Reply With QuoteIt's a venerable production so yes, you would think it would have been noticed.Originally Posted by MAuer
You'd think this would have been noticed during rehearsals and an attempt made to remedy the situation.
It's a venerable production so yes, you would think it would have been noticed.
Natalie
So before I begin university work once again I though that I would watch a new version of Aida in the hope that like with several Puccini Operas (All Puccini operas I didn't love first time round. At this point I have come to the conclusion he is probably my favourite opera composer...) my opinion would be revised more favorably on a repeat viewing. Sadly this was not really the case.
Aida has some lovely parts to it that is an undeniable fact. Several choruses and significant chunks of act 2 are exemplary. Verdi at his very best. The Performers were very good (It was the San Francisco performance on YouTube). Unfortunately the work as a whole lacks something which puts it lower down when it comes to my choice of Verdi (Still better than Nabucco). It's score is great but just never captures me the way other Verdi scores have. It also lacks certain qualities that define it in contrast to other Verdi Operas . It's story is unappealing and it's characters somehow fall flatter than many other Verdi Operas. It seems to me the Verdi opera that must be seen live in the Opera House to truly come alive. I am going to have to chalk Aida up as an Opera I just fail to get properly. I like it I just don't love it.
Aida San Francisco Opera 8/10 Staging good, Singing Great! Just not an opera that's properly clicked with me. Maybe given more time but I don't think it's ever going to be my favourite Verdi or even come close to the ballpark. If there are any recommendations on an audio recording or DVD that might change my mind I am all ears.
"Non sono in vena" Rodolfo summing up P.B's feelings on his dissertation.
I'd say go here
Verdi: Aida
Anja Harteros (Aida), Jonas Kaufmann (Radamès), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Amneris), Ludovic Tezier (Amonasro), Erwin Schrott (Ramfis), Marco Spotti (Il Re d'Egitto), Paolo Fanale (Un Messaggero), Eleonora Buratto (Sacerdotessa)
Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma; Coro dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma, Antonio Pappano
I'd say it's a lost cause. Aida doesn't click with me either, athough the above recording is excellent.
Natalie
Glad to know I'm not the only one. I thought it was probably just a repeat of how I first felt about La Fanciulla de west because I grew to love that on the second viewing. However Aida didn't click with me much more than the first time though I feel I appreciated it better and found it dragged less but it still felt long even in comparison to Don Carlos despite the fact Don Carlos is numerically a good deal longer.
"Non sono in vena" Rodolfo summing up P.B's feelings on his dissertation.
If you can pick up a cheap copy, I can certainly recommend this one. It's a modest production (no elephants!) and made extra special by being staged at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Busseto.
"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
It's an odd subject, the "click", closely related I suggest to my previous writing on my (still yet unpublshed) μ theory. We should have a thread on "clicks". It would talk about the "click" that happened for any opera that was unexpected or interesting...
I agree with your assessment of Aida. I have several recordings, most prominently with Leontyne Price and, while I like the opera, I don't love it. I do love the closing trio as Aida and Radames are facing their 'doom in the tomb' while Amneris provides counterpoint from above. Overall, though, the passion between the principals never quite seems to gel. Lovely music, great choruses, but not enough to put this anywhere near the top of my list.
I don't agree at all, however, that Aida is better than Nabucco! Well, Aida is the more mature work and all that, but Nabucco and Macbeth are my two big Verdi passions. Don Carlo still remains my overriding favorite Verdi.
I agree with your don't agree
mind blowing stuff!
Last night, we enjoyed the new Cav/Pag on Sony, from the Easter Festival in Salzburg. Both operas were exceptionally well sung. Staging, with the emphasis on split staging has generated controversy (but almost everything connected with opera does THAT!!). I found it to be very effective in moving the plots forward, and while a bit disconcerting at first, not bad as things progressed.
I thought that JK struggled a bit with the tessitura of Turridu's part, especially in the passagio, where some strain was apparent. As Canio, he was spot on! Liudmyla Monastryka was a vocally splendid Santuzza. Her "look" (guys understand this term!) at Turridu on her entrance would have vaporized a small Midwestern town. Ambrogio Maestri was an excellent Alfio, and casting him as a Mafia don was a stroke of genius, even if it made nonsense of the Carter's Song's lyrics.
I have been a fan of Maria Agresta for years. Her interpretation of Nedda only fueled the fire. Her passionate duet with Allesio Arduini (Sylvio) was well done, revealing rather a lot of that cough cough stuff. Alessio should have removed the glasses though; one can't ... em ...discharge ... one's romantic responsibilities while wearing horn rimmed specs! Even in Britain, it's just not done!
A most enjoyable pair of operas, much needed in the opera collecting world.
I just ordered this recording, and am looking forward to watching it. Interestingly, Kaufmann was originally contracted only to sing Turiddu, but then there were some changes in plan and he ended up taking on Canio as well.
Pre-ordering that Forza from Presto Classical made me want to watch this again:
I DO so wish that you had not posted this: I went to the reviews and ordered it. And I am already over budget for April and it's only the 4th!Pre-ordering that Forza from Presto Classical made me want to watch this again:
Agrippina from Vienna with Patricia Bardon, Jake Arditti, Danielle de Niese, Filippo Mineccia and Mika Kares, conductor Thomas Hengelbrock, in an entertaining production by one of my favourite directors Robert Carsen.
Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 4th, 2018 at 11:58 PM.
Natalie
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks