What opera have you been watching lately?

**Florestan** · November 27th, 2019, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by Nemorino

This production was done in Houston a few years ago. I was only getting into opera, and so only caught Siegfried and Gotterdammerung, but thought it was amazing especially Gotterdammerung so I can't wait for you to see that one. It pulls together visually all of the best elements from the other 3 productions. Like, I don't know why the way the Rheinmaidens are staged (in individual tanks) works for me, but it just does; I guess because they are able to move realistically like they are in water which is missing from other stagings.

Very nice. The Rheinmaidens in Rheingold were not in tanks but that could be different in later operas, or they might have changed the set somewhat. I'll see when I get there, which might be by the end of the year at the rate I get a chance to watch videos.

**Nemorino** · November 27th, 2019, 11:38 PM

Ranking what I watched in November, starting with THREE (!) nearly-perfect productions:

#1 - Henze - The Bassarids - Komische Oper Berlin - Operavision

Henze is not easy listening, but this production shows he is a master of drama. Even on a very minimalistic stage, this is riveting theatre, especially the tense second half. Sean Panikkar is mesmerising in the role of Dionysus. An amazing production, that must have taken a lot of extra rehearsal time for the chorus just for the music, and then more for the memorization of Barrie Kosky's signature hand choreographies (which he probably overuses, but in this work: fantastic).

#2 - Berg - Wozzeck - Bayerische Staatsoper - Livestream

Christian Gerhaher is a great Wozzeck. Andreas Kriegenburg's production is suitably grimy and full of good ideas, although they are occasionally more intellectually stimulating than they are dramatic.

#3 - Donizetti - Don Pasquale - Royal Opera House - Cinema

I spent all day traveling to and from my former hometown to see this, since we don't have an ROH-affiliated cinema in Austin. I watched it in a 400-seat multi-purpose arts venue with impeccable sound... with exactly 5 other people

Hopefully the audience numbers were down drastically from other shows due to its proximity to Thanksgiving. Anyway, the travel was worth it, because this - to me - was an ideal production of Pasquale. Clever production by Michieletto, with real laughs (the reveal of Pasquale's new furniture for Act 2, the "green screen" effects) and Bryn Terfel and Olga Peretyatko really shine with great acting.

#4 - Mozart - L'oca del Cairo (and Lo sposo deluso) - Hungarian National Opera - Operavision

It's nice of the Hungarian Opera to do so much work to bring this unfinished opera to the stage, but you can easily imagine that Mozart abandoned it due to the bad libretto. There's some cleverness in the staging, but this is not Mozart at his most inspired, and no one expected it to be.

#5 - Moniuszko - Halka - Poznan Opera - Operavision

Having enjoyed a couple of Moniuszko's other operas thanks to Operavision's focus on regional European theatres, I am disappointed that the one that gets all the footnotes in opera histories is comparatively boring. Almost all of the action happens prior to Act 1 and the opera itself consists of Halka repeatedly crashing Janusz's wedding festivities. But maybe I just hated the uninspired staging. It ended with a Mazurka which felt highly out-of-place after the tragic final scene - I quickly discovered it had been displaced from the end of Act 1, so the director clearly didn't have any faith in the finale's impact. I've noticed a few of the Opera Lively regulars have a fondness for Straszny dwor, and now I agree it is likely Moniuszko's finest opera.

**Nemorino** · November 27th, 2019, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Florestan

Very nice. The Rheinmaidens in Rheingold were not in tanks but that could be different in later operas, or they might have changed the set somewhat. I'll see when I get there, which might be by the end of the year at the rate I get a chance to watch videos.

Oh shoot, wrong staging. I got it in my head a long time ago that the Houston staging borrowed Barcelona's, but it was Valencia's. Shame on me for acting like all of the Spanish port cities look the same to me.