This Trovatore is the closest thing to operatic perfection I have yet seen. As I have posted elsewhere, Netrebko's work in an uncut last act is a master class in Verdi singing. Hvorostovsky is the best DiLuna since Leonard Warren and the welcome he gets before his first sung note defines "heartwarming experience", as does the flower shower at the end. Armiliato has the score down perfectly. I cannot get enough of this one!
Time for all OL members to head over to Opera Platform for Eugene Onegin from Berlin, with Günter Papendell and Asmik Grigorian as the most convincing (and suitably young and callow) Eugene and Tatiana I have seen. Lovely production by Barry Kosky. Don't miss it.
Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 4th, 2018 at 11:50 PM.
Natalie
Bit of a downer for Valentine Day. Georg Nigl was amazing. I enjoy a lot of what Tcherniakov does but I wish he would stop insisting that his characters laugh loudly and excessively during the singing. He does it in everything he directs.
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Natalie
To tell you the truth, this Onegin left me a bit cold. Maybe it's because I had just seen the one with La Bellissima on blu-ray and was still under the impact of it. The production is good, sure, but I'm not as fond of the singing. Anyway, thanks for the heads up.
Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 4th, 2018 at 11:50 PM.
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
I agree with your assessment of the Eugene Onegin singer, and those who sang Lensky and Olga, but even more important at least for me (for obvious reasons) is that Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian is not bad, but she can't compete with Anna Netrebko, especially in a Russian opera. Anna in the production I had just seen hit the ball out of the park. Not to forget, the all Slavic cast was simply phenomenal with everybody earning A grades in my ratings. Here is what I said about it:
Anna Netrebko delivers in my opinion one of her best performances in all of her illustrious career. I'd say, top three, together with her poignant Lucia di Lammermoor and her fiery Lady Macbeth. Her letter scene is a thing of beauty with phenomenal acting and touching singing. She demonstrates perfect control of this very long sing, with no fatigue or lost pace - and oh so beautiful timbre. A++
Mariusz Kwiecen also displays excellent acting in his facial expressions and his singing is elegant and correct in all regards, except that he is a bit underwhelming in the vocal passion department (although this might be deliberate given the character's coldness in the first two acts, but even the last scene still gives me a bit of the same impression that the dramatic acting - largely successful - is a bit less matched by the dramatic singing). A+
Piotr Beczala, like Anna, gives one of his best showings, with a sublime and delicate "Kuda, kuda" and unlike his colder colleague, his passion says present. A++
The trio of other important female roles, Oksana Volkova, Elena Zaremba, and Larissa Diadkova are very good, especially the latter, who is an extremely solid Filippyevna, with a surprisingly powerful and well modulated voice for her age. Respectively, A+, A, and A++.
So, when one has just listened to such superb singing, it is tough for another show to be appreciated to the same degree.
But like I said, the production is neat. You know that I'm not too fond of the Met's new production. I never understood why they retired the previous one which was far superior, in my opinion, and still quite new, with no need to replace it.
I think most likely they replaced it just to be able to release a new DVD with Anna, Mariusz, and Piotr, because they had already released the previous one with Renée, Dmitri, and Piotr. It would be weird to release the exact same thing with three other star singers, so they got a new production as a vehicle for the new cast.
Last edited by Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva); February 14th, 2016 at 08:33 PM.
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
I haven't seen the new Onegin production yet but I loved the one that had Fleming and Dimitri. If I had a dream production I would have taken the singers, orchestra and conductor from the one I saw at the ROH and have it with the timeless brilliant staging by Carsen
"Non sono in vena" Rodolfo summing up P.B's feelings on his dissertation.
So I'd listened to the CD, and loved it, and thought I'd like to find out what was going on, but now I'm even more confused than when I started watching. Mind you, it's directed by David Pountney, who put on the only opera I ever walked out of, so I suppose no surprises there.
The music is still very good though. Amfortas, you might like this.
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Natalie
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