Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera in a production from Robert Carsen with Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Onegin), Renée Fleming (Tatiana) and Ramon Vargas (Lensky). Valery Gergiev conducts
Cole Porter has thought us to accentuate the positive, so we'll start with the good news: Musically you can't argue against this one. Fabulous opera and the three principals are in great voice. In fact, you'll seldom hear Tatiana more beautifully sung than Fleming does it here, even though she maybe doesn't have that typically darker Russian sound. No problem - she's fab. The chemistry between Hvorostovsky and Fleming is something to behold. Sparks fly in their scenes together, especially in the final scene.
Now the bad news: If it doesn't take anything more than what Robert Carsen provides us with here to become a producer at arguably the most important opera house in the world (the Met) I think I'm gonna change my job and become a producer myself. The whole opera is set in what I can only describe as a sort of three sided giant white box that becomes dark blue at night, red when the sun comes up, and so on. During the first three scenes the floor is covered with leaves (to match Tchaikovsky's autumnal music I pressume - what would we do without those creative modern-ish producers these days? ). In the party scene of the second act there's a rug on the floor surronded by chairs. Lots of extras on stage during the party scene but eveybody is on that rug and leaves the rest of the stage for what it is. In the duel scene there's nothing but the giant box. At least in the final scene there's a chair.
Fans of Hvorostovsky and Fleming needn't hesitate to buy this, they are wonderful. Casual opera fans better look out for a different Onegin DVD than this one.
The letter scene. Either this family is so poor that they can't afford to pay someone to sweep the leaves out of Tatiana's bedroom or else the young lady has her bed in the garden....
The leaves scene part two - usually known as the garden scene. Maybe they have sweeped Tatiana's bedroom after all at this point and depositted the leaves in the garden. They definitely don't come from the non-existent trees.
Wow, what extravagance - Robert Carsen has actually allowed a chair in the final scene! Franco Zeffirelli eat your heart out!
Cole Porter has thought us to accentuate the positive, so we'll start with the good news: Musically you can't argue against this one. Fabulous opera and the three principals are in great voice. In fact, you'll seldom hear Tatiana more beautifully sung than Fleming does it here, even though she maybe doesn't have that typically darker Russian sound. No problem - she's fab. The chemistry between Hvorostovsky and Fleming is something to behold. Sparks fly in their scenes together, especially in the final scene.
Now the bad news: If it doesn't take anything more than what Robert Carsen provides us with here to become a producer at arguably the most important opera house in the world (the Met) I think I'm gonna change my job and become a producer myself. The whole opera is set in what I can only describe as a sort of three sided giant white box that becomes dark blue at night, red when the sun comes up, and so on. During the first three scenes the floor is covered with leaves (to match Tchaikovsky's autumnal music I pressume - what would we do without those creative modern-ish producers these days? ). In the party scene of the second act there's a rug on the floor surronded by chairs. Lots of extras on stage during the party scene but eveybody is on that rug and leaves the rest of the stage for what it is. In the duel scene there's nothing but the giant box. At least in the final scene there's a chair.
Fans of Hvorostovsky and Fleming needn't hesitate to buy this, they are wonderful. Casual opera fans better look out for a different Onegin DVD than this one.
The letter scene. Either this family is so poor that they can't afford to pay someone to sweep the leaves out of Tatiana's bedroom or else the young lady has her bed in the garden....
The leaves scene part two - usually known as the garden scene. Maybe they have sweeped Tatiana's bedroom after all at this point and depositted the leaves in the garden. They definitely don't come from the non-existent trees.
Wow, what extravagance - Robert Carsen has actually allowed a chair in the final scene! Franco Zeffirelli eat your heart out!