What opera have you been watching lately?

[Florestan]

[JohnGerald]

This is a very good performance. The Met version with DiDonato is superb, as is the version on Art Haus with Antonacci (in ghastly makeup) and Devia. What is really exciting is to have this opera in the repertory following its "exile" for over a century after its premier.

[Florestan]

This is a very good performance. The Met version with DiDonato is superb, as is the version on Art Haus with Antonacci (in ghastly makeup) and Devia. What is really exciting is to have this opera in the repertory following its "exile" for over a century after its premier.

My first one was the Devia DVD, followed by the Janet Baker DVD (sung in English), both excellent. I am watching the Remigio one now, and have the Didonato one on the shelf to be watched. However, I can't be satisfied and am looking for a 5th Maria Stuarda DVD and I don't think there are any others worthy of consideration. But I should be happy with four!

[Amfortas]

Somehow that doesn't seem as exciting now as when I was six...

So wait . . . there's a crown???

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Massenet Cendrillon with Rinat Shaham and Sophie Marilley from La Monnaie - cute production by Laurent Pelly.

Bizet Carmen from Orange with der Jonas and Kate Aldrich.

[Florestan]

Just halfway into the 1 hour documentary on this opera. Then I will start the opera.

Here is a review on this performance which has high praise for Waltraud Meier as Ortrud.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Bizet les Pecheurs de Perles from the Met with Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień, Diana Damrau and Nicolas Testé. It was briefly on Youtube. Great singing; and I really liked Penny Woolcott's production.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Bizet les Pecheurs de Perles from the Met with Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień, Diana Damrau and Nicolas Testé. It was briefly on Youtube. Great singing; and I really liked Penny Woolcott's production.

I'll be seeing it in person this Wednesday. With my wife, my son and prospective daughter-in-law, yay!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Die Entfuhrung from Liege. Not one of the best versions out there- a bit flat all round (although this Selim had the most epic tantrum I have ever seen)

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Fidelio with KFV from Liege. This is a bit of a mixed bag – both in terms of casting and production. The best thing about it is Stephen Milling’s Rocco – I for once felt that this was fundamentally a man stuck in a position where he had to do bad things against his better nature, reluctant to stand up against the evil but mitigating it in small ways. Klaus Florian Vogt sounded rather hoarse in his first aria (is his voice wearing a little?) but improved as the act wore on. He isn't going to knock Jonas off his pedestal in this role anytime soon though. Anja Kampe sang correctly but came alive only in the second act.

The production is very traditional and rather lumpen. You would expect Leonore to show some disquiet at the announcement of her impending nuptials with Marzelline, but she canoodled delightedly instead. You might expect Marzelline to be a bit upset when her fiancé turns out to be someone else’s wife, rather than looking blank and holding hands with the man she just violently rejected in act one. You might expect Pizarro to chill you to the bone but he just seemed to be going through the motions. You might expect Don Fernando fill you with joy and relief rather than walking around like a small-town mayoral candidate seeking re-election. By the end of it I was longing for a nice bit of Regie to SHAKE THEM ALL UP!

[Florestan]

This is a bit of a mixed bag – both in terms of casting and production. The best thing about it is Stephen Milling’s Rocco – I for once felt that this was fundamentally a man stuck in a position where he had to do bad things against his better nature, reluctant to stand up against the evil but mitigating it in small ways. Klaus Florian Vogt sounded rather hoarse in his first aria (is his voice wearing a little?) but improved as the act wore on. He isn't going to knock Jonas off his pedestal in this role anytime soon though. Anja Kampe sang correctly but came alive only in the second act.

The production is very traditional and rather lumpen. You would expect Leonore to show some disquiet at the announcement of her impending nuptials with Marzelline, but she canoodled delightedly instead. You might expect Marzelline to be a bit upset when her fiancé turns out to be someone else’s wife, rather than looking blank and holding hands with the man she Just violently rejected in act one. You might expect Pizarro to chill you to the bone but he just seemed to be going through the motions. You might expect Don Fernando fill you with joy and relief rather than walking around like a small-town mayoral candidate seeking re-election. By the end of it I was longing for a nice bit of Regie to SHAKE THEM ALL UP!

I haven't watched it yet. So perhaps the greatest thing going for it is the traditional staging and costumes (from what little I have clicked around the video the other day). It almost looked like some of the scenery was borrowed from the 1978 Bernstein production.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I haven't watched it yet. So perhaps the greatest thing going for it is the traditional staging and costumes (from what little I have clicked around the video the other day). It almost looked like some of the scenery was borrowed from the 1978 Bernstein production.

I think it IS the same production. Same director, Otto Schenk, known for his workmanlike literal readings. It seems as though they slotted the singers into this production without worrying too much about directing the acting.

This is the sort of performance that turns me off traditional staging.

[Florestan]

This is the sort of performance that turns me off traditional staging.

Bummer. But I'll take it over the Fidelio that I heard about (thankfully in time to not buy the DVD) where Leonore bares her breasts when she reveals her identity in the dungeon (apparently to reinforce the fact that she is indeed a woman). Way to ruin an opera.

[MAuer]

It sounds to me as though the problem isn't the traditional production, but the soloists' lack of dramatic engagement. I think German-speaking reviewers would probably pan the director for the lack of Personenführung or Personenregie. I get the impression that the singers were pretty much left to their own devices in terms of characterization.

[Florestan]

Maria Stuarda from the Met