Wagner: Lohengrin
Recorded live in the Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden in June 2006
Klaus Florian Vogt (Lohengrin), Solveig Kringelborn (Elsa), Waltraud Meier (Ortrud), Tom Fox (Telramund), Hans-Peter König (King Heinrich), Roman Trekel (Herald)
EuropaChorAkademie Mainz, Opéra National de Lyon & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano, stage direction by Nikolaus Lehnhoff
Hot smoking cauldron of black magic! I'm joining the dark side!
A performance by Waltraud Meier so good it is almost too good and risks throwing the whole opera off balance but KFV swings it round with his performance and harmony is restored to the universe. I watched this on medici but I'm definitely buying this DVD for Meier factor.
They blew the costume budget on Ortrud and training that black wolverine to stay on her head through act 1 (watch it's eyes, it's looking around the stage) so had to ask Blue Peter to make Lohengrin's helmet. They didn't even have enough money to pay for a haircut for Nagano but he is superstar here too with his interpretation.
I think Kent Nagano is very under-rated as a Wagner conductor. Pardon my cliches here, but I saw Nagano conduct the Ring in Munich a couple of years ago and it blew me away. Barenboim is rated tops, but when I saw his Ring? He seemed to be phoning it in - some wonderful moments, but all-in-all a let down.
Today we watched the 'Vegas' Rigoletto.
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Dug this out of my 'Only Watched Once' pile. Not sure why it's languished unloved and forgotten for so long as although the picture quality could be better I can't fault the singing and the music.
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"Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables."
FRANZ SCHALK, attributed, Losing the Plot in Opera: Myths and Secrets of the World's Great Operas
Continuing to explore Monteverdi's operas:
Live Recording from the Zurich Opera House, 2002
Vesselina Kasarova (Pénélope), Dietrich Henschel (L’humanita Fragilita/Ulisse), Malin Hartelius (Melanto), Jonas Kaufmann (Telemaco), Rudolf Schasching (Iro), Reinhard Mayr (Antinoo), Martin Zysset (Pisandro), Thomas Mohr (Eumete), Martin Oró (Anfinimo), Isabel Rey (Minerva/Amore), Martina Jankovà (Fortuna/Giunone), Pavel Daniluk (Nettuno), Anton Scharinger (Giove), Cornelia Kallisch (Ericlea), Boguslaw Bidzinski (Eurimaco), Giuseppe Scorsin (Tempo)
Orchestra La Scintilla of the Zurich Opera House, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (conductor); Klaus-Michael Grüber (stage director)
The principals are all excellent -- Kasarova doesn't seem nearly as mannered here as she does as Sesto in the video of the Zürich La Clemenza di Tito, and much less inclined to facial contortions. Henschel is a fabulous Ulisse, and Malin Hartelius a lovely Melanto. And, of course, there's a certain Jonas Kaufmann early in his career as Telemaco. There are no disappointments in any of the smaller roles, either, and Rudolf Schasching has the physical bulk to make him convincing as the gluttonous Iro.
I was much less enthused by Klaus-Michael Grüber's production. Costumes seem to be from assorted eras, sets are nothing spectacular, and I can't figure out what the business with the suitors and their marionettes is supposed to be all about. But I wouldn't describe this as Regietheater, either, since Grüber does stick close to the libretto in his interpretation and doesn't do any tinkering with the characters.
Perhaps my favorite "la forza" video, many parts work very well plus HD picture.
Ambitious final scence where stage floor rises and angles up toward heaven to simulate spiritual ascension of dying Leonora cause three singers (Leonora, Alfredo, Padre) to form a triangle separated by some distance which seems very un-natural emotionally, still visually a bold attempt to depict abstract concept
Cavalli: Elena
Emöke Baráth (Elena,Venere), Valer Barna-Sabadus (Menelao), Fernando Guimarães (Teseo), Rodrigo Ferreira (Ippolita, Pallade: Solenn’ Lavanant Linke Peritoo), Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (Iro), Anna Reinhold (Tindaro, Nettuno), Mariana Flores (Erginda, Giunone, Castore), Majdouline Zerari (Eurite, La Verita), Brendan Tuohy (Diomede, Creonte), Christopher Lowrey (Euripilo, La Discordia, Polluce) & Job Tomé (Antiloco)
Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo García Alarcón
DVD + Book
Aix-en-Provence Festival July 2013
Good opera, good production on perhaps an authentically small stage but not so good sound which is a pity. Still recommended for Cavalli fans.
7.734/10
+ a whole extra bonus point for book presentation.
A special mention for Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, a natural born entertainer who has charisma. I had never heard of him before, then he pops up in four recordings I have heard this month, Phaeton, Hercules mourant, Le magnifique and Elena. I think we'll be seeing more of him.
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