What opera have you been watching lately?

**Ann Lander (sospiro)** · February 16th, 2016, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by Soave_Fanciulla

Anna was of course excellent, but she was still Anna being Tatiana.

The thing about Asmik is I thought she WAS Tatiana.

But anyway, that's just the soprano, so who really cares?

Nice one!!!

**Soave_Fanciulla** · February 16th, 2016, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Clayton

was that a Philip Glass opera?

It was a bloody and Regie production of Mazeppa at ENO. I gather it is still legendary.

**Soave_Fanciulla** · February 17th, 2016, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by Soave_Fanciulla

It was a bloody and Regie production of Mazeppa at ENO. I gather it is still legendary.

oops got it wrong, it was David Alden.

David Pountney is quite harmless.

**Hoffmann** · February 17th, 2016, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)

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:

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.

I saw this at the Met a couple of years ago (I was with TyronesLothrop and some other DC people) and it left me cold. I'm not sure of the reason why - the singing was excellent, but whether Anna N. and Marius K. didn't quite fit the characters or if it was the production - which I thought was beautiful - but somehow the drama never really worked.

**Florestan** · February 19th, 2016, 06:07 AM

**Soave_Fanciulla** · February 20th, 2016, 08:33 AM

**Ann Lander (sospiro)** · February 20th, 2016, 11:07 AM

Raining here so not going out. Pure indulgence.

**JohnGerald** · February 22nd, 2016, 04:10 PM

Last night, we enjoyed the recent release of Macbeth with Netrebko. For the first time (other to make snide criticisms of displayed female anantomy), "she who must be obeyed" noted that she wished our assets portfolio had developed as well as Anna's.

For once I remained (prudently) silent and just enjoyed the fabulous artistry of the cast.

**Florestan** · February 22nd, 2016, 06:01 PM

Plan on starting Sills Daughter of the Regiment tonight. No subtitles, but sung in English.
This will be delightful with the adorable Beverly Sills.

**Florestan** · February 26th, 2016, 04:41 AM

Sills Daughter of the Regiment was every bit as delightful as I expected. Now this:

**Soave_Fanciulla** · February 26th, 2016, 07:58 AM

Seriously, opera directors, the whole theatre within a theatre trope HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH.

Luckily the quality of the singing and acting made me forget it after a while. Some opera royalty in this Mitridate: conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm, with Michael Spyres, Patricia Petibon, Myrtò Papatanasiu, Christophe Dumaux, and Sabine Devieilhe hitting some stratospheric notes.

**Soave_Fanciulla** · February 27th, 2016, 09:33 AM

Finally an excellent Rusalka - fairy tale without being saccharine, tells the story straightforwardly but at the same time explores the darkness of the themes and the psychology of the characters, clever set underlining the divide between the human and the magical world. Cast includes Klaus Florian Vogt and Camilla Nylund who einsprang for Krassimira Stoyanova and in the end I doubt could be bettered.

**Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)** · February 27th, 2016, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Soave_Fanciulla

Finally an excellent Rusalka - fairy tale without being saccharine, tells the story straightforwardly but at the same time explores the darkness of the themes and the psychology of the characters, clever set underlining the divide between the human and the magical world. Cast includes Klaus Florian Vogt and Camilla Nylund who einsprang for Krassimira Stoyanova and in the end I doubt could be bettered. Please watch it.

Nice, but it is surprising that this initiative of broadcasting a show like this fails to include subtitles. What were they thinking? The opera is in a language spoken in virtually *one* small country (with minority status in another one that used to be the same country).

Still, very much worth watching. Extremely well sung performance, and well played and conducted as well. The staging is very interesting. Great show by the Vienna State Opera.

Camilla nails it. Her Song to the Moon is a thing of beauty, interpreted with great delicacy, deep emotion, and perfect pitch control and range. It's between 25 minutes and 30'15".

And the music in Rusalka is so incredibly (and constantly) beautiful! One of my favorite operas!

**Soave_Fanciulla** · February 27th, 2016, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)

Nice, but it is surprising that this initiative of broadcasting a show like this fails to include subtitles. What were they thinking? The opera is in a language spoken in virtually *one* small country (with minority status in another one that used to be the same country).

I suspect if you do the whole subscribing thing you get to choose your subtitle language, but they don't get downloaded automatically.