tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94587522024-03-07T19:04:35.116-05:00an unamplified voice(one operagoer's notes)JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.comBlogger829125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-1347939899867868142019-11-23T09:26:00.001-05:002019-11-23T09:26:09.265-05:00ElsewhereAlthough it is not yet fully in order, I'm moving my opera posting to a new corner of the internet: <a href="https://secondmeetings.wordpress.com/">Second Meetings at the Opera</a>. The first post, today, is from my current visit to Bavaria.<br />
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My <a href="mailto:auv.blog@gmail.com">email</a> remains the same. See you at the new site!JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-86345154237533912012019-06-07T13:39:00.002-04:002019-06-07T13:39:40.044-04:00Lepage folliesWell, I certainly wasn't expecting this email:<br />
<blockquote>We’re writing to inform you, as a ticket buyer to Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, of an important change. The performances of La Damnation de Faust on January 25 and 29, and February 1 and 8, 2020, will be converted into concert presentations, similar to the Met’s Verdi Requiem performances in the 2017–18 season. Performances on February 4, 12, and 15, 2020, have been cancelled.<br />
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The decision to present La Damnation de Faust in its more usual concert version is driven by the unanticipated technical demands of reviving the Met’s staged production, impossible to accommodate within the company’s production schedule. The cast, including mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, bass Ildar Abdrazakov, and tenors Bryan Hymel (January 25, 29) and Michael Spyres (February 1, 8) sharing the title role, remains unchanged. Edward Gardner is the conductor.</blockquote>The <a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/la-damnation-de-faust/">new event listing</a> seems to confirm.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-42425068417764717282019-05-10T23:48:00.002-04:002019-05-10T23:51:06.991-04:00The death of...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERRjajA9DePpPiuPPcBuSEYzCUG9LWlNXlNtZXhC9fvfAwxXnB3X5qs5-bNJpOr2BhXEsRObEXe_CX-h9jfHyjOnc3RW-dGlhDCMQgXLq7EQn90hGvAa2s0-g_j4Vy08ZXm0Y/s1600/dialogues.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERRjajA9DePpPiuPPcBuSEYzCUG9LWlNXlNtZXhC9fvfAwxXnB3X5qs5-bNJpOr2BhXEsRObEXe_CX-h9jfHyjOnc3RW-dGlhDCMQgXLq7EQn90hGvAa2s0-g_j4Vy08ZXm0Y/s320/dialogues.PNG" width="211" height="320" data-original-width="643" data-original-height="976" /></a></div>Dialogues des Carmélites - Metropolitan Opera, 5/3 and 5/8/2019<br />
Leonard, Mattila, Pieczonka, Cargill, Morley, Portillo / Nézet-Séguin<br />
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I expected this Dialogues revival - as those of previous seasons - to be effective and moving. What I did not expect, despite an outside hope therefor, was that it would contain within the first act's limited span one more great Mattila triumph, the first <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/07/337-is-loneliest-number.html">since 2012</a> and one of an all-too-few to be moviecast. If this turns out to be her send-off (which, at 58, need not necessarily be the case), it's a great one.<br />
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Felicity Palmer (whose Waltraute I've missed in Met Rings since) was a heck of a singing actress, but in the last two revivals she portrayed a prioress who dies. With Mattila, Madame de Croissy's death itself - enormous and terrible, like the death of Christoph Detlev Brigge in Rilke's prose book - is the main character of the opera's first part. That's as you'd expect upon discovering that this opera <i>could</i> fit such a thing, as Mattila's decade-and-a-half of providing the most significant element in each Met season was built on loading the "terror" side of the Aristotelian schema markedly higher than even this most emotionally extreme art form is accustomed. And amidst this awful struggle - with her wracked body, with impossible responsibilities, with death itself - the loving directness of de Croissy's last advice to Blanche arrives in even more touching relief.<br />
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The excellence of Isabel Leonard - Blanche here as she was in 2013 - not only holds the overall show together but provides Mattila the foil her first secondary-role run here (Kostelnicka in 2016's Jenufa opposite the eminently forgettable Oksana Dyka) fatally lacked. The same inner stillness and that made Leonard a near-ideal Melisande earlier in the season also serves her here, if differently: Blanche wants to and <i>should</i> be in that state - one too evidently fit for worry and risk won't suit - but too often can't. <br />
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It's not clear whether it was deliberate or fortuitous of Adrianne Pieczonka to portray Madame Lidoine in a manner entirely distinct from the character's predecessor: all motherly love, calm, and composure amidst the storms of trouble. In any case, it works brilliantly - and Karen Cargill, who like Erin Morley (Constance, again reprising her 2013 part) is much more impressive than she was in the Ring, provides a third distinct elder figure with her hardheaded and dogged Mother Marie.<br />
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as ever, conducts impressively in the direct manner.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-13577632210009071702019-05-09T15:37:00.000-04:002019-05-09T15:37:16.251-04:00The debutRigoletto - Metropolitan Opera, 4/26 and 5/1/2019<br />
Gagnidze, Feola, Polenzani, Ivashchenko / Luisotti<br />
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The house debut of 32-year-old Italian soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda was extraordinary enough that I went back between Ring installments to see if I hadn't imagined it. I found a second night even better than the first.<br />
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Although Feola (who was runner-up to Sonya Yoncheva at the 2010 Operalia competition) certainly has the notes and technique for the lyric-coloratura parts that are her current career (her Caro nome was a marvel), neither her voice nor her person present what you'd expect therein. Instead of the classic bright, chirpy sound Feola offers a darker, more emotionally charged timbre. And though she can (unlike, say, Diana Damrau) do ingenuous charm, neither that nor coquettish sex-appeal define her focused, presence. The overall impression was of nothing so much as an Italian <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2006/11/idomeneites.html">Dorothea Röschmann</a> with an integrated top extension - someone I'm eager to hear again, in the more serious of the -inas and -ettas though even these likely won't let her display all her powers. (The tragic weight her Gilda took on herself with full awareness before entering Sparafucile's place itself nearly broke the frame of the role.)<br />
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Incidentally: the contrast with the other notable female debut of the season - Aida Garifullina, who sang Zerlina in the first of two Don Giovanni casts - is striking. With a glorious silver-bell tone on an outsized scale perfectly suited to this big house and an effective, straightforward charm, Garifullina (who won the 2013 Operalia competition) is the classic soubrette starlet turned up to 11, singing a very similar range of parts to Feola's with an entirely different (but ever-appealing) spirit. Let's hope that she doesn't go off the rails and <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2007/02/turkey.html">massacre bel canto</a> for a decade before reinventing herself as a heavier-role singer as the last Russian soprano with this sort of star power did. <br />
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The other singers were, as expected, a pleasure - George Gagnidze neither glamorous nor titanic but, as usual, catching the right spirit and Dimitry Ivashchenko a nicely satisfying Sparafucile - with only newcomer Ramona Zaharia's Maddalena perhaps not fitting her part. Matthew Polenzani, too nice to be any kind of malicious Duke, sang well enough (particularly on the second night) for us to accept his caught-up-in-the-lifestyle autocrat at face value.<br />
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<center>* * *</center><br />
It wasn't just Polenzani's better form or even the cast's cleanup of stage business that wasn't quite in synch at the first performance that made for the more thrilling followup, but conductor Nicola Luisotti perhaps finally letting Verdi be Verdi. The supreme Puccini conductor of our era - despite a much worse cast, his guidance made the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-california.html">2010 Fanciulla</a> more of an event than the vocally thrilling one we got this fall - Luisotti nevertheless was the weak link in two previous Verdi shows this season. In the fall and winter Aidas (which were, admittedly, compromised by cast issues) and the spring Traviata (which wasn't the triumph that Anita Hartig's heartbreaking performance deserved), it seemed that he was intent on shaping Verdi's music as he would Puccini's - aiming to maximize phrase and line effectiveness without regard for the underlying beat. This just doesn't work: the alternately melancholy and ecstatic pleasure in the ordered passage of time is the rock on which not just Verdi but the cantabile-cabaletta form of all bel canto opera is built. One can't lose touch with that pleasure - even when it's not foregrounded - for even a moment without making a hash of the aesthetic whole.<br />
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Whether because of this opera's more headlong nature or just finding his way to Verdi's style after many performances, Luisotti here more or less restricted his micro-temporal tampering to some bizarre hitches in a single slow part. And by the second night he was not merely setting good starting tempi and getting out of the way but actively working <i>with</i> the underlying time-flow to impressive effect. With luck this development will carry over to future runs of other Verdi works.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-65169733091089228282019-05-02T14:30:00.000-04:002019-05-02T14:35:28.258-04:00Robbing the cradle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFVOwaA-sGVUDuO8-oi8eXX75WPm72ZYKHX8i5SQpnjg33E8WXJ7xHbGUjDhLuUGydzUtNbEnZKTS0oUCCSL3frvGqE0T8rtcLhhb-YWcigi1Lf0LTmOJ6j3TfkFpNcTP4yLh/s1600/siggy.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFVOwaA-sGVUDuO8-oi8eXX75WPm72ZYKHX8i5SQpnjg33E8WXJ7xHbGUjDhLuUGydzUtNbEnZKTS0oUCCSL3frvGqE0T8rtcLhhb-YWcigi1Lf0LTmOJ6j3TfkFpNcTP4yLh/s320/siggy.PNG" width="194" height="320" data-original-width="575" data-original-height="947" /></a></div>Siegfried - Metropolitan Opera, 4/13/2019<br />
Vinke, Goerke, Volle, Siegel, Morley, Cargill, Koniecszny, Belosselskiy / Jordan<br />
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As astounding and enjoyable was Stefan Vinke's vocal endurance and forcefulness in the title role in this house debut last month, so disappointing was the one-note personal characterization that accompanied it. The result was a barn-burner of an aural show that undoubtedly thrilled the general audience but frustrated me as the vocal failures of past revivals had not.<br />
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<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/05/boy-who-went-out-to-learn-fear.html">A decade ago</a>, in praise of Christian Franz - whose physical assumption was everything that Vinke's was not - I noted that his Siegfried "didn't, as is sometimes the case, seem the villain of the piece". And with this revival we saw how easy it takes to make Siegfried unsympathetic (one opera ahead of when he does, under mind-affecting magic, in fact act the bad guy). Whether it was the revival stage directors (J. Knighten Smith for the overall Ring, Stephen Pickover for this installment, with Paula Suozzi and Paula Williams assisting) or Vinke's choice or even the nerves of his big debut, this performance maximized Siegfried's buffoonery and minimized his introspection and awakening of self: instead of the archetypal youth maturing to heroism and first love, we got an unchanging brat alternately mugging for approval (entirely inconsistent with his lack of fear and solitary upbringing, one might notice!) and hamhandedly - and without recognition or understanding - forcing his way past everything on stage. With incipient growth and self-understanding no longer established in Act II (where Vinke understandably but unfortunately decided to conserve voice) his union with Brünnhilde in the last act became very odd indeed. (As with <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/04/girl-who-knew-too-much.html">other too-cleverly cynical takes</a>, one can argue for the psychological truth of these reductions but they make the story less significant.)<br />
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Not that we should short the vocal accomplishment. Vinke's basic sound here isn't the most best I've heard in brief stand-alone doses: though pleasant, there's a too-covered quality that comes out in the lyric bits. But for a small trade (much smaller than what many predecessors have given up just to get through the thing) Vinke gave us a seemingly limitless heldentenor outpouring that sailed through the Forging of Act I and outshouted Goerke's fresh voice in Act III. If only the quality of sound had been matched by a similar quality of sense!<br />
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Perhaps Andreas Schager - who made a remarkable NYC debut four years ago as Apollo alongside the Leukippos of this Ring's Loge (Norbert Ernst) - will do better tonight.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-443117541929378292019-02-20T21:09:00.000-05:002019-02-20T21:33:16.552-05:00Sundays<a href="https://www.metopera.org/about/press-releases/new-productions-of-porgy-and-bess-der-fliegende-hollander-and-wozzeck-and-met-premieres-of-agrippina-and-akhnaten-headline-the-metropolitan-operas-201920-season/">Next season</a> at the Met brings a handful of new shows and, more notably, a new schedule point: Sunday afternoon. So far Sunday perfomances look like rescheduled Mondays, and start-of-the-week gaps (both Monday and, at times, Tuesday) are interspersed through the year.<br />
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As usual, I've left some one-show-only combinations out below.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/porgy-and-bess/">Porgy and Bess</a> (new James Robinson production)<br />
<i>Owens, Blue, Schultz, Moore, <b>Ballentine</b>, Walker, Green / Robertson</i> (opening night to October)<br />
<i>Owens, Blue, Brugger, Moore, Ballentine, Walker, Singletary / Robertson</i> (October, January)<br />
<i>Owens, Blue, Schultz, Moore, Ballentine, Walker, Singletary / Robertson </i> (Jan 28, Feb 1)<br />
Like many Met premieres of the Gelb era, this show - directed by newcomer (and Opera Theatre of St. Louis Artistic Director) James Robinson with Bart Sher's usual set and costume designers - has already run at ENO and in Amsterdam. Still, it's the first Porgy and Bess at the Met in ages (even City Opera's latest performance was almost two decades ago) and the first opening night of real note in a while.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/manon/">Manon</a><br />
<i>Oropesa, Fabiano, Bosi, Ruciński, Youn / Benini</i> (September-October)<br />
For the first time I can remember, both Massenet's Manon and Puccini's own adaptation of the Prevost novel - Manon Lescaut - appear in the same season. Both productions are <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/04/men-in-black.html">recent-ish</a> <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">failures</a>, but it's possible that the visual delicacy erased by Laurent Pelly can be offset by charm and delicatezza in the lead - qualities <i>also</i> missing in this staging's previous incarnations. Lisette Oropesa has had that even from her 2005 Met Council Finals win... Between this and Traviata, are we fortunate enough to see the house valuing a different sort of singer?<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/macbeth/">Macbeth</a><br />
<i>Domingo, Netrebko, Polenzani, Abdrazakov / Armiliato</i> (September-October)<br />
<i>Lučić, Netrebko, Polenzani, Abdrazakov / Armiliato</i> (October)<br />
As much as Anna Netrebko overpowered the lighter roles she sang for too much of the last two decades, she still had not quite the weight for Lady Macbeth in 2014 (rapturous notices notwithstanding). Still, the rest of the cast(s) is excellent and Adrian Noble's production is one of the better ones. Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi, who seems to specialize in these really big roles, has a one-off debut on October 1.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/turandot/">Turandot</a><br />
<i>Goerke, Buratto, Aronica, Morris / Nézet-Séguin</i> (October)<br />
<i>Goerke, Buratto, Aronica, Morris / Armiliato</i> (October)<br />
<i>Stemme, Gerzmava, Berti, Testé / Rizzi</i> (April)<br />
Zeffirelli's most over-the-top show gets some starry treatment. I've skipped this show for ages (there was similar casting in 2015-16), but I suspect Berti - who's had a good track record <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-rivals.html">in forceful stuff</a> - is more likely to deliver as Calaf than Aronica.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/madama-butterfly/">Madama Butterfly</a><br />
<i>He, DeShong, <b>Pretti</b>, Szot / Morandi</i> (October)<br />
<i>He, DeShong, <b>Carè</b>, Szot / Morandi</i> (November)<br />
<i>He, DeShong, Carè, Domingo / Morandi</i> (November)<br />
<i>Martínez, Zifchak, Carè, Brück / Morandi</i><br />
The two debuting Italian tenors are the most notable part of this revival.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/orfeo-ed-euridice/">Orfeo ed Euridice</a><br />
<i>Barton, Hong, Park / Wigglesworth</i> (October-November)<br />
The final day of this revival will be within a week of the <i>35th</i> anniversary of Hei-Kyung Hong's Met debut. I'm not sure Jamie Barton is ready to carry the lead, but I've wanted to see Hyesang Park graduate from bit parts since she and Kang Wang starred in a most memorable Juilliard/Lindemann Sonnambula a few years back.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/la-boheme/">La Boheme</a><br />
<i>Pérez, <b>Kulchynska</b>, Polenzani, Bizic, <b>Zhilikhovsky</b>, <b>Park</b> / Armiliato</i> (October-November)<br />
<i>Agresta, Phillips, Alagna, Ruciński, Madore, Van Horn / Armiliato</i> (January)<br />
<i>Pérez, Rowley, Calleja, Álvarez, Pogossov, Nazmi / Villaume</i> (April-May)<br />
More tenor star power than usual. Ailyn Perez is not only an excellent lyric soprano in general but the only natural fit for Mimi here in a decade; Maria Agresta, though possessed of nice softer sounds, wasn't the most imaginative when I saw her in the role in 2016 (though the rest of the cast didn't help).<br />
After Hong's Euridices (above), she has one scheduled Mimi on November 14 alongside Jacqueline Nichols as Musetta.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/akhnaten/">Akhnaten</a> (new Phelim McDermott production)<br />
<i>Costanzo, Lárusdóttir, <b>Bridges</b> / <b>Kamensek</b></i> (November-December)<br />
Another ENO share, this time with LA Opera, taking McDermott back to his most successful Met show (Satyagraha). Neither Phillip Glass nor countertenors are to my taste, but I'm sure there are enough partisans for a succès d'estime.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/le-nozze-di-figaro/">Le Nozze di Figaro</a><br />
<i>Pisaroni, Sierra, Phillips, Plachetka, <b>Arquez</b> / <b>Manacorda</b></i> (November-December)<br />
<i>Plachetka, Müller, Hartig, Kwiecien, <b>Crebassa</b> / Meister</i> (February)<br />
A bunch of debuts here are mixed with Plachetka swapping between the male lead roles. Cornelius Meister, incidentally, is proving himself a natural Mozartean in this season's Don Giovanni.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/the-queen-of-spades/">The Queen of Spades</a><br />
<i>Antonenko, <b>Davidsen</b>, Maximova, Diadkova, <b>Golovatenko</b>, Markov / <b>Petrenko</b></i> (November-December)<br />
I'm not sure Aleksandrs Antonenko has the internal forcefulness to make the most of Tchaikovsky's <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/04/oh-to-live-in-paris.html">dramatic masterpiece</a>, but the debuts of young Norwegian next-big-thing soprano Lise Davidsen and Russian (by way of Liverpool and Oslo) conductor Vasily Petrenko are interesting enough.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/der-rosenkavalier/">Der Rosenkavalier</a><br />
<i><b>Nylund</b>, Kožená, Schultz, Groissböck, Polenzani / Rattle</i> (December-January)<br />
<i>Van Kooten, <b>Brower</b>, Schultz, Groissböck, Polenzani / Rattle</i> (December 28)<br />
The production is a <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2017/04/was-war-einmal.html">misfire</a>, the Octavian seems quite miscast, and Simon Rattle isn't the first conductor who comes to mind for Strauss, but perhaps Camilla Nylund or the less-known Americans in the one-off can carry the day.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/the-magic-flute/">The Magic Flute</a> (abridged version in English)<br />
<i><b>Harvey</b>, Portillo, Lewek, Hopkins, Rosel, Carfizzi, Robinson / Koenigs</i> (December-January)<br />
<i>Fang, Portillo, Lewek, Hopkins, Rosel, Carfizzi, Howard / Koenigs</i> (December)<br />
<i>Fang, Groves, Park, Liverman, Rosel, Croft, Howard / Koenigs</i> (January)<br />
The usual kids' show. Probably the first cast is best.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/wozzeck/">Wozzeck</a> (new William Kentridge production)<br />
<i>Mattei, van den Heever, Mumford, Ventris, Siegel, <b>Staples</b>, Van Horn / Nézet-Séguin</i> (December-January)<br />
Kentridge and Luc De Wit's 2010 <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/03/nose.html">Nose</a> was an electric, illuminating hit; their 2015 <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/02/is-that-all-there-is.html">Lulu</a> was a trivializing, DOA mistake. This Berg opera starts in a much less coherently-ordered world, so perhaps Kentridge's one trick will suit.<br />
And oh yes: I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it work, but Peter Mattei - <i>the</i> Don Giovanni of our lifetimes - is about the most bizarre choice imaginable for Wozzeck.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/new-years-eve-gala/">NYE Netrebko Gala</a><br />
<i>Netrebko, Polenzani, Eyvazov / Nézet-Séguin</i> (December 31)<br />
Three Puccini selections, all starring Anna Netrebko: Act I of Boheme, Act I of Tosca, and Act II of Turandot. This sort of show-off evening seems to me a much more suitable gala choice than the premiere of some new production that may or may not be any good.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/la-traviata/">La Traviata</a><br />
<i>Kurzak, Popov, Kelsey / Chichon</i> (January-February)<br />
<i>Oropesa, Grigolo, Salsi / De Billy</i> (February-March)<br />
Unsurprisingly, the Michael Mayer production that debuted this season returns immediately with multiple casts.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/la-damnation-de-faust/">La Damnation de Faust</a><br />
<i>Hymel, Garanča, Abdrazakov / Gardner</i> (January-February)<br />
<i><b>Spyres</b>, Garanča, Abdrazakov / Gardner</i> (February)<br />
The premiere of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2008/11/through-screen-darkly.html">this show</a> over a decade ago was the first big sign of how dramatically empty Robert Lepage's Ring would turn out. Still, Bryan Hymel and Michael Spyres <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-hero.html">in</a> French <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/08/beyond-meyerbeer-and-wagner.html">stuff</a> are something.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/agrippina/">Agrippina</a> (new David McVicar production)<br />
<i>DiDonato, <b>Rae</b>, Lindsey, Davies, Rock, Rose / Bicket</i> (February-March)<br />
Yes, it's a share with La Monnaie, but having the Met do a new Handel production for you is, before Joyce DiDonato premieres this show, something only Renee Fleming has managed since the '80s.<br />
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<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/cosi-fan-tutte/">Così fan tutte</a><br />
<i>Car, Malfi, Bliss, Pisaroni, Stober, Finley / Bicket</i> (February-March)<br />
Serena Malfi and Ben Bliss return from last year's debut cast. Harry Bicket is more reliably good conducting Handel, but Robertson didn't set the highest bar last time.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/der-fliegende-hollander/">Der Fliegende Holländer</a> (new François Girard production)<br />
<i>Terfel, <b>Kampe</b>, Skorokhodov, Portillo, Selig / Gergiev</i> (March)<br />
Disappointing followups to <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-look.html">impressive</a> <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/last-trip-to-monsalvat.html">debut</a> productions aren't rare, and Dutchman is a more direct piece than Parsifal, but this seems the most promising new production as such. I'd be surprised if the musical side - with gone-for-a-while Bryn Terfel and Valery Gergiev alongside debuting veteran soprano Anja Kampe - matches the explosive triumph Michael Volle, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Amber Wagner put together in the old production two years back, but it's possible.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/la-cenerentola/">La Cenerentola</a><br />
<i>Erraught, Camarena, Luciano, Muraro, Van Horn / Gaffigan</i> (March-April)<br />
Mezzo Tara Erraught sang well but was unbearably sitcommy as Nicklausse in her 2017 Met debut; perhaps she'll be a better fit for this more comedic part. Camarena is always a pleasure in this rep.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/werther/">Werther</a><br />
<i>Beczala, DiDonato, Garifullina, Dupuis / Nézet-Séguin</i> (March)<br />
The premiere <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-beloved.html">of this production</a> was a big triumph for tenor Jonas Kaufmann that made a very small case for the opera itself. I suspect Joyce DiDonato's Charlotte will make for a less lopsided presentation (no matter how well Piotr Beczala sings), and Nézet-Séguin in French rep has been terrific. Aida Garifullina, incidentally, was a delight as Zerlina in this winter's Don Giovanni and I expect as much of her Sophie here.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/tosca/">Tosca</a><br />
<i>Netrebko, Mavlyanov, Gagnidze / de Billy</i> (March-April)<br />
<i>Netrebko, Jagde, Volle / de Billy</i> (April)<br />
<i>Rowley, Jagde, Gagnidze / de Billy</i> (April)<br />
American tenor Brian Jagde debuted five years ago in a memorable <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-forgiveness-story-gotham-needs.html">Arabella revival</a>, but this is his first lead role here. The other players should be pretty familiar from this season and last.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/simon-boccanegra/">Simon Boccanegra</a><br />
<i>Álvarez, Pérez, Calleja, Azizov, Belosselskiy / Rizzi</i> (April)<br />
On the one hand, there are question marks. It will have been almost a dozen years between Met performances for Carlos Alvarez when this revival begins, though he's certainly been busy elsewhere; Ailyn Perez has never sung a Verdi part here (though again she's done much elsewhere); Dmitry Belosselskiy is good enough but not the grand old man we're used to as Fiesco; Carlo Rizzi has had his moments in Puccini but not so much in Verdi. On the other hand, Joseph Calleja in Verdi is always a treat and the opera itself, like Clemenza, always seems to turn out for the best at the Met.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/maria-stuarda/">Maria Stuarda</a><br />
<i>Damrau, Barton, Costello, Filończyk, Pertusi / Benini</i> (April-May)<br />
Unexpected match of piece and performers - and I'm not sure the vocal contrast between Mary and Elizabeth isn't <i>too</i> great - but I think the title part plays to Diana Damrau's musical strengths.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/manon-lescaut/">Manon Lescaut</a><br />
<i>Yoncheva, Álvarez, Azizov, Sherratt / Farnes</i> (April-May)<br />
One can't do much about Eyre's <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">gross misreading</a> of the structure of Puccini's creation, but perhaps, four years on, one of the house's assistant directors can add the personenregie (both in interaction and development) lacking in the initial run.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-20-season/kata-kabanova/">Káťa Kabanová</a><br />
<i>Phillips, Mack, Zajick, <b>Černoch</b>, Margita, Appleby, Tomlinson / Koenigs</i> (May)<br />
I'm not sure what's odder: that this opera is being revived at all or that Susanna Phillips, who's stuck pretty closely to the core German-Italian rep, is starring in it. But good on both parts! Kat'a was probably the least congenial Janacek lead for Karita Mattila, the driver for his works' airing at the Met of late, so seeing a very different sort of soprano take the part is welcome.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-17113943755328673872018-12-04T19:40:00.000-05:002018-12-04T19:40:29.939-05:00Term fourAttempts to deflect from an obvious truth by bringing in a familiar red herring narrative have, for generations, been the New York Times's stock-in-trade, but today's <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/tattooed-maestro-aims-to-take-met-opera-into-new-era-1543936023">Wall Street Journal piece</a> on the new Met Traviata is a pretty thorough attempt itself. For tonight's event is not at all about the Met's need for youth, outreach, new opera, and other beloved shibboleths of the credentialed set: it's a tallying of the bets and life of the Gelb administration after a dozen years.<br/>
<br/>
For Gelb took wholly over <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2006/09/turnover.html">from Joe Volpe</a> in 2006, which makes this his thirteenth season as General Manager. (Volpe, by comparison, was the boss for sixteen.) Though the long lead time in opera casting makes the analogy even more tenuous, it's still useful to compare these years to the terms of a Presidency. In the first four years, there are likely to be big immediate gains from taking opportunities not congenital to or just not perceived by one's predecessor, and the relief and glamour of novelty cover many potential criticisms. In the next four, one runs up against the limits of one's characteristic method, and troubles and criticisms pile up until enough people are sick enough of the same old thing to choose a near-opposite as one's successor.<br/>
<br/>
Gelb's initial years - in their broad strokes likely planned before he officially took over - brought plenty of success. From a new union agreement and the launch of the moviecasts to the indelible glory of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2008/09/season-five.html">2008-09</a>, there was much to praise, and if <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/03/fallen-idol.html">Sonnambula</a> and <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/09/awful-truth.html">Tosca</a> were infamous flops, the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2006/11/puppets.html">Butterfly</a>, <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2007/09/woman-in-white-or-sex-and-lucia.html">Lucia</a>, <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/02/sleep-of-reason.html">Trovatore</a>, <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2009/12/hoffmann-after.html">Hoffmann</a>, <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/02/song-of-carmen.html">Carmen</a>, and <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/03/nose.html">Nose</a> productions (also <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/04/dutys-call.html">Armida</a>, which unfortunately hasn't had the right stars for revival) were and are significant successes. The next seasons - with Volpe's hand felt much less in shown productions and not at all in casting - brought some new plusses, but the main project (Robert Lepage's Ring) was thoroughly mediocre and (<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-queen.html">Maria Stuarda</a>, which opened the night before) only 2013 - with <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-look.html">Parsifal</a>, <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/04/in-darkest-vegas.html">Rigoletto</a> and <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/fall-and-rise.html">Falstaff</a> - had memorable triumphs. Worse, Gelb's preferred decor (stark, low on representational detail), staging tics (the Obligatory Gelb-Era Humping Scene has been a thing <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/04/lonesome-ariadne.html">since 2010</a>), and singer type (chilly, un-charming European ladies) became, with previous-regime stars and productions ever more scarce contrast, all too unavoidably obvious and tiresome. And since then, with Levine's health and then scandal foreclosing much artistic direction from that side of the company, the company has seemed adrift, <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-rivals.html">successes</a> and <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/02/is-that-all-there-is.html">awful failures</a> coming almost at random from the previously successful (sometimes <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2017/04/was-war-einmal.html">in the same show</a>) while Gelb shows little sign of either leaving or finding a second string to his bow.<br/>
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* * *</center>
<br/>
If the house doesn't yet have a particular new direction, it's nevertheless shown recent willingness to least correct previous errors. Last season the much-reviled Bondy Tosca was replaced by <i>another</i> David McVicar production (pretty good, after his one failure in <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2017/10/what-we-do-in-shadows.html">Norma</a>), and tonight we at last get <a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/la-traviata/">a Traviata</a> to take the place of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/03/traviata-x-treme1.html">Willy Decker's aggressively reductive account</a>. The latter combined awfully with the administration's preferred sort of leading lady to effectively axe, for the eight years it ran since its end-of-2010 debut here, probably the most important piece in the operatic repertory. La Traviata is not only a touchstone and cornerstone of the genre but an unrivaled vehicle for introducing newcomers to the <i>love</i> of opera. It would be a big step if Michael Mayer's (apparently) elaborately representational version brought that back.<br/>
<br/>
(Personally, however, despite the presence of Gelb-era discoveries on which the house has wisely bet - Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Quinn Kelsey - the house's insistence on trying to jam square peg Diana Damrau into the round hole of serious dramatic leading lady is something with which I've lost patience after these many years. The <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2017/10/les-contes-dhoffmann-metropolitan-opera.html">dramatically electric</a> Anita Hartig in the spring, on the other hand...)JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-15861451954968395732018-02-16T18:02:00.000-05:002018-02-16T18:03:49.509-05:00The faceThis year's <a href="http://www.metopera.org/About/Press-Releases/1819SeasonAnnouncement/">Met season announcement</a> wasn't even headlined by the season, but by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, currently mid-run of Parsifal. As one might expect after the Levine scandal, the company got the French-Canadian conductor's schedule cleared so he could go from Music Director Designate to Music Director this fall instead of 2020. So a new era begins... even if most of the particulars are old. (As usual, some one-off cast combos are omitted.)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/samson-et-dalila-saint-saens-tickets/">Samson et Delila</a> (new Darko Tresnjak production)<br />
<i>Alagna, Garanča, Naouri, Azizov, Belosselskiy / Elder</i> (opening night to October)<br />
<i>Antonenko, Rachvelishvili, Naouri, Konieczny, Groissböck / Elder</i> (March)<br />
A new guy-from-Broadway's production, presumably visually striking in the current fashion and color palette, replaces the visually striking one in the '90s fashion from Elijah Moshinsky. There isn't a whole lot to this piece beyond vocal-dramatic display, which makes the spring cast rather more interesting.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/boheme-puccini-tickets/">La Boheme</a><br />
<i><b>Car</b>, Blue, Grigolo, <b>Dupuis</b>, Luciano, Rose / <b>Gaffigan</b></i> (September-October)<br />
<i>Pérez, Blue, Fabiano, <b>Piazzola</b>, Rock / Gaffigan</i> (November-December)<br />
New Yorker (via Europe) James Gaffigan debuts in this eternal Zeffirelli show alongside Aussie soprano Nicole Car and Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis. Ailyn Perez - outstanding this fall in Thais - and Michael Fabiano lead the excellent alternative cast.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/aida-verdi-tickets/">Aida</a><br />
<i>Netrebko, Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Kelsey, Belosselskiy, Green / Luisotti</i> (September-October)<br />
<i>Wilson, Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Kelsey, Belosselskiy, Green / Luisotti</i> (October)<br />
<i>Radvanovsky, Zajick, Lee, Frontali, Kowaljow, Howard / Luisotti</i> (January)<br />
<i>Radvanovsky, Petrova, Antonenko, Kelsey, Kocán, Howard / Domingo</i> (February-March)<br />
More star power in this warhorse than usual, and though the ideal lineup of Radvanovsky, Rachvelishvili, Lee, Kelsey, and Luisotti never appears together, both the first and third iterations should bring enough excitement to be worthwhile (Netrebko did pretty well in Trovatore). It's sad to have one of the best conductors of this rep replaced at the end by the worst, however.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/fanciulla-del-west-puccini-tickets/">La Fanciulla del West</a><br />
<i>Westbroek, Eyvazov, Lučić / Armiliato</i> (October)<br />
<i>Westbroek, Kaufmann, Lučić / Armiliato</i> (October)<br />
Nicola Luisotti's transcendent conducting <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-california.html">saved an iffy cast</a> the last time this Puccini work was revived. This time the star power is more heavily weighted to the singers... at least if Jonas Kaufmann actually shows up.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/marnie-muhly-tickets/">Marnie</a> (new piece by Nico Mulhy, production by Michael Mayer)<br />
<i>Leonard, Kelly, Graves, Davies, Maltman / <b>Spano</b></i> (October-November)<br />
Muhly addressed the biggest flaw of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-catfish-king.html">his previous work</a> by getting a new librettist - dramatist Nicholas Wright, no stranger to opera - and using a novel/film adaptation as material; whether this will result in actually dramatic <i>music</i> is unclear (I haven't seen the ENO performances). Incidentally, a suite from this piece will be part of the Philadelphia Orchestra's opening night for 2018 - conducted of course by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/tosca-puccini-tickets/">Tosca</a><br />
<i>Radvanovsky, Calleja, <b>Koch</b> / Rizzi</i> (October-November)<br />
<i>Rowley, Calleja, Koch / Rizzi</i> (March-April)<br />
As much as I loved seeing Radvanovsky and Calleja in last fall's Norma, do we have to keep getting Carlo Rizzi in the pit when they sing? Jennifer Rowley is an interesting alternative in her own right - though I missed her Toscas, she really impressed by the end of the Trovatore run this month - and heldenbaritone Wolfgang Koch is likely being eased in before doing big Wagner here.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/carmen-bizet-tickets/">Carmen</a><br />
<i>Margaine, Yu, Lee, Ketelsen / <b>Wellber</b></i> (October-November)<br />
<i>Margaine, Kurzak, Alagna, Vinogradov / Langree</i> (January-February)<br />
Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Alagna reprise their intense Don Joses opposite Clementine Margaine, whom I missed last spring. Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber debuts in the first run, while the second has Aleksandra Kurzak as Micaela, apparently marking her full departure from the light high stuff in which she made her name (she's doing Desdemona and Liu in Vienna in the next months).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/mefistofele-verdi-tickets/">Mefistofele</a><br />
<i>Van Horn, Meade, Check, Fabiano / TBA</i> (November-December)<br />
This production - which I saw at its last Met appearance but frankly can't remember - was the one that toured the country three decades ago as Sam Ramey's personal showcase. Christian Van Horn doesn't exactly have Ramey's name recognition at the time, but the cast seems strong enough even without a set conductor. One interesting thing is that usually the same soprano (Veronica Villaroel, whom I do remember, last time) sings both Marguerite and Helen of Troy, but here Jennifer Check is listed separately in the latter part. Boito's opera, besides having great high-octane set pieces for the leads and chorus, is probably the most faithful to Goethe's original and definitely worth seeing.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/pecheur-de-perles-bizet-tickets/">Les Pêcheurs de Perles</a><br />
<i>Yende, Camarena, Kwiecien, Teste / Villaume</i> (November-December)<br />
Good cast for a good show. The final night (December 8) features Amanda Woodbury, who <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/02/pearls-two-ways.html">was the best part of the premiere run</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/trittico-puccini-tickets/">Il Trittico</a><br />
<i>Wagner, Blythe, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Opolais, <b>Mkhitaryan</b>, Ayan, Domingo, Muraro / de Billy</i> (November-December)<br />
The outer two casts look promising. Who knows whether Kristine Opolais, scheduled to premiere the new Tosca but replaced by Sonya Yoncheva, will actually sing in the middle piece, though. The production <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/12/verisimo-redeemed.html">has seen some success</a> but depends quite a lot on the electricity of the performers.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/traviata-verdi-tickets/">La Traviata</a> (new Michael Mayer production)<br />
<i>Damrau, Florez, Kelsey / Nézet-Séguin</i> (December)<br />
<i>Hartig, Costello, Rucinski / Luisotti</i> (April)<br />
<i>Hartig, Costello, Domingo / Luisotti</i> (April)<br />
Finally! Never mind that Damrau has never much connected in the Italian rep, or that Quinn Kelsey's huge (and hugely impressive) instrument will be mismatched with the lead couple's, or any of that. After almost a decade of having <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/03/traviata-x-treme1.html">its worst production</a> monopolizing this most central part of the house's repertory, the Met finally brings relief with this new staging. Nézet-Séguin had musical success even in the previous production, so the fall shows should be an event, but the overall cast of the spring shows - with Puccini master Nicola Luisotti conducting his second Verdi of this season - looks likely to be more satisfying.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/otello-verdi-tickets/">Otello</a><br />
<i>Skelton, Yoncheva, Lučić, Dolgov / <b>Dudamel</b></i> (December-January)<br />
Two of the three <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-exploiter.html">premiere leads</a> return with Stuart Skelton (last seen here <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/12/shiny-and-chrome.html">in Tristan</a>), the clarity of whose sound should work well as the Moor. Is there still hype for Gustavo Dudamel? I suppose so.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/magic-flute-mozart-tickets/">The Magic Flute</a> (children's version in English)<br />
<i>Morley, Lewek, Bliss, Ryan, Gunn, Walker, Robinson / Bicket</i> (December-January)<br />
As usual, a very good mostly-American cast for these kids' shows. Most interesting to me: <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/met-council-finals-2013.html">2013 Met Council winner</a> and standout Sydney Mancasola appears (I think for the first time) in the alternate cast of January 3.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/adriana-lecouvreur-cilea-tickets/">Adriana Lecouvreur</a> (new David McVicar production)<br />
<i>Netrebko, Beczala, Rachvelishvili, Maestri / Noseda</i> (NYE-January)<br />
<i>Rowley, Beczala, Rachvelishvili, Maestri / Noseda</i> (January)<br />
A concert performance of this rarity <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/12/being-angela-gheorghiu.html">in 2011 with Angela Gheorghiu</a> was one of the most surprisingly revelatory shows of the past decade, perfectly melding part and performer in a way one always hopes for but all-too-rarely sees. I doubt whether the Anna Netrebko of 2019 can personify the intertwined humility and grandeur that makes the title part, but at least the rest of the cast should be a pleasure. (Rachvelishvili and Maestri repeat the parts they sang that night.) Perhaps Jennifer Rowley is an answer? In her case I'm unsure of the grandeur, with Netrebko the humility.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/pelleas-debussy-tickets/">Pelléas et Mélisande</a><br />
<i>Appleby, Leonard, Ketelsen, <b>Lemieux</b>, Furlanetto / Nézet-Séguin</i> (January)<br />
A good cast and Nezet-Seguin's second appearance of the season for Debussy's masterwork should make for a great run... if revival director Paula Williams doesn't <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/guilty.html">recreate the reductive stage dynamic of the 2010 revival</a>. (To be fair, it might have been determined by the singers of that run, none of whom return this time.)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/iolanta-bluebeards-castle-tchaikovsky-bartok-tickets/">Iolanta / Bluebeard's Castle</a><br />
<i>Yoncheva, Polenzani, Markov, Azizov, Kowaljow; Denoke, Finley / <b>Nánási</b></i> (January-February)<br />
Running almost together with Pelleas is what <i>should</i> be the other turn-of-the-century monument to unspannable human distance - Bluebeard's Castle by Bartok. Unfortunately Mariusz Treliński's schlocky production gets the piece entirely backwards, with Bluebeard as some horror-movie villain instead of the victim of Judith's relationship-destroying jealousy. (Yes, she's Golaud.) At least it's a shorter failure than his <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/12/shiny-and-chrome.html">Tristan</a>... The Iolanta half isn't bad, though, and the cast is excellent and led by new Hungarian conductor Henrik Nánási.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/don-giovanni-mozart-tickets/">Don Giovanni</a><br />
<i>Pisaroni, Abdrazakov, Willis-Sørensen, Byström, <b>Garifullina</b>, <b>de Barbeyrac</b>, Cedel, Kocán / <b>Meister</b></i> (January-February)<br />
<i>Mattei, Plachetka, Yu, Phillips, Malfi, Breslik, Sim, Belosselskiy / Meister</i> (April)<br />
<i>Mattei, Plachetka, Yu, Phillips, Malfi, Appleby, Sim, Belosselskiy / Meister</i> (April)<br />
As I sadly left my review post at the time incomplete in draft, let me start with this: Swedish soprano Malin Byström, who sang the part here in fall 2016, is the best, most perfect Donna Elvira I have ever heard, live or on record. Even with <i>the</i> Don Giovanni headlining the April run, the winter performances - which also are the debuts of German conductor Cornelius Meister, Russian soprano Aida Garifullina, and French tenor Stanislaus de Barbeyrac, along with the first significant part for 2013 Met Council winner Brandon Cedel - may therefore be preferable.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/fille-du-regiment-donizetti-tickets/">La Fille du Régiment</a><br />
<i>Yende, Blythe, Camarena, Corbelli / Mazzola</i> (February)<br />
<i>Yende, Blythe, Camarena, Muraro / Mazzola</i> (February-March)<br />
Good cast, silly production. Fun?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/rigoletto-verdi-tickets/">Rigoletto</a><br />
<i>Frontali, Sierra, Grigolo, Zaharia, Kocán / Luisotti</i> (February-March)<br />
<i>Frontali, Sierra, Hymel, Zaharia, Kocán / Luisotti</i> (March)<br />
<i>Gagnidze, <b>Feola</b>, Hymel, Zaharia, Ivashchenko / Luisotti</i> (April-May)<br />
I'm not sure there's an ideal lineup here, with Frontali maybe getting old for the part, Sierra not the best at playing innocent, and Hymel not really an Italianate lyric tenor. But with Nicola Luisotti in the pit for his third Verdi opera of the season, you should probably catch at least one of these... perhaps the spring performances with debuting Italian soprano Rosa Feola.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/falstaff-verdi-tickets/">Falstaff</a><br />
<i>Maestri, Schultz, Pérez, Cano, Lemieux, Demuro, Rodríguez / Farnes</i><br />
Everyone has turned over since the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/fall-and-rise.html">premiere of Carsen's glorious production</a> except Ambrogio Maestri and Jennifer Johnson Cano... but I don't doubt that it will triumph nonetheless. (How Carsen went from this to his <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2017/04/was-war-einmal.html">misguided Rosenkavalier</a>, who knows...)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/rheingold-wagner-tickets/">Das Rheingold</a><br />
<i>Grimsley, Harmer, Barton, Cargill, Ernst, Siegel, <b>Konieczny</b>, Groissböck, Belosselskiy / Jordan</i> (March)<br />
<i>Volle, Harmer, Barton, Cargill, Ernst, Siegel, Konieczny, Groissböck, Belosselskiy / Jordan</i> (cycles II and III)<br />
Last time Philippe Jordan was here, he was a thirty-something young "son of" conducting a <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2007/10/green-eggs-and-ham.html">disappointly disjointed</a> revival of Figaro. Now, over a decade later, he's the recently-appointed music director of the Vienna State Opera and taking over Ring duties. I have no idea how it's going to go, but the singing part seems in good hands. Much will depend - for the entire cycle - on revival stage director J. Knighten Smit, whose job is to fill in the huge holes left by Robert Lepage's utter lack of interest in personenregie.<br />
(Incidentally, Tomasz Konieczny - the Alberich for this revival, with Eric Owens having moved on to Hagen - was the emergency replacement John the Baptist for that <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2014/03/renewal.html">unforgettable 2014 Vienna Phil Salome</a> at Carnegie.)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/walkure-wagner-tickets/">Die Walküre</a><br />
<i>Goerke, Westbroek, Skelton, Barton, Grimsley, Groissböck / Jordan</i> (March-April)<br />
<i>Goerke, Westbroek, Skelton, Barton, Volle, Groissböck / Jordan</i> (cycles II and III)<br />
With Katerina Dalayman's <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/05/twilight.html">successes</a> from 2009 to 2013 the house has not lacked good Brünnhilde performances, but Christine Goerke's monstrously <i>easy</i>-sounding performance in Elektra (finally reaching the Met in a few weeks) and her notices with the Ring in Houston tease perhaps one of those epochal assumptions. Especially with Volle in the single-week cycles rest of the cast looks loaded at every part... so perhaps the uncertainty of conducting and directing (J. Knighten Smit is joined by Gina Lapinski for this installment) won't matter.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/clemenza-di-tito-mozart-tickets/">La Clemenza di Tito</a><br />
<i>Polenzani, Fang, van den Heever, DiDonato, Murrihy, Van Horn / Koenigs</i> (March-April)<br />
Every few years the house revives the Ponelle Clemenza. Every time it's an emotional-musical triumph, one of the glories of the season. And every time it's hideously undersold and barely noticed in the press. Perhaps DiDonato's name recognition can change the latter, as this looks something like an ideal cast (though <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2008/05/star-turn.html">2008's performance</a> - perhaps Susan Graham's finest moment here - could hardly be bettered).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/siegfried-wagner-tickets/">Siegfried</a><br />
<i>Vinke, Goerke, Morley, Cargill, Siegel, Volle, Konieczny, Belosselskiy / Jordan</i> (cycles I and III)<br />
<i>Schager, Goerke, Morley, Cargill, Siegel, Volle, Konieczny, Belosselskiy / Jordan</i> (cycle II)<br />
I've already mentioned the conductor, revival director (Stephen Pickover joins Smit here), the Brünnhilde, and Volle's Wotan/Wanderer, but Siegfried rises and falls on the tenor. Here two performances are by Stefan Vinke - apparently the Siegfried of choice at the big European houses - and one by Andreas Schager, <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2015/07/apollo.html">who impressed immensely as Apollo</a> in Strauss's Daphne in concert a few years back. Again, cause for much hope.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/gotterdammerung-wagner-tickets/">Götterdämmerung</a><br />
<i>Goerke, Schager, <b>Haller</b>, Connolly, Nikitin, Konieczny, Owens / Jordan</i> (cycles I and II)<br />
<i>Goerke, Vinke, Haller, Connolly, Nikitin, Konieczny, Owens / Jordan</i> (cycle III)<br />
Eric Owens moves, as mentioned before, from Alberich to Hagen, while the very promising Brünnhilde and Siegfrieds repeat from the third installment. J. Knighten Smit, revival director for all four installments, is here joined by Paula Williams for the most herculean of fix-up jobs. Here they have to struggle not only with Lapage's absurdly literal stage translation (which got weaker and weaker as the series progressed) but Wagner's least-polished, all-too-Meyerbeer libretto. But the principals - including debuting Italian Wagner soprano Edith Haller - seem strong, though Sarah Connolly is an odd choice for Waltraute.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2018-19-season/dialogues-des-carmelites-poulenc-tickets/">Dialogues des Carmélites</a><br />
<i>Leonard, Pieczonka, Morley, Cargill, Mattila, Portillo, Croft / Nézet-Séguin</i> (May)<br />
I think I just have to list the cast for the third of Nézet-Séguin's shows this season. Karita Mattila returns!JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-22591707623460135492017-12-04T20:11:00.000-05:002017-12-04T20:11:00.346-05:00So I heard<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2BWN851DlofNwoQ7gl3qPdu5jVBPbAxvuigl7X3_t3iGvxGW-FwQJqNux_EK1sJ_C0dXwqCUI-Y5-FnQNV6VrwwzpbWuguvySffCqdAvEYZFqAf81A5jDdSUDlBMVqVNU7TB/s1600/metletter.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2BWN851DlofNwoQ7gl3qPdu5jVBPbAxvuigl7X3_t3iGvxGW-FwQJqNux_EK1sJ_C0dXwqCUI-Y5-FnQNV6VrwwzpbWuguvySffCqdAvEYZFqAf81A5jDdSUDlBMVqVNU7TB/s320/metletter.JPG" width="320" height="308" data-original-width="668" data-original-height="643" /></a><br />
The world is coming to an end and we have to <a href="http://archive.is/L0Hu6">go full prog</a> before it's too late, or something.<br />
<br />
Or... <a href="http://archive.is/y7P0l" title="I'm as surprised as anyone that Lebrecht is talking sense.">maybe not</a>.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, I don't suppose Puccini <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-california.html">master</a> Nicola Luisotti could be brought in early (he's supposed to conduct Cav/Pag starting the week after) to take over <a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/tosca-puccini-tickets/">Tosca</a>?JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-76384889956041398092017-11-29T00:37:00.003-05:002017-11-29T00:45:19.152-05:00Fill in the blanks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6akxqWECb3MgVy3CCuInu6pzk6v4GzxgdnZWijUFHWkQhVqElH4q7DnKYpNTYU4DOk-5eVmo5ufyLrWkd4jtdmfK48WJn7d_eNohxAHI7oaI3CvsR5VmMgoJYu74Iv_Ix0XV/s1600/exter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6akxqWECb3MgVy3CCuInu6pzk6v4GzxgdnZWijUFHWkQhVqElH4q7DnKYpNTYU4DOk-5eVmo5ufyLrWkd4jtdmfK48WJn7d_eNohxAHI7oaI3CvsR5VmMgoJYu74Iv_Ix0XV/s320/exter.JPG" width="202" height="320" data-original-width="512" data-original-height="812" /></a></div><a href="http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2017-18/operas/exterminating_angel/programs/111417%20Angel.pdf">The Exterminating Angel</a> - Metropolitan Opera, 11/14/2017<br />
Kaiser, Echalaz, Luna, Coote, Matthews, Davies, Rice, Gilfry, Bevan, Portillo, Antoun, Moore, Burdette, Tomlinson, Van Horn / Adès<br />
<br />
<i>Previous reviews:<br />
<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-petty-zoo.html">Powder Her Face</a> (Ades's 1995 debut opera)<br />
<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-island.html">The Tempest</a> (his 2004 second opera)</i><br />
<br />
The wholly unexpected thing about this US premiere is not its success - Ades's previous show here was at least a succès d'estime - but that so much of this came from <i>reducing</i> his music's aesthetic scope and ambition. Philip Henscher asked (in Power Her Face) for a brash score highlighting the retro-modernist tropes of compulsion, lust, and moral emptiness, and Ades delivered terrifically... if nevertheless emptily. Meredith Oakes a decade later gave Ades a much grander thing - her cleverly condensed version of Shakespeare's humane masterpiece (The Tempest) - but the new demands were not much suited to the composer, whose engagement was less with the people and more with the inhuman island itself.<br />
<br />
A dozen years later Ades (who apparently picked the adaptation himself) and director/co-librettist Tom Cairns seem to have hit on the right vessel for Ades's aesthetic sensibility. This adaptation of Buñuel’s El Ángel Exterminador isn't as obviously low-nutrient as Powder Her Face, but it doesn't try for much more, either. Deeper human themes of desire, love, family, and death are quickly and suggestively touched on but just as quickly dropped; the action runs through the bare minimum of a story - people are trapped, then they are free - without offering cause, motivation, or even consequence; and all we get for overall significance is an undefined, vaguely menacing unease, again minimally anchored in the sound of the ondes Martenot and the big wood-grained central archway.<br />
<br />
There's something in the zeitgeist, I think, that makes audiences accept and even prefer fragmentary suggestions of meaning to the thing itself. (<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/12/being-angela-gheorghiu.html">Jonas Kaufmann's</a> <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-short-post-on-parsifal.html">characteristic style</a> - or rather the unhesitating acceptance thereof - is a notable performance-side example of this idiosyncrasy.) Perhaps it's resentment of a full-drawn story's (or phrase's) perfection - or of its imperfections - or just of its demand that you pay full attention to one specific course and meaning. Or perhaps a great many don't care about how it adds up as long as some authority assures them that it's a substantial sum. Whatever the cause, this current taste lets Ades check the boxes that were missing from his first effort without more-than-nominally pushing into unsuitable territory, while simultaneously letting the audience get the rush of appreciating contemporary art without having to engage with anything definite.<br />
<br />
What does that leave, then? Mostly the same fluent, luxuriant Bergian textures of his prior stuff... but even this has been pared back from the prior show. Apart from some brief, largely choral/orchestral passages, what we mostly get is modernist recitative, recalling both the sound and overall brittle dialogue of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/02/is-that-all-there-is.html">Lulu</a>'s social scenes. It's a nice listen, pleasing to the ear while not unduly stressing it. But Berg's posthumous masterpiece is not just its clever recits, and certainly not just its social satire: its unpunished crimes, sensual wallowing, and talky-talk are just the forward action in what turns out to be an enormous, tragic tapestry of choice and consequence. No tragic climax appears either in music or action here, nor much self-understanding either.<br />
<br />
Good, but not much. Is an opera by the more dramatically intent George Benjamin (whose <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-retro-moderns.html">Written on Skin</a> is being performed <a href="https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2017-2018/written-on-skin/">in Philly</a> this February before his new <a href="http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/lessons-in-love-and-violence-by-katie-mitchell">Lessons in Love and Violence</a> debuts at the Royal Opera in May) going to appear soon at the Met?<br />
<br />
<center>* * *</center><br />
The mixed Anglo-American cast all did their parts well, and much of the pleasure of this run was to their credit - though it's also to Ades's credit that he gave them music and musical context to show their gifts so well. I was particularly heartened to hear Tomlinson sounding not-at-all-finished at the age of 71.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-2231048979903060332017-10-24T15:31:00.000-04:002017-10-24T15:31:55.335-04:00Hoffmann's return<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiukB32VGSJsl_FSspQMuPboZWi_X-1iGzPlKFOv4ltQbMfOWBBirtKZIYbzsLhNVE1_y7iel7-7yUiO_SXgmv_aWLgu-Lw74dxp3ssWmiwhooVtNv_uU3COXKGIgY4NhfskbU/s1600/hoff.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiukB32VGSJsl_FSspQMuPboZWi_X-1iGzPlKFOv4ltQbMfOWBBirtKZIYbzsLhNVE1_y7iel7-7yUiO_SXgmv_aWLgu-Lw74dxp3ssWmiwhooVtNv_uU3COXKGIgY4NhfskbU/s320/hoff.JPG" width="194" height="320" data-original-width="544" data-original-height="898" /></a></div><a href="http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2017-18/operas/hoffmann/programs/100417%20Hoffmann.pdf">Les Contes D'Hoffmann</a> - Metropolitan Opera, 10/4/2017<br />
Grigolo, Erraught, Morley, Hartig, Volkova, Naouri, Mortagne / Debus<br />
<a href="http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2017-18/operas/hoffmann/programs/101817%20Hoffmann2.pdf">Les Contes D'Hoffmann</a> - Metropolitan Opera, 10/18/2017<br />
Kang, Chavet, Morley, Hartig, Volkova, Naouri, Mortagne / Debus<br />
<br />
<br />
If the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2017/10/what-we-do-in-shadows.html">new Norma</a> was less than the sum of its parts, this season's revival of Hoffmann is the opposite: a satisfying whole despite two (complementarily) imperfect casts. Satisfying to me, anyway. As I noted <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2004/12/taxonomy.html">an eternity ago</a>, others' attentions are drawn more to other things.<br />
<br />
The show would take a lot to fail given its foundation: production and conductor. The <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/12/hoffmann-after.html">Bart Sher staging</a> from 2009 has, as I more or less predicted, become a familiar classic, illuminating the lurid and wonderful turns of the story even when - as here - the interactions have become less crisp and one of the principals frankly can't act. (More on that below.) Similarly, though I missed his debut run in Salome last season, Johannes Debus seems to be a bit of a find. His macro tempo and dynamics choices are pretty standard, but the care and space given to each phrase add up to quite a lot over the course of each evening.<br />
<br />
<center>* * *</center><br />
The vocal star was the same for each lineup: Anita Hartig. The Romanian soprano was a disappointingly ordinary Susanna (though Fabio Luisi's detailed but emotionally weightless conducting didn't help) in a Figaro revival two seasons ago, but perhaps the vocal-emotional scale of the part was insufficient. Her Antonia - like her quick-vibrato sound, which seems a bit too pressured in the placid opening aria but expands gloriously as the act goes forward - becomes ever more electric as stakes and stresses increase. Limited by neither politesse nor scale of sound, Hartig renders Antonia's end more as tragic fulfillment than simple victimization. If there's a fault, it's that Hartig is so desperately sincere as Antonia that her Stella, at the end, seems wholly disconnected from these memories.<br />
<br />
Also impressive were Erin Morley - whose characteristically deliberate manner works pretty well for Olympia - and Laurent Naouri - not as vocally weighty as some of his predecessors as the villains but with a compelling style in his person and phrasing. Oksana Volkova sang Hoffmann's last love interest Giulietta well enough without making any particular impression... which is also how I'd describe Christophe Mortagne's account of the four servants.<br />
<br />
Those were the constants; Hoffmann and Nicklausse swapped for the alternate cast. Unfortunately, the better Hoffmann and better Nicklausse didn't sing together. Vittorio Grigolo - as in 2015 - is a significant plus, though not as much of one as his fame might suggest. There's an exciting quality to his midrange, and his relentless ardor brings something his successor here quite lacked. But while his phrasing is no longer just fragmentary chaos, the longer, legato-based lines aren't yet a whole; nor do more personalized sentiments than general happiness, unhappiness, or rage come through in his acting. So Hoffmann's outburst at the end of the prologue was terrific, but the rapt expressions of the poet in love aren't so rapt... and by the time Hoffmann's ardor has worn out and he's overcome by regret and despair there's almost nothing going on in Grigolo's portrayal.<br/>
<br/>
Fortunately, at this point, the production and Debus have matters pretty well in hand. Unfortunately, it's where the flaws of the main-cast Nicklausse are also pushed to the fore. Irish newcomer Tara Erraught sings well enough and has the scale of voice to sound effectively at the Met (though it's by no means thunderous or overwhelming). But she's also the big weak link in this otherwise excellent revival. Her stage presence fluctuates between null - there's no boyishness, and she simply skips much of the stage business with the villains that makes the Muse an interestingly ambiguous (though not actually malicious) figure in this production - and clumsy sitcom actress. Even if Kate Lindsey's near-definitive physical account (she created the part and was Grigolo's Nicklausse in 2015) can't be expected of everyone, the mezzo has to show <i>some</i> thread of Nicklausse's journey as the over-watching Muse... or at least not work against its expression. Karine Deshayes, one of the other 2015 Nicklausse singers, offered a much better trade of voice for character, providing both a more luxuriant sound than Erraught and fewer off-putting tics.<br/>
<br/>
The alternate Nicklausse this time, Geraldine Chavet, gave a performance very much in the Lindsey vein. In fact the stage business and manner was pretty much an exact reproduction of the 2009 premiere, suggesting that Erraught's elisions weren't the revival director's fault. Chavet also, unfortunately, had Lindsey's vocal-scale limitations - the sound is <i>this close</i> to too small for an effective lead singer here - and though she did pretty well with it most of the evening, Chavet really seemed to misjudge the necessary volume/force for her solo at the start of the Venice act and left that pretty much inaudible. Still, her Nicklausse over the course of the evening allowed the story to unfold much more interestingly than Erraught's did.<br/>
<br/>
Yosep Kang, who made his house debut on the 18th, was unfortunately not so good as the alternate Hoffmann. He did sing the notes, but his fragmented, legato-deficient phrasing was actually worse than Grigolo's at the time of his <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/10/mimi-and-dwarfs.html">inauspicious debut</a> (he's improved a lot since) and suggested nothing so much as Jonas Kaufmann minus the latter's grand scale, unmistakeable dark timbre, and compelling energy. It was actually the latter that hurt this revival the most: without the ardent energy Grigolo and other Hoffmanns brought to the part the tension deflates except during the heroines' actual scenes. Kang did improve for the last part of the show, but even with Grigolo's imperfection there the balance was still much in the Italian's favor.<br/>
<br/>
I'm sure there are parts that will better suit Erraught, but this version of her gives little to anticipate in possible future bookings here. Hartig, on the other hand, is sufficiently interesting that I'll probably go to one of her Bohemes next month.<br/>JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-66298600785218739572017-10-09T19:50:00.000-04:002017-10-09T19:50:06.156-04:00What we do in the shadows<a href="http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2017-18/operas/norma/programs/092517%20Norma.pdf">Norma</a> - Metropolitan Opera, 9/25 and 10/3/2017<br />
Radvanovsky, DiDonato, Calleja, Rose, Bradley, Diegel / Rizzi<br />
<br />
Perhaps it looked good via cinema, but David McVicar's new production of Norma was, in the house, a prime example of less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts, an overall framework that turned what could have been a landmark event into a somewhat deflating disappointment. It's not all bad. The production itself has numerous excellent touches, not least the moonlit rite that introduces Norma and "Casta Diva". But the relentlessly narrow range of visual contrast and definition - moonlight to firelight, with the leads all dressed in dark shapeless outfits after that first ritual - obscures to the minds as much as to the eyes of the audience the individual subjectivity that should, as the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/02/last-modernist.html">defining feature</a> of romantic opera - burn in glorious intensity throughout.<br />
<br />
It seemed, oddly, designed for routine revival - to obscure the physically inert, perhaps unshapely singers likely to fill this show in the future (indeed, as soon as December). But to hide Sondra Radvanovsky and Joyce DiDonato - whose arresting stage presences have been as notable as their virtuosity - in an endless gloom without even spotlights deflates the show in person as surely as bad sound compression seems to have deflated the moviecast. (Anyone brought to the house by the striking photos of the leads in the posters plastered around the city is likely to have been disappointed.)<br />
<br />
I'm honestly not sure whether the singing got better from opening night to last Tuesday or whether I tried more just to listen rather than take in the compromised dramatic whole. More on that after Wednesday. Going forward, I suppose that as Paule Constable is also lighting the new Cosi, we should be worried about that... though in this case it's surely McVicar's over-fondness for a "realistic" production texture (which previously weighed down his <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/11/becoming-who-they-are.html">Anna Bolena</a> that's most responsible.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-50353096349603455922017-09-25T16:21:00.000-04:002017-09-25T16:21:05.254-04:00RecognitionWho would have thought four years ago, as the house opened to the general director's famous favorites <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-blank-page.html">making dull nonsense</a> of a Pushkin-Tchaikovsky masterpiece that the unbroadcast, unhyped revival later that first week would be <br />
<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-fire.html">such a triumph</a> as to demand a return in better clothes and with better secondary cast? (Unfortunately the conductor is no longer Riccardo Frizza but the workmanlike Carlo Rizzi.)<br />
<br />
Yet here we are. About a decade after the rumor that Gelb was/wanted to drop non-Fleming Americans circulated (and though they weren't dropped, neither has his interest in importing chilly Europeans), Sondra Radvanovsky - an American whose name recognition <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2005/03/first-impressions.html">has lagged</a> her vocal-artistic significance - is headlining opening night at the Met.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-23389720057830786012017-04-19T19:50:00.000-04:002017-04-19T19:50:22.539-04:00Was war einmal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2JfA7YZGxABx_577JrPlmlLSoftFDA4ZA-Pz4IO0qNIybQRAIcr_Dn8J237LTdxomG6L6lU18rwQYWDyI2LL1bGz-WBFMtr1PQMPfvrtcs8nUzLQ5scKlUXm3-_2OKMf6nHD/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2JfA7YZGxABx_577JrPlmlLSoftFDA4ZA-Pz4IO0qNIybQRAIcr_Dn8J237LTdxomG6L6lU18rwQYWDyI2LL1bGz-WBFMtr1PQMPfvrtcs8nUzLQ5scKlUXm3-_2OKMf6nHD/s320/Capture.JPG" width="225" height="320" /></a></div><b>Der Rosenkavalier</b> - Metropolitan Opera, <a href="http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2016-17/operas/der_rosenkavalier/programs/041317%20Rosenkavalier.pdf">4/13/2017</a><br />
Garanča, Fleming, Groissböck, Morley, Polenzani, Brück / Weigle<br />
<br />
Robert Carsen and his production colleagues for this new staging of Rosenkavalier were, on this first night, greeted with a mix of boos (which, unlike some previous directors, he took with grace) and bravos. Both partisans were more or less in the right - more's the pity, as Carsen's prior Met efforts (Onegin and <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/fall-and-rise.html">Falstaff</a>) were unqualified triumphs.<br />
<br />
<center>* * *</center><br />
The musical side was, if not quite a triumph, certainly a success. Renee Fleming basically reprises <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/10/marie-theres.html">her 2009 interpretation</a>, which eased my worry that the most publicized Marschallin of her day would never actually give an outstanding performance. Nor, as one might have feared after Merry Widow, has her voice noticeably diminished in this role: though, as with many lyric sopranos in Strauss, the lower end of her part sometimes has difficulty being heard, Fleming still has the breath and lyric beauty for the Marschallin's role, which her sound was probably too fat for at the beginning of the century in any case.<br />
<br />
The rest of the cast seems well-chosen to complement its central figure - Elīna Garanča (Octavian), Günther Groissböck (Ochs), and Erin Morley (Sophie) all succeed from panache, characterization, and well-shaped singing rather than any overwhelming depth or beauty of sound. And all <i>do</i> succeed, though only Groissböck's vigor of person (weakish low notes notwithstanding) really stands out among recently-seen alternatives. Best for pure ardent vocalism was Matthew Polenzani as the Italian Singer.<br />
<br />
Sebastian Weigle, who just came off a successful run in the Met's Fidelio revival, does well with the bigger shapes and transitions of the work (and doesn't make any huge misjudgements like de Waart's super-slow final trio in 2009), but the actual sound he gets from the orchestra is a bit coarse, less satisfying than what we heard in Fidelio.<br />
<br />
<center>* * *</center><br />
Carsen's production is built around a visual symmetry similar to that in his Falstaff, where the images from the first scenes reappear, transformed, in reverse order around the central scene. The elaborate scene-by-scene mirroring in that show brought to mind the palindromic construction of Berg's Lulu. <i>This</i> show's symmetry is less complex - with one set per act, the last simply echoes the first - but it suggests Berg's 1930s masterpiece even more strongly, both in its progression from high to low and its concomitant introduction of modernist tropes. And therein lies the problem.<br />
<br />
Notwithstanding the transposition to 1911 (the year of composition), the first act in this show is quite faithful to Strauss and Hofmannsthal's creation. Of the two major purposes of moving the staging forward in time - recounting the original story in a context more familiar to the audience and adding/substituting new story elements - the change here serves the former, providing mostly just different clothes and hairstyles for those onstage. The furniture and decor look back to the past, the personenregie would suit pretty much any production ever, and the only distinctive bit of staging is a lowering of lights into a spotlight on the Italian Singer - with the servants and visitors listening, rapt (recalling the Ivor Novello piano scene from Gosford Park) - as he sings his first verse. A nice touch, though the asymmetry it creates with the more plainly staged second verse is a bit jarring.<br />
<br />
The second act introduces the first significant changes. Faninal's home, modeled (per the program interview) on the relatively stark early modernism of the <a href="http://architectuul.com/architecture/loos-haus-vienna">Looshaus</a>, is a huge shift not only for its hard, unornamented black-and-white surfaces but for the big artillery piece that begins in and later (on Ochs's servants' disruption) returns to the stage's center. Faninal delivers his initial words to Sophie while leading a shooting-party of his rich friends across the stage, while he later passes out rifles to Ochs's retinue.<br />
<br />
The germ of this stuff <i>is</i> in the text: Ochs mentions in the first act that Faninal made his fortune in the arms business. But Hofmannsthal's story <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/10/marie-theres.html">is about</a> the social subordination of real wealth and real power, not its ascendance, and this architectural flaunting of a new aesthetic (vs just new <i>money</i>) does not fit. Again, however, the personal direction of the main characters is as appropriate as ever, with Erin Morley's wholly sincere Sophie as sympathetic as <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-doe.html">in 2013</a>. So - boos for its initial stage-picture notwithstanding - the real jarring change is the invocation of actual war in the act's second half. The doctor tending Ochs's small wound isn't comic but in full white surgical garb (with mask) and accompanied by similarly-clad assistants and a gurney, while the Ochs entourage mimics, during their threats to the offstage Octavian, crawling through a trench.<br />
<br />
After these visuals, the particular degraded mirroring of the first-act set we get in the final act isn't a huge surprise. The imperial/aristocratic portraits that decorated the Marschallin's boudoir have become painted nudes in a cross-dressing proprietor's brothel - which transform, in the scare-the-Baron segments, into glass windows showcasing strippers. We are clearly past the bounds of not only 1740's Vienna but also 1911's.<br />
<br />
Now it's true that the unfamiliar trappings of 1740s-ish productions rarely convey the sense of seediness that drives Faninal's outraged reaction and make an even more dramatic contrast for the Marschallin's surprise entry, and so again one might consider this an exaggerated rendition of a point actually in the text. Not so much the other changes in the last act. First, instead of Octavian (as "Mariandel") dodging Ochs's advances, here Mariandel is the aggressor, pawing and dry-humping (and trying to fellate) Ochs as he squirms uncomfortably. Though clever and seemingly in tune with the zeitgeist, having Octavian even the score with Ochs in this way - by making him the object of another's unwelcome desire rather than by leading on his own - breaks not only the characters' arcs and the "Viennese masquerade" flavor of the segment but the crucial symmetry of the opera. For Octavian/Mariandel puts off Ochs with a travesty of the melancholy sentiments with which the Marschallin pushed <i>him</i> off, a reversal that prepares Octavian (Ochs, as the comic foil, leaves the stage just as he entered at the show's start) for his transformation and reconciliation within the climactic trio.<br />
<br />
The one really indefensible change is left for the end. After the sex show hijinks, we again return to normalcy with a straightforward staging of the Marschallin-Ochs confrontation, his exit, and the lead-in to the trio. It's here that the high-to-low motion of the opera's action reverses course, as the Marschallin clears away plotting and counter-plotting with firmness and generosity. We hear it in the music, too, as the broad ditty of refusal with which "Mariandel" starts putting off Ochs ("Nein, nein, nein, nein, I trink' kein Wein") reappears, transformed, as the sublime opening to the musical-emotional climax of the piece ("Hab' mir 's gelobt"). But we <i>don't</i> see it in Carsen's staging: after the Marschallin leaves the young couple (incidentally, having her make eyes here at the Commissioner on the way out is another too-clever exaggeration of a hint in the text) to bring Sophie's father, they sing the final duet while making out on the brothel bed. When she and Faninal return, the young couple do not follow them out after the duet's second verse for the social triumph the Marschallin has planned - Faninal getting to parade an even more desirable engagement and the great lady's favor in a ride through Vienna - but continue to make out (with little apparent regard for hygiene) until the scene splits to show the oncoming Great War. We close not with betrothal and social resilience but fornication and violence - the compulsion-driven modernist world of, say, Lulu.<br />
<br />
<center>* * *</center><br />
The problem here is that Der Rosenkavalier is not <i>naively</i> historical - the product of some undereducated, less-than-wholly-self-aware savant(s) - but is, in fact, a more profound reaction to its context than any historicizing revision could be. If anyone could sense the end of the old world coming, it was Hofmannsthal and Harry Graf Kessler (later a player in Weimar Republic politics). But what they and Strauss shaped from this was not some invocation of the stark future - even Hofmannsthal's later <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/high-and-low.html">wartime opera</a> embraces the world in a way quite far from modernist - but a dream of what has been, an apologia for the aristocratic era of Europe so vivid and poetically truthful as to outlive not only the war that ended that era in real life but the modernist aesthetic that the war and its successor catapulted to preeminence.<br />
<br />
Der Rosenkavalier has survived because it distills a social and cultural order from within, on its own idealized terms. War (the Ottomans, we might remember, were at Vienna's gates just three generations before the 1740s), lust, the disreputable and desperate: these things exist in the opera's world and text but only as contrast, not as the significant matter. Also, of course, present is the all-destroying passage of time... but the opera, unlike this production, is not a slave to that. At this staging's curtain we are, I presume, supposed to react in shock and resentment at the breaking of the peace, but the Marschallin's words and the very existence of the opera teach us otherwise. Our losses to time are neither complete nor completely permanent. And <i>how</i> we bear our losses... Well, it should be more graceful than this.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-55070059864384580302017-02-15T17:49:00.002-05:002017-02-15T19:36:27.304-05:00The 2017-18 Met season announcement, annotatedProductions are in order; bold indicates a debut; I may have omitted some one-off cast combos. On the whole: as exciting as this season is weak.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/norma-bellini-tickets/">Norma</a> (new David McVicar production)<br />
<i>Radvanovsky, DiDonato, Calleja, Rose / Rizzi</i> (September-October)<br />
<i>Rebeka, DiDonato, Calleja, Rose / Rizzi</i> (October)<br />
<i>Meade, Barton, Calleja, Rose / Colaneri</i> (December)<br />
Having middling '90s throwback Carlo Rizzi in the pit instead of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-fire.html">the 2013 revival's Riccardo Frizza</a> is about the only less-than-thrilling element of this opener. Three premiere principals who've proved not only star-quality sound but bel canto mastery, interesting alternate ladies afterwards... And David McVicar is not only an <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-rivals.html">brilliant director</a> but one who has done great things with Sondra Radvanovsky particularly, from <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/02/sleep-of-reason.html">2009's Trovatore</a> to 2016's Donizetti queens.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/hoffmann-offenbach-tickets/">Les Contes d’Hoffmann</a><br />
<i>Grigolo, Morley, Hartig, Volkova, <b>Erraught</b>, Naouri, Mortagne / Debus</i> (September-October)<br />
I rather liked Grigolo in this season's Romeo, but <i><a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/12/hoffmann-after.html">this</a></i> Bart Sher show requires him to sustain a character for longer stretches than the Gounod opera, making his choppy sense of phrase more of a liability. Still, there are enough elements that could go well (including new-to-the-house Irish mezzo Tara Erraught as Niklausse) on top of an excellent production.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/zauberflote-mozart-tickets/">Die Zauberflöte</a><br />
<i><b>Schultz</b>, Lewek, Castronovo, Werba, Van Horn, Kehrer / Levine</i> (September-October)<br />
<i>Müller, Lewek, Castronovo, Gunn, Walker, Kehrer / de Waart</i> (November-December, <a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/magic-flute-holiday-mozart-tickets/">family version in English</a>)<br />
The conductors should make both the regular and "family" versions work. Besides returning names (including Kathryn Lewek, the best Queen of the Night I've ever heard), South African (by way of Juilliard) soprano Golda Shultz's debut as Pamina should be interesting. Incidentally, Rene Pape is scheduled for one performance of Sarastro on October 14.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/boheme-puccini-tickets/">La Boheme</a><br />
<i>Blue, Kele, Popov/Borras/Thomas, Meachem/Simpson, <b>Rock</b>, Soar/Rose, Plishka / <b>Soddy</b></i> (October)<br />
<i>Hartig, Kele, Thomas, Meachem, Rock, Rose, Pliskha / Soddy</i> (November)<br />
<i>Yoncheva, Phillips, Fabiano, Lavrov, Rose, Plishka / Armiliato</i> (February-March)<br />
Some new faces debuting in this eternal Zeffirelli production, most notably Oxonian conductor Alexander Soddy and American soprano Angel Blue. But the surest bet is the last cast, with young Americans Susanna Phillips and Michael Fabiano in roles they've made their own.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/turandot-puccini-tickets/">Turandot</a><br />
<i>Dyka, Agresta, Alvarez, Morris / Rizzi</i> (October-November)<br />
<i>Serafin, Yu, Alvarez, Tsymbalyuk / Armiliato</i> (March-April)<br />
Some unexpected casting choices here. Oksana Dyka, decent but somewhat faceless in this season's Jenufa, at least has done Tosca and Aida here before. The alternate Turandot, Martina Serafin, was last seen here as <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-doe.html">an enchantingly responsive Marschallin</a>! Since then she's taken on the really big parts, though not at the Met: Abigaille, Brünnhilde, Lady Macbeth, and Turandot. Could go well... or not. Hei-Kyung Hong reprises one of her signature roles once with each cast.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/exterminating-angel-ades-tickets/">The Exterminating Angel</a> (new Tom Cairns production)<br />
<i>Luna, Echalaz, <b>Matthews</b>, Bevan, Coote, Rice, Davies, Kaiser, <b>Antoun</b>, Portillo, <b>Moore</b>, Gilfry, Burdette, Van Horn, Tomlinson / Adès </i> (October-November)<br />
The two <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-petty-zoo.html">prior</a> <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-island.html">operas</a> of Thomas Adès have not lacked good music nor good libretti: it's the combination of these into an interesting, human opera that hasn't quite come off. Perhaps a show based on a Luis Buñuel movie (and directed by the librettist) will do the trick. There is, in any case, an impressive lineup of British and American vocal talent involved.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/madama-butterfly-puccini-tickets/">Madama Butterfly</a><br />
<i>He, Zifchak, Aronica, Bizic / <b>Bignamini</b></i> (November)<br />
<i>Jaho, Zifchak, Aronica/<b>Chapa</b>, Frontali / Armiliato </i> (February-March)<br />
So after doing one emergency sub performance (for Ruth Ann Swenson in Traviata) at the Met in 2008, Ermonela Jaho never appears here again... until a decade later, when she headlines a revival of Butterfly. The fall run brings new Italian conductor Jader Bignamini.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/thais-massenet-tickets/">Thaïs</a><br />
<i>Pérez, Borras, Finley / Villaume</i> (November-December)<br />
Ailyn Pérez, an outstanding Mimi this season, takes a full-on star vehicle opposite Gerald Finley. They don't quite have the name recognition of Renee Fleming and Thomas Hampson, for whom <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2008/12/thas.html">this show</a> was made, but this could be one of the stealth successes of the season.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/requiem-verdi-tickets/">Requiem</a><br />
<i>Stoyanova, Semenchuk, Antonenko, Furlanetto / Levine</i> (November-December)<br />
I don't recall recurring concert performances scheduled as part of the season before, but if any plotless piece could work this way, it's Verdi's famously <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/10/deliver-me.html">dramatic-operatic</a> Requiem. These shows will be almost a generation after the April 29, 2001 performance at Carnegie that everyone who attended will still wax on about (shouldn't the Met or Carnegie release a recording of this at some point?). Levine then had Renee Fleming, Olga Borodina, Marcelo Giordani, and Rene Pape at or near the height of their powers (though Giordani was a bit of a weak link, and I'd like to have heard how Ramon Vargas did in a similar performance on the Met's Japanese tour). Here it looks like Aleksandrs Antonenko will be an upgrade at tenor, but mezzo Ekaterina Semenchuk - another singer not seen at the house for a while - is an odd choice, not having impressed in her appearances so far.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/nozze-di-figaro-mozart-tickets/">Le Nozze di Figaro</a><br />
<i>Plachetka, <b>Karg</b>, Willis-Sørensen, Pisaroni, Malfi / Bicket</i> (December)<br />
<i>Abdrazakov, Sierra, Yoncheva, Kwiecien, Leonard / Bicket</i> (December-January)<br />
The names in the latter cast may be more recognizable, but I suspect the former (with debuting German soprano Christiane Karg as Susanna) may provide more of Mozart's ensemble glory.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/merry-widow-lehar-tickets/">The Merry Widow</a><br />
<i>Graham, Groves, Chuchman, Portillo, Allen / <b>Stare</b></i> (December)<br />
<i>Graham, Groves, Chuchman, Stayton, Allen / Stare</i> (December-January)<br />
Not a bad cast for the most cast-proof show the Met has debuted in decades. Who knew that comic timing drives comedies? Young American conductor Ward Stare debuts in the pit.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/hansel-and-gretel-humperdinck-tickets/">Hansel and Gretel</a> (family version in English)<br />
<i>Oropesa, Erraught, Zajick, Siegel, Kelsey / Runnicles</i> (December-January)<br />
<i><b>McKay</b>, Gillebo, Zajick, Siegel, Croft / Runnicles</i> (December 28)<br />
Good casting for a kids' piece.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/tosca-puccini-tickets/">Tosca</a> (new David McVicar production)<br />
<i>Opolais, Kaufmann, Terfel / Nelsons</i> (NYE-January)<br />
<i>Netrebko, Alvarez, Volle / de Billy</i> (April-May)<br />
<i>Netrebko, Alvarez, Gagnidze / de Billy</i> (May)<br />
I believe Sondra Radvanovsky was originally supposed to headline this new production, which attempts to wash away the much-hated <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2009/09/awful-truth.html">Luc Bondy version of 2009</a>. Instead we get Kristine Opolais, the least interesting part of both <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">Richard Eyre's wretchedly bad Manon Lescaut</a> and Mary Zimmerman's otherwise-brilliant Rusalka. (She <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/04/two-puccinis.html">has succeeded in more direct Puccini</a>, though.) But perhaps it doesn't matter - except as a what-if - when <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/04/bryn-terfel-superstar.html">Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel</a> have shown themselves of carrying this piece on their own. And though she has less male star power, I think Tosca might be a very good part for Anna Netrebko.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/cav-pag-tickets/">Cav/Pag</a><br />
<i>Semenchuk, Alagna, Lučić; Kurzak, Alagna, Gagnidze, Arduini / Luisotti</i> (January)<br />
<i>Westbroek, Alagna, Lučić; Kurzak, Alagna, Gagnidze, Arduini / Luisotti</i> (January-February)<br />
I'm not sure whether the Alagna who shows up will be the no-voice one of the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">Manon Lescaut premiere</a> or the respectable-sounding and insightful one of the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/04/two-puccinis.html">end of that run and Butterfly</a>, but his inconsistency has been characteristic since the beginning of his international career. McVicar's rendering of the double-bill <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-rivals.html">is outstanding</a>, and San Francisco's Nicola Luisotti has <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-california.html">done magical things</a> in his too-rare Met appearances.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/elisir-donizetti-tickets/">L’Elisir d’Amore</a><br />
<i>Yende, Polenzani, Luciano, D'Arcangelo / <b>Hindoyan</b></i> (January-February)<br />
Both Yende and Polenzani have an emotional transparency that should work excellently in this piece.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/trovatore-verdi-tickets/">Il Trovatore</a><br />
<i>Lee, Agresta, Rachvelishvili, Kelsey, Kocán / Levine</i> (January-February)<br />
<i>Lee, Agresta, Rachvelishvili, Salsi, Youn / Levine</i> (February)<br />
Anita Rachvelishvili moves up a vocal weight class with her first Met Azucenas (she did her first performances of the part recently in London), opposite two baritones moving up from Marcello to Di Luna. But with outstanding Korean spinto Yonghoon Lee in the title role and Levine in the pit, this is yet another promising staple.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/parsifal-wagner-tickets/">Parsifal</a><br />
<i>Vogt, Herlitzius, Mattei, Nikitin, Pape / Nézet-Séguin</i> (February)<br />
The most significant revival of the season. Yannick Nézet-Séguin will go from "Music Director Designate" to the actual thing in 2020, but he's debuting German repertory cornerstones until then. This spring it's Flying Dutchman, but next year he'll lead the first revival of the most significant and successful Met Wagner production in a long, long time: <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2013/03/last-trip-to-monsalvat.html">Francois Girard's 2013 Parsifal</a>. (Not least in that success was Daniele Gatti's intensely concentrated conducting, so there's a lot to live up to there.) He has the low-voiced end of the original cast, with Peter Mattei's Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin's Klingsor, and René Pape's Gurnemanz all returning. The new parts of the cast are significant as well: dramatic soprano Evelyn Herlitzius finally makes her Met debut as Kundry, and Klaus Florian Vogt returns to Wagner a dozen years after making the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2006/05/more.html">most stunning</a> - and most stunningly ignored - Met debut of our era as Lohengrin. (Vogt does return to the Met before this, in next month's Fidelio.)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/semiramide-rossini-tickets/">Semiramide</a><br />
<i>Meade, DeShong, Camarena, Abdrazakov, Green / Benini</i> (February-March)<br />
Good cast for a Rossini rarity. After her scheduled performances of Italiana this season went to debuting Italian mezzo Marianna Pizzolato, I do wonder whether Elizabeth DeShong will in fact sing these performances as Arsace.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/elektra-strauss-tickets/">Elektra</a><br />
<i>Goerke, van den Heever, <b>Schuster</b>, Morris, Petrenko / Nézet-Séguin</i> (March)<br />
Christine Goerke's titanic concert performance of this early Strauss opera with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony (October 2016 at Carnegie) dwarfed the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/04/elektra-comedy-for-music.html">dull, homogenized new Met version</a> last season. The change from Salonen's civilizing version to Yannick Nézet-Séguin's characteristic visceral style should do much, and Goerke's ability to sing through the cacophonic title part <i>lyrically</i> can't be missed, but full success may require a revival stage director unafraid to depart from Chereau's drab vision.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/cosi-fan-tutte-mozart-tickets/">Così fan tutte</a> (new Phelim McDermott production)<br />
<i>Majeski, Malfi, O'Hara, Bliss, Plachetka, Maltman / Robertson</i> (March-<br />
Though the cast looks good and the visuals interesting, David Robertson was responsible for the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/10/you-blew-it-up.html">worst-conducted night of Mozart</a> I've ever heard at the Met, so I'll wait and see. The production is new to the Met but already debuted at ENO.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/lucia-donizetti-tickets/">Lucia di Lammermoor</a><br />
<i>Peretyatko, Grigolo, Cavalletti, Kowaljow / Abbado</i> (March-April)<br />
<i>Pratt, Grigolo, Cavalletti/Salsi, Kowaljow / Abbado</i> (April)<br />
<i>Yende, Fabiano, Kelsey, Vinogradov / Abbado</i> (April-May)<br />
I was listening to Pretty Yende last night in Puritani, thinking that the Met should hire her for Lucia... and here we go. She gets the better Edgardo in Michael Fabiano as well: the role depends far too much on line and phrase to expect much on the whole from Vittorio Grigolo (though the Italian will surely deliver exciting high notes).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/luisa-miller-verdi-tickets/">Luisa Miller</a><br />
<i>Yoncheva, Beczala, Domingo, Petrova, Vinogradov, Belosselskiy / Levine</i> (March-April)<br />
Sonya Yoncheva's manner is a bit on the chilly side to get all the pathos of the title part's great duets, but the men involved should make much of this early Verdi.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/cendrillon-massenet-tickets/">Cendrillon</a> (new Laurent Pelly production)<br />
<i>DiDonato, Kim, Coote, Blythe, Naouri / de Billy</i> (April-May)<br />
So, we're officially in the part of Joyce DiDonato's career when she makes big houses put on silly shows. Good cast, seems charming enough, and though Laurent Pelly (<a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2008/04/son-in-law.html">Fille</a>, <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/04/men-in-black.html">Manon</a>) hasn't done a really good production here, he hasn't made any terrible ones either.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/romeo-et-juliette-gounod-tickets/">Roméo et Juliette</a><br />
<i>Hymel, Pérez, Deshayes, Hopkins, Youn / Domingo</i> (April-May)<br />
Interesting cast, very good production, but Domingo in the pit is a deal-breaker. If you have the itch, just see Yende and Costello next month (which has many fewer good alternative options than spring 2018).JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-72205634496249661932016-12-09T18:00:00.000-05:002016-12-09T18:00:00.147-05:00Shiny and chromeTristan und Isolde - Metropolitan Opera, 10/13/2016<br />
Skelton, Stemme, Gubanova, Wittmoser, Pape, Cooper / Rattle<br />
<br />
To be fair from the beginning: if one is to set a <i>single</i> part of this opera properly, it's probably best that it be the closing Liebestod, here rendered with an effective spotlighting of Isolde that was the main absence in the Dieter Dorn production that preceded this one. But the rest of Mariusz Trelinski's show is marred by precisely the opposite aesthetic: an overload of clutter that futhers the show's conceit but gets in the way of actual Wagnerian content. Too bad, since the musical side was quite good.<br />
<br />
While the Ring, for example, was the product of many years and aesthetic impulses and looks it, Tristan is all of a piece. Romantic <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/04/eden.html">subjectivity</a> and its <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2011/04/oh-to-live-in-paris.html">conflict</a> with more organized existence without are embodied to what was quickly recognized as an ultimate extent: in fact they're turned by Wagner into the organizing poles of the opera's music and story. At the beginning the order, obligation, and achieved peace of the public world is ascendant - though about to be tested by the dark star of Tristan and Isolde's <i>original</i> meeting (likely what is depicted by the prelude's initial bars), where she first chose personal connection over duty - but by the end the disorderly claims of their private selves have brought those all to ruin. This conflict of duty/necessity and love/self is of course a (<i>the</i>?) staple of Romantic opera. But where other operas characterize this rejection of public for private reality as pathetic - if compelling - madness, this one takes it seriously as an alternate perspective, one that grows to envelop audience and characters to the point where it's acknowledged, near the end, by the wronged King Marke himself.<br />
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Trelinski and his designers are at their best in the first act: here the conceit - a transposition of the action to a modern naval vessel - gives them room to elaborate impressively on the civilian order of Isolde's well-appointed suite and the harsher military order of the bowels and bridge. The realistic (if anachronistic) detail - unusual in the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2012/10/met-season-preview-part-3-life-without.html">Gelb era</a> - gives more weight and texture to the public world than productions of Tristan usually provide.<br />
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Where Trelinski's show fails is in presenting the other side - "das Wunderreich der Nacht" to which the couple commit themselves in the central love duet. Instead of setting out this second pole of the action, Act II of the production stays doggedly the ship (or is it another ship, belonging to Marke? - who knows). The lovers rendezvous on some sort of glass-paneled control deck and sing their duet in the bowels of the ship, apparently in a hazardous waste storage area. The pile-up of detail doesn't recede at all even at this peak of their solipsistic embrace, and the very simple visual that would have done this (put the stage in darkness except for the singers) is only brought out later on, when Tristan asks Isolde to follow him to this night-land - but only to cast this dialogue as hallucination, Isolde already having been escorted off the ship. By Act III we've at least gotten off the ship ourselves, but the projections continue to insist on the conceit with a recurring sonar/radar display... that fails even to pay off with a climactic blip when Isolde's ship arrives.<br />
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One could try coaxing out from all this some deep critique of romantic subjectivity, but it seems to me that a simpler explanation is best: Trelinski just isn't interested in it. He <i>is</i> interested in - and delivers - striking, slick, contemporary, and expensive-looking visuals. The inner story - as in last season's double-bill of Iolanta and Bluebeard's Castle - seems not at all to be registered in its actual sense, and is therefore misunderstood into the movie-drama terms that generate more high-conflict situations and visuals.<br />
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(And so Trelinski, last season, turned Bartok and Balazs's melancholy masterpiece - which transforms the Bluebeard story, as Dukas and Maeterlinck <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2005/10/triumph-of-ariane.html">less felicitously</a> did before him, to explore the classic postromantic theme of <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/guilty.html">human distance</a>, specifically here the limits of intimacy, possession, and (Judith's!) jealousy - into an abominably imperceptive horror flick. I'm not sure which was worse, the nonsensical nature of this take or its uncritical reception.)<br />
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But the history of directors being engaged and re-engaged during Gelb's tenure suggests that Trelinski was hired simply on the basis of visual interest, with success (e.g. Minghella's now <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2006/11/puppets.html">decade-old</a> <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-rest-for-giordani.html">Butterfly</a>) or utter failure (e.g. the Lepage Ring) in capturing the human threads of the opera irrelevant unless the latter (as with that Ring) results in bad publicity and discontent. This show should have had that effect, but perhaps didn't.<br />
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<center>* * *</center><br />
The reason was the musical performance: not the <i>best</i> Tristan of the last few decades in any single aspect, but lacking particular weaknesses either. Stuart Skelton, debuting in this run, was the biggest surprise, with a pleasing clear (for a heldentenor) sound that stood up reasonably well through the rigors of the part. Phrasing and interpretation were a bit square, so it was left to Rattle and soprano Nina Stemme (much better supported here than in the <a href="https://auv.blogspot.com/2016/04/elektra-comedy-for-music.html">misguided Elektra</a> of the spring) to convey most of the sentiment of the show. This they did well, with Stemme (voice unflagging) capping the night by with her own rapt success amidst the only successful part of the production.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-7749612168062532162016-06-13T16:13:00.000-04:002016-06-13T16:15:56.659-04:00The festival<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM46r-nFMkCL1seoh2Ht7muum5VZFNdXw98SLtF2Zy1e3gEQHKNH8a_D8WpV8ez-beHSElvIr1FWg8VhBrD87K-U9hnDaNG7_YxiJwDeUPQr9kCayySsK4_ft3pJf81qXhYwuP/" alt="" width="640" height="280">Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Glyndebourne Festival, 6/11/2016<br />
Finley, Majeski, Hipp, Schade, Portillo, Kupfer, Miles / Güttler<br />
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After the audience's heartfelt 90th-birthday rendition of "God Save the Queen", when the curtain went up on the charming early-19th-century dress of the first scene's churchgoers, I began to hope that (Dürer painting notwithstanding) David McVicar had dared a grand bit of appropriation for Glyndebourne's first Meistersinger production (premiered five years back), moving the characters if not all the action across the Channel to Regency England. And why not? For the opera holds its central place neither for historical specificity nor historical influence, but for Wagner's <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-brief.html">final-act enactment</a> of the festival ideal: a rightness covering all visible creation in that meadow, born of private harmony, art, and the public's recognition and celebration of those things and itself. If Glyndebourne has approached this glory it should be willing to hint at it... though perhaps that's my particularly American opinion.<br />
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In any case, after the tea-drinking of the Masters during and the Silly Walk of Jochen Kupfer's Beckmesser closing Act I, both the scenic and human space of the show turns unmistakably Catholic-German - and, despite some apparently obligatory <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/19/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-glyndebourne">interview talk</a> about politics and whatnot, quite familiar to one used to traditional versions like the Met's. The one notable addition is the suggestion, as in <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-rivals.html">McVicar's subsequent Cav</a>, of the lurking potential of rivalrous group violence, here not just at the end of Act II but in fact at the start of the Act III procession between the various guild groups. (This actually does allude to the Wagner-politics stuff without giving the whole scene over to it.) The one notable subtraction is of the meadow and water prominent in Wagner's last-part scene-setting... and around Glyndebourne itself. Perhaps this is to fit all the people on the relatively small stage, perhaps to make the overall effect a bit more stark (there is no relief from the moods and actions of the people, whether in revelry, tension, or joy). Beckmesser does not leave the stage after his attempt but sits to the side, turned away, aghast at his failure - and is generally included in the Masters' solidarity when they are offended by Walther's rejection. <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2014/12/eva-outside-paradise.html">As in the last Met revival</a>, there's too much last-scene fiddling by Kothner and the other Masters with Walther's written text, which really needs to be put aside given that he changes (and improves) most of the words between composition and performance. In other words, there are some tweaks but it's the familiar Meistersinger story overall.<br />
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<center>* * *</center><br />
The success, therefore, was in the performers' hands, and they did terrifically. Gerald Finley <i>has</i> done Hans Sachs elsewhere (a few months ago in Paris) since his 2011 role debut with this production, but he probably shouldn't: even in the 1200-seat Glyndebourne house his essentially lyric bass-baritone showed some strain. Yet if his Sachs was never <i>vocally</i> dominant, his focused tragic characterization was the deep-felt heart of the final act. Before its action, we see him contemplate what seems to be a portrait of his dead wife, and all of his interactions with Eva are much more seriously taken than usual - through to his near-inconsolable loss of purpose after talking Walther into joining the Masters.<br />
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It helps that the other outstanding performance was that of American soprano Amanda Majeski (one of three alums/members of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center in the cast). Her Eva was exactly what her Met debut (<a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2014/09/high-life.html">on opening night 2014</a>) seemed to promise: not forward and dominant but unmissably charming and eloquent, carrying in her expressive vibrato and attractive, emotionally transparent person all of Eva's glory and burden as the young <a href="http://auv.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/eva-outside-paradise.html">bearer of all value within her social world</a>. If the first phrase of "O Sachs! Mein Freund" was a bit shaky, the clarity of the subsequent Quintet opening/climax and the lovely trill after the Prize Song more than made up for it. I look forward to hearing much more of her in Strauss and lighter Wagner.<br />
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The weak link of the group was, as often happens, the Walther. Michael Schade was never a particular favorite of mine in his lyric tenor days - though reliable enough, he wasn't one to deliver the pure tonal pleasure one might get from others in that repertory. In the last few years the German-Canadian has transitioned to heavier parts - e.g. Florestan, Max, Walther - in which getting reliably through with a decent enough sound is much more valuable. Unfortunately Schade <i>barely</i> got through this brutal Wagnerian role, and his physical presence has become stiff and a bit lumpy. Nothing to ruin the show's pleasure, but not a plus either.<br />
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It was Texan (and second Ryan Center alum) David Portillo who actually took the tenor prize this time, singing David with a lyric ease and eloquence I hadn't expected to hear since Matthew Polenzani outgrew the part. No less impressive was the other half of the second couple, Polish mezzo Hanna Hipp. Her Lene was not only strongly sung but - with McVicar's help - a more youthful, sympathetic, and perky one than usual, fitting complement to Majeski's Eva as well as Portillo's David.<br />
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Replacing <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2014/12/eva-outside-paradise.html">sharp character singer Johannes Martin Kränzle</a> as Beckmesser was the new-to-Glyndebourne German baritone Jochen Kupfer. Unlike most of his predecessors in the part, Kupfer has striking height, physical presence, and a lead singer's instrument. So the character that comes out is not at all prissy or small, but eccentric and obliviously self-absorbed. The Silly Walks gag that's characteristic of his take (which recurs at the start of Act III) makes rather better sense of Beckmesser than any Meyerbeer nonsense. (After all, the main problem with Meyerbeer today is that Wagner too strongly adopted his <a href="http://auv.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/beyond-meyerbeer-and-wagner.html">ridiculous dramatic model</a>.) He and Finley's Sachs were just the most extreme of the show's strongly-characterized set of Masters (which also included Alistair Miles' Pogner, much more English and uncertain than usual.) The third Ryan Center singer, incidentally, was <a href="http://auv.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/met-council-finals-2014.html">2014 Met Council winner</a> Patrick Guetti as the Night-watchman, not as strikingly authoritative here as on that afternoon, but still showing much promise and strength. <br />
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<center>* * *</center><br />
The sound balance of the new theater at Glyndebourne is a bit like that of the Met's Balcony Boxes: the orchestra (here the London Philharmonic) is gloriously present - here particularly the mid-bass sound from the strings - while the singers aren't so strongly forward, at least against the full-sized Wagner orchestra. If you expect a more singer-prominent balance (such as that of the covered pit at Bayreuth) it may be an issue, but I didn't find it much of a detriment. German conductor Michael Güttler - a regular guest in St. Petersburg and Vienna, acting as late fill-in for ailing music director Robin Ticciati - gave a well-proportioned and well-felt account of Wagner's long masterpiece.<br />
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Every worthy Meistersinger is an awakening, so I hope this one opened some new eyes.<br />
JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-6921773622492886122016-06-03T17:30:00.001-04:002016-06-03T17:30:43.564-04:00The heir is namedAs <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-future.html">predicted and hoped</a>, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be the Met's next music director, though it will be "-designate" until the 2020 season. (<a href="http://www.metopera.org/discover/video/?videoName=yannick-nezet-seguin-named-new-music-director&videoId=4924932742001">Official video</a>.) Interestingly, the thoroughest article is <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20160603_Yannick_Nzet-Sguin_gets_Met_job__will_also_stay_as_Phila__Orchestra_director.html">from Philadelphia</a>, where he will stay on while dropping other more far-flung obligations.<br />
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The local press is, of course, flogging its usual "newer music" cause, but the core job of Nezet-Seguin's preliminary and early years will be to shape the company's <i>own</i> understanding of what it is and what it does. Despite the Gelb regime's apparent recent belief to the contrary, being comes before selling.<br />
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The best incidental reveal from all this? New Traviata in 2018-19! I look forward to being able to recommend the show again.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-31199224504592729852016-05-20T16:23:00.003-04:002016-05-20T16:24:29.210-04:00The (off-topic) newIt was relatively unheralded when it premiered, but Ratmansky's <a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2016-ABT/Shostakovich-Trilogy/">Shostakovich Trilogy</a> (playing tonight, tomorrow, and Monday in ABT's Met season) easily outshines anything else premiered at the Met this century. I suppose that's a fairly low bar, so let's leave comparisons aside and just call it significant. I'm still befuddled at how much better and more natural Ratmansky's story-telling is in non-story ballets like this set (or this week's premiere piece, the Serenade) than in his forthrightly narrative works. And as the moral degradation of the visible world <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-forgiveness-story-gotham-needs.html">continues</a>, Shostakovich's attempts at order in his awful context seem ever more central.<br />
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More opera coverage soon and through next month.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-67064778679870320162016-04-20T18:15:00.000-04:002016-04-21T17:38:36.509-04:00The futureThe other shoe dropped at the Metropolitan Opera last week, with James Levine now officially out (effective next month) as music director. At the moment, nothing is much different, with the only lineup change a year from now in the new Carsen <a href="http://www.metopera.org/Season/2016-17-Season/rosenkavalier-strauss-tickets/">Rosenkavalier</a>, now to be conducted by the prolific TBA.<br />
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The change will come when a new man takes up the post. We approach the tenth anniversary of Peter Gelb's sole management of the house, and with the press alternately cheerleading and distracted by side issues and Levine hampered first by his Boston work and later by his much-discussed health problems, Met offerings have more and more reflected Gelb's and only Gelb's idea of the art. The <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2012/10/met-season-preview-part-3-life-without.html">general aesthetic stagnation</a> has characterized most of the latter half of Gelb's tenure. (2013's <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-short-post-on-parsifal.html">Parsifal</a> and <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2013/12/fall-and-rise.html">Falstaff</a> were stupendous exceptions... there has also been some glorious singing, but most of it's been by those Gelb did not himself prefer.)<br />
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Whether or not the new music director will have the experience or weight to much affect the course of the institution right away, his institutional presence and likely longevity in the post make it probable that this will be the single most important decision of the Gelb era. The most characteristic choice would have been Fabio Luisi - skilled, European, and interpretively chilly - but fortunately that's much less likely now. To me, the wonder is that the current obvious choice would be a good one: young French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who debuted here as the best part of the <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2010/02/song-of-carmen.html">Eyre Carmen</a> in 2009 and took over at the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2012. Though his operatic repertoire is still limited, each of his Met runs has been electric, balancing a natural sense of the larger-scale shape with the dramatic urgency and fire too often missing in the house. He's also - and it seems to matter as far as getting the job - young, engaging, and easily marketable. Philadelphia <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/david_patrick_stearns/20160417_Phila__Orchestra_not_concerned_that_Yannick_will_leave_for_Metropolitan_Opera.html">offered an optimistic-sounding statement</a> that didn't exactly answer the question (as indeed they couldn't).<br />
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I have, of course, heard complaints about Nezet-Seguin's imprecise technical stick work, which may be why we see a name like Gianandrea Noseda, a former Gergiev protege, also prominent in the rumor mill. Noseda wouldn't be a terrible choice for the same reason that he wouldn't be a particularly good choice: although he's proficient and certainly <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2009/02/sleep-of-reason.html">has been exciting</a> at times, he's still a little musically faceless. If we're to look at recent guest conductors besides Yannick, <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-california.html">Nicola Luisotti</a> (currently at SFO) and <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2013/02/another-day-another-parsifal-post.html">Daniele Gatti</a> (about to take over at the Concertgebouw) made much stronger impressions in recent years.<br />
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We'll see.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-43234210358793708162016-04-15T03:21:00.000-04:002016-04-17T14:15:50.438-04:00Elektra: a comedy for musicElektra - Metropolitan Opera, 4/14/2016<br />
Stemme, Pieczonka, Meier, Owens, Ulrich / Salonen<br />
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Though I came into the house thinking on previous Elektras (including, of course, Christine Goerke's epochal account at Carnegie Hall in October), the actual event looks more significantly back to Esa-Pekka Salonen's and Patrice Chereau's <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2009/11/from-house.html">2009 Met debuts</a> in Janacek's setting of From the House of the Dead. Like that show we get supertitles projected onto stage walls near the characters (Met titles are disabled, though the onstage words must be illegible from far away) and a maximally drab, cheap-looking, and relatively featureless physical production. The echoes mark this as the third attempt by Gelb and the Met this season - after <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/02/is-that-all-there-is.html">Lulu</a> and <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">Manon Lescaut</a> to go back to the well from which they got a well-received production in the past. All made their directors' previous successes look worse in retrospect.<br />
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For while the subpar choices in Chereau's Dostoevsky/Janacek show were decorative ones that did not impede the course of the opera, here Chereau and Salonen's choices worked together to remove the bloody, compulsive, tragic, Dionysian character that defines this piece. Chereau himself is, of course, dead, and not having seen the original 2013 run of his version I leave some space for the possibility that the followers and adapters who've had their hands on this staging deserve some or much of the responsibility. But surely the drabness of not only the costumes but the allowed body language was largely his, as certainly was the literalizing dullness of having Aegisth's death (and Klytemnestra's body) onstage and Elektra's non-death end with her sitting down on a stone bench as Orest inexplicably walks out the front gate (a really silly re-explanation of Chrysothemis's final cries).<br />
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In any case Salonen's conducting indisputably drives the show. It is, in its way, incredibly accomplished. He draws out details and textures with a control and clarity that speak volumes of his skill both in conceiving the score and in obtaining a unity of purpose from the orchestra. And yet... that's <i>all</i> he seems to be interested in. In achieving these ends Salonen homogenizes the emotional extremity of the piece - Elektra's primal cry of loss and accusation, Chrysothemis's desire for desire, Klytemnestra's creepy, poisonous dreams and hangers-on - all are rendered within a narrow <i>expressive</i> range so as to make Strauss's explosive score into well-crafted film music that reflects these distinct impulses only indistinctly at a remove. Indeed, as I listened through the actually <i>boring</i> first half of the performance, I believed Salonen was too-cleverly extremely-slow-playing the buildup to the Recognition and subsequent series of climaxes, which in their frenzy would justify to most the non-tragic dramatic slackness of the initial scenes. No such luck: though Eric Owens and Nina Stemme did their best to make something of the Recognition, interest from the pit only really perked up during the later semi-comic scene with Aegisth. This was, in fact, rendered exquisitely, and I'd certainly be interested in hearing Salonen conduct a later Strauss opera (perhaps he could draw a proper civilized comedy out of <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2007/03/can-he-forgive-her.html">Egyptian Helen</a>?), but the main point of the opera is nevertheless missed. By a mile.<br />
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The main cast (particularly Waltraud Meier, whose Klytemnestra came closest to being distinct) seemed each to be working in the proper vein for his or her character, but again the orchestra limited their expressive range with a sound not only emotionally homogenized but too loudly so.<br />
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One closing jeer to whomever decided to pipe the (choral) shouts greeting Orest after the slayings into the house over speakers.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-89509797625996734202016-04-04T17:44:00.000-04:002016-04-04T17:44:01.483-04:00Two PuccinisManon Lescaut - Metropolitan Opera, 3/8/2016<br />
Opolais, Alagna, Cavalletti, Sherratt / Luisi<br />
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Madama Butterfly - Metropolitan Opera, 4/2/2016<br />
Opolais, Alagna, Zifchak, Croft / Chichon<br />
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The end of Manon Lescaut's run here was less awful <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">than its beginning</a>. No, the production didn't get any more palatable (and I should mention, as I didn't last time, that the couple ending up in a bombed-out version of their initial meeting spaces further misreads the linear progression of the story into a circular one), but Roberto Alagna had worked himself up to singing des Grieux more respectably. This, unfortunately, made Kristine Opolais's lack of success more evident. Her Manon won't even look at des Grieux, much less engage emotionally with him.<br />
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But her Butterfly works. Her interpersonal affect is still relatively chilly - not reserved, as would befit the young Japanese girl, but oddly disengaged - and so the first act is the least engaging. The next acts, however, play more to her strengths. Here Butterfly's emotional course is set - a full-throated longing reversed on itself - and backed up by pit and production. So the energy and full-force sound (most expressive in its middle) Opolais pretty easily maintains through this arc becomes an unmissable virtue, and the lack of expressive detail (musical or physical), fatal to her Manon Lescaut (who must fascinate), becomes secondary.<br />
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Alagna, too, is helped by the specifics of this later Puccini opera. Pinkerton just isn't as strenuous a sing as (Puccini's) des Grieux, nor is the relatively unvaried vocal color he shows even at his strongest these days particularly missed in this role. It's a bit odd for the American soldier to be significantly shorter than his Japanese teenage bride, but Alagna does convey Pinkerton's youthful carelessness quite well. (In fact, given Opolais's characteristically imprecise acting, he often seems younger than Butterfly!) Meanwhile, it seems like Dwayne Croft has been singing Sharpless forever, and his account is as admirably humane as always.<br />
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The main thing that changed since Manon Lescaut, though, is the quality of the production. There's really no such thing as a performer-proof show, but this first and only Met production of Anthony Minghella <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-rest-for-giordani.html">has proven</a> pretty close. As long as the singers are working with the opera and not against it, the images and framing of the production tell its story in stark, powerful form. And whether the principals pay attention to detail or not, the setting's little touches are preserved in the character parts - and the odd but distinctive movements of the puppet son.<br />
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Debuting conductor Karel Mark Chichon kept everything moving in the right direction and with the right proportions, but wasn't particularly outstanding. The credit for this event's success seems principally to be Minghella's.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-87215559112242022922016-03-28T00:21:00.001-04:002016-03-28T00:21:38.892-04:00The old ladyRoberto Devereux - Metropolitan Opera, 3/24/2016<br />
Polenzani, Radvanovsky, Garanca, Kwiecien / Benini<br />
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This premiere was an event, but not - as Maria Stuarda was (in the best way), a one-woman show. Polenzani, Garanca, and Kwiecien provided the first strong side cast of the trilogy, one that could hold attention even with the queen offstage. But, whether from nerves, indisposition, or something else, Radvanovsky's breath didn't have the effortless full-scale pop that usually rings the house - and the bodies of those listening within - like a bell. She powered through the night, and bore the drama and crowd adulation quite well, but we'll see what this week's performances bring.<br />
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David McVicar's staging brings an interesting conceit, perhaps building on his <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-rivals.html">Cav/Pag</a>: courtiers are <i>always</i> watching, whether from the ground (the more public scenes) or from the onstage rafters (the more private). Only at Devereux's final scene, as he expects human intervention that never arrives, are they wholly absent, making for a striking effect one might recall from an <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2008/02/desert.html">proper staging</a> of Manon Lescaut. McVicar, acting as his own set designer, and costume collaborator Moritz Junge (who also worked on Cav/Pag) have made the most handsome of the Tudor productions without departing much from that period.<br />
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More on further viewing.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-61307349596602175112016-03-14T08:45:00.000-04:002016-03-28T00:26:39.812-04:00Met Council Finals 2016<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vVLjEPmRAaY3lwe1Vrvuji2J-OWxd2k3P3tACA7l0gGKvxaIOcT3h7VBRQcbJGRpxmnpXkMWUyJFaaR6aslOVQb5bkImtu0WgQe7xUiI9u_WuJAzRgUfvaS0PpJoOPQcO-pO/s1600/2016+council+finals.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vVLjEPmRAaY3lwe1Vrvuji2J-OWxd2k3P3tACA7l0gGKvxaIOcT3h7VBRQcbJGRpxmnpXkMWUyJFaaR6aslOVQb5bkImtu0WgQe7xUiI9u_WuJAzRgUfvaS0PpJoOPQcO-pO/s320/2016+council+finals.jpg" /></a><br />
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A pretty well-developed group this year: though only a few stood out, none did anything really objectionable either. Keep that in mind as you read the comments below.<br />
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<b>Brian Vu</b> (baritone, 26)<br />
The first of four (!) baritones gamely kicked the show off with an energetically phrased and acted Largo al factotum. His focused, dark lyric sound registered well in the house, but Valentin's aria showed the still-somewhat-basic state of his (non-comic) interpretations.<br />
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<b>Emily D'Angelo</b> (mezzo, 21)<br />
The most notable <i>voice</i> of the afternoon was this young Canadian lyric mezzo's: just hearing her clear, slightly-rippling sound actually gave me gooseflesh. Comfortable on stage, D'Angelo registered both the comic contrasts of Rosina's music lesson and the <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2007/11/hothouse.html">overheated seriousness</a> of Erika's question with equal aplomb. She's still young, and the extreme ends of her range might do with more development, but D'Angelo seems already to know (and communicate) - musically - who she is. Let's hope the magic in her tone remains as her career launches.<br />
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<b>Sol Jin</b> (baritone, 30)<br />
The second baritone and first Merola singer was, as the only thirty-year-old in this young group, a bit of a ringer. The Korean hasn't wasted those years, either: his interpretive faculty is hugely developed. Actually, at the start it seemed perhaps to have been <i>too</i> developed, as Jin let his emotional-scenic conception of Di provenza get in the way of its musical shape (and even, at some phrase ends, pitches). But he did build to a magnificent climax, and eased any concerns with a barn-burner of a sing through Yeletsky's aria. Jin's sound, though not quite a match for, say, <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2011/04/oh-to-live-in-paris.html">Peter Mattei's in 2011</a>, is quite strong enough for his interpretive authority to cast its spell.<br />
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<b>Lauren Feider</b> (soprano, 23)<br />
I like Feider's basic sound - medium-weight, focused, and (when finished) pretty versatile - but she's not a finished product. She negotiated the difficult hurdles of the Strauss pretty well (though not with perfect uniformity), and showed a bit of warmth in the Britten, but what Feider didn't manage was to show much of an interpretive perspective in the process. Also, she was one of the less comfortable on stage and in her physical presence.<br />
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<b>Sean Michael Plumb</b> (baritone, 24)<br />
Plumb, a Curtis Institute student and the third baritone, had the most naturally expansive sound of the baritone group, making for an easy, well-sung account of the Donizetti. The Tchaikovsky was probably a bit too heroically aggressive for him at this point, though he may grow into it.<br />
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<b>Jonas Hacker</b> (tenor, 27)<br />
Despite doing many things correctly and showing a nice breath, this AVA singer's instrument seemed, at this point, too small-scale to work properly at the Met. There was just too much effortfulness in Hacker's sound here, especially on top, and he was therefore unable to convey much overall shape or idea.<br />
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<b>Theo Hoffmann</b> (baritone, 22)<br />
For this local (Juilliard) product and final baritone of the day, I had the same impression as for Hacker - insufficient vocal scale to make either the delicacy of the Korngold or the intensity of the Gluck really tell in the big house. Hoffmann is young, though, so who knows what may come.<br />
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<b>Jakub Jozef Orlinski</b> (countertenor, 25)<br />
I found the Pole-by-way-of-Juilliard's singing rather monochrome, as countertenors characteristically are, but also surprisingly labored in the Handel's coloratura. Home-team enthusiasm from the crowd notwithstanding, I found Orlinski quite ordinary compared to <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2012/03/met-council-finals-2012.html">2012 winner Andrey Nemzer</a>.<br />
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<b>Yelena Dyachek</b> (soprano, 24)<br />
This <a href="https://news.usc.edu/92806/standout-soprano-ready-for-her-moment-on-operas-big-stage/">Ukrainian by way of California</a> was entirely trained in the USA, so I probably shouldn't call the wide vibrato that mars too many of her notes "Eastern European"... Dyachek, like Feider but unlike her fellow Merola singer Jin, is a work in progress. She has the largest-scale voice of the women (and perhaps of everyone here), and it's not really tamed - different sounds and productions came out at various points, especially in the Mozart. (Interestingly, the best parts of that for her were the tricky coloratura passages.) The Tchaikovsky, unsurprisingly, was much more natural, and showed her voice in the best light. There are still seams, though, and a long way to go before the voice is whole and wholly nice to hear.<br />
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<center>* * *</center><br />
The judges - six from the Met, three from other companies - picked D'Angelo, Jin, Plumb, Orlinski, and Dyachek as winners. A friend joked at intermission that Orlinski would win no matter what, as countertenor finalists always do... unfortunately, this was correct. The rest of the choices were fair. As in previous years, the obvious winner(s) - here D'Angelo and Jin - were kept in suspense until the end: after Plumb, Dyachek, and Orlinski were announced, hostess Deborah Voigt miscounted the remaining winners (saying one instead of two) before making Steve Harvey jokes with guest singer Eric Owens. Amusing, I suppose, unless you're waiting in the wings with your heart beating out of your chest!<br />
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Antony Walker accompanied admirably.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9458752.post-246081514618511582016-03-13T06:00:00.000-04:002016-03-13T06:00:23.022-04:00The rivalsCavalleria Rusticana<br />
Pagliacci - Metropolitan Opera, 2/6/2016<br />
Urmana, Costa-Jackson, Lee, Maestri / Luisi<br />
Frittoli, Berti, Gagnidze, Lavrov, Stevenson / Luisi<br />
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This David McVicar production, the under-recognized success of last season, returned with some cast changes in 2016. In its original run, George Gagnidze sang both baritone leads and Marcelo Alvarez sang both tenor leads, which was a neat but unrevealing stunt. Here there was no duplication, just two groups singing to strong effect.<br />
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McVicar's Cav is revelatory from its very start. The circle of chairs that form the initial scene suggest, as no literal staging has done, the mutual examination and ever-imminent rivalries of a one-square town. Everyone snoops, everyone is jealous... until the circle dissolves into daily bustle. Eventually the dangerous all-human circle is transformed in the Easter service into a pure, singing whole: the adoring ordered ranks facing the divine sign before them (in joy) instead of each other (in potential rivalry). But the fallen girl Santuzza's (self?) exclusion holds the tension of the setup just outside the church, and as she's reabsorbed into the scene it forms, in Mama Lucia's tavern, into small groups with that original danger now again close. And, rivalry now enflamed by Santuzza (carrying out her own, non-face-to-face rivalry with the walk-on Lola), the men circle again as Turridu's group faces Alfio's before their offstage duel.<br />
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The crowd shapes, all by themselves, reflect at every point the tension of the tale, and McVicar's minimalization of other visual elements (including the color palette) give this part of the double-bill a primal character.<br />
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The latter part - Pag - is quite different in style, and the meaning of the shift didn't become clear to me in the show's original run last season. In this revival, absent cast crossover between halves, it's obvious: the bare-bones human scene of the first part has acquired a self-reflective layer, the play-within-a-play that dominates the opera and production. It begins in the prologue, where Tonio appears as emcee (with mic) before what's later revealed to be the troupe's show curtain, and as the curtain rises on apparently the same town square a half-century after Cav we see more mess, more color... and the electrical and telephone wires that signal modernity. In this new world, the troupe's truck and its stage occupy and expand the Cav-era altarpiece's position in the community: center, focus, and maintainer of its peace.<br />
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<i>This</i> centerpiece, of course, moves. It reflects and makes light of the viewers' rivalries and frustrations rather than just dissolving them for a time. And perhaps because of this there's a more pervasive peace and relaxation in the town. The locals sit in orderly rows facing the performance, but before then even the troupe's arrival is enough for a festive welcome. (Of course, the performance is going on even during this welcome, as the silent members of the troupe, in a very nice addition by McVicar, help unload and unpack the truck Three Stooges-style.) But those who don't get to watch the show - primarily Canio and Tonio, more or less analogous in their rivalries to Alfio and <i>Santuzza</i> respectively - still feel the old poisons of jealousy and envy.<br />
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<center>* * *</center><br />
Roberto Alagna was originally scheduled to sing Canio in this run, before Kaufmann's cancellation from Manon Lescaut pulled him <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-decorator.html">into that dud</a>. His replacement was Marco Berti, whose work in the radio matinee seems to have elicited some negative responses. Now in Verdi his lopsided force-to-refinement ratio <a href="http://auv.blogspot.com/2013/01/going-big.html">can certainly be faulted</a>, but in the house, in this less orderly context, the huge unfettered sound of his despair made for a great and appreciated success. Call him "Barco Merti" if you like, but with affection.<br />
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The scale of Berti's work matched, as an Alagna success would have not, that of the night's most thorough success - spinto tenor Yonghoon Lee as Turridu in the double bill's opener. With veteran mezzo-turned-dramatic soprano Violeta Urmana now hindered by declining high notes as well as her characteristically deliberate, longer-time-scale approach that works better in Wagner, it's left to Lee to convey the urgency of the story. This he did magnificently, making the climax of the action - Turridu's farewell to his mother - the emotional and sonic climax as well.<br />
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All others did their bit effectively as well - not least Marty Keiser, Andy Sapora, and Joshua Wynter, who reprised their actual (silent) clowning in Pag from last season's original run.JSUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02477558636942883735noreply@blogger.com0