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I haven't given up opera! Though it has slowed way down as (a) I have gotten less free time due to one kid liking to go to bed relatively late and the other kid liking to wake up relatively early (b) wheeeeen is cold season going to end???? (possibly conflated with allergy season, but I'm pretty sure we have been having colds) (c) apparently I'm reading books again (d) it's Hugo season, so I don't have a lot of time for other media until I finish all these vegetables (some of them are yummy roasted vegetables in butter, but some of them are the boiled soggy ones) (e) I'm also trying to watch Nirvana in Fire (which I am also LOVING), with the result that I'm watching both NiF and opera at a glacial pace.
-I watched a 2017 Weiner Staatsoper Pelleas et Melisande with Simon Keenlyside as Golaud, Adrian Erod as Pelleas, Olga Bezsmertna as Melisande, and Maria Nazarova as Yniold (who was spectacular). (Trailer here.) I obviously watched it for the baritone, and Keenlyside was really, really good -- I'd thought I didn't like his voice as much as it matured, but actually I think I don't like it when he broadens it to sing heavy music like Verdi (excepting Rodrigo, which is a fairly light Verdi baritone part) -- I really liked his voice very much here, when he didn't have to push and broaden it. And I thought Bezsmertna was really good. It seems to me that Melisande is a sort of slippery part (pun semi-intended) -- we never really understand what she's thinking or what her motivations are, and indeed it's not entirely clear that she understands them herself. We don't even understand if she is having a torrid affair with Pelleas, or is she too innocent to understand that she's attracted to him? Who knows! Erod was also great although I feel like Pelleas is the least interesting character in the drama.
The setting is this sort of weirdly industrial cistern. Like, there is a substantial amount of real water on the stage that people wade in (and occasionally get very wet). Interestingly, instead of dying at the end, Melisande sails off (with all the female servants of the house around her) into the sunset, which I totally approve of! (Kinda tired of dead sopranos, these days.)
I am totally asking for this for Yuletide this year. I want alllllll the magic that wasn't followed up on in the libretto. Like, the ring Melisande loses is clearly a magic ring, right?? And there seem to be echoes of Fisher King-esque... something... with the father who is sick... There were all these tantalizing hints of magic that always just devolved into "this is just Symbolic of jealousy and whatever" and as much as I loved the opera a large part of me is also, "eh, screw the jealousy, I want an Actual magic ring and a magic fountain and a magic wood and..." you get the idea.
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zdenka pointed me to the soprano Amanda Forsythe, who is amazing and who also has recorded Orfeo ed Euridice with the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, whom I also really like. I really like this recording!
-I forgot to tell everyone (and forgot myself) -- sorry, I totally meant to tell you guys -- that LA Opera's production of Don Carlo was streaming (/on radio in SoCal) this Saturday! I caught bits and pieces while we were driving around and forced my kids to listen to it. (Hilariously, Sunday morning they were playing the Faure requiem -- I always also make them listen to the choral program on Sunday morning on the way to church; it's usually the only time I take over the car music choice unless there's an opera I like on on Saturday -- and E said, "Is Don Carlo still going on??" I assured her it was not THAT long!)
Anyway, since I'd forgotten about it and hadn't made plans to listen, I only got to listen to little bits here and there, but enough to think (a) I was sure that was Furlanetto as Filippo, he was great, although because I didn't listen to the cast list, frustratingly and hilariously I finally had to cross-reference with the official cast to find out it was him and not the other guy they had cast for some of the other nights, as when I went online to find who was singing in the broadcast there were mostly a whole bunch of mentions that Domingo was Rodrigo, as if Rodrigo was the star of the show (I mean, he is, but...) and occasionally a glancing reference to Ramon Vargas as Carlo. Domingo himself was really odd to listen to. I haven't actually listened to him singing baritone before... it's really odd to hear what I think of as a quintessential baritone part sung by what still sounds like a tenor with low notes. (c) Elisabeth was... OK. Apparently when I listen to Don Carlo Elisabeth is the most important part! (This is not at all true when I watch it, when Rodrigo and Filippo are apparently the most important parts to me.)
But in general I am... sort of feeling a bit more OK that I couldn't go to see it (although I suppose I will always regret not seeing Furlanetto play Filippo live).
-I just looked up Wiener Staatsoper's new season and apparently (a) Simon Keenlyside is playing Rodrigo in Don Carlo in September to Rene Pape's Filippo (!!) and (b) Thomas Hampson is playing Germont in La Traviata so... I guess we know what I"m watching in the fall!! It's a bit embarrassing to admit how many times I've watched Hampson playing Germont at this point, and the interesting thing is that it's always a bit different and always a cohesive character, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him do it again. Also I have very high hopes for Restate between Keenlyside and Pape :D
-alcanis_ivennil connected me to the recent ROH 2019 Forza del Destino, which I've watched about half of so far. It has amazing singers whom I am really enjoying watching/listening to -- Kaufmann, Netrebko, Tezier, Furlanetto!! It is also super frustrating me -- apparently I have Opinions about Forza, more so than I do about other Verdi, and I am angry when you mess around with Don Alvaro's character, because he's my hero. (Kaufmann so far has threatened to commit suicide when Leonora is not sure she wants to go with him -- come on, if he's suicidal at that point then he's never going to survive to the end of the show -- and is impotent and depressed with a hooker right before he meets Carlo di Vargas for the first time. Not that there's anything wrong with hanging out with hookers! But it's not something Don Alvaro would do!! Don Alvaro is noble and saintly and cursed, not depressed and dissipated!)
I also am not 100% behind Furlanetto's Guardiano. I mean, Furlanetto himself is awesome, of course, but I think I have a definite opinion on how Guardiano should be (he should be awesome and cool and saintly!) and he was clearly not directed quite that way (this Guardiano is somewhat more conflicted and negative). (Also, shallowly, and in a marked departure from my usual thoughts on this, Furlanetto, while definitely still a hot bass (the guy is 70, but he's still got it), looks way better in a beard than clean-shaven.)
-justplainsavannahd1, I realize in all probability you can't respond to this (and certainly don't if you are not supposed to), but just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you.
-I watched a 2017 Weiner Staatsoper Pelleas et Melisande with Simon Keenlyside as Golaud, Adrian Erod as Pelleas, Olga Bezsmertna as Melisande, and Maria Nazarova as Yniold (who was spectacular). (Trailer here.) I obviously watched it for the baritone, and Keenlyside was really, really good -- I'd thought I didn't like his voice as much as it matured, but actually I think I don't like it when he broadens it to sing heavy music like Verdi (excepting Rodrigo, which is a fairly light Verdi baritone part) -- I really liked his voice very much here, when he didn't have to push and broaden it. And I thought Bezsmertna was really good. It seems to me that Melisande is a sort of slippery part (pun semi-intended) -- we never really understand what she's thinking or what her motivations are, and indeed it's not entirely clear that she understands them herself. We don't even understand if she is having a torrid affair with Pelleas, or is she too innocent to understand that she's attracted to him? Who knows! Erod was also great although I feel like Pelleas is the least interesting character in the drama.
The setting is this sort of weirdly industrial cistern. Like, there is a substantial amount of real water on the stage that people wade in (and occasionally get very wet). Interestingly, instead of dying at the end, Melisande sails off (with all the female servants of the house around her) into the sunset, which I totally approve of! (Kinda tired of dead sopranos, these days.)
I am totally asking for this for Yuletide this year. I want alllllll the magic that wasn't followed up on in the libretto. Like, the ring Melisande loses is clearly a magic ring, right?? And there seem to be echoes of Fisher King-esque... something... with the father who is sick... There were all these tantalizing hints of magic that always just devolved into "this is just Symbolic of jealousy and whatever" and as much as I loved the opera a large part of me is also, "eh, screw the jealousy, I want an Actual magic ring and a magic fountain and a magic wood and..." you get the idea.
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zdenka pointed me to the soprano Amanda Forsythe, who is amazing and who also has recorded Orfeo ed Euridice with the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, whom I also really like. I really like this recording!-I forgot to tell everyone (and forgot myself) -- sorry, I totally meant to tell you guys -- that LA Opera's production of Don Carlo was streaming (/on radio in SoCal) this Saturday! I caught bits and pieces while we were driving around and forced my kids to listen to it. (Hilariously, Sunday morning they were playing the Faure requiem -- I always also make them listen to the choral program on Sunday morning on the way to church; it's usually the only time I take over the car music choice unless there's an opera I like on on Saturday -- and E said, "Is Don Carlo still going on??" I assured her it was not THAT long!)
Anyway, since I'd forgotten about it and hadn't made plans to listen, I only got to listen to little bits here and there, but enough to think (a) I was sure that was Furlanetto as Filippo, he was great, although because I didn't listen to the cast list, frustratingly and hilariously I finally had to cross-reference with the official cast to find out it was him and not the other guy they had cast for some of the other nights, as when I went online to find who was singing in the broadcast there were mostly a whole bunch of mentions that Domingo was Rodrigo, as if Rodrigo was the star of the show (I mean, he is, but...) and occasionally a glancing reference to Ramon Vargas as Carlo. Domingo himself was really odd to listen to. I haven't actually listened to him singing baritone before... it's really odd to hear what I think of as a quintessential baritone part sung by what still sounds like a tenor with low notes. (c) Elisabeth was... OK. Apparently when I listen to Don Carlo Elisabeth is the most important part! (This is not at all true when I watch it, when Rodrigo and Filippo are apparently the most important parts to me.)
But in general I am... sort of feeling a bit more OK that I couldn't go to see it (although I suppose I will always regret not seeing Furlanetto play Filippo live).
-I just looked up Wiener Staatsoper's new season and apparently (a) Simon Keenlyside is playing Rodrigo in Don Carlo in September to Rene Pape's Filippo (!!) and (b) Thomas Hampson is playing Germont in La Traviata so... I guess we know what I"m watching in the fall!! It's a bit embarrassing to admit how many times I've watched Hampson playing Germont at this point, and the interesting thing is that it's always a bit different and always a cohesive character, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him do it again. Also I have very high hopes for Restate between Keenlyside and Pape :D
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alcanis_ivennil connected me to the recent ROH 2019 Forza del Destino, which I've watched about half of so far. It has amazing singers whom I am really enjoying watching/listening to -- Kaufmann, Netrebko, Tezier, Furlanetto!! It is also super frustrating me -- apparently I have Opinions about Forza, more so than I do about other Verdi, and I am angry when you mess around with Don Alvaro's character, because he's my hero. (Kaufmann so far has threatened to commit suicide when Leonora is not sure she wants to go with him -- come on, if he's suicidal at that point then he's never going to survive to the end of the show -- and is impotent and depressed with a hooker right before he meets Carlo di Vargas for the first time. Not that there's anything wrong with hanging out with hookers! But it's not something Don Alvaro would do!! Don Alvaro is noble and saintly and cursed, not depressed and dissipated!)I also am not 100% behind Furlanetto's Guardiano. I mean, Furlanetto himself is awesome, of course, but I think I have a definite opinion on how Guardiano should be (he should be awesome and cool and saintly!) and he was clearly not directed quite that way (this Guardiano is somewhat more conflicted and negative). (Also, shallowly, and in a marked departure from my usual thoughts on this, Furlanetto, while definitely still a hot bass (the guy is 70, but he's still got it), looks way better in a beard than clean-shaven.)
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justplainsavannahd1, I realize in all probability you can't respond to this (and certainly don't if you are not supposed to), but just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you.
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And also: Guardiano is the only monk who doesn't wear a robe. Why? It looks like Furlanetto just walked onstage in his civilian clothes, no wig, no beard.
Excellent Melitone thoguh, for once he's funny and not just a jerk.
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(Though honestly it was sort of hilarious to me that the entire opera apparently took place in their dining room???? lol)
I KNOOOOW what is up with Guardiano???? Why not at least a robe?? And I agree, Melitone was awesome and funny <3
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Conductor: now, they are not love duets
Jonas and Ludovic: hold my beer
Forza can't escape the Dining Table Of Doom!
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I was also kind of surprised how little Leonora really has to do in the opera (this is only my second Forza). Though I really like Netrebko.
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Also, Carlo needs a hug. His dad clearly didn't love him.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fEc_e8oSrQ
Up until 8 August. Of course I'm watching it for Simon, but also for John Eliot Gardiner whom I love like mad <3 Also interested in the countertenor Cherubino, that should be fun.
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(I love Walkure like burning but Siegfried is just so... I just can't take too much of it, I guess.)
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