Moving along toward finishing another tour of the Ring:
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It becomes a question of semantics. I think of "subtext" as something not announced explicitly in the text, whereas the day/night, life/death opposition is stated explicitly and developed at length throughout the entire love duet (and elsewhere in the opera). It's true, many people pay much more attention to the "passionate score" than to the "philosophical discussion," but it's questionable whether that's the most complete response to Wagner's creation.
Moving along toward finishing another tour of the Ring:
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Handel's Orlando on Youtube - same cast as in the upcoming CD. Orlando is a firefighter - it works quite well.
Rossini's Otello on the other hand, when staged, will always compare badly with Verdi's. The music is lovely, but just too cheerful for the subject matter. I'll swear the earworm I have going around in my head today is a melody he also used in the duetto dei gatti. One size fits all?
That said this staging and singing - especially the male parts - are probably as good as it gets - modern clothing but not mucking around with the story (Rossini's librettist has done enough mucking around of Shakespeare on his own!)
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Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 5th, 2018 at 07:14 PM.
Natalie
I listened to this yesterday, and have to say it didn't do much for me. Maybe another opera that has to be seen to really be enjoyed.
After a slight diversion with
have resumed my Tutto Verdi with:
but the one I prefer
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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
I'm feeling rather po-faced about this:
THEY CUT MY FAVOURITE ARIA!!! I mean why not just dump some recit and leave this in?
Natalie
"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
Verdi: La forza del destino
Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato, Cesare Siepi, Silvio Maionica, Gabriella Carturan & Piero di Palma
Orchestra e coro dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma,
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Recorded - Rome, July 1955
Mario del Monaco vs Ettore Bastianini
great.
To start the day:
Yes, my Handel box set arrived yesterday. Clayton is right - Deidamia is wonderful - Simone Kermes is awesome!
and, during my walk:
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Beats me. I asked them exactly that, but all these conductors kept saying they wanted to upset her. Go figure.
One might understand it if they had a beef against sospiro. After all, they complain a lot about her predilection for this horrible thingy:
Or Amfortas! He thinks Parsifal is better than Les Troyens!!!
But Natalie? I don't know what she did to aggravate them!
Although, now that I think of it, it could be because she likes this...
.... better than this:
That would definitely do it!![]()
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
"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
GAETANO DONIZETTI
La Favorita
Fiorenza Cossotto · Luciano Pavarotti
Gabriel Bacquier · Nicolai Ghiaurov
Orchestra and Chorus of the
Teatro Comunale Bologna
Richard Bonynge
Recorded August 1974
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