A Night at the Opera

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I couldn't find a suitable thread to post about recent operatic visits/ news of current productions, so thought a general opera thread would be a good idea.

It's been a busy week for me - four operas in three days in London - and after a disappointing Boccanegra at ENO on Wednesday, it just got better and better. Plenty of writing to get done as well:

Wednesday: Simon Boccanegra at ENO (http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=518:simon-boccanegra-english-national-opera-8th-june-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16)

Thursday: Rita & Iolanta at Guildhall (http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=521:rita-iolanta-guildhall-school-9th-june-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16)

Friday: L'amico Fritz at Holland Park (http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=522:lamico-fritz-opera-holland-park-10th-june-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16)

Was anyone else at these/ planning on going in the coming weeks?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was really looking forward to Opera North's Das Rheingold, only to discover that it is to be a concert performance. :sadface: You could argue that it's better than nothing, but I would rather listen to a well-produced audio recording, where it's possible to imagine the characters on stage. Staring at a bunch of soloists, standing in front of an orchestra, is not my idea of a night at the opera.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Staring at a bunch of soloists, standing in front of an orchestra, is not my idea of a night at the opera.

I'd generally agree. Sometimes a concert staging is the only viable means of presenting a rare opera (such as Chelsea Opera Group does) which might not otherwise get a production. Although that's what I love about Opera Holland Park - putting on rarities: where else this season would you get to see L'amico Fritz or La Wally? (Or Francesca da Rimini or La Gioconda in previous years)

[Mahlerei]

Is the ENO Boccanegra still that risible production with the giant hand suspended like the Sword of Damocles over the singers? I wasn't the only one sniggering that night.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

No, it's a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. I didn't see the previous ENO production, by David Alden, but one prominent critic told me in the interval that he almost wished for something like that giant hand to liven things up as the production was so devoid of ideas. I found the prologue quite effective, but after that...

[verismissimo]

Looking forward to Rinaldo at Glyndebourne.

Interested in your take on Fritz, Grand One. Don't think I can get to it.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

where else this season would you get to see L'amico Fritz or La Wally? (Or Francesca da Rimini or La Gioconda in previous years)
Opera North did stage Francesca da Rimini at Leeds Grand Threatre fairly recently. The all-black costumes worn by the cast (used again and again in different ON productions) seemed quite appropriate here. I just couldn't work out why they were wandering around Hell with leather suitcases. :erm:

[verismissimo]

I just couldn't work out why they were wandering around Hell with leather suitcases. :erm:

That would be the producer's brilliant "concept", Alpen. :)

[verismissimo]

Listening to the Mackerras recording of Jenufa provoked the thought that reasonably well-chosen recordings nearly always delight, whereas being in the opera house is such a hit-and-miss affair. At it's best, sublime, but so often I feel the need to close my eyes to escape from the production or the inadequate acting.

In a way that's like listening to a recording, but a lot more expensive.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I always find visits to the opera house to be very exciting. But opera DVDs are generally a disappointment.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was really looking forward to Opera North's Das Rheingold, only to discover that it is to be a concert performance. :sadface:

Richard Farnes, ON conductor, has just said on R3 that the reason for the concert performances was that the pit in their theatre in Leeds isn't big enough to accommodate the size of orchestra needed for Rheingold. I know at the ROH they had to remove stalls circle seats to house the six harps plus extra brass.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Massent's Cendrillon at the Royal Opera House... recommended! :ok:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=537:cendrillon-the-royal-opera-5th-july-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Was anyone else at Holland Park for the opening night of Catalani's La Wally? Famous for the heroine's aria ‘Ebben… ne andrò lontana’, there are several other good things about the score. Is it the problem of staging an avalanche that puts directors off?

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=549:la-wally-opera-holland-park-29th-july-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Mahlerei]

There's a wonderfully atmospherIc French film, Diva, that centres on an illegal recording of a famous diva She sings that aria from La Wally. Good fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hsmoo97CVA

[french frank]

There's a wonderfully atmospherIc French film, Diva, that centres on an illegal recording of a famous diva She sings that aria from La Wally. Good fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hsmoo97CVANot quite the tomboy of IGI's review!

Very educational, this forum - keep the reviews coming, IGI! :smiley:

I thought of starting a thread on the 'alternative operas' - named after the one aria that's ever heard, like Charpentier's opera Depuis le jour ...

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was at the UK premiere of Weinberg's The Passenger at ENO last night - an excellent production and an extremely moving evening. I wasn't reviewing, but here are some early reviews:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=568:the-passenger-english-national-opera-19th-september-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/passenger-english-national-opera

[aeolium]

I enjoyed WNO's new production of Don Giovanni at Cardiff last Sunday, with set design inspired by Rodin's Gates of Hell sculptures. In common with most DGs these days, it emphasised the darkness, the dramma much more than the giocoso but I don't mind that. The singing was generally very good, the best being Camilla Roberts as Donna Anna, David Soar as Leporello and Robin Tritschler as Don Ottavio - Nuccia Focile was a bit shrill as Elvira and Carlo Malinverno was not imposing enough as the Commendatore. But what really stood out was the outstanding playing of the WNO orchestra under Lothar Koenigs - what an excellent music director he is turning out to be. After some poor Mozart productions of late, this was an impressive return to form by the WNO.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A couple of WNO Don Giovanni reviews:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/sep/25/passenger-don-giovanni-faust-review?newsfeed=true

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=572:don-giovanni-welsh-national-opera-23rd-september-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8773413/Don-Giovanni-WNO-Wales-Millenium-Centre-review.html

[Flosshilde]

I enjoyed WNO's new production of Don Giovanni at Cardiff last Sunday, ... In common with most DGs these days, it emphasised the darkness, the dramma much more than the giocoso

Is there much giocoso (which the Telegraph review cited above translates as "larky, playful or cheerful") in a story of rape and murder?

[aeolium]

Is there much giocoso (which the Telegraph review cited above translates as "larky, playful or cheerful") in a story of rape and murder?

Attempted rape and murder, I'd say.

Well, dramma giocoso was the description given to the opera by the librettist and composer, so it appears so. And there are quite a few instances of black humour scattered through the work: the disguise seduction of Elvira early in the 2nd act, the cemetery scene, the way formal exchange of dinner engagements is brought into DG's two encounters with the statue (and Leporello's cry to DG to decline the invitation: 'tiempo non h'a - scusate!'). I suspect da Ponte thought of the work as predominantly giocoso and Mozart brought out more of the darkness, but that's only my guess.

As I said, I'm happy for the dark quality of the work to be emphasised - it was the Telegraph reviewer who wanted more of the giocoso, I think.

[Brassbandmaestro]

Tosca tonight on R3!!

[DracoM]

Kaufmann sang everyone out of sight IMO!! One of the great singer/actors of our day on the operatic stage.

[french frank]

I'm going to see Don Giovanni next month. Not stunningly wonderful reviews, but nothing to fear either, it seems. Suits me!

[Belgrove]

Quite right DracoM, Kaufmann has been magnificent in everything in which I have seen/heard him. Gheorghiu seemed rather ordinary, as was Terfel. The other star of the evening was the orchestra, powerful and gutsy - Pappano in Puccini is very red blooded and persuasive. The recorded sound seemed richer and fuller than is usually the case from Covent Garden. A very enjoyable broadcast of a work I've not listened to for some years, but it was Kaufmann's night.

[Barbirollians]

Kaufmann was magnificent in both Adriana Lecouvreur and Don Carlos last year too . He is a good actor too.

[french frank]

I was at the UK premiere of Weinberg's The Passenger at ENO last night - an excellent production and an extremely moving evening.Opera On 3 – Weinberg: The Passenger
Saturday 15 October
6.00-9.00pm BBC RADIO 3

[Brassbandmaestro]

That production was one of the best ever! No wonder people waited all night to get in!! They were amply rewarded, imo!

[aeolium]

I'm going to see Don Giovanni next month. Not stunningly wonderful reviews, but nothing to fear either, it seems. Suits me!

ff, after Abduction from the Orient Express and Cosi fan Butlins, I was mightily relieved, I can tell you....

I'm always wary of what critics say - it's so hard for them not to get jaded and to assume everyone has seen the opera 50 times, like they have.

[french frank]

ff, after Abduction from the Orient Express and Cosi fan Butlins, I was mightily relieved, I can tell you....

I'm always wary of what critics say - it's so hard for them not to get jaded and to assume everyone has seen the opera 50 times, like they have.I enjoyed the Abduction - it fed my craving for train travel :smiley:

In fact, I'm such an uncritical soul when it comes to opera, I can only remember one production I didn't like, and that was the opera itself. I won't say which one it was because I know it's in several people's Top Ten!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I enjoyed the Orient Express Abduction too! Good fun and very well produced and sung.


I'm always wary of what critics say - it's so hard for them not to get jaded and to assume everyone has seen the opera 50 times, like they have.

What I've come to appreciate is that the critics (the vast majority of them anyway) don't always want to be there! I'm in the fortunate position (i.e. unpaid!!) that I can turn down a performance if it really doesn't appeal, so only take on operas/productions I'm keen to see, or to hear particular singers. Whereas, I wonder how many times your average print critic gets sent to something s/he is dreading.

Mind you, I'm also surprised at how little homework some of them do, though I suppose it's to do with time constraints. When I went to review The Tsar's Bride, I became aware that some others didn't know the piece, had bothered to listen to it or find out about its history. I knew the opera reasonably well, had a recording and had read through the score a few times. But then, I like Rimsky operas...

[aeolium]

I enjoyed the Abduction - it fed my craving for train travel

Mine too - for the train back to Gloucestershire :laugh:

Actually, I will admit that it wasn't as bad as the Cosi. There's something seriously depressing about watching someone sing in shorts for a couple of hours :sadface:

[bluestateprommer]

I'm not sure if this would be worth a new thread, but how many of you guys/gals go to the Metropolitan Opera HD-casts in cinemas? They're obviously in full swing for the season, and I just wonder how they've caught on in the UK. There's also the ROH and Glyndebourne HD-casts from the UK companies, of course.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'm not sure if this would be worth a new thread, but how many of you guys/gals go to the Metropolitan Opera HD-casts in cinemas? They're obviously in full swing for the season, and I just wonder how they've caught on in the UK. There's also the ROH and Glyndebourne HD-casts from the UK companies, of course.

I went to my first Met broadcast a fortnight ago - Anna Bolena. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the atmosphere and 'sense of being there' actually came across. The sound levels in the cinema, against which I'd previously been warned, were actually spot on. There was a very slight lip-synch problem in Act I, which they sorted out during the interval. High-definition pictures were excellent.

As we are without a NY critic at present, Opera Britannia has been offered the chance to review via these cinema relays, so I'm covering Don Giovanni and Faust in the coming weeks.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

... so I'm covering Don Giovanni and Faust in the coming weeks.

Here's the Don Giovanni review: http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=596:don-giovanni-the-metropolitan-opera-new-york-29th-october-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[aeolium]

Thanks for that interesting and comprehensive review IGI. I saw the production at a theatre locally and enjoyed it a lot. I agree that the staging was rather uninspiring (why are almost all DG productions so sombre these days?) and the director did not seem to have spent a lot of time on the characters' movements on stage. Vargas as Ottavio was especially wooden, I thought, though he sang well. Most of the singing seemed very impressive to me - Masetto somewhat colourless and Zerlina seemed far too smitten with the Don for the Act 1 finale to be convincing. And though you point out that this was one of the few recent productions where the statue actually makes an entrance at the end of Act 2, it didn't seem to me to be a statue but rather a ludicrously Halloween-type ghost. In this respect the latest WNO production (where a statue does indeed enter) was more effective, imo. And DG's actual descent into hell was oddly staged, the Commendatore disappearing and the flames seeming to engulf both the Don and Leporello (clutching the table legs).

Anyway, musically it was very good, with Luisi and the orchestra on fine form. I don't mind a production that is less than thrilling.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I don't mind a production that is less than thrilling.

Oh, I agree. I'd much rather have this 'traditional but uninspired' production than some of the rubbish served up in the name of Regietheater any day...

[Bert Coules]

...how many of you guys/gals go to the Metropolitan Opera HD-casts in cinemas?Given the right equipment, one can watch them (and record them) in the comfort of one's own home, and escape during the ghastly interview bits. I enjoyed the Giovanni (rather more than some of the critics) and I'm greatly looking forward to Saturday's Siegfried.

[Bert Coules]

Well, it's the second interval and the Met's Siegfried is going swimmingly: it's a fine performance all round and Jay Hunter Morris, stepping in at short notice, is hugely impressive in the title role. The controversial set seems to be behaving itself both mechanically and sonically, the designs and projection work are lovely (Fafner-the-Disney-Dragon apart, unfortunately) and if the production goes down a few paths which I personally would not, well, which production doesn't?

I hope I'm not the only one watching and enjoying this.

[french frank]

Just back from WNO's Katya Kabanova. I saw this production (Katie Mitchell's) a few years back, and this was pretty much up to scratch (though the women tended, confusingly, to look much of a muchness in terms of age). I would echo all the recent compliments for the orchestra under Lothar Königs - and what splendid music this is.

[Chris Newman]

Just back from WNO's Katya Kabanova. I saw this production (Katie Mitchell's) a few years back, and this was pretty much up to scratch (though the women tended, confusingly, to look much of a muchness in terms of age). I would echo all the recent compliments for the orchestra under Lothar Königs - and what splendid music this is.

I am looking forward to hearing this wonderful opera at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre on the 30th of November. I much enjoyed Amanda Roocroft at ENO in English last year and it will be interesting to hear her in Czech.

With regard to enquiries above about going to Met Opera productions in our cinema. My local Odeon in Salisbury has not shown these but have almost monthly showings of Royal Opera House, Berlin Phil and Zurich Opera productions. The sound and picture quality is excellent. They are well attended. I would recommend them to music and opera lovers.

[aeolium]

Chris, I thought I had read somewhere that the Met operated some kind of 'exclusive rights' policy whereby if a cinema showed its productions it could not show opera broadcasts by other companies (not sure how it can do this). Am I just imagining this? I know the cinemas at which I have seen recent Met productions do not appear to be showing any other operas.

[Chris Newman]

Chris, I thought I had read somewhere that the Met operated some kind of 'exclusive rights' policy whereby if a cinema showed its productions it could not show opera broadcasts by other companies (not sure how it can do this). Am I just imagining this? I know the cinemas at which I have seen recent Met productions do not appear to be showing any other operas.

That sounds very probable, aeolium.

[Chris Newman]

Having withdrawal symptoms for Wagner?

You will either love or hate this production of Die Meistersinger from the little opera company in Nurnberg itself I found on Artelive tv. Imagine English Touring Opera or Holland Park doing Die Meistersinger. MOST of the cast are very young. The conductor takes things at a lick and keeps the orchestral volume down to avoid too much strain. One or two of the young cast are outstanding: Beckmesser. I think everyone has a very brave stab at their part: they are not all Wagnerian voices by a long shot.

Production: very lively. Sets: almost Roy Lichtenstein. It is the sort of performance that newcomers to Wagner would love as it is romantic and funny. I think it works.

http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Les_maitres_chanteurs_de_Nuremberg/


Conductor: Marcus Bosch
Director: David Israeli-Mouchtar-Samorai
Set: Heinz Hauser
Costume: Urte Eicker


Albert Pesendorfer (Hans Sachs), Guido Jentjens (Veit Pogner), Christoph Wittmann (Kunz Vogelgesang), Kurt Schober (Konrad Nachtigall), Jochen Kupfer (Sixtus Beckmesser), Martin Berner (Fritz Kothner), Martin Platz (Balthasar Zorn), Philip Carmichael (Ulrich Eißlinger), Martin Nyvall (Augustin Moser), Yong Jae Moon (Hermann Ortel), Vladislav Solodyagin (Hans Schwarz), Daeyoung Kim (Hans Foltz), Michael Putsch (Walther von Stolzing), Tilman Lichdi (David), Michaela Maria Mayer (Eva), Leila Pfister (Magdalena), Randall Jakobsh (Nightwatchman), Chor Staatstheater Nürnberg (Tarmo Vaask)

[bluestateprommer]

For IGI, a very late reply, and thanks for the excellent review. Sounds just as well that I missed it on the big screen. I suppose that I can catch it well down the line when the DVD appears, if I'm so inclined by then.

For aeolium & CN, I hadn't heard about the Metropolitan Opera imposing conditions of not being able to show productions by other opera companies here in the US. At the one local place where I catch the Met HD-casts, the only other opera company that showed a non-Met opera production was the "Carmen in 3D" from the ROH. Otherwise, speaking of other companies, La Scala productions have been at other cinemas which don't have the Met HD-casts. So maybe there's something to that on this side of the pond.

[french frank]

Just back from the WNO's Don Giovanni. I enjoyed this a lot. It was probably the 'lightest' Don I've seen, inventing more humour than is usually seen. (Some people didn't like this, apparently, and it didn't always work)

I liked Nuccia Focile's Donna Elvira which was both almost clownish at moments, but at others very poignant. I wouldn't agree that she was miscast in the role but it might not have been everyone's idea of Elvira. One of the critics said she was neither a Mozartian nor a comedian - which was a fair old put-down. Having seen her a few years back as Susanna, I think she can be both and the interpretation distinguished her from Donna Anna who was the usual dramatic heavy. The other principals were all very good. (Yes, the Commendatore was underpowered, drowned out by the orchestra at times, which was a pity. I was waiting for a stentorian, 'Don Giovanni!' which didn't come.)

Orchestra excellent under Lothar Koenigs who didn't once open his score.

[aeolium]

I liked Nuccia Focile's Donna Elvira which was both almost clownish at moments, but at others very poignant. I wouldn't agree that she was miscast in the role but it might not have been everyone's idea of Elvira.

It wasn't mine, ff. I don't think Elvira ought to be comic in herself - people on the outside (Don, Leporello) make fun of her but I think of her as a Spanish noblewoman torn between hatred and revenge on the one hand and pity and love on the other. Those don't fit easily with comedy, and the style of her arias - all classical with strong echoes of Handel, and in the major key - is not in the least associated with comedy. I also thought Focile's voice was shrill and a bit hysterical on the night I saw her. And I thought Donna Anna sung very powerfully - I don't think hers is a role demanding dramatic subtlety. Koenigs and the orchestra were the real stars for me.

I was surprised you found this quite a light production. Don't you think the Rodin-style sets made the whole rather Stygian (and those curious 'guardians' who hovered around a lot) - even the dance scene?

[french frank]

I was surprised you found this quite a light production. Don't you think the Rodin-style sets made the whole rather Stygian (and those curious 'guardians' who hovered around a lot) - even the dance scene?I found it 'light' in the sense I described: 'inventing more humour than is usually seen'. One of the things I thought didn't work was when one of the guardians/spirits played (apparently) the mandolin to accompany Giovanni's Deh, vieni.

I think I accepted this interpretation because I've never quite liked the opera, which has something unsavoury similar to Cosí. It seems at times to be making fun, inviting laughter even from the audience, about aspects of the plot that I find faintly frown-inducing to (almost) repulsive. That goes beyond Giovanni and Leporello having a laugh at the antics of that incorrigible, devil-may-care nobleman. If the whole story is slightly lifted up to a different plane (Elvira as Katisha? - wash my mouth out!) with the Don as being, in fact, thwarted in his designs (a bit like the Count in Figaro), I find that easier to accept. The only serious crime then becomes the murder - and no one jokes about that anyway. The victim comes to avenge himself.

[aeolium]

I've never quite liked the opera, which has something unsavoury similar to Cosí.

You and Beethoven both :smiley:

I think there is sometimes, in DG as in Cosí, something of a disconnect between da Ponte and Mozart. I don't mean that Mozart doesn't set the words appropriately but that the music is more serious than the libretto. That's only a personal view and some would disagree. But having Elvira as a comic character - as I think E T A Hoffmann thought - imo doesn't tie in with the music she is given. I much prefer her as a Fury.


the Don as being, in fact, thwarted in his designs

But that's what seems to happen pretty well all the time. I know it's become fashionable to believe that he did rape Donna Anna, but the evidence in the opera is that it was a foiled attempt. His attempt to seduce Zerlina is also foiled. So is his mandolin seduction of Elvira's maid, and the encounter with Leporello's wife. But I bet they went into the book anyway :winkeye: The only seduction which we know was successful was the earlier one of Elvira.

[french frank]

I think there is sometimes, in DG as in Cosí, something of a disconnect between da Ponte and Mozart. I don't mean that Mozart doesn't set the words appropriately but that the music is more serious than the libretto.Da Ponte was reportedly a bit of a Don Giovanni himself, so perhaps he was more light-hearted about the Don's exploits.
I know it's become fashionable to believe that he did rape Donna Anna, but the evidence in the opera is that it was a foiled attempt. His attempt to seduce Zerlina is also foiled. So is his mandolin seduction of Elvira's maid, and the encounter with Leporello's wife. But I bet they went into the book anyway :winkeye: The only seduction which we know was successful was the earlier one of Elvira.And perhaps you have to put the worst interpretation on his deeds for him to merit his fate. Demanding that he should repent for being a flirt and dragging him down to Hell because he refuses seems a bit over the top :smiley:

Funnily enough, as I was lying awake the night before thinking about the production, I had the idea of having Ottavio wearing spectacles. Nothing new, is there? And I see Robin Tritschler is singing Benedict next spring.

[gurnemanz]

I would probably pick Don G if I was only allowed one opera. (Yes even above Parsifal which is not great for ensembles and Gurnemanz does go on bit ---- like me). In German culture it ties in strongly with Faust's "live now pay later" hankerings (I remember a performance on TV where the Don sings Finch'han dal vino while shooting up some drug) and, of course, Goethe's Das Ewig-Weibliche which zieht uns hinan (woman motivate men above all else). Gretchen/Zerlina/Molly Bloom - "vorrei e non vorrei" says it all. Deciding between what we want to do and what we know we should do is surely the most omnipresent human dilemma. Hamlet has that problem (we greatly enjoyed Michael Sheen the other night at the Young Vic with Elsinore as a psychiatric clinic). Both men seem to will their own destruction (Pentiti!--- No!!!!)

Fresh in my mind is another of these self-destroying philanderers in Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence which we saw at the Donmar last week. Douglas Hodge as Bill Maitland in a bravura performance is almost unwatchable as he takes himself down into his own private hell.

[french frank]

It's also interesting to compare and contrast DG with Figaro which I kept being reminded of. Not just about the pursuit of pleasure, but also about power and the abuse of power. This is stronger, perhaps, in Figaro where there's no 'Vorrei e non vorrei' with Susanna. Leporello could be considered as much a victim as Zerlina, being made to do what he thinks is wrong and being punished for the misdeeds of his master. This points up the difference between the 'dramma giocoso' and the comedy of Figaro: you can't imagine the Don being outwitted by his servant and made to look ridiculous. This is still the ancien régime rather than 'the revolution in action', and everything is contributing to the final climax, unlike the more episodic Figaro.

Is there an aria of Donna Anna which is very similar to one of Belmonte's (?) in the Abduction? The orchestral introduction sounded very familiar but I couldn't place it.

[Chris Newman]

Hi, ff. For a few notes the intro to Belmonte's "Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke" sounds slightly like a very much faster version of that to Donna Anna's "Non mi dir". "Ich baue ganz" is often cut.

[aeolium]

Good spot, Chris - I couldn't think of anything of Belmonte's that resembled any of Anna's arias, but I'm familiar with recordings in which that Belmonte aria is cut.

ff, re the comparison between DG and Figaro, I think the feeling of the abuse of power is stronger in the former. The Count is reasonably forgiving with Cherubino, and there's no real feeling that he would take Susanna by force - as DG certainly would with any of his servant girls, and attempts with Zerlina. In fact the Count abolishes the droit de seigneur tradition, hardly the act of a tyrant. And as to the 'revolutionary' elements in either opera, it's true that the Count is made to appear outwitted by his servants, but in DG Masetto and his colleagues combine to assassinate a nobleman - I don't think that would have gone down too well at court after 1789! But I think the 'revolutionary' aspect can be overstated in both operas: after all, at the end of both of them, the natural hierarchy is reasserted.

What imo is mocked by da Ponte are the conventions of nobility, the way that DG thinks nothing of inviting the dead Commendatore to dinner as he would other noblemen, and the way the avenging Commendatore returns the compliment. Though according to these conventions, is the Don being punished for his killing of the Commendatore (which after all was in a properly conducted duel) or for his other sins?

I agree with gurnemanz that this is the one opera I would keep if allowed only one. It is the extraordinary power of the music, from that amazing Introduzione to Act 1 to the finale of Act 2 with the strange unearthly music of the Commendatore. I think Figaro palls in Act 3, and Despina is a weakness in Cosí.

[Chris Newman]

I agree with gurnemanz that this is the one opera I would keep if allowed only one. It is the extraordinary power of the music, from that amazing Introduzione to Act 1 to the finale of Act 2 with the strange unearthly music of the Commendatore. I think Figaro palls in Act 3, and Despina is a weakness in Cosí.

I agree that Don Giovanni is Mozart's absolute best. He comes pretty close IMO in the Finale of Die Zauberflotte from the moment that the Spirits discover Pamina about to commit suicide:the whole end of the opera is wonderfully through written. Not only do the Spirits stop the suicide but they prevent Papageno doing the same. The downfall of The Queen of the Night, Monostatos and the Ladies is very dramatic. Not only that Mozart manages to throw in the lovely Pa-pa-pa duet, that miraculous music when Pamina describes her father making the flute and the earliest ever Viennese waltz that I know of.

[french frank]

Thanks, Chris. It was Ich baue ganz (which is on my Böhm/Dresden recording).

I might dispute some of your comments, aeolium, but, of course, Giovanni comes from much earlier sources than Figaro. Even Molière's Dom Juan (ou Le Festin de Pierre) was 1665 and the original goes back a bit further, and to Spain, which takes it away from the pre-revolution ancien régime. Molière's play, like Beaumarchais's, was banned shortly after it was first performed (not exactly sure on what grounds; morality?) so Mozart and da Ponte were dealing with controversial texts with both the operas.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

All this makes me sorry I'm unable to make the WNO Don Giovanni when it comes to Southampton now.

Last night saw the opening of Deborah Warner's new ENO production of Eugene Onegin - a traditional production, but one which didn't entirely 'click'. It may do so during the run, so worth looking out for:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=603:eugene-onegin-english-national-opera-12th-november-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[aeolium]

Thank you for the Eugene Onegin review, IGI - why can't more reviews be like that, with photos of the set and descriptions of specific aspects of the staging and characterisation?! The production does look visually very good, as you say - though I so much prefer it sung in Russian.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Another Tchaikovsky opera given in English - The Queen of Spades from Opera North at a rather un-northerly Barbican Centre last night:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=606:the-queen-of-spades-opera-north-22nd-november-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[aeolium]

Thanks again for another review, IGI. I'm very keen on this opera, and Onegin (pace some anti-Tchaikovsky feeling on another thread). The Barbican is a pretty soulless (and cramped) place to stage an opera and it sounds as though Opera North were not much helped by the location.

I would have wanted to see this not just to hear the music but also to see the great Josephine Barstow, such a wonderful performer in her prime.

I am off to Malvern to see ETO's Xerxes on Thursday - I don't suppose you caught this when it was on in London?

[verismissimo]

The Barbican is a pretty soulless (and cramped) place to stage an opera and it sounds as though Opera North were not much helped by the location.

It's in the Barbican Theatre, not the concert hall. No idea what the acoustic is like in it. May discover tomorrow.

[kuligin]

It was much the same when I heard the Queen of Spades in Leeds , apart from Josephine Barstow and William Dazeley, this was really a pretty mediocre evening.

The Opera Britania review sums things up nicely, unlike Opera Magazine that mentions Lloys Roberts " generous ringing tones" ! I thought I was unlucky but clearly the squaking I heard in Leeds continued in London

And why in these cash strapped days are Opera North visiting London, the only city with plenty of Opera?

Albert Herring next at the RNCM

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

The acoustic is pretty dead, unfortunately. I was seated five or six rows from the front, so I don't know how well it carried to the back. A friend who sat upstairs said that although Dame JB could clearly be heard, even when singing pppp, others didn't carry.


Thanks again for another review, IGI. I'm very keen on this opera, and Onegin (pace

I am off to Malvern to see ETO's Xerxes on Thursday - I don't suppose you caught this when it was on in London?

I didn't see Xerxes, although it was very well received: http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=582:xerxes-english-touring-opera-8th-october-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

I did catch Flavio when it was a new ETO production in 2009 and was very impressed.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

And why in these cash strapped days are Opera North visiting London, the only city with plenty of Opera?


I think finances are the issue. They're clearly trying to find a niche at the Barbican and are giving a five week run to Carousel there next summer which should fill the coffers nicely. And if it helps fund new opera productions, why not?

[kuligin]

A good run of a musical in London is hardly the core objective of the Opera company which serves the North but anything that brings in the cash in I suppose , but that does not answer why they took Queen of Spades down, that must have cost far more than it brought in, and it was not really a production or performance to show off

[aeolium]

I very much enjoyed Xerxes at Malvern last night, one of two Handel operas that ETO are touring with this autumn. I couldn't particularly see the benefit of updating the action to WWII Britain, but the plot is pretty daft anyway and the main interest is in the interaction of the protagonists. Julia Riley was excellent in the title role, especially in the Act III aria where (s)he calls for the vengeance of the furies from the deepest abysses, and I thought there was the influence of Sarah Connolly in some of her acting mannerisms. Some of the stage directing and lighting was strange, but the singers coped very well, and the ETO period orchestra played excellently for their director Jonathan Peter Kenny.

The theatre was less than half full (compared with the nearly full attendance when I went to two of their Handel productions in 2009) - no doubt due to the recession. ETO are to be congratulated for the work they are doing in taking these productions round the country in such difficult times, rather than simply choosing popular operas, and also for the care that they put into their performances.

Here is a link to the ETO website: http://englishtouringopera.org.uk/productions/xerxes

[french frank]

The theatre was less than half full That's a shame. I saw Xerxes about three years ago in Budapest in a totally dotty production where Xerxes made entrances in a sports car, a tank, a biplane, a hot air balloon and a ship (production must have cost a bomb, unlike the seats) and which was hugely enjoyed by the audience. It was Handel at his most entertaining.

I must remember to look out for Malvern productions - the journey up by train is charming too.

[Sorry IGI rather panned Tatyana - I know her cousin; we went to Don Giovanni together and were discussing the (then) forthcoming production of Onegin]

[aeolium]

You could go to Xerxes tonight, ff, or alternatively see The Fairy Queen (which was very well reviewed in the London performance) on Saturday - and if you go up early enough you could hear Bach Cantatas in the afternoon.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

[Sorry IGI rather panned Tatyana - I know her cousin; we went to Don Giovanni together and were discussing the (then) forthcoming production of Onegin]

My disappointment was partly because I had anticipated Amanda Echalaz's Tatyana keenly; her Liu and Tosca (both at ENO) were quite wonderful, but she didn't live up to expectations here, at least not on opening night.

[Flosshilde]

You could go to Xerxes tonight, ff, or alternatively see The Fairy Queen (which was very well reviewed in the London performance) on Saturday - and if you go up early enough you could hear Bach Cantatas in the afternoon.

I've checked to see if these productions were going to Perth next year for the Perth Festival, but unfortunately not - Eugene Onegin & Barber of Seville instead.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Last night saw a first revival at ENO for Catherine Malfitano's production of Tosca, which was remarkably good with stronger singing than first time round:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=608:tosca-english-national-opera-26th-november-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Here's a link to my review of last night's Katya Kabanova from Welsh National Opera:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=613:katya-kabanova-welsh-national-opera-30th-november-2011&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Chris Newman]

Hi IGI,
I was there too at the Mayflower for Káťa Kabanová. From Row Q in the stalls the orchestra and singers under Gareth Jones were beautifully balanced; more so than upstairs at the London Coliseum last year where the orchestra came straight up at you (though Mark Wigglesworth was equally fine as conductor). Claustrophobia was a key element of the production. Funny, I too thought of Brief Encounter looking at the WNO boathouse station set, the narrow depth of which was a huge advantage to the singers as it projected the voices out into the auditorium. I felt they were able to put more energy into expression rather than belting out to be heard: as you say Amanda Roocroft's voice did not spread as it often can under the sort of pressure she used as Jenufa and Ellen Orford at the Coliseum. In any Christopher or David Alden ENO production a singer can often be 40 or 50 feet beyond the orchestra. Here she sounded much more involved as Káťa. I could not find a weak link in the cast. The Kabanicha was younger looking than usual but utterly cold; there was very little of the hypocritical naughtiness showing in her relationship with Dykoj as displayed by Sheila Rex, Susan Bickley or Felicity Palmer. Nor was Clive Bayley's Dykoj totally doolally like the really frightening Donald Adams version from Glyndebourne: Bayley was a bully, yes, but a snob with it. His portrayal was very different from that he gave at ENO last year, more repressed with occasional outbursts of cruelty. As you say, the three tenors were finely sung and keenly nuanced in their differences. I am glad the performances were dedicated to the memory of Sir Charles Mackerras who had so much to do with the early days of this production and with the promotion of Janáček' throughout the world.

[french frank]

Glad to see that there was a good house for it too - as there was also in Bristol.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Hi IGI,
From Row Q in the stalls the orchestra and singers under Gareth Jones were beautifully balanced; more so than upstairs at the London Coliseum last year where the orchestra came straight up at you (though Mark Wigglesworth was equally fine as conductor).

Ah, we were in the front row of the Dress Circle, which would explain the different balance I experienced, Chris. I wasn't too perturbed, as the orchestral playing was extremely fine - it was good to be able to see the timpanist in ferocious action!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

For those intrigued by what Richard Jones was going to do with Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann at ENO...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=643:the-tales-of-hoffmann-english-national-opera-10th-february-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Chris Newman]

I was really looking forward to Opera North's Das Rheingold, only to discover that it is to be a concert performance. :sadface: You could argue that it's better than nothing, but I would rather listen to a well-produced audio recording, where it's possible to imagine the characters on stage. Staring at a bunch of soloists, standing in front of an orchestra, is not my idea of a night at the opera.

Oh, I don't know, Alpy. For me some concert performances (especially Proms) have been far more moving than fully staged versions. Last week's The Jacobin (Dvorak) at the Barbican got rave revues; I wish I could have been there. For one thing you see the effort that goes into the music-making in the orchestra as well as the "line-up" and if the performance is handled well the acting is often more intimate and better handled than by some self-loving theatre director. Belohlavek, Elder and many others get good directors to push "concert" singers around.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I missed Alpie's post first time round - but he missed an excellent staging of Rheingold: the use of lighting, projections and the movement of the singers created far more of a theatrical experience than simply "a bunch of soloists standing in front of an orchestra". And the orchestra was superb, the conducting magnificent, and the singers showed that it is possible to sing in time, in tune and "Dramatically" without resorting to bad acting and histrionic screeching (being "in front of the orchestra" probably helped: an advantage over the Opera House).

The promotional "Concert Performance" of ON's publicity gave a very wrong impression of what to expect. This was a performance that the whole audience became totally enthralled by: one of those events where there was a feeling that everyone had shared something very special.

Alpie (and, indeed, anyone) : if you can get to Walküre (unlikely, tickets have sold remarkably quickly) I do urge you to do so - it's not just a static "sing-through".

[aeolium]

Not a 'night' at the opera but a late afternoon yesterday at Cardiff's Millennium Centre for the WNO Beatrice and Benedict (sung in English). I didn't know this Berlioz work at all (apart from the overture) but loved its wit and shades of a late autumnal calm in the music - so different from the mercurial and passionate music of Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust. The orchestra was excellent under Michael Hofstetter and the singing generally very good. The drawbacks of the work to me seem Berlioz' overuse of dialogue, even if it is for the most part Shakespeare's dialogue, and the fact that there is too little action and dramatic tension. Donald Maxwell was very funny in his cameo role as the maitre de chapelle Somarone, with plenty of topical asides about conductors, singers, rugby and football but that was the only dialogue that came to life and at times you almost felt as if it was turning into a production of the Shakespeare play with some musical interludes. The production was quite traditional with good use of lighting but perhaps served to emphasise the rather static nature of the drama. Still, it was very enjoyable for the music - what wonderful woodwind writing - and for an opportunity to see yet another side of Berlioz' versatility.

[french frank]

Not a 'night' at the opera but a late afternoon yesterday at Cardiff's Millennium Centre for the WNO Beatrice and Benedict (sung in English). Looking forward to this in a few weeks' time.

So, is the dialogue 'translated' back into Shakespeare's lines?

[aeolium]

So, is the dialogue 'translated' back into Shakespeare's lines?

David Cairns' programme note (taken I think from the second part of his biography of Berlioz) says 'much of the dialogue and some of the lyrics come directly from Shakespeare'. I don't know the Shakespeare play well enough to tell if the dialogue was translated back but it sounded like it - apart from the dialogue of made up characters like Somarone. Berlioz in his memoirs mentioned that the French critics thought that the spoken dialogue was dull - "This dialogue is taken almost word for word from Shakespeare". (But I have to agree with the French critics that, in the opera, it was dull).

[french frank]

Thanks. I'll see if I can have a word with Simon Rees about that. I wonder how he managed the surtitles (assuming that there are surtitles).

[aeolium]

There were no surtitles for the dialogue, but there were (English and Welsh :smiley:) for most of the musical numbers - but not all and sometimes the surtitles dried up even though the words being sung were not repeated words. It wasn't a great problem though since it was sung in English (do they have surtitles at ENO?)

[Flosshilde]

(do they have surtitles at ENO?)

I think they do - I remember the fuss when they were introduced, & they were there for Parsifal (the only visit I've made to ENO since I left London)

[french frank]

There were no surtitles for the dialogue, but there were (English and Welsh :smiley:) for most of the musical numbers - but not all and sometimes the surtitles dried up even though the words being sung were not repeated words. Yes, of course. The sung bits can be somewhat abbreviated, I think, anyway. (We don't get Welsh ones! :smiley:). I've never been to ENO but, as Floss said, there was a bit of a fuss when surtitles were introduced as being 'unnecessary'.

[aeolium]

I think surtitles are worth having for operas sung in the vernacular simply because the nature of operatic singing can obscure the words in a way that doesn't happen for instance in music theatre or even operetta like G&S. And the hearing of some members of the audience may not be of the best. People who feel they don't need them don't have to look at them anyway.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

(do they have surtitles at ENO?)

They do... and they're frequently needed, which is an indication as to either the quality of the singing or the acoustic of the barn that is the Coliseum. Or both.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A controversial new staging of Dvorak's Rusalka at the Royal Opera House last night. Well, not new as it's from the Salzburg Festival c.2008, but controversial, certainly. The production team were greeted by boos, but musically it was fantastic. Review now up:
http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=661:rusalka-the-royal-opera-27th-february-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[french frank]

Oh, dear, IGI. One star. From a lovely person like you that has to be bad :sadface:

Ed: Should say that was staging. 4.5 for the music :smiley:

[aeolium]

A controversial new staging of Dvorak's Rusalka at the Royal Opera House last night.....musically it was fantastic.

Sounds like a good option for broadcast on R3 :smiley:

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Oh, dear, IGI. One star. From a lovely person like you that has to be bad :sadface:

Ed: Should say that was staging. 4.5 for the music :smiley:

I know! It was not just a bad production, but poorly conceived and executed, whereas musically it was very fine. I've amended to 4 stars, meaning I could award an average of 2.5 on the home page if that's required at some point...


Sounds like a good option for broadcast on R3 :smiley:

It's being broadcast on R3 in June! :ok:

[Flosshilde]

I think surtitles are worth having for operas sung in the vernacular simply because the nature of operatic singing can obscure the words in a way that doesn't happen for instance in music theatre or even operetta like G&S.

I think it was the normal practice in the 18th & 19th centuries for audiences to have a printed libretto (in the same language as the opera, which would normally be the language of the audience) for opera perfromances; until the practice of darkened auditoria became common (towards the end of the 19th century) it was possible to read them during the performance. ENO's (& other house's) practice would seem to be the modern equivelant.

[aeolium]

I think surtitles are a great improvement, having struggled at times (especially during dialogue or recitatives) when I went to foreign-language operas before they had been introduced. Also, when you get a real lemon of a production, as the ROH Rusalka seems to be, it must be a great comfort to the audience to be able to lift their eyes above the proscenium arch to the surtitles and listen to the music :smiley:

[underthecountertenor]

The real problem with surtitles lies with comedies. Countless times now I've witnessed gales of laughter greeting a joke or punchline in the surtitles before it has been delivered by the singer. The result is that the singer's delivery of the punchline becomes at best a squib and at worst drowned out. I find it intensely irritating as an audience member, and I can only imagine what the poor singer must feel. The problem could be alleviated by more careful timing of the surtitles (something ENO manages rather better than the ROH in my experience - presumably partly because of the syntactical difficulties of translating a joke into English where the word order is likely to be different). More generally, I often feel that a lot of fine acting is going for nothing with audiences glued to the surtitles. But I have to admit that I find them useful when going to an opera that I don't know well, even if I've had the chance to do some homework, so I'd say that they are a blessing, albeit decidedly mixed.
As for surtitles at ENO, I sometimes think that there's a vicious spiral, or self-fulfilling prophecy, aspect to this. My concern is that singers will pay less attention to diction when singing in the vernacular if they know that they have the 'safety-net' of surtitles. As for the Coliseum, it always amuses me when people say that it is a problem acoustic, as certain singers have absolutely no problem getting every single word across while in other cases I sometimes fail to catch more than about one word in five. At Der Rosenkavalier on Monday night all the leads, but in particular John Tomlinson (as ever) and Sarah Connolly, fell into the former category. So it can be done.
Incidentally, I was amused to hear a chap behind me showing off to his female companion (at her first opera). In the first interval he expatiated on how curious it was that the translator had chosen to leave parts of the opera in Italian. I had to bite my tongue.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Covent Garden regulars who are familiar with David McVicar's production of 'Die Zauberflöte' may be interested to read about its brief Rome sojourn, complete with booing of the Queen of the Night...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=681:die-zauberfloete-teatro-dellopera-di-roma-27th-march-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It certainly added a gladiatorial atmosphere! :erm:

[french frank]

Covent Garden regulars who are familiar with David McVicar's production of 'Die Zauberflöte' may be interested to read about its brief Rome sojourn, complete with booing of the Queen of the Night...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=681:die-zauberfloete-teatro-dellopera-di-roma-27th-march-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It certainly added a gladiatorial atmosphere! :erm:Crumbs! Lucky you, IGI, to have been over there seeing it. My own feeling about the QotN is that she should sound as if she's busting a gut to get those top notes (after all, she is very angry), but she does get there each time. Sopranos like Sumi Jo have it too easy. Hmmm. I think I'd find booing like that rather embarrassing, even just being in the audience.

[french frank]

I went to the WNO's Beatrice and Benedict last night. My first time for an opera that was completely unknown to me. It was a good, solid WNO production though from where I was sitting up aloft in the cheapos some of the dialogue was not easy to hear - and there was rather a lot of it. It was just about worth expanding into a two-act opera instead of the original one-act idea and in general I liked the lifting of the Beatrice and Benedict story from Shakespeare's play.

I thought Michael Hofstetter was outstanding and the orchestra played extremely well for him. The voice which really gripped me was Anna Burford's as Ursula - a real rich contralto. I'd love to hear her Cesare which she seems to have performed quite a few times.

This is a side of Berlioz's music which I didn't know at all and at times it was abs gorgeous.

(I toy with travelling to Swansea to catch the last performance in a week's time. I'd sit on the other side of the auditorium in order to see what was probably the more interesting view of the set than what I could see :erm: ...)

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

That's good to hear, ff. I was disappointed not to be able to see Beatrice and Benedict when it came to Southampton, as the production sounded decent and it's such a lovely score. I did catch Joyce El-Khoury in La Traviata though - I really like David McVicar's production, which is so clearly influenced by the Dumas novel. It was tremendously conducted by Julia Jones - by far the best conducted Traviata I've heard in years.

[Flosshilde]

Covent Garden regulars who are familiar with David McVicar's production of 'Die Zauberflöte' may be interested to read about its brief Rome sojourn, complete with booing of the Queen of the Night...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=681:die-zauberfloete-teatro-dellopera-di-roma-27th-march-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It certainly added a gladiatorial atmosphere! :erm:


This link seems to be defunct - it takes you to a page labelled Opera Bratannia but which just has ads & stuff about tax? (perhaps it's been hijacked by ahinton :winkeye:)

[french frank]

This link seems to be defunct - it takes you to a page labelled Opera Bratannia but which just has ads & stuff about tax? (perhaps it's been hijacked by ahinton :winkeye:)Yes, I found that yesterday when I was looking for a review of WNO's B&B and Figaro.

Saw Figaro (http://www.wno.org.uk/figaro/cast) last night - first time for a few years as I ducked it last time WNO did it. A jolly production in which I think performances have probably improved since it was reviewed. Susanna, Countess and Cherubino all very good, Figaro and the Count both better than I expected from the reviews. David Soar was a very 'balletic' Figaro, Dario Solari cutting a raffish, Lord Lucan-like figure.

With the usual rather spare WNO sets, the 1920s costumes did contribute coherently and unmistakeably to the plot and the outbreaks of Charleston-type dancing were quite funny. The main problem for me was in the distorting mirrors of the second half (though others admired them, and they were quite clever). They made their point a little too well and the action ended up even more confusing than it is, especially when what is almost the entire cast of characters emerges from the same 'pavilion' at the end. With the weaving around the various mirrors earlier on it wasn't clear that they had all been hiding in the same place - or indeed that it was a 'place' at all, rather than just off stage.

The young Stephen Wood (http://www.wno.org.uk/figaro/cast/wood) was conducting and was an able deputy for Anthony Negus - good luck to him. I hope he's a rising star! :smiley:

Should add that given that there was very little scenery, they managed all the concealments of the first half very effectively!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

This link seems to be defunct - it takes you to a page labelled Opera Bratannia but which just has ads & stuff about tax? (perhaps it's been hijacked by ahinton :winkeye:)

Yes, we've got server problems at the moment, so have decamped to http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/ in the meantime.

Here's the latest review - last night's Met Traviata:

http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/verdi-la-traviata-metropolitan-opera-14th-april-2012/

[Osborn]

I'm sorry to read about Natalie Dessay's struggle but I don't think I'd have risked the price of a ticket to hear her undertaking Violetta in such a huge house. Disappointment would have spoilt the high regard I have for her.

But on a happier note her recital of French songs at the Wigmore Hall last month was engaging & captivating stuff.

[Bert Coules]

I only managed to catch the last act, but I had no impression that Dessay was underpowered or struggling: actually, I thought she was extremely impressive. Splendid production, too.

Bert

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I only managed to catch the last act, but I had no impression that Dessay was underpowered or struggling: actually, I thought she was extremely impressive. Splendid production, too.

Bert

I have heard reports that her voice didn't sound as small on the radio. Sadly, there's no 'Listen Again' feature to compare, but she did sound tiny via the big screen and was clearly out of sorts.

[Bert Coules]

I listened to (and watched) the live cinema feed, not the radio balance (though are they different?) Maybe the sound system in your cinema affected things. As I said, I saw only the final act, where I suppose it's possible that vocal weakness and out-of-sortedness would have been less obvious, given the dramatic situation, but I was entirely happy with her performance.

Bert

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Rihm's Jakob Lenz in new ENO production: http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/rihm-jakob-lenz-eno-16th-april-2012-6/

[french frank]

Rihm's Jakob Lenz in new ENO production: http://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/rihm-jakob-lenz-eno-16th-april-2012-6/The distressing (!) thing about this forum is how packed it is with enticements away from doing what one is supposed to be doing. Several YouTube clips to give a taste of what's on offer.

I quite agree with the comment in the review about not seeing here many of the contemporary works composed outside the UK.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I quite agree with the comment in the review about not seeing here many of the contemporary works composed outside the UK.
Absolutely! Even so important a work as Lachenmann's "Match Girl" hasn't had a UK production and Shadowtime hasn't been staged here, either: one-off "semi-staged" events don't really count!

Still; there's always this to look forward to:

http://www.artlyst.com/articles/stockhausen-opera-with-helicopters-for-london-2012-festival

[aeolium]

That does look an interesting ENO production and all credit to them for mounting it. I love the Büchner novella. Unfortunately I have had my annual visit to London for the BL illuminated manuscripts exhibition and (vide another thread on unaffordable London) cannot afford another. It's a pity that ENO do not have the cinecasts that other opera companies are presenting these days as I would certainly go to see that if it was at a screen nearby.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It's a pity that ENO do not have the cinecasts that other opera companies are presenting these days as I would certainly go to see that if it was at a screen nearby.
Or, indeed, that there isn't some kind of national television broadcasting service that could broadcast the productions to the nation's televisions. I don't know what they'd call such a corporation ... ?

[amateur51]

Or, indeed, that there isn't some kind of national television broadcasting service that could broadcast the productions to the nation's televisions. I don't know what they'd call such a corporation ... ?Didn't ENO have some sponsorship deal with Sky at one point in the not-too-distant past? :whistle:

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Didn't ENO have some sponsorship deal with Sky at one point in the not-too-distant past? :whistle:
Now that would be a "Faust-ian Contract"!

[aeolium]

Yesterday I went to a very fine performance of The Barber of Seville by ETO at Cheltenham. The production was simple with a largely uncluttered stage and painted backdrop (according to the programme note echoing productions of the time) but with ingenious use of lighting and other effects. The acting was well choreographed and it was a real ensemble performance, with the action being moved on at a good pace. I thought all the singing was good and some - e.g. Alan Fairs' Don Basilio - outstanding. Andrew Slater was superb as the curmudgeonly Bartolo. The small-scale orchestra was excellently conducted by Paul McGrath and brought out the wit and subtle touches in the score (despite Rossini's nickname of Signor Crescendo, there is invariably much to surprise in his music).

I've been really impressed by productions in recent years by the ETO. Despite operating on a small budget they are very ambitious, recently touring with a week of Handel operas and this autumn touring with Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse, Britten's Albert Herring and Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis. They do a great deal for the musical life of the regions and deserve a lot of support.

[Barbirollians]

I have just been informed by the ROH that this coming Saturday's performance of La Boheme will be interrupted by Act II being repeated under the baton of the celeb who won the BBC Maestro contest with a cast of young Jette Parker singers The winner will be announced from the stage.

Thanks a lot ROH had we been warned I could have gone to a different performance . Moreover, why wedge it in the middle of the opera interrupting the drama - no doubt because they suspect the audience would leave otherwise .

[amateur51]

Yesterday I went to a very fine performance of The Barber of Seville by ETO at Cheltenham. The production was simple with a largely uncluttered stage and painted backdrop (according to the programme note echoing productions of the time) but with ingenious use of lighting and other effects. The acting was well choreographed and it was a real ensemble performance, with the action being moved on at a good pace. I thought all the singing was good and some - e.g. Alan Fairs' Don Basilio - outstanding. Andrew Slater was superb as the curmudgeonly Bartolo. The small-scale orchestra was excellently conducted by Paul McGrath and brought out the wit and subtle touches in the score (despite Rossini's nickname of Signor Crescendo, there is invariably much to surprise in his music).

I've been really impressed by productions in recent years by the ETO. Despite operating on a small budget they are very ambitious, recently touring with a week of Handel operas and this autumn touring with Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse, Britten's Albert Herring and Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis. They do a great deal for the musical life of the regions and deserve a lot of support.Agreed aeolium - I greatly enjoyed their Cunning Little Vixen when it came to Richmond a while ago :ok:

The three pieces you mention for autumn sound attractive too - I've only seen the Ullmann in a performance by Guildhall students but they did well & I'd see the piece again if I could. I'll check for details - many thanks for the alert :ok:

[aeolium]

I'll definitely be going to the Ullmann, am51. It seems it's going to be produced together with a dramatisation of Bach's cantata Christ lag in Todesbunden. And apparently ETO are also mounting a production of Tippett's King Priam for 2013.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I've been really impressed by productions in recent years by the ETO. Despite operating on a small budget they are very ambitious, recently touring with a week of Handel operas and this autumn touring with Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse, Britten's Albert Herring and Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis. They do a great deal for the musical life of the regions and deserve a lot of support.

I'm always impressed by the touring shows that ETO puts on. I didn't see their Barber, but did see Eugene Onegin at the Hackney Empire - a simple but highly effective set and very well sung. I'm already looking forward to their autumn tour, especially Albert Herring.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Delighted to report that Opera Britannia is back online, with new reviews including Scottish Opera's Tosca, Einstein on the Beach at the Barbican and from Florence, Der Rosenkavalier, rom the opening performance at the 75th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino:

http://www.opera-britannia.com

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

5 star reviews are something of a rarity for me, even more so when it comes to the Royal Opera, but Robert Carsen's new Falstaff is wonderful, Ambrogio Maestri magnificent in the title role, nearly upstaged by a horse...

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=708:falstaff-the-royal-opera-15th-may-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[NickWraight]

I largely agree with your comprehensive review IGI. I did find the slab sided pannelled walls rather domineering, heavy and dull but then again they served their purpose. Once the run settles in I would imagine a little of the slightly breathless conducting will calm down to let in some air, it did seem rushed at a few points, and the brilliant band was having a few problems of ensemble even though (rarity of rarities) there was much applause from them for Gatti at the end. An altogther woonderful ensemble evening of a great work.

[french frank]

A wonderful read, IGI, even though I'm not likely to get there to see the performance. Thanks very much. :ok:

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A wonderful read, IGI, even though I'm not likely to get there to see the performance. Thanks very much. :ok:

It's being broadcast on the big screen in Bristol* on Wednesday 30th May, ff, and there's to be a BBC Radio 3 broadcast on 30th June, so plenty of opportunities to catch up with it one way or another. :smiley:

I enjoyed it so much, I'm going again!

* Other venues are available.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Anyone able to get to Grange Park Opera here in darkest Hampshire should try and get to their production of Madama Butterfly:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=714:madama-butterfly-grange-park-opera-31st-may-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Dave2002]

La Perichole at Garsington/Wormsley is great fun, and very well done. If you can get tickets (bit pricey...!!) think about taking a coat/rug for later in the evening. There were tickets available for some performances until recently.

OK - it's not Verdi or Wagner, and the music doesn't take you to the heights of Messiaen or Mahler, but it's a fun evening out. Unlike Glyndebourne, Garsington/Wormsley provides tents complete with tables and chairs, so if you take a picnic you don't have to take all the clobber. There are even some scout people who will help you to move your remaining picnic stuff to a tent. Currently they appreciate a small (at least) tip as they're planning a trip to Iceland.

One surprise for me was that it is sung in English. I'm not sure if that is the case for all Garsington productions.
Then again, it has been done that way elsewhere and in another continent - http://open.spotify.com/track/6jpXoJmbdNYl6eidPpEqgs - though with a surprisingly English sounding cast.

The opera pavilion is a DIY flat pack job - not quite self erect, and not quite suitable for every garden. Can be stowed away for winter - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8559027/The-Magic-Flute-Garsington-Opera-at-Wormsley-review.html# [from 2011]

Seems it has won RIBA awards, and has been nominated for the Stirling Prize - http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/south-east/72499-mclaren-production-centre-among-riba-winners/

For some reason I'm now listening to songs like this - http://open.spotify.com/track/6STROHfavXLkwArFPWKbSU :winkeye:

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

La Perichole at Garsington/Wormsley is great fun, and very well done. If you can get tickets (bit pricey...!!) think about taking a coat/rug for later in the evening. There were tickets available for some performances until recently.

The Festivals have taken a collective hit with the poor weather. I was at Holland Park yesterday and they were saying how, although there is a very loyal audience, they've missed out on the 'passing trade' element they usually pick up. Anyway, for those prepared for the British 'summer', i.e. rug/ blanket/ scarf/ Thermos flask, OHP's new production of Onegin is extremely fine:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=740:yevgeny-onegin-opera-holland-park-13th-july-2012-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Well, the new season is under way! I've just returned from the first night of Martinů's Julietta at ENO. Here's my hastily penned review:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=777:julietta-english-national-opera-17th-september-2012&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

It's such a surreal opera and so suited to Richard Jones to direct. Although the production has been around for a while - it premiered in Paris in 2002 - it's well worth catching one of the remaining five performances.

[french frank]

I like the idea of the Richard Jones bingo card ... :smiley:

I've been trying to get hold of a copy of Neveux's novel. It seems a bit like late symbolism, a world similar to Rodenbach's Bruges-la-Mort - Korngold's Die tote Stadt, composed at the beginning of that same inter-war period as Martinu's opera.

[The last role I saw Peter Hoare in was WNO's Hansel and Gretel, also directed by Richard Jones, libretto translated by David Pountney.]

[aeolium]

Thanks for the review, IGI, and the pictures of the set. Every opera review should have pictures!

I hope R3 will be recording one of the performances for broadcast.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I like the idea of the Richard Jones bingo card ... :smiley:

Concept created by Ruth (from the old BBC boards) - it features classic Jones tics: gaudy wallpaper, jerky choral choreography, animal masks, piles of books etc - taken up by many, including The Times' Neil Fisher.


Thanks for the review, IGI, and the pictures of the set. Every opera review should have pictures!

I hope R3 will be recording one of the performances for broadcast.

Thanks. I think production photographs really add something to reviews, which is why we usually include several at Opera Britannia.

Fingers crossed for a Radio 3 relay - it's such a rarity that I would be surprised if it was completely ignored by the Beeb.

[Bryn]

Concept created by Ruth (from the old BBC boards) - it features classic Jones tics: gaudy wallpaper, jerky choral choreography, animal masks, piles of books etc - taken up by many, including The Times' Neil Fisher.



Thanks. I think production photographs really add something to reviews, which is why we usually include several at Opera Britannia.

Fingers crossed for a Radio 3 relay - it's such a rarity that I would be surprised if it was completely ignored by the Beeb.

They did broadcast the Anthony Besch directed production in 1978, the David Pountney production for Opera North in 2002/3 and, of course, the concert performance of Juliette from the Barbican in 2009. Let's hope indeed that this newer production also gets broadcast, though a BBC Four broadcast is far too much to hope for.

Oh dear, if last night's Night Waves is anything to go by, there will be no Radio 3 relay. At least, no mention of anything of the sort was made during their piece on the E.N.O. production.

[aeolium]

Why has ENO not ventured into the field of live cinecasting or webcasting performances, as the Met, the Royal Opera and Glyndebourne have done? Even if there are financial and technical challenges in this, could they not do it in partnership with another media organisation (as Glyndebourne did with the Guardian earlier this year)? Surely this route, rather than relying on the uncertain involvement of the BBC, is the way towards finding a greater audience for the ENO's productions?

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Why has ENO not ventured into the field of live cinecasting or webcasting performances, as the Met, the Royal Opera and Glyndebourne have done? Even if there are financial and technical challenges in this, could they not do it in partnership with another media organisation (as Glyndebourne did with the Guardian earlier this year)? Surely this route, rather than relying on the uncertain involvement of the BBC, is the way towards finding a greater audience for the ENO's productions?

John Berry, ENO's artistic director, has been rather dismissive of opera via the cinema:

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/36085/eno-chief-claims-opera-screenings-dont

I think he's right in that cinema screenings don't necessarily translate into more 'bums on seats' in the opera house. Whenever I attend an opera relay, I don't discern operatic newbies, but an older generation of opera lovers who, talking to them, are no longer able or willing to travel to London to see live opera. However, it is a way to generate interest and share the good work a company does with a wider audience who cannot attend in person. I would suggest that if it does want to create a new audience via the cinema, opera companies may wish to charge something less than - on average - £28 a ticket.

[aeolium]

I think that's a rather negative attitude on the part of John Berry, though he does acknowledge the success of the Met's screenings. I don't really see how it could NOT attract some new interest in opera rather than simply those who are already interested in opera but are unable to travel to London. How would people in Wrexham for instance, who are going to be able to see ROH productions on cinema, have the chance to see live opera otherwise without very expensive travel/overnight stays etc? The attitude seems to be saying: "You come to us - we will not come to you", which I'm not sure is a great one to have these days. Would you really say that the gramophone had not created a new audience apart from those who were able to go to concerts?

My experience of seeing opera live in cinema, generally Met productions (though also, wonderfully, the McVicar Glyndebourne production of Giulio Cesare) has been good. The last one I saw, the Met Walküre, was well attended with people from all age groups. Some evidently were opera regulars but I don't think all were. The sound quality was extremely good and it was better visually than some live opera experiences I have had, where the view was not ideal (though I'm still not keen on close-ups of singers).

By the way, is that really right about £28 per ticket? The Met productions in the cinemas near where I live are £15 per ticket (last year £12). I don't know about ROH prices as their productions are not being screened in my area. The Glyndebourne Giulio Cesare was £10, though some years back.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

If you're anywhere near Glyndebourne Touring Opera's trail this autumn - Norwich, Wimbledon, Plymouth, Canterbury, Milton Keynes - I urge you to catch their revival of Melly Still's production of Rusalka. I netted her in the unlikely realms of Woking yesterday evening and found it rather wonderful:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=805:rusalka-glyndebourne-touring-opera-24th-october-2012-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[David-G]

It was absolutely superb! Supremely beautiful and very emotional music, wonderful singing (especially Natasha Jouhl !!), imaginative and beautiful production tightly related to the music. Handkerchief definitely needed. Very highly recommended.

[french frank]

Norwich, Wimbledon, Plymouth, Canterbury, Milton Keynes:steam:

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

:steam:

I know... there used to be a time, when I first started my opera-going, when the Glyndebourne Tour took in Southampton, but I suppose they would 'compete' with WNO. There's little in it, in terms of travel, for me. Southampton is 10 mins closer by train than Woking, although it's theatre has more character. Both suffer in terms of the pit - too large and uncovered at the Mayflower, too small at Woking - for Dvorak, at least.

You get WNO at Bristol, don't you, ff?

[french frank]

You get WNO at Bristol, don't you, ff?Yes, twice a year now instead of three times - no summer visit now. Next month we have Jephtha and Cosí (both productions I've seen and shan't go to them this time) and Bohème which I shall go to... Still, I've been informed that 'people prefer to travel to Cardiff' as the Millennium Centre is so much better than the Hippodrome (which I don't doubt) but getting back afterwards, door to door, is a bit of a bind.

We also have Opera Project which comes regularly to the Tobacco Factory (and sometimes to St George's) and, considering the small scale, they are worth seeing if the choice of opera appeals.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Last night, Peter Konwitschny's production of La traviata opened at English National Opera. A lean, spare staging (with cuts), it was utterly enthralling:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=853:la-traviata-english-national-opera-2nd-february-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Kasper Holten is taking a bit of a bashing over his first production for the Royal Opera. Eugene Onegin reviews starting to come in:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9850387/Eugene-Onegin-Royal-Opera-House-review.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/05/eugene-onegin-review

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/classical/article3678838.ece (Times = paywall)

Well, I liked it!

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=855:eugene-onegin-royal-opera-4th-february-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

and so did David Nice: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/eugene-onegin-royal-opera?page=0,0

[gurnemanz]

Kasper Holten is taking a bit of a bashing over his first production for the Royal Opera. Eugene Onegin reviews starting to come in:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9850387/Eugene-Onegin-Royal-Opera-House-review.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/05/eugene-onegin-review

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/classical/article3678838.ece (Times = paywall)

Well, I liked it!

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=855:eugene-onegin-royal-opera-4th-february-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

and so did David Nice: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/eugene-onegin-royal-opera?page=0,0
Indie (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/eugene-onegin-royal-opera-house-london-8481245.html)somewhat lukewarm, also not convinced by the use of body doubles.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Indie (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/eugene-onegin-royal-opera-house-london-8481245.html)somewhat lukewarm, also not convinced by the use of body doubles.

Thanks for that, gurnemanz. I tend to forget to look out for Indy reviews since Seckerson resigned.

[David-G]

Indie (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/eugene-onegin-royal-opera-house-london-8481245.html)somewhat lukewarm, also not convinced by the use of body doubles.

"Not convinced by the use of body doubles"? They were a disaster. I have yet to see a production where the use of doppelgangers has not killed the drama and the emotion and the involvement stone dead. And so it was here. And there was a lot else wrong with this production. Musically it was a wonderful evening. But as a moving work of music drama, it was a zero.

[Mandryka]

"Not convinced by the use of body doubles"? They were a disaster. I have yet to see a production where the use of doppelgangers has not killed the drama and the emotion and the involvement stone dead. And so it was here. And there was a lot else wrong with this production. Musically it was a wonderful evening. But as a moving work of music drama, it was a zero.

The buzz isn't good, is it?

Body doubles would seem to be a redundant idea: they've been tried so many times before.

The last ROH Onegin (Steven Pimlott's production) was one of the finest things I've seen at Covent Garden - Dvhorostovsky, Roocroft and Villaizon all at their best.

[David-G]

Oh what a pity they did not keep that production. But the new Director of Opera needed to put on a work himself, and Onegin seems to have been the unlucky victim. Not an auspicious start for the New Era.

[aeolium]

I went to the first outing for the new David Pountney WNO production of Lulu in Cardiff on Friday. It was very impressive, with an animalistic theme running through it: the set mainly consisting of a circular metal cage with a spiral staircase at its centre (which itself looked like the DNA double helix). The theme was of characters behaving or being treated like beasts - an echo back to Berg's other opera Wozzeck where the title character is experimented on like an animal. There were even giant meathooks on which models of victims were hung and remained suspended throughout the action. (Some characters walked round the stage with animal heads - I thought for a moment I had gone to the WNO's other opera in this season, The Cunning Little Vixen). There were occasional failures in the staging - I thought that the divan in the shape of a large truncated naked torso was not that successful in that it was difficult to move around on - but on the whole it was gripping to watch.

The music was intense and compelling. I had only known it from the orchestral suite as I have never before been to a production of Lulu. It encompasses tender, erotic, dark, savage, mocking, ironic qualities and always serves the action concisely. Pountney and Koenigs, the conductor, used a completion of the opera by Eberhard Klopke not the usual Cerha completion, but it seemed very effective. Marie Arnet was excellent as Lulu, as was Natascha Petrinsky as Geschwitz and Richard Angas as Schigolch, and Alwa and Dr Schoen were also well sung. Lothar Koenigs brought out a performance of clarity and power from the WNO orchestra. The singers, the orchestra, the conductor, director and designer were all given a great ovation by a large audience and deservedly so. It was a wonderful evening :ok:

(I hope Il Grande Inquisitor will be forthcoming with his much more comprehensive and illuminating review soon :smiley:)

[Mahler's3rd]

Going To See Lulu on Saturday week aeolium, thanks for the review:ok:, really looking forward to it, It got 5* Reviews from The Guardian & Arts Desk also. their 2013-2014 Season look's a realy good one as well

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

(I hope Il Grande Inquisitor will be forthcoming with his much more comprehensive and illuminating review soon :smiley:)

Not in this instance, aeolium, although your very positive review did cause me to book a ticket this morning! Our resident Welsh critic reviewed this production - http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=861:lulu-welsh-national-opera-8th-february-2013&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16 - while I'm reviewing Vixen and Butterfly when they make it as far as Southampton.

I agree that WNO (and David Pountney in particular) should be congratulated on bold programming and some interesting casting for future seasons.

[aeolium]

your very positive review did cause me to book a ticket this morning!

Aargh! I really wouldn't do that, IGI - I mean, book on the strength of one person's review (especially mine). People can have very different reactions to productions.

Still, your colleague's review was also very favourable and, as expected, much more detailed. It really was an exceptional performance by Marie Arnet, in acting as well as singing, marking with subtle changes Lulu's progress through dominance and freedom in the first half of the opera to her subjugation, humiliation and death in the second half.

What Pountney also seems to have brought to WNO is considering the operatic season as a whole, so that operas with related themes are staged (the animal link in Lulu and Vixen and the "fallen/oppressed women" theme) - as opposed to just putting on three unrelated operas.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Pountney is very canny. In WNO's week here, we're getting one Lulu - for which the top ticket price is an incredible £25 which is enough to tempt any casual operagoer into dipping their toe into Berg - one Vixen (Janacek not exactly box office, but a popular production, well cast) and Butterfly for three performances, ensuring enough bums on seats to make the season financially viable, yet artistically pleasing as well. I'm looking forward to seeing them all, along with Tosca and Die Feen in the same week... diary malfunction shunting Chelsea Opera Group's concert performance of the latter back a month from the date I thought I was reviewing of 17th February!

[Barbirollians]

I am off to Eugene Onegin tomorrow - again with some trepidation but it seems extraordinarily self-indulgent of KH to produce a new Onegin when the older much praised production was only six years old !!! Especially in this era of major budget cuts - ancien regime like behaviour .

That lousy Don Giovanni production would have been a much better candidate .

[LHC]

I am off to Eugene Onegin tomorrow - again with some trepidation but it seems extraordinarily self-indulgent of KH to produce a new Onegin when the older much praised production was only six years old !!! Especially in this era of major budget cuts - ancien regime like behaviour .

That lousy Don Giovanni production would have been a much better candidate .

My recollection is that the Steven Pimlott production of Eugene Onegin was pretty poorly received by most critics on its first outing. Indeed, it has received its best reviews only now it has been replaced.

[Barbirollians]

My recollection is that the Steven Pimlott production of Eugene Onegin was pretty poorly received by most critics on its first outing. Indeed, it has received its best reviews only now it has been replaced.

I was only aware of it from the revival under Elaine Kidd which as I recall was generally well received - notwithstanding - it cannot have been worse than that Don Giovanni .:winkeye:

[Barbirollians]

I enjoyed it immensely though musically it was magnificent the production was a mixture of the inspired and the misconceived.

Lensky lying dead on stage through the later scenes with the large branch he dragged on stage was bizarre. The doppelgangers were less irritating than they might have been but to my ears the music tells Tatyana and Onegin's true feelings better than this underlining. It worked best in the duel scene but the young dancer was a wooden actor .

Superbly conducted though and some exquisite wind playing . Ticciati is one hell of a talent on this showing.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

That lousy Don Giovanni production would have been a much better candidate .

Oh don't worry, we've seen the last of it! :winkeye:

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I enjoyed it immensely though musically it was magnificent the production was a mixture of the inspired and the misconceived.

Lensky lying dead on stage through the later scenes with the large branch he dragged on stage was bizarre. The doppelgangers were less irritating than they might have been but to my ears the music tells Tatyana and Onegin's true feelings better than this underlining. It worked best in the duel scene but the young dancer was a wooden actor .

Superbly conducted though and some exquisite wind playing . Ticciati is one hell of a talent on this showing.

Ah, I was there last night as well, Barbirollians, having swooped on a Stalls Circle Standing ticket on Friday evening. The singing was even stronger than on opening night, Peter Rose now fully recovered from the flu which kept him from singing at the dress rehearsal. Simon Keenlyside was also stronger vocally, although some passages are still a stretch for him at the top of his range.

I'm afraid the jury's still out on Robin Ticciati. I know some who agree with you - David Nice at the Artsdesk, for example - but for me the strings were still too lean and dramatic impetus was slack at several points. Oh, to hear Bychkov conduct this orchestra in this score! I met one of the players on the train home and asked what it was like working with Ticciati. 'Interesting' was the underwhelming response. He clearly gets what he wants from them, but they're obviously unconvinced.

Krassimira Stoyanova delivered another fine Letter Scene, which I think was only enhanced by Vigdis Hentze Olsen as her 'dancing double'. I had the pleasure of interviewing Stoyanova last Wednesday:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=864:interview-krassimira-stoyanova&catid=15:interviews&Itemid=14

[Barbirollians]

Will have to agree to disagree about the dancing double in the letter scene . I found her throwing herself about distracting .

I really enjoyed Ticciati's way with the score . I found it passionate without being overwrought . I didn't notice any loss of impetus - what particular points bothered you ?

I agree about Simon Keenlyside and the top of his range . He and Stoyanova were at their best in the closing scene. There certainly seemed to be more warmth and colour in the last role I saw him sing , his wonderful Posa opposite Kaufmann in Don Carlos .

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I really enjoyed Ticciati's way with the score . I found it passionate without being overwrought . I didn't notice any loss of impetus - what particular points bothered you ?


Mostly string-related, such as the lack of weight in the opening Introduction, but also the climax of the Letter Scene, which Ticciati let pass without the great emotional release required at this point. The dances were possibly too light/ airy, although that bothered me less... as we didn't have any dancing represented on stage for most of the evening.

[Flosshilde]

I met one of the players on the train home and asked what it was like working with Ticciati. 'Interesting' was the underwhelming response. He clearly gets what he wants from them, but they're obviously unconvinced.

I've missed his concerts with the SCO (not because he was conducting, but because of the programmes), but did hear a MAhler 6 with the RSAMD orchestra, & thought it was stunning.

[kuligin]

I enjoyed it immensely though musically it was magnificent the production was a mixture of the inspired and the misconceived.

Lensky lying dead on stage through the later scenes with the large branch he dragged on stage was bizarre. The doppelgangers were less irritating than they might have been but to my ears the music tells Tatyana and Onegin's true feelings better than this underlining. It worked best in the duel scene but the young dancer was a wooden actor .

Superbly conducted though and some exquisite wind playing . Ticciati is one hell of a talent on this showing.

I totally agree about the production, it seems to forget that its the music tells us that Tatyana is a different person at the end of the Opera, we don't need doubles to tell us that. I hope this idea of leaving the props of the earlier Acts lying around does not catch on, goodness can you imagine how many bodies there would have accumulated by the end of Macbeth.

The dancers just irritated me, and I thought it totally emasculated the drama. Such a shame with such an excellent cast, only the final scene worked fully for me,at least until Gremin reappeared, I think Tchaikovsky's second thoughts are best here

I agree however with Il Grande Inquisitor that the conducting was not quite right, too fussy and concentrating on the details rather than the broad sweep for me, and I think the point about the strings is spot on

[aeolium]

For those who can't get to/afford the ROH production of Eugene Onegin, there is a broadcast to cinema on Wednesday 20th 7.15 pm (various cinemas across the country).

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

For those who can't get to/afford the ROH production of Eugene Onegin, there is a broadcast to cinema on Wednesday 20th 7.15 pm (various cinemas across the country).

I bet there will be a DVD release. Cameras were filming on Saturday evening, as well as the live cinema relay on Wednesday.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I hope this idea of leaving the props of the earlier Acts lying around does not catch on, goodness can you imagine how many bodies there would have accumulated by the end of Macbeth.


:laugh:

I wasn't keen on the stage clutter, although can appreciate that it represents Onegin's and Tatyana's shared memories which come back to haunt them. I thought it was cruel to leave poor old Lensky for dead throughout the whole of Act III!

[Barbirollians]

I enjoyed the lightness of the dances and I suppose any lack of warmth in the strings helped me to enjoy the lovely woodwind playing.

[aeolium]

I saw the cinema relay yesterday and, like others, was not greatly impressed with the production though a lot of the singing was excellent. I thought the flashback/memory theme was misconceived and poorly deployed. As Fiona Maddocks mentioned in her Grauniad review, memory is already there in the music, in the themes and motifs that echo through the opera, and it does not need to be spelled out in the action. I wondered whether the use of doubles was partly determined by the choice of Stoyanova for Tatiana in that she could hardly convince as a teenage girl in the first act. The use of a double in the letter scene meant she had nothing to do except sing (which she did very well) but then no double was used in the following scene when Onegin delivers his response, when Tatiana has little to do except listen. You would expect that that scene would have been better suited to the use of a non-singing double - particularly as the irony was that Onegin was rejecting the teenage Tatiana while singing to her older counterpart (whom he comes to admire and love later in the opera)!

There were other aspects of the production that did not work, for me. The consistent use of the four arches forced too much of the action into a small space in the foreground. I didn't like the way the chorus was always dressed in black, the designer mentioning something about this indicating the repression/constraint/convention of the provincial society. To me it just looked dull, a contradiction of Tchaikovsky's gloriously lyrical folk and dance music. Why did Gremin appear near the end of the opera, during the contretemps between Onegin and the married Tatiana - surely in reality that would have meant a certain duel? Why did Lensky carry a piece of wood into his duel scene and why was he left lying on stage for the whole of the last act?

Musically the evening was better, with very good singing all round. Some of Ticciati's tempi were on the extreme side, either very quick or very slow - for instance, the chorus of peasants' song was hard driven, obscuring some orchestral detail and not allowing the music to breathe. On the other hand there was some wonderful wind playing. I found myself remembering, like IGI, how wonderful Bychkov is in this music and how he would have brought out a fuller more lyrical sound in the strings. But there was still much to enjoy. Apart from anything else, Simon Keenlyside is such a fascinating character to watch on stage, whatever role he plays: his expressions and gestures.

[Barbirollians]

I saw the cinema relay yesterday and, like others, was not greatly impressed with the production though a lot of the singing was excellent. I thought the flashback/memory theme was misconceived and poorly deployed. As Fiona Maddocks mentioned in her Grauniad review, memory is already there in the music, in the themes and motifs that echo through the opera, and it does not need to be spelled out in the action. I wondered whether the use of doubles was partly determined by the choice of Stoyanova for Tatiana in that she could hardly convince as a teenage girl in the first act. The use of a double in the letter scene meant she had nothing to do except sing (which she did very well) but then no double was used in the following scene when Onegin delivers his response, when Tatiana has little to do except listen. You would expect that that scene would have been better suited to the use of a non-singing double - particularly as the irony was that Onegin was rejecting the teenage Tatiana while singing to her older counterpart (whom he comes to admire and love later in the opera)!

There were other aspects of the production that did not work, for me. The consistent use of the four arches forced too much of the action into a small space in the foreground. I didn't like the way the chorus was always dressed in black, the designer mentioning something about this indicating the repression/constraint/convention of the provincial society. To me it just looked dull, a contradiction of Tchaikovsky's gloriously lyrical folk and dance music. Why did Gremin appear near the end of the opera, during the contretemps between Onegin and the married Tatiana - surely in reality that would have meant a certain duel? Why did Lensky carry a piece of wood into his duel scene and why was he left lying on stage for the whole of the last act?


Musically the evening was better, with very good singing all round. Some of Ticciati's tempi were on the extreme side, either very quick or very slow - for instance, the chorus of peasants' song was hard driven, obscuring some orchestral detail and not allowing the music to breathe. On the other hand there was some wonderful wind playing. I found myself remembering, like IGI, how wonderful Bychkov is in this music and how he would have brought out a fuller more lyrical sound in the strings. But there was still much to enjoy. Apart from anything else, Simon Keenlyside is such a fascinating character to watch on stage, whatever role he plays: his expressions and gestures.

A very fair summary . Much to enjoy is right despite some of the production decisions . I liked the video backdrop use though.

[RobertLeDiable]

Given the trenchant criticism from many quarters of Ticciat's conducting, you do have to wonder if he was the right choice to succeed Jurowski at Glyndebourne.

[Caliban]

For those who can't get to/afford the ROH production of Eugene Onegin, there is a broadcast to cinema on Wednesday 20th 7.15 pm (various cinemas across the country).

Everyone I know who's been to it has walked out.

Wild horses etc etc.

[aeolium]

Everyone I know who's been to it has walked out.

Wild horses etc etc.

No-one walked out of the cinema where I was watching it :smiley:

The reasons I go to see an opera rather than just listen on CDs or on the radio are mainly because it is intended to be seen and not just heard, and with foreign language operas there are few that I know so well that I can follow the action simply by listening. I don't go with high expectations of any production and if I had walked out of all the productions that disappointed me then I wouldn't have stayed the course on very many. The musical performance is the most important aspect for me and that was generally of a high standard in the ROH Eugene Onegin, especially the singing. Ticciati's was not the most convincing interpretation of the score I have heard, but it was not the worst either, and as I said there was much to enjoy.

[Oddball]

Not a great opera fan myself, but I have been enjoying the occasional snippet of Handel's italian operas on COTW recently.

However Rinaldo was played on TTN last night, a recording from a live performance. Characterised by heavy foot steps, laughter from the audience, and music a bit thinly spread.

But since it was in Italian, I'm not surprised that the humour may have been lost on the English critics when it was first performed.

[David-G]

I greatly enjoyed this Rinaldo. Rather to my surprise - because when I saw this live at Glyndebourne, it was killed stone dead by the schoolboy production. The childishness of it all, the ugliness, the lack of magic and wonder, all (for me) negated the glories of the music.

[aeolium]

I greatly enjoyed this Rinaldo. Rather to my surprise - because when I saw this live at Glyndebourne, it was killed stone dead by the schoolboy production. The childishness of it all, the ugliness, the lack of magic and wonder, all (for me) negated the glories of the music.

I quite agree (I saw the TV production which was shown some months back). Much better to hear on radio than watch it, especially as it was the Proms semi-staged version and not the fully staged one.

[Stephen Smith]

I too saw it last year at Glyndebourne and I thought it was crass, totally off beam. Another case of close eyes and enjoy live music (which is still a reward for the journey, but as its a long day journey, not enough) (Must dig out the director/ designer's name and put them on my "approach with caution" list).

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I too saw it last year at Glyndebourne and I thought it was crass, totally off beam. Another case of close eyes and enjoy live music (which is still a reward for the journey, but as its a long day journey, not enough) (Must dig out the director/ designer's name and put them on my "approach with caution" list).

The director was Robert Carsen. I didn't see Rinaldo and the reviews I've read make it unlikely that the production would necessarily appeal, however his Falstaff for the Royal Opera last season was superb and I also loved his ENO production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was streets ahead of the appalling (IMO) David Alden production which replaced it in 2011.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

WNO's Madama Butterfly review from last night:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=894:madama-butterfly-welsh-national-opera-23rd-march-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

Lovely performance, shame about the audience... :sadface:

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I also loved his ENO production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was streets ahead of the appalling (IMO) David Alden production which replaced it in 2011.

Whoops. The ENO production was so nasty, I got my Aldens muddled up. It was Christopher, not David.

[french frank]

WNO's Madama Butterfly review from last night:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=894:madama-butterfly-welsh-national-opera-23rd-march-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

Lovely performance, shame about the audience... :sadface:I wonder if that's the production I saw a few years ago - much less, or rather even less, sympathetic to Pinkerton and the US? On that occasion (in Bristol), Pinkerton was booed slightly too, though it was obvious that it wasn't the performer himself or his performance that was disapproved of but the rather less familiar presentation.

[rodney_h_d]

I wonder if that's the production I saw a few years ago - much less, or rather even less, sympathetic to Pinkerton and the US? On that occasion (in Bristol), Pinkerton was booed slightly too, though it was obvious that it wasn't the performer himself or his performance that was disapproved of but the rather less familiar presentation.It is indeed the same production that I'm astonished to realise I first saw on tour in Southampton some 33 years ago! Definitely not my favourite Puccini plot. I'm always tempted to boo gently however fine the singing :(

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Yes, the Butterfly production dates from 1978. The Vixen I saw the other night was from just two years later, but both come up fresh as the proverbial daisy... a classic (and refreshing) case of 'if it ain't broke...'.

Re booing, I took a few soundings from singers yesterday and they really don't like it. One response was 'Hate it. Happened to me in DNO Troyens. V disconcerting and unsettling', while another stated 'it's the equivalent of laughing at jokes in Italian when you don't speak Italian to show that you "understand".' Some also made the point that at curtain calls, the audience is applauding the singer, not the character.

[David-G]

Did anyone hear the Met "Traviata" yesterday? Domingo was singing Germont senior, I thought he was in tremendous form. And Diana Damrau, singing Violetta, was wonderful. Traviata is not really one of my favourite operas, but I enjoyed the performance very much.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, I heard (most of) it, & enjoyed it. One thing I did think odd & the was not having an interval between Act 2 & Act 3 - essential I think to allow for the change of pace, & also because of the passage of time between the events of Act 2 & of Act 3

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I didn't hear The Turn of the Screw from the Barbican on Radio 3 yesterday evening, but judging by my colleague's review, it was a coruscating affair, held in tribute to Sir Colin Davis, who was originally to have conducted:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=905:the-turn-of-the-screw-barbican-hall-16th-april-2013&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

Worth catching on iPlayer.