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Met's Don Carlo
I wonder if anyone saw the live transmission of Don Carlo at a cinema on Saturday. Although I missed the first two acts because of a clashing engagement I enjoyed the performance as a whole. Having said that, I think the moments of painful anguish came across best, whereas there was a certain missing electricity in the performance - for example in the relationship between Carlo and Posa. And I found the auto-da-fe scene rather lugubrious. Any opinions?
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This is the production being relayed on R3 tonight. I thought Alagna an excellent, dashing Carlo and Poplavskaya a sweet-voiced Elisabeth. I was more focused on the acting (obviously) in the cinema, and thought the passion was muted, albeit the anguish of the characters well expressed. Simon Keenlyside sang well as Posa but I thought looked rather wooden on the stage. The star, for me, of the show was Anna Smirnova as Eboli, whose acting matched her vocal drama. Musically I found it excellent, with Nezet-Seguin in the pit. I hope there'll be some postings after the show tonight.
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Though I see that Radio Times and the R3 website both list Yonghoon Lee as Carlo - presumably a planned cast change if it's in RT.Originally Posted by kernelbogey
I'll listen to this (partly to hear Smirnova, who is a new name to me) if there are no trains to take the family to London for our annual Christmas ballet treat at ROH
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Are these broadcasts really "live" from the Met?
Indeed they are. If you go to the Met Opera website, you can see the programme for the forthcoming season. Saturday matinee
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Indeed, you are quite correct. 12.30 p.m. start in New York.
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...as are the HD transmissions to cinemas, which gives them a certain edge.
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Nezet-Seguin was the star of show for me. How he followed, nudged on some very self-indulgent singers yet kept stage and pit moving and largely together I do not know.
There really is a 'Met' way of doing things, isn't there? And the way the singers 'milk it' must be very trying for conductors who have learnt their trade elsewhere. Luckily, N-S has done a lot of good work in Montreal and is about to go to Philadelphia, so is presumably inside the tradition?
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For the earlier comment from EineAlpensinfonie, the only delay is something like 20-30 seconds for the satellite relay for the Met-HD moviecasts. Other than that, they are indeed live in real time, complete with sometimes awkward camera pans and scans when they don't always keep up with the singers. That aside, I also enjoyed this Don Carlo very much. I've seen SK as Posa live in a semi-staged concert version (emphasis on the 'semi'), and his acting was more wooden in the concert version than on stage, where he was clearly much freer to roam about. I also got the sense from the HD-cast of how more manipulative Rodrigo is in trying to play both sides, although he reveals his true loyalties in the end when he sacrifices himself for Don Carlo. One aspect of the plot that was downplayed here, compared to the concert version that I saw, was how Eboli goes over to Posa's side to rouse the people to storm the jail, which was not really emphasized at the Met.
Likewise, I second kudos for Alagna as Don Carlo, maybe not quite as intense as his Don Jose earlier this year, but still very fine. YNS also excelled in the pit, in fact bringing home the show a half hour earlier than scheduled, no doubt to the relief of the one guy in the audience who was caught on camera looking at his watch during the curtain call. It was also drolly amusing to see the cameras before the show glimpse Rattle and Kozena from their box seats.
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And the lady joining him in the box at his other side was Eva Wagner-Pasquier.
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