yep, in English) at an Edinburgh fringe show. A pretty small affair with less than a 100 seats, sort of in-the-round, or whatever it's called when the stage is the central floor with the audience on 3 sides. Musicians were violin, viola, cello and a keyboard imitating a harpsichord. It's a young cast with the up and coming young countertenor Magid El-Bushra the ever-present figure... that is except for Eurydice, even though she's playing dead on a hotel bed/mortuary slab for most of the show, even before the audience were admitted.

The numerous cuts left the running time at barely an hour. With its intimate scale and studentish vibe I'm not sure a newcomer would have known for sure that they'd seen an 'opera'.
 
#88 · (Edited)
Falstaff
Black Cat Opera Company
Camberley (Surrey)
15-Aug-2015

A 400 mile drive from Edinburgh left me wishing I had a standing place for this opera in Camberley's intimate 400 seat theatre. I wasn't making the trip especially for this, I was just hoping that the en-route detour would be worth it.

I'll start with the orchestra, playing in front of the stage rather than in a pit. There were 17 players including a keyboard guy filling gaps, such as a perfect imitation of a lute while Alice faked it. Falstaff is a demanding piece, particularly for strings which have to constantly be sharp and incisive. They seemed to move between well-drilled sequences to areas where their musicianship and tone was exposed. Wind instruments seem to flatter by comparison. When was the last time you heard a bad flute/piccolo player?

And so to the singers. It would be fair to say there was a breadth of abilities and experience. The key to it all was the Falstaff played by Phillip Guy Bromley. No spring chicken, he uses his experience to carry the role lightly, his acting capturing Falstaff's multi-faceted personality most endearingly. His voice is in fine fettle indeed, always a pleasure to listen to. He's also the director. I'll also mention the Fords - a handsome couple indeed. Philip Smith has an elegant baritone and delivered his parts with aplomb. I expect to see his career progressing. Alice, sung by vocal-student Beatrice Acland, is vey much the leader-of-the-gang here and gives a confident and attractive showing, although the voice lacks refinement as yet. There was another Ford too, Peter Ford the conductor. He does a splendid job.

Let's talk about staging. Here, only the most essential props were used (benches and tables in the tavern, screen for lovers to hide behind, laundry basket, horns, oak tree. A couple of backdrops help set the scenes. The cast were suitably attired in an Elizabethan style. It leaves them to concentrate on acting and singing, and generally presenting the opera's plot. There were surtitles above the stage.

I was left thinking that so well did this small production work that it was as if Verdi himself might have envisaged it in this form. And following on from last night's comment about whether the audience felt they'd seen an opera. Here there was no doubt.

In summary, I say Bravi to the Black Cat Opera Company. Well worth my little detour. Do look out for them in the future productions in the London area.
 
#90 ·
I forgot to write about the three productions in West Edge Opera's summer festival!

The first I saw was Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria by Monteverdi. There were some cuts, leaving the running time just under two hours (plus one intermission). There was a nine-piece orchestra and ten singers (with a few doubling). It was presented int he gallery space at American Steel Studios in Oakland, generally a workshop/warehouse for giant steel artworks. I was a little concerned about the space but it sounded wonderful. I don't really mean to compare this boxy unacoustic space to Royal Albert Hall but, as with the reports from Loge, the small orchestra for a Monteverdi opera worked well and made it easy for the singers to be be heard clearly.

The stage was basically an elevated U, with the orchestra in the middle. Sometimes you could only see one singer, but it was more immediate than everyone facing out, ignoring each other. I could see Ulisse (Nikolas Nackley) rather than Penelope (Sara Couden) when he finally revealed himself but it was transcendent. Kindra Scharich was also noteworthy as Minerva.

The next day I saw Lulu by Alban Berg. This was at the 16th Street Station, abandoned after the 1989 earthquake (though it has since been deemed safe). It was cut to about 2 and a half hours, plus an intermission just before the film. Jonathan Khuner conducted his reduced orchestration (for 20 players). Sadly due to the acoustics of the space - again, empty, unacoustic - I had a difficult time hearing the singers well. Emma McNairy was still impressive in the title role, as was Philip Skinner as Dr. Schön. Between the cuts and the poor sound I was let down, though the direction (by Elkhanah Pulitzer) and physical production was effective and entertaining and it's impressive that this small opera company was able to put on this mammoth opera (selling out 500 seats for all three performances).

The following week I went to the Oakland Metro Operahouse* for the West Coast premiere of As One. This is a 75 minute chamber opera by Laura Kaminsky with a libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed (who also provided background film for the production). The score was performed by the Friction Quartet. This is a piece for two singers, both representing a transwoman, in sort of a before and after or male side and female side way, though they both sing throughout the piece. I really liked it and would love to hear it again; there were some really lovely parts especially as the piece moved on. The singers Dan Kempson and Brenda Patterson sounded wonderful together.

For this production there were ten supers provided background characters - other students, her parents, etc - illustrating some of the story. This was occasionally successful, but I think the piece worked best when she went to Norway and was by herself (though this could be just because this was what the opera was building to).

* That's actually the name... though it is mostly a metal and punk club. It's not entirely new to opera; it's grand opening was apparently in 2001 with a performance of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's Four Saints in Three Acts.

I am very glad I went to all three. I'll keep in mind the cuts for next summer. And hope they don't actually choose 16th Street Station as their home venue for all performances (unless they do some serious renovations).
 
#91 ·
Die Walkure
Berwick Festival Opera
Berwick-Upon-Tweed
4-Sep-2015

This was a concert performance with a derisory and under-utilised screen projection behind. The orchestra had 22 players, performing Jonathan Dove's rearrangement for 18 players made for the Birmingham Opera Company in 1990. He also trimmed more than an hour off the running time.

The orchestra strikes up the notable drama of the Act I prelude and I immediately know we're not going to be luxuriating in Wagner's sensual strings this evening. Siegmund stumbles breathlessly onto the stage. Ronald Samm is a man of fuller figure from Trinidad. His is a fine voice and one can easily imagine his signature Otello. Semi-staged it might be, but he's keen to act out. His 'twin', the fragrant blonde Janice Watson, appears from the other side. Yes, I know. No smirking please. The important thing is they both sing well. Simon Wilding as Hunding cuts a fine figure with a powerful voice but I don't care for the bass-baritone oscillation. Act I is over in 40 minutes which feels about right if you're going to do cuts, and here comes a point of contention, the Act II prelude is segued with the Act I finale. I see what Dove was trying to do, but for me, Wagner's act openings and closures are such a great pleasure that I felt denied. Brunnhilde and Wotan very promptly appear for their first scene. Miriam Murphy has the pipes and frame to make a big impression, but to me Paul Carey Jones as the dapper Wotan was the class act with a fine tone and presence, kind of like the Donald MacIntyre Wotan I have on DVD. Andrea Baker's vivacious Fricka also makes a good impression. The first half of the opera ends in the lull after B & W's middle scene. It's kind of awkward and was left to me to start the applause. Maybe Dove should have worked in a little cadence to get us to a more fitting point?

The second part (unlike the program I'm not going to call it Act II) uses the same device of seguing Act II and III together. It works well enough if you don't mind missing quite a few bars of the Act II outro. Fricka (with the aid of nothing by her rearranged shawl) has become Waltraute, and is joined by voices from the back of the hall. The other two Valkyries - Helmwige and Rossweisse - sing as they walk up the side isles to the stage. The three of them are vampishly attired and most fetching (from a male viewer's point of view). It proved a hard act to follow although Wotan sung his parts very well and the orchestra did its best to blaze and shimmer.

My conclusions: Wagner needs more strings than this. 8 string players plus a double bass simply isn't enough to convey the glory of the music. Secondly, if you're going to have a film image backdrop, do something useful with it! There were no titles, but I think (and have thought before for semi staged) that the screen should be used for simple commentary, such as 'With Wotan's approval Hunding kills Siegmund', 'Wotan banishes Brunnhilde to live on a rock surrounded by fire'.

An even more rambling version of this text including travelog is on my forum blog
http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/don-fatale/2091-die-walkure-berwick-festival.html
 
#92 ·
Thank you Don F. Two Saturdays ago we stopped at "South" Berwick for a light lunch and liked the vibe very much. However I didn't see any fliers for this event. I have seen many 'reduced' Opera performances and as long as the venue is also scaled down I usually have no trouble making allowances and enjoying myself, but your point about the strings is well made and understood. Without wishing to go over old sores I generally prefer this approach than attempting to present Grand Opera on limited resources. It seem that the singers were well chosen.

So that makes two Forum members you've made the acquantance of this year, who both denied being axe murderers. Be afraid...
 
#93 ·
Yes, Berwick is a great little town. What with the culture and the golf opportunities I wouldn't mind moving there. I guess I have some affinity with the anglo-scots heritage too.

The singers were pretty much first rate international standard, well beyond what one might have expected in such a small venue. As for smaller productions, the most important thing is to do it well. I don't usually need a big orchestra. Sometimes a smaller group of well-drilled musicians gives a more pleasing sound. Similarly with the staging; clarity is far more important than elaboration. I felt the Black Cat Opera Co.'s Falstaff was more enjoyable than Covent Garden one I'd seen the previous month.
 
#95 · (Edited)
Rossini - Barber of Seville - English National Opera

My first opera of the new season. And what a hilarious evening. Never thought a 200 year old opera could be so funny. Great gags about the nature of modern music. Being the ENO this was sung in English that gave it an immediacy to the humour.

This is the 12th revival of the Jonathan Miller production, and is a "traditional" one. The sets and cast look like they have stepped out of a Hogarth painting.

The cast were all excellent in acting and in singing. The standout was Andrew Shore as Dr Bartolo, showing once again why he is such great comic actor. You get to hear him sing falsetto too. . Kathryn Rudge as Rosina sung a wonderful Una voce poco fa. Mexican tenor Eleazar Rodriguez as Almaviva, who really shone when he impersonated the music teacher. We have Australian baratone, Morgan Pearse as Figaro. With a nice big resonant voice, his Figaro aria is very funny when sung in English, full of braggadocio. Must not forget the amazing Katherine Broderick who I saw as a Valkyrie two years ago and made a big impression. Here she brought the house down with the housekeeper aria.

And the orchestra conducted by Christopher Allen, full of energy as it should be. If you have a chance try and see it, a really fun night out.
 
#97 · (Edited)
Il Trovatore, Amsterdam October 11th

New production set in WWI. Not very impressed, let's just say it could have been worse. The end was ok, the soldiers throwing a body in a grave during the Miserere was just tasteless and even got some laughs from the audience.

The singing was quite good, too bad the singers did not get a conductor that was on the same page as theirs. Maurizio Benini is not a rookie and I was surprised how bad the support for the singers was, so many moments were just messy. The worst was the choir scenes, especially the anvil chorus was all over the place. In my seat I could see the conductor, and I couldn't make anything out of his gestures... I wonder if the singers and musiciens had the same experience.

Our Leonora (Carmen Giannattasio) was good, but lacked some power at some points, and maybe some finesse during her big aria's especially the D'amor sull'ali rosee. Her voice has a very attractive timbre and when needed there is power, but only barely enough. Some parts were drowned in the orchestra sounds, again not so nice of the meastro.

Di Luna (Simone Piazzola) has a very sweet baritone, I heard him before and he seemed a little under the weather. Still his Il balen del suo sorriso was one of the highlights of the performance. He looks a little lost on the stage and doesn't really show us the manic obsessed character he is.

Azucena (Violeta Urmana) was great. Voice, acting, perfect match. Her low notes are hair raising.

Manrico (Francesco Meli) was the star of the matinee. He was in excellent shape, better than the Salzburg 2014 performance, and he has that typical Italian tenor, sweet and bright, he can push it to great extend and effect and his voice just soares and his cabaletta's are sensational. He looks very comfortable in his role in this production and really convinces with his acting.

The choir and orchestra did sound very good, too bad they were not inspired by the meastro. Also, some tempi were so uncomfortable. Leonora's part just before the Miserere was too slow to my taste.

At the end the 4 leads appeared at the curtain and were awarded with a standing ovation from the stalls, seconds later all of the audiance got on their feet, Azucena and Manrico being their favourites.
 
#98 · (Edited)
I got back a little while ago from the Met's "Live in HD" TANNHAUSER, which was my first live performance of this opera. The period production from 1977 has beautiful costumes but is generally looking "clunky" and dated. The singing, however, was so wonderful (at least to my inexperienced Wagnerian ears) that the production didn't matter so much. The cast included Johan Botha as Tannhauser, Eva Marie Westerbroek (sp) as Elisabeth, Michelle de Young as Venus, and Peter Mattei as Wolfram. Mattei's beautifully sung and touchingly acted Wolfram was, for me, the main attraction; yet Botha, in great voice, acted much better than I was predicting he would (though I'd never seen him before I'd heard people say that he's a dull actor). His Tannhauser was truly tormented, especially in the Rome Narrative. It was rather sad to see James Levine conducting from a wheelchair, but time and infirmity have not seemed to diminish his ability. The ending was very powerful. I would like to see the Met get a new TANNHAUSER -- nothing post-modern, just a new period production. In the meantime, I'm glad to have finally seen TANNHAUSER live.
 
#100 ·
I got back a little while ago from the Met's "Live in HD" TANNHAUSER, which was my first live performance of this opera. The period production from 1977 has beautiful costumes but is generally looking "clunky" and dated. The singing, however, was so wonderful (at least to my inexperienced Wagnerian ears) that the production didn't matter so much. The cast included Johan Botha as Tannhauser, Eva Marie Westerbroek (sp) as Elisabeth, Michelle de Young as Venus, and Peter Mattei as Wolfram. Mattei's beautifully sung and touchingly acted Wolfram was, for me, the main attraction; yet Botha, in great voice, acted much better than I was predicting he would (though I'd never seen him before I'd heard people say that he's a dull actor). His Tannhauser was truly tormented, especially in the Rome Narrative. It was rather sad to see James Levine conducting from a wheelchair, but time and infirmity have not seemed to diminish his ability. The ending was very powerful. would like to see the Met get a new TANNHAUSER -- nothing post-modern, just a new period production. In the meantime, I'm glad to have finally seen TANNHAUSER live.
Except from the "New" Tannhauser I agree with you.
I just ordered tickets for March to see a reprise on a Sunday :tiphat:
 
#99 ·
I thought Botha was quite good, though it took a while to get used to his voice, which seemed very nasal in the first Act. Act III, which I find ridiculous on CD, came across very well and was quite moving (Tannhäuser still dies far too abruptly). Unfortunately the projector at our theatre crapped out twice during Act III for a few minutes but it was a fine performance. I was glad to see it was a traditional production; too many presentations of Wagner seem to want to be all about the new bizarre staging.
 
#103 ·
The Royal Academy of Music Concert Hall is having some work done so they decamped to the lovely Hackney Empire this weekend for four performances of The Marriage of Figaro.

I don't have time for a full review but agree with the following.
https://bachtrack.com/review-nozze-di-figaro-royal-academy-opera-hackney-october-2015

A couple of other points. The lighting for this production seemed brighter than the current vogue where everything gets lit as if it were a film noir. This means that facial expression is often something only the Conductor can appreciate. This time we could see the actors interact, the action came alive, the comedy sparkled and it's been a long time since I enjoyed Mozart so much.

The Older characters seemed to be harder for the cast to portray well. In particular the Count seemed a one dimensional figure of fun.

Impossible not to speculate who has the brightest future. ON this showing the Susanna of Charlotte Schoeters was both pleasing to watch and beautifully sung. But the star of the evening was the Figaro, Božidar Smiljanic. I really enjoyed his portrayal both his fine voice with lovely diction and charismatic acting.

I will be on the lookout for their productions in future. Entertainment like this for £20. Marvelous.

In fact I enjoyed it so much I'm going to stop typing, get on with my job and with a little luck see the alternate cast tonight.
 
#104 ·
The Royal Academy of Music Concert Hall is having some work done so they decamped to the lovely Hackney Empire this weekend for four performances of The Marriage of Figaro.

I don't have time for a full review but agree with the following.
https://bachtrack.com/review-nozze-di-figaro-royal-academy-opera-hackney-october-2015

A couple of other points. The lighting for this production seemed brighter than the current vogue where everything gets lit as if it were a film noir. This means that facial expression is often something only the Conductor can appreciate. This time we could see the actors interact, the action came alive, the comedy sparkled and it's been a long time since I enjoyed Mozart so much.

The Older characters seemed to be harder for the cast to portray well. In particular the Count seemed a one dimensional figure of fun.

Impossible not to speculate who has the brightest future. ON this showing the Susanna of Charlotte Schoeters was both pleasing to watch and beautifully sung. But the star of the evening was the Figaro, Božidar Smiljanic. I really enjoyed his portrayal both his fine voice with lovely diction and charismatic acting.

I will be on the lookout for their productions in future. Entertainment like this for £20. Marvellous.

In fact I enjoyed it so much I'm going to stop typing, get on with my job and with a little luck see the alternate cast tonight.
Very envious! Have fun.
 
#105 · (Edited)
Ok Take 2

I expected the 4th performance being a Monday night would be scarcely attended, so I was a little surprised that the only ticket available was on the third tier for £12. I'd not seen an Opera form higher in the Theatre before but the sound was expertly balanced and it's not a large theatre with great sightlines, so far so good.

The Upper Circle was full of students who judging by the queue at the other window were all on complimentary tickets. Was a little surprised to overhear one young student of RCM tell her friend from The Guildhall SoM that they'd been having lectures on the The Chimp Paradox, a book much favoured by high performing British Sportsmen like Padraig Harrington and Chris Hoy. For whatever reason the performance was 15 minutes late starting and it became clear that not all student are the most attentive Opera audience in the world. Add to that the woman directly in fornt of me started an intermittent deep cough during Voi che sapate and kept her thrilling solo up to the interval. I considered going home and contacting the Guinness Book of Records. But they sell wine and allow you to bring it in to the auditorium and then the most amazing thing happened. The magic arrived. The restless audience craned forward, the drama meant something and I can report I went home happy.



The stand out performance this time were
pretty much all the smaller parts but Dominic Bowe and Robert Garland deserve mention. I should have mentioned the Friday Cherubino, Katherine Aitken and in a part made for students Laura Zigmantaite also pleased. The most enjoyable contrast however was with the two Susanna's. Nika Goric had a more rounded 'mature' voice and despite wearing the same costumes made the part her own in a different way – just as you'd hope for. The Countess of Eve Daniell had more presence and Haobin Wang was more successful with the Count.

As for the first time production by Janet Suzman, it always kept your attention and the students must have benefited from her vast experience in the Theatre. Liveliness and engagement without artifice are all strenghts of the production . But seeing it twice in 4 day highlighted the short comings of her decidedly feminist approach. With no attempt at balance there seemed little that either Count could do to keep us interested in what became of him. And when he groped the fainted Susanna the students though it was funny! The ending however worked. The music didn’t sound that celebratory and as the chorus sang, the surtitles read (something like) “Choose happiness”, the Countess stepped forward and removed the gift of the ring and handed it back to the Count, before exiting the stage. Curtain.


As I said I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would recommend this to everyone. Will look out for next years production in their own hall a short walk from Baker St tube.
 
#106 ·
It's a long time since I've been at the forum, and since then there've been two operas I've seen live for the first time. Cosi fan tutte (yeah, a Mozart-lover that is me has never been to it until a week ago!) and Electra. Both at my dear Mariinsky. Electra was scheduled to be conducted by Gergiev, but it was changed at the last moment, so both were conducted by Christian Knapp (Gergiev's number one understudy). Not that it bothered me.

Well, Electra… Here you can see it's Regietheater through and through, but as the playbill promised a Wagnerian kind of music (R. Strauss is always put in the same abo with Wagner) and a cast of my favorites, I've decided I could deal with it.

It is Regietheater, no denying it. The action takes place in a two-story building. The first floor is something like an early 20th-century house, full of light. Although its inhabitants don't boast any particularly old-fashioned costumes, aside from maybe Clytemnestra's fur mantle. Ladies wear evening dresses, gentlemen are in black suits, and the servants wear green uniform. Chrysothemis (a feeble act of protest?) is in a simple white blouse and a bright yellow skirt.

And the ground floor can be accurately desribed as a pile of garbage, Electra's living place. The only sign of civilization is a projector that Electra uses to watch a slideshow of family photos (not one of them showing Clytemnestra). The two floors are connected with a sort of staircase made of garbage (not secured in any way, as the singer playing Clytemnestra later wrote on Facebook!).

Okay, so, what did I think of that? Actually, after Strauss's breathtaking nerve-wracking music began, it didn't seem to bother me very much. The contrast between Electra's world and the rest of the world was shown very well. Especially when both Electra's mother and sister were speaking to Electra from their plane, too frightened to venture in the crazy woman's home. Clytemnestra only once dared to step on these garbage stairs. The tragedy of it is obvious: they think that keeping away from Electra means keeping away from madness, but they're already every bit as mad as her. Clytemnestra lost in her nightmares, and Chrysothemis - in her feverish dream of leaving the palace-turned-prison. It reminded me of a horror short story I read on the Internet, about a family forced to hide in a house for generations and gradually going unhinged.

Back to Electra. Then there's the one major thing that annoyed me in the production: the "higher plane"'s floor wasn't straight horizontal. It was sloping. And sometimes the singers couldn't be seen behind it. Only after Electra finished her graphic description of her mother being killed in the near future, I saw that Clytemnestra has been onstage and listening to it all the time.

The music, I repeat, was amazing. I haven't been so impressed with opera since the first times I listened to Wagner. Although I knew perfectly well the opera's quite short, I still didn't believe it when Orest appeared. I was like "what, so soon?!" For a while, I thought it was my nearsightedness playing tricks on me. So Electra and I recognized Orest for sure at about the same time.

The drama was downplayed a bit when both murders happened offstage, with only yells and cries reaching us, but the tension came back afterwards, with Electra crazily dancing to her death. We never see the cheering crowd Chrysothemis speaks of, so a possibility remains that it was a figment of their imagination - the three mad siblings having been freed at last.

The cast was all splendid. Larisa Gogolevskaya in particular, although the classical "fat lady", gave us a torn, raging, honestly frightening Electra. And her voice! As she sang for most of the time, I can't believe how it stayed at the same level. She has an inclination towards screaming her notes, it irritated some people in her Yaroslavna, but with a part like Electra it is only fitting.

I wanted the post to be about both operas I've seen, but - well - Cosi fan tutte can be summed up as just another wonderful Mozartian piece with an idiotic hilarious plot. Lovely relaxation after university. Beautiful production. Sweet voices. No shocks like in the previous opera! :)
 
#107 · (Edited)
I saw San Francisco Opera's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg last night.

I had heard a lot about Elder's conducting being slow; it did not seem that way to me. The prelude was certainly majestic, as was the Act 3 interlude, though the crowd around me had had enough and took the time to stretch and talk. It was a fantastic reading of the score, well shaped and well played by the orchestra. This was no reduced orchestration; there were 76 players in the pit along with a 14-piece band backstage. There was also the 90-person chorus, 17 principals, and 31 dancers, fighters, and supers.

Brandon Jovanovich was stellar as Walther; his voice was rich and secure throughout and his final prize song was glorious. He also came off as more elegant than Marco Jentsch on the Glyndebourne DVD; he looked and sounded noble. I felt the same about Alek Shrader as David compared to Topi Lehtipuu on the DVD. Martin Gantner sounded good throughout his performance, even when he was messing up the prize song. The crowd was laughing, but his Beckmesser did not come off as pathetic.

Rachel Willis-Sørensen was solid as Eva. Her acting was very good and her voice soared above the orchestra when necessary. She also had good chemistry with both Walther and Sachs, making her parts of act 2 sound lovely. Sasha Cooke sounded exceptional as Magdalene, making the most of a few moments.

James Rutherford was a great Sachs. He gave a richly detailed performance; his act 3 monologue was moving and he shined in the finale, amazing after such a long sing.

The production was fun (for opera, for Wagner). The setting is shifted from the mid-16th century to the early 19th century. This updates the costumes and places the action just as the Holy Roman Empire was actually dissolving. The personregie was finely detailed; the principals did not stand around waiting to sing but acted their parts and reacted to those around them. The chorus and supers were well used; there was a good amount going on without it being too busy (except during the appropriate crowd scenes).

The crowd in the Dress Circle was awful; I have never heard that much talking during an opera. There were several people around me snoring, at least one phone went off during the performance, and I'm pretty sure someone was opening presents during act 3 scene 1. Perhaps a holiday weekend was the wrong time to go see this, or perhaps this is just going to happen at such a long opera.

Despite the distractions I was often entranced; the opening scene pulled me in and Sachs' defense of Walther was impassioned. Eva and Walther sounded lovely together in act 2, and the chaos of the crowd scene built impressively. Walther creating the prize song was rich and the quintet glowed. The final scene was a glory to see.

I might go again on Tuesday.
 
#108 · (Edited)
Just saw the same Meistersinger as mountmccabe yesterday. Same production as the Glyndebourne, so it all seemed very familiar--I don't recall if the Glyndebourne on disc had quite so much acrobatics, but it was all very fun to watch.

I like the time shift to 19th century. It kind of reminds me of how MASH was very much a Vietnam story, but presented as a Korean War setting--setting something in the past to comment on the present at a more comfortable remove. Wagner's thoughts about aesthetics, musical structure and inspiration seemed like very contemporary-to-him thoughts about Romanticism and his own artistic career.

Of the three main principals, I was most impressed by Sorensen as Eva. Her voice is a little dark and mezzo-sounding for an ideal Eva, but she was excellent, secure in all her notes and charming, exasperated, coquettish and all the things that Eva needs to be, with a surprisingly large voice. Rutherford was very good as Walt, certainly much better than Jentzsch in the Glyndebourne video. Very good top, sung passionately and well acted. He tends to sing everything at one volume, his lower end was a little lacking in force and weight and he made a couple of minor errors in the Preislied but overall a very good performance.

Rutherford as Sachs was not great, but they also announced at the A3 act break that he had been suffering a serious cold, so that could explain it. His voice was spreading a little close to something dangerous like a wobble under pressure, his low end was MIA and overall the volume and force was something well below what I would want from an ideal Sachs. Well acted though.

Shrader and Cooke were great as Magdalene and David--Shrader being a little less weedy than some tenors they cast for the role, which is definitely welcome, and Cooke doing her usual good work but maybe being a bit small--I could barely hear her at all in the quintet but maybe that was just where I was sitting.

The conducting was a little odd--some strangely blaring and out of nowhere peaks, like Elder couldn't resist the urge to occasionally make a big racket. Was a little draggy at the start of Act 3, and overall didn't quite have that great sense of gemutlichkeit that is the major divider between a good and a great performance of the work. Some of the choral work in particular wasn't ideal, although they were tremendously fun to watch--I couldn't help thinking that they focused on the on-stage activity at the expense of better choral sound.
 
#109 · (Edited)
Last night I saw SF Opera's double bill of operas based on Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. This was the US premiere of Gordon Getty's Usher House and the US professional premiere of Robert Orledge's completion of La chute de la maison Usher by Claude Debussy.

This was a co-production with Welsh National Opera that premiered in Cardiff in June 2014. The Director was David Pountney.

Usher House is a sort of buddy comedy version of Poe's gothic horror story. Getty noted in both the in-person interview before the performance and in the interview printed in the program that he made "the three principal characters the good guys... the kind of people you'd want your children to marry." I don't think this was successful, in part because he retained some of the elements of Poe's story.

When Eddie Poe (Getty cast Poe as the visiting friend) visits Roderick Usher they greet each other warmly, boon companions chatting about old school chums. Edgar is in great spirits after his easy and refreshing journey so Roderick spills his great surprise, a ball in Edgar's honor! Roderick announces the arrival of his ancestors, and they dance around, seemingly having a good time, as images of the ancestors show up on the video projections. It neither makes sense why Roderick would do this nor why Edgar would go along with it so playfully.

They are disrupted by the appearance of the doctor and Madeline Usher, the latter represented by a silent dancer Jamielyn Duggan. The wild dancing of Madeline was impressive, and evocatively chilly. It seemed out of place, though.

Anthony Reed got to chew scenery and the best vocal music of the piece as Doctor Primus, the villain created for the piece. His evil machinations felt like a Doctor Who story, without the fun or meaning I'd expect from that TV series, but his rich bass voice sold him as a super villain.

The vocal writing other than those sections for the doctor was largely uninteresting. There were some wordless vocals from Jacqueline Piccolino as the voice of Madeline Usher, but they were used sparingly and as a little bit of color, not as a way to tell the story. The orchestra didn't seem to evoke any mood, though the constantly varying tone throughout did not make that any easier. The direction was also bizarre, even for opera; characters walked off-stage for no apparent reason, to return only when they had another line.

The videos were warm and richly detailed; I found them slightly distracting at first but they effectively showed a sense of place.

---

La chute de la maison Usher was an incredible contrast. This was actually a gothic horror opera. The videos were simply composed exterior, then interior shots of the stone house, ominous and foreboding. They made the House of Usher feel claustrophobic and oppressive.

The music was richly detail and evocative; the orchestra was a presence rather than an accompaniment.

Here Brian Mulligan had wrenching, emotional music that he used to create the tormented character of Roderick Usher. Edward Nelson was similarly impressive as the unnamed friend. The opera being dominated by these two baritone roles fit well with the overall atmosphere. Tenor Joel Sorensen was a mannered Le Médecin, and the few lines from Jacqueline Piccolino as Lady Madeline that opened the piece were lovely.

The direction was meaningful; characters interacted, and if they left the stage it was for stated or otherwise clear reason (I know, low bar).

I am not ready to place this work next to Pelléas et Mélisande, and I don't know enough of about what Debussy left or the other orchestrations or completions to comment on Robert Orledge's work here, but it does sound like Debussy.

I would love to see La chute de la maison Usher again, though either on its own or with a more appropriate pairing. It sure has me listening to a long playlist of his music this morning!
 
#112 · (Edited)
The twin terrors "Cav" and Pag" were broadcast live from ROH Covent Garden last night. With the caveat that cinema staff don't appear to know when to turn the lights on and off the show went well. This is a new production by Damiano Michieletto, whose Tell outraged the public last time. However, this time he showed what he can do when he does things to entertain rather than outrage. He's updated them to a small town in Southern Italy, linking them together rather cleverly.
The productions themselves are pretty straightforward, the only real deviation being (in Pag) a drunken Canio seeing part of the play-within-a-play as his drunken imagination. Quite ingenious but I'm not quite sure if it worked.
As for the performances, Aleksandrs Antonenko sings both Turridu and Canio as a modern incarnation of del Monaco - high on virile tone (which did strain at times) but short on subtlety and imagination. Con Belto personified! Dimitri Platanias similarly doubles as Alfio and Tonio, with Carmen Giannattasio singing and acting well as Nedda.
The stars of the evening for me were first Eva-Maria Westbroek’s Santuzza, exacting believable emotions from the character, and Tony Pappano in the pit. He has this music in his blood and it showed with terrific playing with a wide range of colours. Whatever the operas lacked in subtlety they made up for in excitement.
A rip roaring evening indeed! Do see it if you have the chance!
 
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