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• More Traviata

A review of Rizzi' s Traviata live from Salzburg has been added to the discography.

Monday, December 26th 2005

• An exquisite Elektra

My friend Tom will be happy to hear that I could finally manage to listen to the broadcast of Strauss's Elektra from Cleveland. Conductor Welser-Moest [sorry, keyboard problems...] almost succeded in transforming this violent story into Haensel und Gretal, but I have to confess that this euphonic ellegant approach finally delivers the goods in a very striking way. On chosing to play down the effects and let the nobility of Straussian phrasing speak freely, the subtle irony in the score comes to the fore and singers are more comfortable to sing their difficult parts. In the title role, Lisa Gasteen shows a voice of unshakable solidity, while keeping its warmth and femininity. Only the extreme high notes loose colour and get raw. In any case, even the absence of shading and softening, hers is a portrait of unusual musiciality and poise.
In her creamier and rounder tone, Christine Brewer provides a telling contrast as Chrysothemis. She could have a bit more legato up there though, especially in the more lyrical moments. Felicity Palmer is a forceful incisive Klytaemnestra, but Alan Held lacks tone as Orest. The Cleveland orchestra displays crystalline orchestral playing. This should be released officialy one of these days.

Monday, December 20th 2005

• More theatre in Rio

Still in Rio, I've had the opportunity of getting acquainted with a beautiful play by Albert Camus called "Les Justes", here staged by Moacir Goes. It has been his best staging since long time ago (Antigona with Marieta Severo?). This most original and unprejudiced studies on the problem of terrorism appropriately is shown in a touching direct manner and the young cast is generally very good, especially Frank Borges and Flavia Guimaraes. In the difficult role of the grand-duchess, Analu Prestes was able to find the precise point in which less means more. Pity the run of performances is over before it could reach other cities in the country...

Sunday, December 18th 2005

• Nelson Rodrigues retold?

It is something of an old discussion the one about the possibility of communication with modern audiences in Nelson Rodrigues' plays. For those who don' t know him, he is supposed to be the father of Brazil' s modern theatre. As his aesthetics include a massive dosis of "let's shock the bourgeoisie", many say his plays were addressed in too taylor-made a manner for the audience of its time and, because of that, feel basically outdated these days. I guess that the heart of the matter is - is Rodrigues' playwriting good enough in order to make for the effort of delving into its epochal element? Armazem, a theatre group from Parana, has tried to answer the question on trying to modernize the approach in order to look for the universal aspects in Rodrigues' writing. The idea is particularly successful in the Iago-like depiction of Patricio. However, the sensuality which is in the very core of the play is somewhat impared by the "germanization" in this staging, being replaced by a certain cold and stylized sexuality.
The main victim of this Dramaturgie is the excellent Patricia Selonk, miscast in a role that requires instead a spontaneous depiction of vulgarity.

Saturday, Decembert 17th 2005

• Macbeth retold

Still exploring the BBC Shakespeare retold series. Macbeth set in a restaurant does have the advantage of exploring the banalization of blood and violence, but the political aspect suffers from being reduced to a fight for appearing on cooking shows on TV. Another drawback is the attempt of explaining Lady Macbeth' s insanity - the sort of thing you would find on American large-audience movies and something that decreases a lot the dramatic impact. That said, Keeley Hawes does a very good job in this part (here rebaptized as Ella - " she" - which is a good idea for a role without a name anyway). Another problem is the soundtrack - it spoils the atmosphere too often, especially for those used to Verdi (anyway I always miss Verdi's music when I see Shakespeare' s Macbeth...).

Friday, December 16th 2005

• More updates

Reviews of Muti's Norma from Florence with Renata Scotto and Haider's with Gruberová and Elina Garanca plus comments on Peter Brooke's video of Don Giovanni conducted by Daniel Harding have been added to the Bel Canto and Mozart pages.

Tuesday, December 13th 2005

• Computer accidents

I have had a computer problem and had to delete all information in my computer and re-install programs and files. However, I have lost my e-mails in the process. Thus, I ask you, dear friends, to re-send the last unanswered e-mail you have sent me. Those who have not been in a touch for a while should also send me something so that I can store their contacts.

Saturday, December 10th 2005

• La Scala

A Mozartian season opening at La Scala with conductor Daniel Harding - I was really curious for that one. In a sense, Harding didn't disappoint me. His energetic, clear conducting transformed the house band into something like the Hannover Band, a feat in itself, but I guess I still miss a certain emotional intensity which has nothing to do with fat orchestral sound. Harnoncourt's recording proves that. The cast was largely competent if not necessarily inspiring. Camila Tilling is a very capable Ilia - clear division and trills and a pleasant clear voice. She could be more affecting and warm-hearted, but maybe that's asking too much. As for Emma Bell, she has climbed a step or two in my appreciation. Although she is still a bit green for Elettra, she gave herself entirely to this difficult part. Her Idol mio displayed a beautiful floated high register and D'Oreste, d'Ajacce was really exciting, even if her low register is still work in progress. Her performance makes me think that, if she is patient and lets her voice develop naturally, she might be destined for big lyric roles (not spinto or jugendlich - things like Arabella, Mimì, Micaela...). Steve Davislim has a beautiful natural bright tenor and is a fluent, stylish singer, proving to have good technique. His rendition of Fuor del Mar displayed a decent approach to fioriture and the invocation to Neptune showed solid phrasing, but all his refinement falls a bit short of the role' s intensity. At moments, he sounds a bit like the English oratorio tenor. As for Monica Bacelli, her voice these days doesn't suggest neither youth nor masculinity. All in all, a good show - not really thrilling, but musically thorough, and that's already something considering it is a big venue not totally associated to the repertoire.

Wednesday, December 7th 2005

• I love BBC

I have been trying to buy the BBC series showing the Canterbury Tales retold in the present days. The adaptations are so clever that it is a true pleasure to compare the situations in the original text to the highly inventive solutions found to make them speak in a more direct way to modern minds. Then Ivan - this eternal source of hidden jewels - showed me the BBC series of updated Shakespeare. I found this Much Ado about Nothing entirely delightful. Again, the way the plot is adapted to our days is so intelligent - and the cast! Damien Lewis and the beautiful Sarah Parish, what actors! If you come to think that these actors have probably played Benedict and Beatrice with Shakespeare lines, you will understand the special beauty of their performances. Now I'll have to buy these ones (why, oh why, shipping from Britain to Brazil had to be so expensive...!).

• Updates

Reviews of Sawallisch's Così live from Munich and William Christie's Rodelinda have been published on the Mozart and Handel pages.

Saturday, December 3rd 2005

• Manderlay

When I saw Lars von Trier's Dogville, I had just finished a paper about the UN Durban Summit and, on writing here my comment , I thought that my impression that the film was a study on slavery and the civilizatory/oppression process was a direct result of that. On seeing its sequel, Mandarlay, I can see I was not really far from the mark. In a certain sense, the new movie is an improvement on the first, but also a less overwhelming experience. While Dogville was all-too-much comprehensive and ambitious and symbolic in a difficult manner, Mandarley has structural clarity, mathematical precision in story-telling and - surprisingly - objectivity. In this sense, the ending is predictable in a good way, because it really crowns a sequence of events and ideas that have been built from the beguining. Also, the approach to the themes above mentioned is less surprising in the sense that - at least in a country like Brazil, where there has been a tradition of debate about slavery and social inclusion - those ideas have been dealt with with some frequence.

I would also say that von Trier seems to have sharpened his expressive tools. The absence of walls and the written tags on the floor make far more sense in a story where privacy is an issue - and the settings simply do look more beautiful than in Dogville. As much as in the previous movie, the cast is very strong, but even if Bryce Dallas Howard is a good actress, she simply lacks the screen charisma of Nicole Kidman. In Dogville, everything turned around Kidman's Grace and she looked so angelic and congenial that we cared about her and felt for her (and that accounts for such a gutsy closing scene). In Mandarlay, Grace doesn't call the same attention and we tend to follow the character's predicaments with far more distance. Maybe her being so young has something to do with that. The role makes more sense portrayed by a woman rather than by a young woman.

• Updates

A review of Malgoire's Così Fan Tutte has been added to the discography and the James King page has been updated too.

Friday, December 2nd 2005

• Good stuff from Vienna

Today on Radio Österreich International, Christian Tengel showed some interesting bits of broadcasts, which made me want more of that. From Patrice Chéreau's Così from Paris, there was a full-toned account of È amore un ladroncello with Elina Garanca and a surprisingly competent account of Per pietà with Erin Wall. I had read some disappointed reviews about Wall's Fiordiligi, but it seems she has everything to develop into an interesting singer.
There was also the opening of Tannhäuser act II from Geneva, something that deserved to be released on DVD (the production was a succès de scandale, including a porn actor showing his "talents" on stage), considering it is very rare to find new-releases on CD these days. Nina Stemme is the absolute Wagnerian these days - Tengel says she has found the optimal balance between lyric and dramatic. He is right - her Elisabeth is comfortable in full power and mellows beautifully for the more intimate moments. Truly memorable. Tenor Stephen Gould is not in that level, but has a pleasant voice.

Thursday, November 24th 2005

• Wie grün deine Wälder, wie lachend die Felde

Back from New York to the cozy warm climate of Brasília. I was having fun with cold Autumn until I got a bad cold. My "adventures" in the Big Apple have been stored in a special page. However, the happy homecoming ended on being less happy on receiving the news about James King's death in Florida. He has lived to his old age and has had a wonderful career. Hiis singing is so full of excitement, energy and joy that we can rest assured that in his art he will live forever. Grab your Kempe's recording of Ariadne auf Naxos and listen to his answer to Gundula Janowitz's Ariadne's Gibt es kein Hinüber? and you'll see that wir sind schon da.

Tuesday, November 22nd 2005

• In fernem Land

I might be away from my computer for a while, but distance is no enemy of constancy. Thus, I intend to update this weblog in a .doc file. When I'm back, I'll copy everything to this page.

Tuesday, October 4th 2005

• My divinatory powers

When in Munich two years ago, God grant me the epiphanic opportunity of listening to Violeta Urmana's Prizregententheater recital, where her Straussian singing was so enthralling that I felt in the folds of universal order that she was going to sing Ariadne auf Naxos soon. And this is a fact now. More news about that soon. Anyway, some posts below I was talking about the need for Abbado to record a Zauberflötte and a visit to www.dgclassics.com just proved me right: here it comes, with my beloved Dorothea Röschmann's Pamina, Erika Miklosa's Queen of the Night and René Pape's Sarastro. You'll have to run, since I intend to grab the first copy available.

• With a little help...

Thanks to a generous friend, I was able to listen to satisfy some curiosities I have always had regarding singers in unusual repertoire. First of all, I have always relished Mariella Devia's Mozartian Lucia on La Scala's DVD and wondered how she would sound in a Mozart opera. A recent Don Giovanni from Florence showed a singer past her best and I have decided not to take that performance into consideration. However, now I could listen to two broadcasts of her Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and feel more comfortable to say something about that. The first one is from The Metropolitan Opera in 1982. Levine lacks a bit sense of humour, but abounds in clarity. The cast is problematic. Only Kathleen Battle's overperky Blondchen provides some fun. Stuart Burrows is not in a good day, despite his obvious good intentions, Martti Talvela is not my ideal for Osmin (and his replacement for Ara Berberian in act III is a sort of upgrade) and the Pedrillo is amateurish. The other performance, La Scala 1994, is far more interesting. Although Sawallisch tries to Strauss his Mozart more than often, the Milanese orchestra brings Rossinian zest to this Singspiel, illuminating some passages in a completely revelatory way. Herbert Lippert is a healthy Belmonte and Uwe Peper proves to be a seasoned Pedrillo. Barbarda Kilduff's acidulous soprano is not to my taste, though. It seems Kurt Moll was singing some high-lying roles when he tackled this Osmin. Although he does reach his low notes, they sound a bit contrived compared to his legendary dark depths. It also seems he was not really into it that night. He overacts and cheats a bit in a way a singer only does when he is thinking about the wonderful pasta he is going to eat as soon as he is out of the theatre.

Anyway, the whole idea was to talk of Mariella Devia. In order to make any sense in what I am going to write next, I must clearly state beforehand that, in the range of her impressive musical and vocal resources, Mozartian style is by large absent! In both performances, the necessary purity of tone and cleanliness of phrasing only appear in passagework. Her cantabile is basically inflected with a certain fooling around the line that only make sense in Puccini. Although the voice is brighter in 1982, the performance is basically about her coloratura abilities. In 1994 the voice is already too "nervous" in tone for Mozart, except in the already mentioned bravura passages and in alts, when it acquires crystalline quality. That said, it seems she has finally put her heart into her Konstanze. Although the results are largely unstilish, there is some originality in her tone colouring (lovely floaty pianissimi). I have to confess I am not insensitive to this fauvest of Konstanzes, richer in tone than anyone else in this role and truly awsome in her Martern aller arten. It is interesting that she approaches her duet with the tenor as any Italian soprano would: as an amorous moment, no bravado as we're used to hear. Flawed but compelling [My first voice teacher would say that it is better to be flawed but compelling than correct and uninspiring... ]

• More discs

This friend has also sent me a Mozart recital by the admirable Australian soprano Joan Carden. To my mind, this valuable singer, sadly neglected outsider her country, represents a wholly unique aproach to Mozart. She sings her Mozart with knowledge of style AND diva quality, something almost impossible to find these days. If Renata Tebaldi had been born in the days of Harnoncourt, she would probably sing like Joan Carden. In this disc, she proves to be a truly bold Donna Anna, rich in tone, noble in line, passionate and capable of singing her divisions comfortably a tempo. Of how many singers one could speak something like that? Just like in her Puccini recital, she also proves capable of adjusting her vocalità and expressive style to each piece and offers delightfully varied renditions of three favourite concert arias, both settings of Non temer amato bene and Nehmt meinen Dank.

Finally there is some Gundula Janowitz involved. Although I am no connoisseur of Verdi's Attila, it seems she was truly aflame the night in Berlin when this broadcast was made. Those who have been surprised by her Elisabetta from Vienna will still be astonished by the energy and animation oozing from this Odabella. José Van Dam's noble Attila, Ingvar Wixell's forceful Ezio and Franco Tagliavini's golden-toned seem an exotic team but the whole experience is worth while hearing.

A broadcast of the Wesendonk Lieder from Frankfurt in 1994 is also an interesting experience for admirers of Janowitz's. Her low register takes some time to warm and her mezza voce is not floating as it used to be, but there is still some magic in her clarinet-like phrasing and elegance.

Saturday, October 1st 2005

• Renée encore

I have received e-mails about Renée Fleming's crossover album. In a nutshell, the idea is that she overmanipulates her voice trying to out-Vaughan Sarah Vaughan. I found it interesting that Vaughan has been mentioned since I have myself accused her of vaughanizing her Marschallin and her Violetta. However, in Sarah Vaughan's territory, in principle, that's not a bad idea. As my friend Fernando says, knowing whom to imitate is already a first step when you don't know what to do. I haven't listened to Haunted Heart (only one minute of each track) but it seems the idea of experimenting in a crossover album is not bad, although it reveals the very essence of everybody's problem with Renée: her artistic inmaturity. In Ich Folg dem innern Triebe, a film about Waltraud Meier, the German mezzo soprano that artistic maturity comes when you realize that the great challenge is to TRUST your expression. Before that, artists try to do things in order to produce a certain effect, what is a certain "self-protecting" attitude. Just letting it happen is not only an act of courage but of complete exposition to the audience. That is why great artists are "bravo-ed", because they are brave enough to open themselves entirely to the audience and letting music and the text speak, from the heart to the heart, without any interference of vanity, insecurity and laziness. That said, I do believe Renée Fleming is on her way. The Handel album is already an evidence of that. It seems that the new Daphne is already an improvement from the over-inflected jazzy Marschallin broadcast from the Met. I cross my fingers - the voice and the actress are certainly beautiful.

Wednesday, September 21st 2005

• Impressions on fragments

Only today did I realize that there is a new recording of R. Strauss' Daphne around. I have to confess that reading that Renée Fleming was taking the title role was a kind of turn-off for me. Particularly frustrating since the voice itself is perfect for the role. Taken by curiosity I visited amazon.com and listened to one minute of each track and - to my own amazement and satisfaction - had a very positive impression of the little I could hear. This set is high on my priority list. Most curious was to find a link to an album (also with Fleming) named Haunted Heart.
I know crossover is supposed to be a bad idea from the start, but I have to confess that I can't resist checking how bad it can be. To this moment, Kiri Te Kanawa's Sidetracks CD with André Previn was the only example of sucess in my recollection (I know that Jessye Norman singing I love you just the way you are is too bizarre for words, but I love her Straussian rendition of Bernstein's I'm lucky to be me), but - again on listening to a minute of each track - I was really amazed by Fleming's "pop"-singing style (although I am made to understand that the album is not exactly crossover, but things more or less in the grey zone between pop and classic). I really liked the sound of her voice, the way she handled the passaggio (a trap for most sopranos straying from the operatic world), the style of the arrangements for piano and guitar... I am still digesting all that (you know, my "relation" with Fleming is far from bumpless), but I love discovering new things and changing my mind for better. I'll write more once I have listened to these CDs in full.

• More fragments

Today I could also sample the end of act II and almost the whole of act III of the Walküre from Covent Garden. Almost 10 years ago in Genoa I had already had an excellent impression of Pappano's Wagnerian talents and this broadcast just confirmed his bent for theatricality, the right instincts to create atmosphere through playing (without fussing with temp) and - above all - to give structural sense to the appearances of Leitmotiven and to highlight the Hauptstimme. Lisa Gasteen has developed into a very solid Brünnhilde. Although her top notes don't blossom, the voice is homogeneous, firm and comfortable and her phrasing is elegant, if not really varied. This is especially noticeable when the charismatic Waltraud Meier, still in very good voice, takes the role of Sieglinde. Domingo is always a fresh-sounding (amazing, isn't it?) Siegmund, but I don't know if I like Bryn Terfel's Wotan. Basically it seems he is totally in the wrong Fach. In this role, his voice is too much of a baritone's, gaining brightness and prominence in the wrong parts of the tessitura, lacking natural spaciousness and tone where it should...
Speaking of Pappano, this kind of conducting who seems to breath together with the Swiss-clockwork structure of dramatic shifting proper of Wagner's music seems to be the hallmark of his studio Tristan und Isolde, at least judging from the two tracks published on the CD accompaning Gramophone. 16 minutes are far from ideal to make a definitive comment, but it seems that Domingo deserves all the praises for his 100% musicianly and touching Tristan. I just don't know if I care that much for Nina Stemme's Isolde. The voice is all right warm and free from strain, but it sorely lacks colour to my ears.

Saturday, September 17th 2005

• Computer problems

Due to computer problems, I've been unable to post anything in this website for a while. However, I did take notes of entries to be published and have finally done so today (as you can read below). I take profit of the occasion to anounce that reviews of Ferro's recording of Rossini's Tancredi and Prêtre's CDs of R. Strauss' Capriccio have been added to the discography.

Wednesday, September 7th 2005

• Washington's Trovatore

The broadcast of Verdi's Il Trovatore from Washington is another evidence that this is one of the most difficult operas to cast in the repertoire. Although I have missed some scenes, I could see that Krassimira Stoyanova, a singer whom I'd seen as Micaela in Rio, displayed a beautiful solid easy voice as Leonore. It is still a shade too heavy for her, although she disguises it reasonably. In the pivotal role of Azucena, things are more difficult for Denyce Graves. The voice is certainly penetrating, but - as recorded - it sounds less dramatic than the role. Low notes are a bit shy and top notes a bit thin. She and the conductor were not counting their beats together in Condotta ella era in ceppi, which sounded slow and uneventful. Brendel - still holds his own, but this has never been a part comfortable for his voice - the top notes don't blossom as they should, but the beauty of tone still makes things happen. The tenor is fluttery if naturally big-voiced.
However, the most curious detail about this performance is the adoption of alternatives of the 1857 Paris version (in Italian translation), especially the different ending, involving a repeat of the Miserere, Azucena's exchanging some lines with Manrico (as he is being taken to death) and a longer dialogue between the gipsy woman and the Count. As much as one could point out that this edition gives more time for the sucession of theatrical actions in the closing scene, the result is musically less dramatic.

Sunday, September 4th 2005

• A not entirely enchanting Zauberflöte

The fact that Muti, the great Mozartian, has never recorded Zauberfloete is certainly a shame, but I have to confess that both times I could listen to a broadcast of this opera conducted by him I felt a certain disappointment. Although the performance recorded this year in Salzburg is indeed more refined and animated that the one recorded a while ago at La Scala (with Andrea Rost and Simon Keenlyside), it still lacks some zest. Clarity abounds and there is the Italian conductor's hallmark intelligence all right, not to mention the right balance between monumentality and forward movement found, but the result - pretty as it is - is also quite tame. I guess I still need to hear Abbado… Anyway, there are always Genia Kühlmeier's crystalline and sensitive Pamina and René Pape's noble generously sung Sarastro. Markus Werba is also a spontaneous pleasant Papageno, but Michael Schade's Tamino reveals a laboured high register these days and, good as her high staccato singing is, Anna Kriistina Kaapola's smoky-tone and heavy-handled triplets left something to be desired.

• Ur-mezzo

Still more disappointing was Munich's La Forza del Destino. Fabio Luisi's conducting lacked momentum, underplaying the highly emotional score into empty beautiful sounds. The Alvaro (Franco Farina) and the Carlo (Mark Delavan) were gusty and the Preziosilla (Dagmar Pecková) was desperately overparted. A veteran Kurt Moll still called the necessary attention, but it was above all Violeta Urmana's show. I believe the relatively low tessitura of this difficult part becomes a dramatic high mezzo soprano, such as Grace Bumbry and now Urmana. The result is a cleanliness in dealing with Verdian lines, extra sensuousness and the right tinta for this tragic role. Her Pace, pace, mio Dio was more than exemplary - it was truly exciting!

Sunday, August 21st 2004

• La vita with Steve Zissou

According to my friend Isabela, Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic… is a movie about a documentary. The interesting thing, however, is the fact it is a highly unrealistic movie about a phony documentary that eventually discovers the truth in itself. This kind of wording, however, might mislead someone into finding any philosophical depth in this cinematographic super sundae filled with baroque imagery, virtuoso-like framing, Italian design and complete irreverence. The visual multi-faceted self-reference is truly Fellinian, but the plot is delightfully brancaleonesque, highlighting a superb cast. I am really curious to see Wes Anderson's next movie, since this one seems to have exhausted the style of movie settled in The Royal Tennenbaums and here taken to its limits. In any case, this one certainly is bound to enter my DVD collection.

• Two Four Last Songs

Thanks to my friend Dominic, I was finally able to listen to Margaret Price singing Richard Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder. This is a live unofficial recording from Edinburgh where she is at the top of her powers, floating her (difficult) lines with soaring velvetiness. Considering the intrinsic beauty of her sound, it is a pity that she indulges in some unstylish portamento, made to be especially unwanted in a performance so close to perfection. As a curiosity, Dominic recorded to me Mirella Freni's performance with an unspeakable Italian orchestra. Considering her contrived German and entirely Italianate approach, one can still perceive the Straussian quality of her voice. If one bears in mind that Leontyne Price and Montserrat Caballé had far more experience in this repertoire and produced starkly unstylish performances and that Freni was left all alone without an expert conductor (and maybe a language coach) to guide her, I guess Freni has nothing to be ashamed of. It is, of course, a curiosity, just a teaser for those who dreamed of hearing such a legendary singer in a repertoire fit to her voice and temper, if not to her method and artistic background.

Thursday, August 25th 2004

• Long time no see

Because of a major computer crash, I've been unable to post anything for a while. Busy schedule would have prevented me from writing anything interesting until a trip to Rio, where I could see things I was looking forward to, such as Henry Moore's exhibit at the Paço Imperial and a composite play made of two texts by Harold Pinter, A Kind of Alaska (1982) and Ashes to Ashes (1996).
I haven't seen any of these plays before and I have to confess a certain disappointment. Ashes to Ashes seems almost outdated, a kind of Sophie's Choice in a tin pot, with all predictability and sentimentality involved, despite the dry dialogues and dramatic action. In order to make it work, director Italo Rossi would have to opt for a less gemütlich direction and extract more intensity from his cast, who had the extra disadvantage of dealing with a highly artificial translation. A Kind of Alaska is more interesting, but again the director failed to give life to the characters and establish the right counterpoint between the just awaken comatose patient and those who have been affected by her absence. Actress Joana Fomm is the redeeming grace in a bureaucratic cast, finding the right naturalness in her faded "sleeping beauty" act.
The other good surprise in my trip to Rio was to discover that the Theatro Municipal was staging Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles, an opera of which I only knew highlights. Although there is more than a splash of kitsch in it, the ludicrous libretto has agile enough an action to keep the audience awaken and there are some charming fake-exotic colours to keep the musical interest. William Pereira's staging is simple and elegant (it is a pity that a more convincingly sea-like backdrop couldn't be found, though) and was made to spot the acting talents in his cast. As Leïla, Claudia Riccitelli was intoxicatingly sexy and alluring. Nevertheless, hers is the kind of voice who doesn't do things by itself, but is made to do. As a result, although the sound itself was not particularly beautiful or easy (especially in both ends of her voice), she still managed to craft a touching performance through tone colouring and dramatic imagination. As Nadir, Luciano Botelho had everything in his side but a tone penetrating enough to be effortlessly heard in the last seats in the hall. Although the director had him overbusy during his main aria, he could still pull out a poetic Je crois entendre encore.

Wednesday, August 5th 2005

• More Handel from Munich

The Bayerische Staatsoper has proved to be in recent years the prominent Handelian venue among the great opera houses in the world. This repertoire choice has proved important to the fans of the Caro Sassone all over the world since two DVDs of works unavailable in video so far are now easily bought. Since Alcina has only one far from reliable production on DVD, the broadcast from the Prinzregenten Theater could be a good sign of a welcome future release from Farao Classics. As one could have expected, Ivor Bolton and the Bavarian house band are always at home in Handel producing rich yet stylish sounds in adequate tempi throughout. The casting policy this time is the item that may make some eyebrows rise. The fact that Anja Harteros has sung Donna Anna around the world might imply that she had the right voice for Alcina. In a sense, the weight of tone and the clean and tasteful phrasing were there. But the tone is somehow too heavy, the low register not entirely focused, and one could feel she was constantly scaling down and not really at ease. In Ah, mio cor she even managed to surprise the audience with an expressive rendition of this difficult aria. Similarly, Vesselina Kasarova proved to have lost the propriety in this repertoire. The tone has developed to be blowsy and matronly and her expressive devices verge on affectation. Although the role of Morgana is on the high side for Veronica Cangemi, she could pull out some touching moments, but high notes were rarely really sweet. On the other hand, Deborah York sparkled in the role of Oberto with her boyish bright tone. John Mark Ainsley's tenor has lost its hallmark sweetness and evenness, but his agility is still remarkable. Outshining all her colleagues, there is Sonia Prina's exquisite true contralto. Although she cuts her phrases too often for breath, it is still an extraordinarily flexible naturally dark contralto. No wonder she got the larger share of applauses that evening. Let's hope to hear more from her.

Sunday, July 17th 2005

• Handel and more Handel

Reviews of Curtis' recording of Rodelinda and of Chandos' new Partenope have been added to the discography.

Tuesday, July 13th 2005

• La Petite Lili - a great movie

I am an unconditional fan of Chekhov's plays, but have always found The Seagull to be less immediately attractive one in his production. The repetitive structure of the play has always seemed to me challenging for a director if he wants to keep the dramatic intensity high throughout the four acts. In his free adaptation to the screen, Claude Miller has successfully managed to give dramatic truth to characters relatively unconvincing to modern audiences such as Nina (Lili) and Constantine (Julien ) with his radically different approach to the dénouement. His metalinguistic "fourth act" has the touch of genius: not only does it wipe out all idea of repetition, but also takes the relationship between the characters to a different level. The Seagull is a story about actors and authors - these people are evidently representing to each other from the beginning and making representation itself the leading idea of the story makes La Petite Lili a great movie, in the sense that it becomes a film about art itself and the interplay between life and art, the very matter of creation. To make things better, Miller - a director known to me through the charming La Petite Voleuse and the haunting L'Accompagnatrice - is a director who knows to make his points visually: the exquisite images shown throughout are not just pretty wrappings to distract aesthetically sensitive viewers from a shallow plot and inexpressive actors. On the contrary - dialogues are intelligent but not imposingly intellectual and the cast is amazing. The sexy Ludivine Sagnier is a magnectic figure on the screen and Nicole Garcia makes the best of a whole considered difficult by the very greatest actresses all around the world. In any case, I am still to see a bad movie with Bernard Giraudeau…

• A truly different Rigoletto

If there is something trivial about going to the opera, this is watching Rigoletto, unless you were able to witness the performances conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock in Baden-Baden. The German conductor has acquired an international reputation with Bach and now concentrates his efforts to produce historically informed Verdi. Played in period instruments with a quasi Mozartian approach to tempo, Rigoletto certainly gets new shadings. The light teasing scenes in act I and II sound particularly beautiful with clear vibrato-less string playing and colourful woodwind. The graciousness of Verdi writing in moments such as Gilda and the Duke's love duet has never been so evident to me. However, I cannot say that Rigoletto's desperate pleading to the kidnappers of his daughter sounded truly hair-raising in the lighter and more delicate sound of gut strings. To my surprise, though, the tempest + murder in act IV sounded vivid enough. It is a pity that the cast was only efficient. Iride Martinez's fluttery and slightly acidulous soprano is adept enough but rarely beguiling and, although Paolo Gavanelli is a commited actor who knows the value of tone colouring, his baritone is on the light side for the part and he has to cheat in many key moments in order to keep things going. Raúl Hernandez is also quite overparted, but his tenor is pleasant and spontaneous all the way. Mariselle Martinez is a firm, dark toned Maddalena and Guido Jentjens pitch-black bass is certainly most welcome.

• A German Verdi Requiem

If one is ready to deal with poor recorded sound, Karajan's performance of Verdi Requiem from Salzburg 1970 is certainly an experience. I've had these CDs for some years but listening to them after a while has certainly been rewarding. Karajan takes a religious approach to the work - without histrionic effects and based on sober tempi - and his choice of soloists is really inspired. Although she is not at her top pianissimo form (some of them are actually quite flat), Gundula Janowitz's angelic soprano and Mozartian approach to her phrasing are certainly refreshing. Christa Ludwig's deep and noble rendition of the alto part is already an acknowledged reference and Ruggero Raimondi is in strong voice too. To those who appreciate exquisite voice, the rare opportunity of listening to the exquisite blending of Janowitz's and Carlo Bergonzi's voices is certainly something to cherish.

Sunday, July 3rd 2005

• Taking a walk at the wild side

Looking pretty to the cameras is the very opposite of tragic catharsis. And Park Chan-Wook's Old Boy is a prove of that. The literally visceral operatic (is it possible to see the denouement and not think of Rigoletto?) approach to this almost mythic drama fits the Asian movie rather staid and stylized way of telling a story. I have a friend who says people always praise a movie's cinematography when everything else is disappointing (and that's something easy to say of most movies these days…), so I won't speak of the "dirty-on-purpose" photography and undemonstrative intelligent visuals. If you have strong stomach and spirit, it is highly recommended.

• What has happened to Alessandra Marc?

Listening to Alessandra Marc's debut recital, "American Diva", I could remember that - despite the sliding, the occasional glottal attack and rather clouded low register - nobody since Birgit Nilsson has such beautiful forceful top notes. She is also a sensitive musicianly singer. Many have disliked her Elektra for Sinopoli because of indifferent enunciation. Yes, it is true - her vowels could be clearer, but how many sopranos, even in the recording studio, have really SUNG the part as she did? Last time I could listen to anything with her was a Turandot with Sinopoli, in which the schizophrenic tessitura unsettled somewhat her usually focused soprano, but then I heard she was on a diet etc and that she intended to tackle Brünnhilde or something, but then niente…

• A new Billie?

Everybody who cares for jazz likes to discover the "new great jazz singer". My friend Lia and I are always trying to surprise each other in this aspect, but now it is my friend Ivan who got the edge on us, showing someone who is not quite actually that. The first thing one might say about Madeleine Peyroux is that she sounds really really like Billie Holiday (I am tempted to say she sounds the same as her), but even if the mannerisms are there, the whole atmosphere is so different: she sounds sunnier, cooler and there is something contemporary, even "pop" about her stylized jazzy approach. Anyway, I owe Ivan this one.

• Reviews

A review of Andreas Spering's recording of Handel's Imeneo has been added to the discography and also Barenboim's recording of Le Nozze di Figaro with the ECO now appears at the Mozart/Da Ponte opera page.

Sunday, June 19th 2005

• Treasures from Vienna

Listening to the visceral pizzicato playing from the Vienna State Opera during the touching aria Rachel quand du seigneur in the video of Halévy's La Juïve, a friend of mine expressed his pleasure of listening to that orchestra - a pleasure I can confirm from my experience live in Austria. Listening to the ORF broadcast program, I have been often surprised by some treasures that deserved to be available to larger audiences through CD or DVD release. Of course there are the obvious choice of Mozart exquisitely conducted by the likes of Ozawa or Muti - often with excellent casting, such as the Nozze di Figaro from 1993 with Adrianne Pieczonka, Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz, William Shimmel and Bryn Terfel (Muti conducting) I have just listened to. As much as I like the old EMI set with Margaret Price and Kathleen Battle, ORF does record better than most recording companies… However, some repertoire not typically Viennese should also see the light of the CD-player laserbeam, such as the beautiful performance of Puccini's Manon Lescaut broadcast by ORF yesterday. Ozawa's colorist conducting allied to the crystal-clarity of the Vienna State Orchestra playing made this score shine in Mahlerian manner. Thank God there was an interesting cast. Although Barbara Haveman does not have the last ounce of morbidezza, hers is a solid sensuous warm-toned soprano. Neil Shicoff lacks the legato and fluidity of most Italian tenors in spinto repertoire, but sang healthily and with animation, while Boaz Daniel (a singer whose debut in Vienna I was able to see) is a firm, clear-toned Lescaut.

• Margaret Price

Last week I was able to buy a CD I have always wanted to have - Pritchard's highlights from Entführung aus dem Serail, where Margaret Price is an almost supernaturally soaring Konstanze. The velvety purity of her voice those days is something to marvel - and the absence of Martern aller Arten is a minor drawback if one has her RCA Mozart recital in which she offers a superb performance of the missing aria. The rest of the cast is efficient, more stylist than often those days, while Kimmo Lappaleinen, the Pedrillo, deserved to be a Belmonte.

• Rio

The reason why I have not posted for a while was a trip to Rio and the following backlog at work. There I could see a play I had never heard about but for a month before through an e-mail of a reader of this website. It is Alejandro Casona's Corona de amor y de muerte, a tragedy inspired in the historical turned-into legendary facts about a Portuguese prince intended to marry the Spanish Infanta but secretly married to his mistress, Inês de Castro, who would eventually be killed by his own father. Although many writers have written about the theme, this play allied well the format of historic drama with a timing and language more attuned to modern tastes, since it has been written around 1950 (as a web-research told me). It is only a pity that the staging I could see was really really bad - only the actor taking the part of the Portuguese prince, Roger Gobeth, could find some truth in his character. A bit more experience in this kind of repertoire might turn him into a commendable theatre actor (it must be said that the casting involved "TV for teenagers"-actors).

I understand nothing of classical ballet, but my friend Ivan from Rio was patient enough to share some of his knowledge and recommended me some performances in Rio, the opera house of which may boast to have a good corps de ballet. Because of his guiding, I was able to witness a legendary performance of Swan Lake directed by Natalia Makarova and featuring an extraordinary Cecilia Kerche as prima ballerina, who drove the audience to a frenzy of enjoyment. Anyway, I am writing all that because Cecilia Kerche was starring a production of The Sleeping Beauty in Rio and I squeezed it in a tight schedule only to discover she was indisposed and would be replaced. That was truly upsetting, but then the Ersatz casting included Bruno Rocha, a young dancer I had never seen before, who would take the leading male part. Even an ignoramus such as I am was able to see that a great future awaits him. His elegant athletic dancing eschews any affectation - and that seems to be rare.

Sunday, June 5th 2005

• I am sorry, but...

Talking about Fritz Wunderlich and Gundula Janowitz with a friend, we were talking about voices the sound of which alone produce all the necessary thrill. It has been fashionable in the last decades to praise "intelligent" singers above "natural" ones, as if the results of those with whom nature has been more generous would be less praiseworthy than those from singers whose hard work is more evident. I am sorry, but life is unfair… The concept of a beautiful voice is wide enough to comprehend almost all potential singers. It is technique which will ultimately make possible for that voice to "behave" beautifully. And making technique fit into one's nature is a product of intelligence, in the sense of knowledge not only of vocal technique but also of one own's physique and psyche, not to mention the right instincts and musicianship.

It is curious, therefore, that we are more tolerant with the technical shortcomings of singers whose vocal beauty is their hallmark. Maybe this is due to the fact that, when things go wrong, there is still the fact that their raw material - the voice - is always pleasant and expressive enough to keep you on their side. I am writing this on listening to the broadcast of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Although I found Antonio Pappano's conducting rather lackaday, too often lacking rhythmic vitality and losing momentum in some critical points, his starry cast was compensation enough. None of these singers are in fact ideally cast, but their vocal charisma simply works the magic. Karita Mattila, for instance, lacks the necessary flexibility, is a bit indifferent about her Italian and negotiates too carefully both extremes of her range, but her big creamy sexy voice, musicianship and allure bring the role of Amelia to life as few other sopranos do. In Morrò, ma prima in lagrima she is even exemplary. Marcelo Álvarez might be one size too light for the role of Riccardo, but his liquid sensitive phrasing and vocal appeal are more than irresistible. Similarly light-voiced for his role, Thomas Hampson's bright handsome baritone has grown in strength and - even close to its limits - retain its charm. His Renato is so purposefully crafted that I would like to listen to it again in recordings. Camilla Tilling is richer-voiced than many Oscars, but slightly less flexible too. As for Elisabetta Fiorillo's Ulrica, she certainly knows a thing of two about stage impact, but the voice is too untutored from the medium up to comfort.

• More singers from Australia

Among the CDs Jorge brought me from Australia, there is a recital of soprano Joan Carden. A look at the cover shows she was a veteran singer when she recorded it, but signs of aging show only in minor imprecisions. Her voice sounds amazingly young and that is quite a voice anyway - there is a bit of Julia Varady in her, but the sound is rounder and warmer. In this disc, she sings mainly Verismo repertoire without vulgarity and a clean line. More than that: her Mimì sounds cozy and naïve, her Butterfly sounds young, tender and full of anxiety and her Tosca is womanly and passionate. In other words, she knows very well the tricks of character-building. Amazingly, she also sings two difficult Mozart arias - Come scoglio and Non più di fiori - in a very commendable way, her divisions better than most lyric sopranos'. All in all, it seems she had an interesting career and deserved a reputation outside Australia. Anyway, it was interesting to meet one of those reliable singers who have been the pillar of operatic seasons outside the Munich/Vienna/Milan/New York axis and who would be unknown outside their home theatre unless a recording like that shows up in your CD-player.

• Future releases

Browsing through the web, I've listened to some samplers that seem to be really worth while purchasing the whole set. First of all, DG's new Rodelinda seems to be the final answer to Handelians - a prima donna of real dramatic and vocal powers in Simone Kermes, a rich-toned Steve Davislim and a team of great contraltos (for once in this opera!) in Marijana Mijanovic, Sonia Prina and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Also, Chandos will be releasing soon a Partenope with the charming Rosemary Joshua in the title role plus Kurt Streit and Lawrence Zazzo. Looking at Chandos' samplers in their website, I ventured into listening to some of their Opera in English (I am a bit suspicious of the concept - it generally makes everything sound Broadway), but Christine Brewer's creamy Abschelicher really make me feel like listening to the rest of it.

Sunday, May 22nd 2005

• Discs from Australia

Thanks to the kindness of my friend Jorge, I was able to listen to some discs with Australian artists. With the expert help of Simone Young, Steve Davislim gives a try in Strauss songs. When one listens to this repertoire with a tenor, one realizes how difficult is for a tenor to offer the kind of variety and glamour a female singer so easily produces. I have felt the same way listening to Rachmaninov songs with Sergei Larin, being used to some of them with Kathleen Battle. As it is, Davislim does a clean job with his attractive tone and polished technique. He resists the temptation of using falsetto effects (in a way Larin - understandably - does not) and even presents (of all songs!) a memorable Waldseligkeit.

Other interesting artist is the New-Zealand soprano Emma Matthews, featured in an all-Handel. Hers is an amazingly flexible rich high soprano. Although the voice is pleasing and her technique leaves nothing to be desired, she chose a repertoire in which a most seductive approach should be tried. As it is, her Cleopatra, Morgana and Almirena sound more commanding than affecting and/or appealing. Maybe she should have done a "Sorceress"-arias recital. There are many more discs Jorge so generously gave me - and I couldn't listen to all of them yet - but it was quite refreshing to listen to a Mozart collection from the Australian Opera. The underrated György Fischer may not conduct the most dramatic Don Giovanni around, but certainly one in which musical clarity and spontaneous stylishness take pride of place. Lisa Gasteen used to be a forceful clean-toned Donna Elvira, and Stephen Bennet is a dark-toned Leporello. Judging from this zipping Così Fan Tutte, Carlo Rizzi should try Mozart more often. Pity that Amanda Thane does not scale down really comfortably as Fiordiligi, but Christine Douglas is a charming Dorabella. There is also Cristopher Hogwood 0.1% more connected than in his Decca recording in La Clemenza di Tito, in which Joan Carden seems to be an interesting Vitellia (pity there is so little of her in this disc…).

• Brazilian late-Romanticism

Jorge also gave me a recording of a work until now unknown to me, Francisco Braga's one-act opera Jupyra. Premièred in 1899, the work reflects Braga's European training, with plenty of rich orchestral effects and powerful verismo-like musikdrama. I cannot say if this is a neglected masterpiece, but it certainly causes a good impression in the first listening. Compared to d'Albert's Tiefland, it is certainly a more attractive and charming work. I would certainly like to see it in an opera house. It seems it has almost been translated to German (it is sung in Italian) and performed in Dresden in the early years of XXth century. The recording (released by BIS) certainly does it justice and features some Brazilian talents that deserved more recognition. In the title role, there is Brazilian diva, Eliane Coelho, in a flashing performance (her only studio recording). Her dark slightly dusky soprano allied to a fiery temper and floated pianissimo make her an ideal heroine in a Tosca-like vocalization. Rosana Lamosa, who was an affecting Amina in Rio some years ago, is beautifully contrasted to Coelho with her reedy velvety soprano. Mario Carrara has a bright and firm tenor (if a bit tight) and only Philip Joll throaty baritone lets down. The OSESP proves it is not only the best orchestra in Brazil, but an orchestra of international level, here expertly conducted by John Neschling. I have seen them once in Rio (Brahms 4th) and it was indeed stunning. Unfortunately I never could get tickets to see them in their home venue, the beautiful and highly praised Sala São Paulo. Maybe next time…

•La Traviata

A review of Levine's Traviata with Cheryl Studer and Pavarotti has been added to the Verdi page.

Sunday, May 15th 2005

• Don Giovanni

With the almost simultaneous release of two major Don Giovannis on DVD - Muti's in Vienna and Levine's in New York - I have added review of both these performances to the Mozart page and also took profit of the occasion to retouch my comments on the earlier Muti DVD from La Scala. What can I say? Muti is like good wine - the new performance is to be treasured - nothing like a performance from this great conductor in an opera house that cherishes his talents.

Also, there is more to be said of the dissoluto punito since RAI has broadcast a performance from the Maggio Musicale. Considering Mehta's charming Nozze di Figaro released by Sony, this Don Giovanni is something of a disappointment. To start with, the orchestra is not in top Mozartian shape, lacking finish and clarity, and the conductor plays down all the dramma and all that remains is the giocoso - that sprightly quite shallow performance does not justice at all to this multifaceted score. The cast looked promising, featuring many Italian or Italianate singers, including a Donna Anna I had always wanted to hear, a Donna Elvira whom I have seen (to my great satisfaction) in Vienna some years ago and a Don Giovanni whom I had the pleasure to see twice in Rio (in bel canto repertoire).

It is a pity that Mariella Devia's once lovely voice has developed to be rather ungainly, instable and raspish. Let's hope that there is somewhere an old performance where a Donna Anna recorded in her prime is preserved for posterity. Barbara Frittoli's tone has its amount of nervousness these days too, but still in keeping with her formidable rich-toned Donna Elvira. Veronica Cangemi is a clean-toned earthy Zerlina, whose healthy low register is more than welcome. Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti offered a remarkable Don Ottavio. Rarely the role has been sung with such generosity of tone, never indulging in unstylish emotional effects. Although Erwin Schrott's tone is pleasant all the way, his Don Giovanni still lacks face. Natale de Carolis was a blunt and not really ingratiating Masetto for Muti, and there he is as a blunt and not really ingratiating Leporello. Marco Spotti's dark-toned Commendatore is also worth of mention.

• More broadcasts

If someone has enjoyed the Tristan and Isolde from Paris, this person is Olivier, who has seen it thrice this month. Unfortunately I have listened only to a third of it on the radio, but that was enough to see that he had not exaggerated his enthusiasm. Esa Pekka Salonen's conducting is at the same time harmonically and structurally clear while keeping real Romantic Schwung. Waltraud Meier seemed to have developed her Isolde to optimal levels. The voice is slimmer than it used to be - and that's all for the best in this role, since this helps to create an illusion of youth. Also, every verbal and musical aspect of the role is seen to and this makes for the occasional harsh or stressed tone. Yvonne Naef was rich and fresh-toned as Brangäne, and Ben Heppner's lyric Tristan is most welcome. Olivier told me that in the theatre the orchestra was often too loud, shadowing the singers, but in the broadcast, this was noticeable only in the singers' low notes.

I have also listened to the Met's final broadcast this season, one of my very favourite operas, Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. James Levine has already recorded a sumptuous performance for a film by Jean-Pierre Ponelle, with a legendary performance by Tatiana Troyanos as Sesto, but this week-end he shows to have deepen his understanding of the score, offering a powerful stylish performance, expertly crafted. In both finali his control of transitions and mood-shifts is exemplary and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra proves again to be in great shape (only the chorus is still painful to hear). Melanie Diener, a singer whom I have seen as Elsa, takes the difficult part of Vitellia. This is a role in which no singer comes through spotless, but Diener has relatively little to be desired. Her creamy voice is firm, flexible and has an impressive low register. Although she finds her act I terzett a bit high, her carefulness there never comes close to ungainliness. Her Italian is a bit indifferent, but she shows understanding of character building, showing a rather spoiled-girl Vitellia whose motto could be tutto può donna bella. Although Anne Sofie von Otter's tone is less fresh than in Gardiner's recording, I prefer the mature richer-toned and more dramatically connected Sesto she is now. Sarah Connolly is a solid warm-toned Annio, but his sweetheart is the corny-toned Heidi Grant Murphy, whose approach is supposed to be all-sexy (even when she is convincing Tito not to marry her), but is actually short of a turn-off with her doll-like rattling soprano (think of it - this is Lucia Popp's role! - where is Dorothea Röschmann?!). Frank Lopardo has always been an acquired taste, more so now that his vocal production is a bit rougher, but still piercingly nasal. However, he sails through his divisions entirely carefree and offers a convincingly authoritative vision of the Roman Emperor. Luca Pisaroni is a forceful Publio. Unfortunately, his aria is the only moment in the score in which Levine seemed to have lost the animation. I guess this broadcast is not going to be released - that is a pity! - I would like to have a copy of it.

The other broadcast is is an Ariadne auf Naxos from the Met (April 2003), Levine offering a lighter approach than in his telecast with Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. Here Christine Brewer offers a superb Ariadne, rich-toned throughout the range and floating her tone at will with stylishness and sensitivity. Also, Natalie Dessay offers a sensuous and expressive Zerbinetta, a performance more interesting if less poised than the one recorded by Deutsche Grammophon with Sinopoli. Kritstine Jepson's Komponist is also praiseworthy, a flexible velvety mezzo that takes beautifully to the high tessitura of this role. Richard Margison is a bit pinched and strained (and should improve his German) but also aptly heroic. All in all, an enjoyable performance.

• Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts

I imagine that there might be copyright issues, but I've been browsing through the Metropolitan Opera archives and have found some valuable broadcasts that have never been issued - the likes of Caballé (as Ariadne, Desdemona and Leonora in Il Trovatore), Battle (as Zdenka and Cleopatra), Devia (as Konstanze) in roles not available elsewhere. I hope that these are not just lying collecting dust somewhere but just waiting for the legal stuff to be decided in order to be released, maybe by the Met itself.

Sunday, May 8th 2005

• More Violeta Urmana

I've just listened to acts I and II of a broadcast of Puccini's Tosca from Firenze (a problem with my connection prevented me from listening to act III) with Violeta Urmana as the jealous diva, Marcus Haddock as Cavaradossi and Ruggero Raimondi as Scarpia, Zubin Mehta conducting. Although Urmana can count me among her most enthusiastic fans, I have to confess that I did not expect much of her Tosca. Only to be surprised by an amazing performance. It is true that she still has to develop in the role, but the voice works beautifully in it. Her luscious but not vulgar low register and a flashing top register allied to a sexy voice, the dramatic instincts and a thorough musicality makes her a Puccinian not to be overlooked. Ideally she needed a bit more dynamic variety in the upper reaches, but her thrilling secure top notes and imagination are more than compensation. Her sincere and firm-toned Vissi d'Arte brought the house down in almost 3-minute applauses, foot-stamping and cheering. Marcus Haddock's strong baritonal tenor takes some time to get used to (the voice is far from ingratiating too) but it seems he is a reliable singer to see in a heavy part when one is in the opera house. Ruggero Raimondi no longer can offer the firmness and richness he used to have, but still knows how to create the right sensation, especially in this role. I was only disappointed with Zubin Mehta's overindulgent slow and undramatic conducting.

• The Russians are coming

Last Saturday's broadcast of Wagner's Walküre show a new perspective of the Ring Cycle - one that comes from Saint Petersburg. Not only is the conductor Valery Gergiev, but also the cast features a Brünnhilde, a Fricka and a Wotan from the Kirov Opera. Gergiev's conducting has many compelling moments in which fast speeds, zipping string articulation and a strong sense of forward movement make a strong impact. Maybe beacause of Gergiev's sense of organization, other moments come through a bit flat - but the overall result is interesting and exciting. The audiences at the Met must be thrilled to see a perspective so difference from Levine's, who has been conducting the work in New York for some decades. I don't know anything about Olga Sergeeva, but it seems she might become a respectable Brünnhilde. As heard in the broadcast, it is a bright fast-vibrato-ish soprano with a warm low register and easy top notes. In the most dramatic moments, she tends to get unfocused and grey-toned, but it doesn't seem she is forcing her nature. On the contrary, she sounds remarkably young in the part. This does seem to be her Fach, but it seems she can still develop in it. Anyway, she sounds more comfortable as Brünnhilde than almost all sopranos I've heard in this part for a while. She couldn't be more contrasted to Katarina Dalayman's rich velvety-toned Sieglinde - a very intense and moving performance. Larissa Diadkova is an imposing if generalized Fricka, but her top register sounds quite harsh these days. Plácido Domingo took a while to warm, but after a while was the congenial Siegmund of always (although he was particularly careless with his accent). Mikhail Kit is definitely a Russian view of the part with his dark but kind of wooden voice - rich in its middle and low register but slim in the top notes. His tonal palette is not varied, but he his Boris Godunov-like intense declamation is a kind of Ersatz for the Hans Hotter-like verbal accuracy and tone colouring one expects of a Wotan.

• Re:opera

New revies of three DVDs: Handel's Rodelinda (Bolton) from Munich, Verdi's La Traviata (Sado) from Aix and Mozart's Don Giovanni (Muti) from Vienna.

Saturday, April 30th 2005

• Tales of Hoffmann

Some issues ago, a reviewer from Gramophone magazine wrote DVD has brought about many releases which have no reason to exist, considering the level of the musical performance. However, the plethora of new DVDs means that audiences all around the world are being exposed to productions that have caused a great impact on the audiences in the world's leading opera houses - especially in what regards staging. This is the case of TDK's release of Robert Carsen's production of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann from the Opéra de Paris. First of all, regardless of being a modern staging, it is a beautiful staging, what makes it immediately attractive to those who like theatre. It features many creative ideas, especially in the Antonia episode. In the Venetian scene, the solution found for the barcarolle is admirable, but the Olympia scene is a bit overdone.

Unfortunately, the musical side of this performance is not in the same level. Jesus Lopez-Cobos' conducting is routine and rather inelegant (what should be a fatal mistake in French repertoire). His cast is also below standard - and this is indeed surprising in such a venue. To start with, Neil Shicoff was in a really really bad day when he recorded it. The voice is gray and effortful throughout, offering no pleasure at all to the listener. I am amazed that he has allowed this to be released. Suzanne Mentzer is no better - the voice is so opaque that I wonder if someone in the audience could hear anything. Bryn Terfel is afflicted as well by the prevailing lack of brightness. His physical presence and acting are compelling, but the voice was basically unfocused, especially in the upper register. Lack of focus is something that comes to my mind when I think of Béatrice Uria-Monzon, but this seems to be part of her (rather sexy) vocal production and not the result of a bad cold or carelessness. She is also a feast to the eyes. Desirée Rancatore's Olympia is (literally) uninhibited, if a bit overdone. Vocally, she is not at ease and her embellishment and optional high notes do nothing but make that clear. Worlds apart from the rest of the cast, there is Ruth Ann Swenson. Although she is not as crystalline-toned as she used to be, she is the kind of singer who knows how to highlight the beauty of a melodic line and proves to be an affecting Antonia.

Friday, April 22nd 2005

• Il Trovatore

After having listened to many recordings of Il Trovatore, I could listen to day to Muti's La Scala recording (yes, the problem with EMI CDs have prevented me to do so until now…) and now I have no doubt it is by far the best conducting this opera has ever seen. Muti's absolute sense of structure and his thorough and intelligent approach to phrasing is allied to the complete technical resources to realize them. Moreover, he is the kind of conductor who trains an orchestra to accomplish with utmost security what is asked of it. I have a boundless admiration for Riccardo Muti and I think it is shameful what La Scala has done to a man who has restored this theatre and most of all this orchestra to one of the leading positions in the world of opera. I think that the musicians at La Scala were probably sincere about their complaints, but one must not forget that a genius is someone who makes everybody go beyond themselves - that is the way one achieves excellence. Karajan used to send his secretary to instruct his singers about his wishes, had the orchestra seated while he passed and other petty-tyrant attitudes, but the Berliners knew that this was a price to be paid in the name of extraordinary music making. The result: the Berliner Philharmoniker reached the peak of musical achievement those days. This is what gymnastic teachers call "no pain, no gain"… Thus, invited to accomplish legendary deeds, members of La Scala's orchestra declined the invitation and, when they are safely restored to comfortable lackaday routine, I think one day they'll regret it.

Monday, April 19th 2005

• Metropolitan Opera broadcasts

While waiting for the broadcast of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, I could listen to the broadcast of act II and III of Puccini's Tosca also from the Met. Differently from the Rosenkavalier, the broadcast was quite different from the actual performance I've seen in the Met roughly two weeks before. The microphones were kind too Guleghina, who acquired a low register far more functional than live and Mark Delavan, whose baritone is less exuberant in the theatre, but the same did not happen to Salvatore Licitra, whose top notes were far more natural when I saw him (from the balcony seats, just for the records) at the Met than recorded, when the result sounded a bit congested and contrived. Maybe he was not in a good day when recorded.

As for Zauberflötte, I am still astonished about how Levine, who has always been a good Mozartian, could still develop to be an even better one. I've seen this week his DVD of this opera with the same orchestra and Sarastro, and the new performance is a complete improvement from the first and... maybe... deserved to be released. The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra has improved immensely and Levine's athletic flexible conducting knows where to mellow when necessary. Lisa Milne's creamy toned Pamina glows beautifully in the higher reaches and retains an appealing freshness in her low register. An altogether delightful performance. Erika Miklosa is a slim-toned elegant Queen of the Night. Even if I cannot tell how Luciana Serra sounded live at the Met, she offers a far more flashing impression than the Hungarian soprano (who had a weird way with the triplets anyway, although her a tempo staccato singing is admirable). Matthew Polenzani may have his lachrimose moments, but he is definitely the best Tamino I have heard since the days when Kurt Streit was in his prime. The tone is pleasant, bright and natural and, although he has enough ardour, he doesn't try to make it an exercise for Lohengrin (as most Taminos these days.) Matthias Goerne is an adorable Papageno - the tone is dark but not heavy and he relies on musicianship instead of buffonry to build an engaging character. Of course Kurt Moll is not as mellifluous as he used to be some years ago, but he is still an imposing Sarastro, unrivalled in the ease in low tessitura. René Pape's Sprecher is glamourous casting, but I wish fresher-toned Ladies could be found (that said, they are still better than the ones on the DVD).

• Scratched CDs

One of the most thraumatic events of my life as a CD-collector happened when the CD-player of a friend exploded with my copy of the IMPOSSIBLE-TO-FIND recording of Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder with Melanie Diener and Claudio Abbado. After the accident, the CD, which has been projected inside the machine in a way only the technician could find it again, was unusuable. However, in New York I bought a device named Skip-Doctor, which is miraculous. I have used it on three CDs of mine, two of them with minor problems and the results were perfect. The Diener/Abbado disc still needs some extra-treatment, but now I can listen to Beim Schlafgehen without any problem. The two other songs have each two moments of skipping, but it is still possible to listen to them - it was marvelous to listen to that beautiful performance after some five years.

Sunday, April 17th 2005

• Discographies

I have retouched the discography of Verdi's Il Trovatore (and included a review of Levine's DVD from the Met) and will be publishing today a review of McGegan's recording in the discrography of Handel's Serse.

• Chamber Music

My friend Daniel gave me a wonderful CD of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Leonid Kogan and Emil Gilels recorded live in Leningrad in 1964. He had already converted me to the "fan club" of Gilels, but I have to confess I knew nothing about his brother-in-law, a great full-toned violinist. Best of all - their collaboration has an Einverständnis, an organic approach to phrasing that only a masterly pianist with complete mastery of tone-colouring could achieve. We have also had a comparative listening of Schubert's String Quintet. I was mesmerized by the sense of poetry in the Stern/Katims/Casals recording and the amazing polish of the Emerson SQ/Rostropovich, the absolute harmonic and structural clarity of the Vera Beths/Anner Bylsma/Kenneth Slowik finally won me over.

• Chinese Movies

In two days I could see the two latest movies by Zhang Yimou. I had already seen The House of the Flying Daggers and written about it here. My first impression was amazement with the visual richness but disappointment with a plot that makes sense for a baroque opera at best. Then I tried to see the movie from what I imagine to be a more "Eastern" perspective with its particular relation with time (both in the sense of a strong connection with the past and of a kind of "rubato" in dealing with chronology in story telling, which is something more readily available to those who read Japanese manga) and I had a far more enjoyable experience with the movie - seeing it "number by number" instead of trying to connect all the loose ends in name of coherence (I could talk more about that but then this would become a festival of spoilers...) and - most of all - trying to get the virtuoso quality in film-making involving formulaesque sequences in this kind of Chinese traditional movies (as much as we have the "car chase scene" in action movies).

However, I still need to see Hero again. My first impression was really disappointing and I guess I have to blame Chen Kaige's sumptuous and dramatic The Emperor and the Murder for that. If I am not mistaken both movies relate to the same historical events, but I cannot made myself surrender to Yimou's rococo imagery when my expectations were based in Kaige's Shakesperian grandeur and intensity. As it is, Yimou's movie seemed to me something of a fashion show - an empty sequence of self-indulging scenes based on a quite outdated 90's "it-could-be-like-that-or-that-but-it-was-actually-that"-thing plus chromatic perspectives. I could not relate to the characters and ultimately did not care about a bunch of people who draw swords at each other as an expression of love but then get entirely surprised when someone gets hurt playing with sharp objects... I also think that the move lacks a sharp sense of timing. Sometimes the visual effects were so demonstrative that you were still getting them five minutes after you have already got everything about it, such as the scene where the girls cat-fight, I mean, duel among the dry leaves. We have a spiral of golden leaves to the left, than to the right and then to the left again and then to the right again and - worst of all - all duels end the same way... I still intend to see it again, but I guess I'll still have more fun with The Emperor and the Murderer (which I intend to see again too).

Saturday, April 16th 2005

• More EMI

To my complete surprise, EMI has written me a polite letter informing me that, if I open the folder correspondent to the CD drive when an EMI CD is in it, I am supposed to find a file named "player. exe". On double-clicking on it, a specific player woud be installed in my computer and I would be able to listen to these CDs on it. Although I still think that the law allows me to make copies for myself, my goal here is simply LISTENING to the damned discs. So I followed EMI instructions and found no such file. Then I decided to check all my EMI/Virgin CDs with the same problem - the Argerich/Perlman Saratoga disc, Les Nuits d'Eté with Véronique Gens, Daniel Harding's Brahms Symphonies etc etc - not one of these CDs had the supernatural file that would allow me the miracle of listening to them. Then I bothered to read through these CDs' booklets and covers - not a word about copy protection or having to install anything. Boy, does this sound like fraud! I know it is tacky to quote one's mother, but here it goes: one may deceive a few people for a long time or lots of people for a short time, but it is impossible to deceive everybody forever...

Tuesday, April 12th 2005

• Moments of fury

Trying to listen to my new Natalie Dessay CD with excerpts from R. Strauss operas in my computer's CD driver, I realized that it is IMPOSSIBLE to listen to any CD recently published by EMI in a computer, because of their paranoiac anti-piracy system. The result is that a honest buyer who has paid all the expensive taxes to buy a disc such as me (and you just have to visit my sitting room to see that I have made an extensive contribution to the classical music recording industry) who happens to be often away from home has his consumer rights violated. It is my understanding that a CD is a media supposed to be playable in a computer's CD driver - and the fact that any CD by DG, Phillips, Decca, DHM, you name it, follows that rule proves me right - and any company that releases a produce by the name of "compact disc" with that exceptional limitation has to state that clearly in the product's cover - otherwise this company would be deceiving the product's buyer. For example, let us say that Ford Vehicles realizes that many car accidents happen when it is snowing and decides to install in all their vehicles a device that prevents them from starting in the presence of snow without telling anyone. Would that seem reasonable? What if I live in Alaska? With these ideas in mind, I have written a letter far from gentle to EMI using their website. I know they won't do anything about that, especially when it is written from Brazil. (I once had a Phillips CD that simply disintegrated and, having written them, got the following answer - "can't do anything about it because you are in South America"). So much for honesty... Anyway, if anyone who reads this thinks I am totally wrong, please tell me that. I prefer to be wrong than living in an unfair world :-)

Tuesday, April 5th 2005

• Mozart discographies

I have entirely rewritten the review of Solti's second recording of Don Giovanni and added a new review for his first recording of the same work. Also, a review of Marriner's Così Fan Tutte has already been added.

Sunday, April 3rd 2005

• More Rosenkavalier

Listening to the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's Rosenkavalier, I could revive some of the sensation of hearing it live and add two sentences to the reviews published here on Wednesday. Listening again to it made me value even more Runnicles' crystalline conducting (and the orchestra's brass section was clearly in better shape today). Again Angela Denoke's satin-toned sensitive lighthearted Marschallin was a pleasant to hear. The microphones were more cruel to a certain flutter in her vocal production than the auditorium's acoustics, though. Although Laura Aikin is less pure-toned than she used to be, it is an utterly seductive voice and I guess I would have preferred to see her to Lyubov Petrova. Also, Maria Zifchak was a far more reliable Annina than Wendy White.

Saturday, April 2nd 2005

• New York

Easter in New York - it sounds like MGM old musicals, but that was actually my holiday trip. I hadn't been there since 1997 and it was high time to renew my acquaintance with the town, which is one of my favourites in the world BUT for the fact that salespeople are the WORSE in the world! They actually take the time to tell you that they won't help you! Anyway, it was great to visit again the Frick Collection with its fabulous Vermeer, Fragonard and Whistler paintings. I really love museums such as this or the Poldi-Pezzoli in Milan, where the works of art are not exhibited in cold white walls but arranged the way a collector would have done (and actually did) in their own homes. But no prejudice against regular museums - I am never tired of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its beautiful collection of Europan paintings (and I love the Egyptian temple!). I am a great admirer of Ingres and David - the portrait of Lavoisier and his wife being a painting I cherish very much. The renewed MoMA is also worth a visit - and its Van Gogh, Picasso and Seurat paintings are something one cannot overlook.

Of course, there was music and theatre. In order to read my reviews of the Met's Don Carlo, Tosca and Rosenkavalier follow this link.

I am a great admirer of Tennessee Williams and could not help watching the new Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie, especially when the marvelous Jessica Lange heads the cast. However, despite the talents involed, the production is a bit routine. The director seems to skate on the surface of the drama and offers a comedy approach that may be enticing for new audiences (as it seemed to be the case) but ends on underplaying the emotional palette. Christian Slater's Tom, for instance, was based on a fast smart delivery of the text, centered around the right timing for gags, which was ultimately flat in its predictability. Also, his voice seemed a bit rough and unvaried to my ears. Although Josh Lucas seemed more comfortable from the vocal point of view, the sitcom-like acting style also seemed to plague his gentleman caller. Sarah Paulson's Laura offered a competent portrayal of fragility, but that was all about it after all. Predictably, only Jessica Lange went beyond the prevailing squareness. In one of her lines, Amanga Wingfield says that only animals are subject to their instints and people are up to superior interests. The key to Lange's Amanda seems to center around the idea that this woman fallen from her Dixie heaven could only blame her instincts for letting go a finantially secure marriage for a husband who could only offer looks and charm. The barely disguised sensuousness of her portrayal added an even more touching element to the domineering mother, viscerally connected to her children in an almost vampyre-like way.

The last time I had seen The Glass Menagerie was Irina Brooke's production at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris. I remember Olivier had found something artifficial about it. He is right in the sense that the staging could not compete with the David Leveaux's Broadway show in its immediate realism. It sought instead a poetic, deeply emotional atmosphere that, in its more universal appeal, only show why this play has remained a masterpiece in the repertoire. One could argue that some of the humour was left aside, but Serge Avédikian's Tom - a poet, let's not forget - an older man remembering his young days with some nostalgy filtered the whole idea of the other characters, resulting in a dignified and almost tragic Amanda (beautifully performed by Josiane Stoleru) and the superb Laura played by Romane Bohringer rose to an almost iniciatic, larger than life, meeting with her gentleman caller.

Tuesday, March 29th 2005

 

• Good News

Sometimes I fancy that someone other than three friends of mine read this blog, especially when I write about something and a practical answer to that appears as if by miracle. A while ago I wrote in this very website that the fact that Unitel catalogue was not available was a "crime against mankind" and now I discover that DG intends to release the whole of it on DVD. This is truly great news! Two posts below I even mention the Ponelle/Levine Clemenza di Tito, which is something I can't wait to add to my DVD collection. And the Everding/Solti Hänsel und Gretel. Or Karajan's Rheingold.

The other piece of good news relates to Violeta Urmana. While listening to her Liederabend at the Prinzregententheater I couldn't help thinking that she would be a marvelous Ariadne. And someone at the Met read my thoughts - she'll be singing this role in New York right in the next season. That is something that should be recorded.... I hope there is going to be a broadcast at least...

Sunday, March 20th 2005

• Again Turandot

Turandot's discography is rich in legendary recordings. Some of the most important singers in the history of opera has been caught, live or in the studio, in great company and the result are some memorable documents. I believe there is little doubt that Birgit Nilsson has passed to History as the most famous exponent of the part. Her cold steely POWERFUL sound is the very sound picture of the role and nobody has ever sang the part with the ease, firmness and accuracy which were her trademarks. Nilsson herself has two studio recordings, but the dedicated collector will have to look into her live recordings, such as the exotic Stokowski performance from New York with Corelli and Anna Moffo or the Gavazzeni from Rome with (again) Corelli and Vishnevskaya. Now I have listened for the first time the live from Vienna with Giuseppe di Stefano and Leontyne Price. It is a bizarre performance in the best sense of the world. The recording catches some harmonic and poliphonic features in Puccini's music I had never heard before. Thus, the score acquires an even more wild and dreamlike atmosphere. More than that, the Vienna State Orchestra is at its most inspired: you may find Swiss-clock perfection elsewhere, but the musicians in the pit play with such stamina and sense of poetry that you simply won't resist what is done here. It is particularly surprising that this compelling theatrical performance is conducted by Mollinari-Pradelli, the bureaucratic conductor in EMI studio recording. However, the jewel in this performance is Leontyne Price's Liù, one of the very best ever caught by the microphone. Her musical imagination and dramatic engagement are the stuff dreams are made of, and the voice is at its most velvety, floating creamy pianissimi to melt a heart of stone. Giuseppe di Stefano's overly open tone requires from the listener some time to adjust, but once you do it there is a boyish impetuous Calaf, a unique performance. Birgit Nilsson confirms her reputation and projects silvery sounds above formidable orchestral fortissimos as no-one else. The secondary roles are endearingly taken by the members of the Vienna State Opera company.

• La Clemenza di Tito

I have been just listening to the finale primo of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, something I haven't done for a while and now I remember why I used to say it is one of my very favourite Mozart operas. I know it is slowly getting into the repertoire, but it deserves better. What a dramatic noble work! How precise the music-dramatic gestures - and this was the XVIIIth century! I know it sounds silly to say that Mozart is a genius - everybody is supposed to know that - but it is good to keep these idea echoing in the air so that they do not become too dusty or forgotten. Also, I have already written that a couple of times, Süssmayr's recitatives are masterly and they do nothing but contribute to make it an even greater masterpiece. I would like that the Levine/Ponelle could be published in DVD. It features other (sometimes neglected) force of nature, which is Tatiana Troyanos, singing the Parto, ma tu ben mio of the millenium, in which the basset horn and her voice bear a striking resemblance.

Sunday, March 13th 2005

• Old CDs

These days I have been listening to some CDs of my collection and - as always - making comparisons. One of these days I was browing through my piano score of Wagner's Die Walküre and on playing the opening of act III and I had this sort of epiphany - a Mozartian quality of producing otherworldly effects through amazingly simple resources which I had never associated with Wagner has been revealed to me. Because of that, I had decided to listen to some recordings, starting from Karajan's DG recording, in which the effects really tell. Under Karajan, the Berlin Philharmonic produces sounds which are simply supernatural. Listening to Solti after that was a complete turnoff - this is a recording really falling from grace with me. Janowski has amazing clarity, but is kind of tame. Then Böhm really put me in the edge of my seat - the good old Austrian conductor really makes both the drama and the music (as it should be) vibrate in the highest possible intensity. While Karajan had the musically immaculate and euphonious Crespin and Janowitz, Böhm has Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek aflame. These two recordings combined show Die Walküre in two opposed and complementary views in a way that really does justice to the master from Leipzig.

Yesterday I had Turandot in mind and took - again - the Karajan recording, which is a sensational achievement, a great tribute to Puccini and one which puts the music of this conductor where it belongs. Ricciarelli, Hendricks and Domingo sing it as grown-up people's music and Zednik, Araiza and Hornik almost make me like the Ping/Pong/Pang music. I have always felt that I like the cast in Erede recording - and it seems I still do. I really like Inge Borkh's and Mario del Monaco's solid and dependable performances - they sing it like two forces of nature. It is not subtle, but it is not blunt either. These are deeply honest performances and it also really works for me.

Finally today I am listening to my CD of Schubert Lieder with Gundula Janowitz, a recording which gets dearer and dearer to me. If you ask me about a favourite singer, it is always difficult to answer. Lucia Popp is the name which comes first to my mind - she represents everything an artist should be and just plucks the right string in my heart, but there are so many artists without whom I couldn't part... However, Janowitz is a very very special case. Her voice stands for an image of transcendence in immanence, of paradise in earth. To me, her aria will always remain Der Freischütz's Und ob die Wolke, in which the SOUND of that voice tells it all. It is curious, though, that fans of Janowitz such as I am have a special fondness for recordings in which she is led to her limits, such as Bernstein's Fidelio, Karajan's Walküre, Don Giovanni and Frau ohne Schatten, as if they represented the very condition of the artist - the struggle between spirit and matter. The humane quality which exude from these performance speak directly to the soul - and that is why she is - deservedly - such a beloved artist.

Wednesday, March 10th 2005

• Don Giovanni

A review of Karajan's 1970 Don Giovanni with Gundula Janowitz and Nicolai Ghiaurov has been added to the discography.

• Movies

Richard Linklater's Before Sunset is one of the most delicious films I've seen these days. I have seen Before Sunrise and found it charming, but it left me largely cold. A friend of mine asked me why, and I told her that this kind of story only happens if you look like Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. But the new film makes you care for these people as if they were your closest friends. The dialogues are so interesting - it made me think of Louis Malle's My Dinner with André, in the sense that these characters had so many interesting experiences and that they tell it in such a fascinating manner. And there's Julie Delpy! No man would come home to his wife if he had someone like Delpy singing the songs she composed about him... Well... And there's Paris of course shown in that neverending sequence that makes us feel as if we were there.

The other film is Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Un long dimanche de fiançailles. I have to say that: I don't know what happened to Carot, but Jeunet really... _really_... REALLY... RREEAALLYY needs his partner back. Considering the kind of sentimental overcute stuff he has been doing, someone should tell him that the brain of their partnership is not him... If someone put a gun to my head, I would say that I prefer the new movie to Amélie Poulain, one of the most saccharine movies ever made. At least the new one has some blood (literally) - the other had pink lemonade in its veins.

Saturday, March 5th 2005

• Handel's Sosarme

A review has been added to the discography. A charming work.

Thursday, March 3rd 2005

• Il Trovatore

A review of Sinopoli's Il Trovatore on Orfeo has been added to the discography.

Wednesday, March 2nd 2005

• Macbeth

Here in Brasília I could watch a staging of Shakespeare's Macbeth by the AmokTeatro company. The director Stephane Brodt (who also took the title role - which is amazing, considering he is a Frenchman having to speak a difficult text in Portuguese) opted for a kind of traditional Asian fusion style, with touches of the Muslim and the Far East cultures. The costumes looked amazing and the soundtrack, composed and performed by Carlos Bernardo in instruments varying from a tenor viola da Gamba to an Australian Didgeridoo was simply impressive. Strange as it seems, the violent story did make sense in the context of tribal wars more than of what Scotland stands for in our imagination todays (kilts, scott whisky etc...). The most striking feature, however, was the fact that Asian theatre - with its hieratic and ritual approach - underlined beautifully the weight of Shakespeare's text.

The fact the Asian theatre uses lots of music to underline the story - and how efficient it is (allied to a rather coreographic approach in key moments) - made me think of how Verdi really boosted the dramatic power. In my opinion, it is Verdi's best Shakesperian setting - and Piave's adaptation is exemplary. When you know the opera, however, some moments look quite tame without the music, such as the anouncement of Duncan's murder, for example and - above all - the sleepwalking scene, the eery music of it being simply irreplaceable. This was the weakest moment in the play - the actress did not seem to be sleepwalking at all and her torment was exposed in too violent colours to produce the necessary contrast. In this sense, I still retain my experience at the Wiener Staatsoper, when Eliane Coelho sang this scene with her eyes closed carrying the candle while climbing a huge staircase. The tension about the possibility of her falling contrasted to the quiet madness of her singing (a marvelous high pianissimo to crown it) was simply unforgettable. The conductor was Simone Young - and Leo Nucci was also a powerful Macbeth.

• Lia Caldas

My friend Lia, who has already proved to be a extraordinarily gifted designer and photographer, has launched a career as a painter. Her teachers at the EAV (the Visual Arts School, in Rio) are impressed with her results and I think it won't be long before she has her own exhibit. Lia has all the elements for an amazing career - she has the imagination, the good taste, the curiosity and impressive technique. If you like painting, please take a look at her website. I am proud to be the owner of one of the paintings reproduced there.

Thursday, February 24th 2005

 

• Tiefland

Today a broadcast from Austrian Radio featured highlights from Eugen d'Albert's German verismo opera Tiefland in a new recording from the interesting label Oehms. I had never listened to any passage from this work, but - judging from what I heard today - it seems compelling with its wonderful orchestral effects. I had read reviews that Tiefland should be frustrating because it lacks the melodic invention of Puccini, but only if you compare it to Puccini. Compare it to Zemlinsky or Korngold and d'Albert will seem a hidden jewel. The prima donna part goes to Lisa Gasteen, who displays a bright powerful soprano, which has its raw moments nonetheless. In the tenor part, Johann Botha produces one of his best recorded ever. He never tries to beef up his tone (as he usually does in Wagner) and doesn't sound "timid" as he might in Italian opera. The bad guy part goes to Falk Struckmann, who is taylor-made for this kind of role. In a tiny role, there is Adriane Queiroz, the Brazilian soprano from the company of the Lindenoper.

• La Traviata

I could also catch from act II an interesting broadcast of Verdi's La Traviata from Pittsburgh, which made me think of how Traviata is something particularly difficult to pull out. I have discussed this issue with Olivier some days ago. There is no doubt it is a masterpiece from the repertoire - and its amazing popularity over the years is an evidence of that, but is a work CRYING for a conductor who understands it. Verdi is to blame a bit, since his vision of high society party music sounds more like what a friend of mine used to call "pizzaiolo music". If a conductor could look to this score from an early XIXth century point of view, pay attention to woodwind, be absolutely precise about tempo but avoiding abruptness and jumpiness and care above all about beautiful rounded orchestral sound, then Traviata would shine as it should. I know there is lots of rhythmic music and that it might sound difficult to lend nobility to that, but think of Mozart and you'll get the point. La Traviata is supposed to be a touching work and not a gusty one. Listening to Abbado conduct Sempre Libera in Anna Netrebko's last recital, I am convinced that he is the man who should do it. So, please, Maestro, save the discography and commit a performance of this jewel of Italian opera.

The Pittsburgh performance is supposed to be Annick Massis' prise de rôle as Violetta. I wonder how her voice works in the theatre (I read that her voice did not make easily to the last seats in Pesaro - and that was Rossini), but - as recorded - it proves that singing Verdi with Mozartian grace does LOTS of favour to this music. Verdi wrote some delicately knitted phrasing in this opera - and singers approaching this as if it was Tosca only disfigure that in favour of tiring vulgarity. Massis does pull out a touching Violetta - feminine, young-sounding and alluring. It is too pratician sometimes, but Violetta is supposed to be something special and a woman of particular elegance (at least that was the case of Marie Duplessis). Her purity of line and her natural but efficient low register (not to mention her floated mezza voce) make for some tension in forte passages. It is funny that the richer-toned but also light-voiced Patrizia Ciofi - in her broadcast from La Fenice - could sound so less touching and musicianly in her attempt to out-Callas Callas. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh tenor, Eric Cutler, has an overly open toned that qualifies for a Mime, but not for an Alfredo. At least, he too was able of producing a clean line. The firm-toned James Weston was a presentable Germont. It seems he has to develop a bit (sometimes he indulged in vulgar effects totally uncalled for), but this is a singer to watch. John Mauceri was accused by a local reviewer of leading such a slow performance that seemed to be dying before poor Violetta. I can understand he was trying to deal with the above-mentioned problems, but he should build a more expressive orchestral sound if he wanted to do so. My only doubt regards the tempo for Addio del passato - this waltzy approach made it sound charming and made me think of the sweet rosy dreams Violetta is yearning for, but the result is emotionally too detached for the circumstances.

Sunday, February 20th 2005

• Academy Award Nominees

During the week I had the opportunity to see two nominees for Best Movie and had good surprises about both of them. After listening to Martin Sorcese during the intermission of the broadcast from the Met, one is inclined to like whatever he does. His explanation of the use of Bach's Matthäus Passion in Casino simply made me look the film under an entirely new perspective. Again Bach - Stokowski's Toccata and Fugue in D minor - proved to be a good idea in Aviator. While watching the movie, I couldn't help remembering Scorsese's love for old epic Italian movies in "My voyage to Italy". Aviator is that kind of monumental, scrumptious, visually fascinating cinematographic experience. Even if the screenplay were awful, it would still be a sensational film. As a matter of fact, the screenplay is nothing to die for. I was born in a time in which, when a director wanted to tell decades of a person's life, he would make a TV series - for doing this in a movie results in 3-hour long "bleeding chunks" with lots of information and little content. Aviator is no exception - there are even hundreds of characters with no function at all in the story to make things worse (such as Jude Law's Errol Flynn). And I really believe in Hitchcock's golden rule: if a key appears on screen, it MUST eventually open a door.

Anyway, there is a glamourous cast, with impressive actors, such as Ian Holm, John C. Reilly, Alan Alda and Cate Blanchett in relatively small roles (I won't include Kate Beckinsale - she is cute and a good actress, I know, but only in the next incarnation she'll have the immediate appeal of Ava Gardner - and everybody knows that this was all about Gardner...), but a question mark comes to my mind about the title role. I know the whole idea of this film is related to Leonardo di Caprio and he succeeds in not looking boyish (as I feared he would) in it, but his performance - decent as it is - lacks the weight it needed. Maybe the inorganical screenplay has to do with it, but it seems he is reacting to each scene instead of building a performance. For example, Hughes is supposed to have freaked entirely out when he locks himself away from any contact with mankind. Then Ava Gardner shows up, shaves him and it seems she has watched entirely away that wild experience, since di Caprio appears in the Brewster hearings as if his character had undergone some stress and retired in a spa. I remember having seen as a child a documentary on TV about Hughes - and those images showed so much intensity that I had never forgotten them (and I should be 8 or something when I saw that). The young di Caprio used to have this ability to evoke a turmoil of feelings - think of "This Boys' Life"! Now watch him locked in that projection room repeating again and again the same sentences and think of Robert de Niro in Scorsese's Taxi Driver in a similar scene ("are you talking to me?") and realize how superficial the younger actor has become.

The other movie is Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby. I guess I have to praise Eastwood as a director, since the screenplay in other hands would be really really melodramatic. My friend Luís Felipe says it is 50% Rocky 50% Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside). However, Eastwood's dry cinematography puts that into perspective - and the result makes me think of some American movies from the 70's when a story was simply being told and, although the content might be obvious, the approach was not. There is a marvelous touching performance from Hillary Swank, an actress who never goes obvious or overpointed - and Morgan Freeman makes a lot of very little in a secondary role. The soundtrack is also excellent - think that you could have violins playing sentimental music and you'll get my point.

Tuesday, February 15th 2005

• Broadcasts from the Met

Today I could listen to the two latest broadcasts from the Met. The first being a Pelléas et Mélisande, in which Anne Sofie von Otter proves she still has the magic touch, even if the voice has lost almost all freshness. This is even more remarkable in the case of José van Dam, still a presentable Golaud. Although the orchestral sound is quite heavy, James Levine is not as foreign to Debussy as I used to imagine.

The other broadcast is Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. Although Levine is a seasoned Mozartian and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra clearly shows to have developed as a Mozartian band, casting a work such as this one in a large venue is always a very risky business. I have to confess that I couldn't go further already in act II. Apart from Mariusz Kwiecin's firm-toned Count, the rest of the cast was barely acceptable. Andrea Rost is an experienced Susanna and know hows to catch the attention of the audience, but the tone is metallic and spreads a lot under pressure. Janice Watson does have a more attractive tone, but tends to discolour and I cannot understand why a singer not announced to be indisposed should duck the top notes in her act II terzetto with Susanna and the Count. Jossie Pérez seems to have a sizeable mezzo soprano, but her backward placement is the very enermy of Mozartian naturalness - and she sounded quite matronly. Truth be said, John Relyea is not bad. It sounds a bit unfocused now and then and the sound can be less than ingratiating, but it is reliable in a way both sopranos could never boast to be during this performance. I would like to know how, among all other important opera houses in the world, the Met cannot produce a cast up to the difficult task of singing Mozart up to the family circle. They could have Soile Isokoski as the Countess (or, for that matter, the house diva, Renée Fleming), Dorothea Röschmann as Susanna, Vesselina Kasarova or Angelika Kirchschlager as Cherubino and René Pape as Figaro - just to drop some names.

• Shirley Verett

As much as I admire Magdalena Kozena and like her album of French arias, on organizing my CDs, I have found a RCA recital with Shirley Verrett, in which she sings an absolutely perfect O ma lyre immortelle from Gounod's Sapho. She sings it with mesmerizing lyricism and closes with a chilling powerful top note. As a matter of fact, Verrett was one of the singers who converted me to vocal repertoire (weird as it sounds, I used to dislike vocal music...) with her (still impressive) recording of Vivaldi's Stabat Mater.

Sunday, February 13th 2005

• News from Neverland

Being an admirer of Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, Finding Neverland seemed to be a must-see to me. It is indeed a visually charming movie with impecable acting from Depp and Winslet and one amazing child actor taking the role of Peter Davies. However, I couldn't repress the feeling that the film was too beautiful. First I credited this to my being such a spoilsport - then the internet helped me find what was missing. J.M. Barrie's story _without make-up_ is far more interesting and dramatic than shown in the movie. Barrie was a particularly unattractive fellow - nothing to do with Depp's good-looks. He has always felt rejected in his life and felt uncomfortable with adult life. He married an actress, but it seems that the marriage did not work out because he might have been impotent. Then he met the Davies family, which did have a father (who was not entirely satisfied with Barrie's omnipresence in their lives). When the boys became orphans, he was to be their guardian, but it seems that the mother had wanted their nurse to perform this role. However, the details which caught my attention is that three of the Davies boys had tragic deaths. George died in WWI, Michael - according to this website - "drowned himself with his boy friend in Oxford" and Peter, who hated any association with the character whose name was inspired by his, jumped to his death in a subway station. The usual "self-help philosophy" found in American movies - "believe in your dreams" etc - seems to me a poor replacement for the multi-layered feelings, with their dark and ugly sides, involving the lives of these people. Finding Neverland is carefully produced entertainment, but I still think it is a pity this is not a (100% English) art movie...

Saturday, February 6th 2005

• La Belle Hélène

Today I could watch the first time a video from Opernhaus Zürich of Offenbach's La Belle Hélène. It is a work with which I have a rather short acquaintance. I have been introduced to it with Minkowski's video, in which I have found Felicity Lott seriously lacking tone and quite old-looking for the title role (grand in manner as she is). Then I have listened to Plasson's recording with one of the best performances from Jessye Norman ever recorded and a distinguished cast including John Aler, Jean-Philippe Lafont and Gabriel Bacquier. Plasson's recording seemed to me less theatrical but more nonchalant in the slightly kitsch operetta manner. However, I have to confess my astonishment with Nikolaus Harnoncourt's success in this repertoire. Maybe those more solidly acquainted with French repertoire may find it unidiomatic, but - as most part of the inhabitants of the world - I am not French and find it refreshing to see the work under an "universal" light, proving that this is not a piece for a few, but one that deservedly belongs to the repertoire. As it is, Harnoncourt offers an above-all energetic performance which retains something of the "unpolished" atmosphere of what must have been the original performances at the Varietés. Also, most surprisingly, his musicologic concernes never stand between forward-movement and buoyance. The non-French cast is also amazing. Although her acting is a bit coy, Vesselina Kasarova offers a top level performance, not unlike Norman's, sexy and patrician as hers, but finding more light and tease (and a brighter low register). Deon van der Walt is less appealing than Minkowski's Yann Beuron and less vocally exuberant than John Aler for Plasson, but offers a stylish performance. Liliana Nikiteanu is also an animated and boyish Orest. More surprising are the excellent performances of Völker Vögel and Oliver Widmer, absolutely funny and really idiomatic. Carlos Chausson has his unsteady moments, but is also quite funny. In tiny roles, there is some glamourous casting, with singers such as Steve Davislim and Lisa Larsson. The producion is not beautiful, but funny all the way - a fantastic wit competition scene to start with.

Peter Schreier

I am reading Peter Schreier's biography, Aus meiner Sicht, a delightful book and one of the best involving singers I have ever read. So far (I am only on page 50), I am really impressed by the favourable conditions some people have during their tender years in order to develop an artistic career. In his case, a music background, a disciplined training at the Kreuzchor and a childhood connected with experiences that would enable him to have an easier approach to the texts of works by Bach, Schubert et al. For the first time, I have realized that most singers work from abstractions when dealing with - let's say - Die schöne Müllerin, since they have probably known a watermill only from photography, have never seen a field with a tiny brook. Of course, with the help of imagination, this can be achieved. But it certainly must feel different when the miller's daughter was your school friend and you used to bath in the miller's dam etc.

A glimpse of Wagner

Too late I have discovered that RAI is broadcasting (one act a week) a Ring featuring the Orchestra della RAI conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch in 1968. I could listen only from after Alberich's curse and found Sawallisch in great shape - a clean animated piece of conducting. Also, Theo Adam was in strong voice as Wotan, Janis Martin is an unusually feminine Fricka, Oralia Dominguez a superlative Erda, Karl Ridderbusch in a ferocious performance as Fafner (I have never thought he had it in him) and Herbert Schachtschneider was an appealing Loge, if not totally at east from the vocal point-of-view. Tomorrow they will be broadcasting Walküre's first act.

More movies

Alexander Payne's Sideways is a charming unpretentious moving the artlessness of which making it even more touching. I have always thought that the enology was the science of those who know nothing about anything else, but Virginia Madsen's character says a line that made me understand for the first time the charm of the whole thing. It has been a long time since I lost my childhood's illusion about the Academy Awards (here in Brazil most people see it with the same awe the Greek must have felt about the oracle in Delphi), but I'd be happy if she got the Oscar. She has a long career of good work in secondary movies and this would probably help her to make into films more compatible to her talent.

Saturday, February 5th 2005

• Still about movies.

While watching Leconte's Confidences trop intimes, there was a moment I was thinking about a certain reticence of Fabrice Lucchini's character about making one step towards fulfilling his romantic impulses and this made me think of a film I saw long time ago and enjoyed a lot, which is Un Coeur en Hiver - only to discover that both films have the same screenwriter, Jerôme Tonerre. Also, to my enormous surprise, I have discovered that Lucchini plays a role in Eric Rohmer's Le genou de Claire. He is the blond skinny young man who is Béatrice Romand's character's kind-of boyfriend.

Today I have decided to see Mike Nichols' Closer. I was not really willing to do so. When Patrick Marber's play was premièred in Rio some years ago, I had the opportunity to see the opening night and found it quite silly. Watching Nichols' movie, I realize how wrong was the staging I saw and how great a movie Nichols has made. The play had actors too old for their roles and reading their lines with Shakespearian gravitas and no emotional investment, making everything sound uncharming (and too silly for the circumstances). In the movie, lots of contrived dialogues have been replaced by illuminating images. The play had extravagant sceneries; the movie is clean and elegant. More than that - it seemed that the play was about the sceneries - and this movie is about the actors (something plays are supposed to be and films - when they are - are really great).

With the exception of Jude Law, I could imagine a better cast for this movie, but the remaining actors are nonetheless doing a great work. In the case of Julia Roberts, I would say one of the best performances I have seen from her in a serious movie - she only didn't infuse it with the last sparkle of charisma necessary for us to understand how her presence could turn inside-out all those characters' lives, but that is beyond her basically congenial persona. In the case of Natalie Portman, she sure is cute and "disarming" (as the character is defined) - but she looks too young and angelic for the role and, as a stripper, she seems rather your cozy girlfriend playing the bad girl one of these nights for variety's sake. That said, her character is the one who gained most compared to the staging I've seen, in which the actress was all vulgarity and no charm. As for Clive Owen, I don't know... I won't try to say anything clever, I just thought that - efficient as it is - it could be more interesting. He does have the right... let's use a musical word - Fach for the role, and that helps a lot.

Talking about music, I was really amazed by the level of intelligence involved in the soundtrack. First of all, the choice of Così Fan Tutte is just a stroke of genius and it made me see the story under a different light. Another evidence of care and sensibility is the fact that, while Anna listens to Così in her studio, we have a studio recording (Karajan's, if I'm not mistaken) and when they're at the Covent Garden, we hear a live recording (Solti II). [OK, I'll be picky - I would have used a pirate or something in order to recreate better theatrical acoustics - the voices are too loud as shown in the movie]. Also, never has a Rossinian _crescendo_ been better more graphically used in the history of performing arts (I guess Rossini would have liked that). Finally, Bebel Gilberto is always a good idea for a cool atmosphere, as it is Anna's vernissage.

Let's talk about music, for a change.

I did have the opportunity of watching the Metropolitan Opera's DVD of Samson et Dalila. I did not like the production - too much aesthetic nonsense - but the ballet scene is really well-done. Levine's conducting is not idiomatic, but certainly is dramatic and, even with a choir which is far from clear, he does keeps structural clarity. Although Olivier has told me Olga Borodina is the wrong voice for French opera, I have to say she scores far more points than many a French singer in it. Counting with a generous nature, perfect technique, sensitivity and stylishness, she makes an utterly subtle and sensuous Delilah. It is true that the hairdresser did not help her and she makes some "look how vamp I can be" faces, but it is really compeling nevertheless. Domingo has to force a bit his top notes, but displays very good French compared to his previous recording (even to Chung's). Leiferkus is a bit bizarre (is it on purpose?) as the High Priest and this is René Pape's less exuberant performance (as the Old Hebrew).

Sunday, January 30th

• More movies: Patrice Leconte's Confidences trop intimes is an all-round excellent movie. It is an interesting catchy story which never falls in the traps of obviousness counting with elegant direction and the marvelous Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Lucchini (I have never seen a movie less than very good with this actor).

I thought I knew Brad Silberling from one movie - Midnight Mile - and I have just discovered he has directed the TV series Felicity (don't ask...). Anyway, I have just seen a charming movie by him named A seris of unfortunate events. It is supposed to be a realistic fairytale (in the sense it is a story for children in which lots of bad things happen), but the great things in it are actually the impressive production design, the creative photography (it is a collection of beautiful images) and the marvelous cast. I know Jim Carrey's over-the-top performance has been expressely asked for by the circumstances, but I have to say a REALLY sinister performance (think Gary Oldman) would actually make the whole thing work in a superior lever.

Thursday, January 27th 2004

• Some movies:

Roberto Faenza's Prendimi l'anima, about the relationship between Carl Jung and his patient Sabina Spielrein, who would become herself a psychoanalist. I agree with reviewers who accuse the director's approach of being too "well-behaved" and pedestrian - the evidence of it is that one leaves the theatre with the feeling that the most interesting part of the story has not been told - Sabina's treatment by Jung is dealt with only as a subsidy to her love affair with him. Similarly, her decision to become a psychoanalist and her apparently revolutionary ideas about children's education are barely explained. One has the impression that Faenza wanted to make something catchy of it - a kind of eurofilm for wider audiences, with the right dose of sex, romance, children, Jewish people suffering under the Nazi (i.e., taylor-made for the Academy Awards for best foreign movie). However, the worst idea is indeed splitting the story between the supremely interesting story of Spielrein and Jung and the boring and clichéed secondary plot of the researchers discovering the story. That said, the sets, costumes and photography are delicious, Iain Glen and Emilia Fox are amazing and this is probably the one film in which Tristan und Isolde's Liebestod is used to the right effect and meaning.

The other movie is Oliver Stone's Alexander. I was prepared to see Troy 2 - the return of computer-generated Greece and have to confess that Wolfgang Petersen's movie still holds the title of worst film ever. I just don't know what to think of Alexander. It certainly looks better than Troy - the images of Babylon are beautiful (and I've been at the Pergamon Museum six months ago) and the two battle scenes - in desert and in the Indian forest - are sensational, aesthetic violence to make Tarantino proud of his influence. It is also better cast. I disagree with my friend Lia about Colin Farrel - he does look awful with that hair-do which gets more and more awful (he could make a film by Almodovar with that "look"), but - even with the richness of opportunity to overact - he is fortunately discrete. Maybe this is the first main issue about this kind of movie. In the days of Anne Baxter, Cedric Hardwicke, Lawrence Olivier, people knew how to "act" colossal in a way that would make us believe that they are mythic characters.

Maybe this has something to do with actors who knew their Shakespeare, but the fact is that they knew how to utter formidable lines and to look larger than life in a _believable_way. Nice as Farrel, Jared Leto or Rosario Dawson generally are, here they look a bit at a loss, trying to reproduce a "spontaneity" which has nothing to do with mythology and - most of all - is based on psychology (there the screenwriters do not help them at all!). I have to single out Angelina Jolie - she is the one member in the cast who is not afraid of breaking the limits of regular Hollywood-movie acting. It does make me think of Mexican soap-opera, but I guess this is what one does when one has to voice letters other characters read, while looking at the horizon and holding snakes at the same time. When it comes to the story itself, I dislike the idea of Ptolemy narrating the story in tacky sceneries, the concentration on private affairs with contrived psychology, the fact that Greek moral standards have been reduced to colourful homosexuality - there is very little monumentality in all that. For instance, there is no greatness in Alexander the Great. He is just a kid with a problematic background who utters some generalized ideas about including those entertaining Barbarians of the East to the glorious occidental civilization (does this sound familiar?) and seriously needs a personal stylist. Finally, what is that soundtrack?!

Friday, January 21st 2005

• Today my friend Fernando showed me a wonderful documentary by Annette Schreier about Waltraud Meier named "Ich folg dem inneren Triebe". In it, Meier shares her views on singing and music dramatic art - and all I can say is that every young opera singer should see it. It is also a nice oportunity to sample her Amneris, Komponist (Ariadne - a beautiful performance) and Sieglinde (why don't these people just release Muti's Walküre?!) and Fidelio (in far better shape than both broadcasts from La Scala with Muti). A most precious piece of advise is her paramount respect for technique (80% of what a singer needs, acording to her). I guess most people would think that she would praise "expression" above all, but an intelligent performer would never neglect the fact that technique is what allows an artist to express exactly what his imagination wants. Otherwise, it would be nothing but hit-or-miss...

Tuesday, January 18th 2005

• On Monday I visited a second-hand CD shop and bought some interesting discs. I am still listening to them, but I can already affirm that Neville Marriner's 1979 Mass K 427 was a great buy. In this recording, Marriner adopts graceful and considerate tempi, which may sound unexciting compared to those of Gardiner or Christie. However, the conductor takes profit of that to build cleanly shaped phrasing, which allow for absolute structural clarity. I found it revelatory in many passages. The team of soloists is not exactly brilliant, but is efficient. Margaret Marshall and Felicity Palmer lack a pure tone and may force a bit their top notes, but their divisions are really clear Although Palmer's voice is darker than Marshall's, they match as perfectly as a violin and a viola. Anthony Rolfe-Johnson and Gwynne Howell partner them well and the choir of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields displays accurate articulation.

Another item worthy of mention is a recording of songs by Richard Strauss sung by Montserrat Caballé with the Orchestre Nationale de France and Leonard Bernstein. The recorded sound is spacious and full, Bernstein knows how to create the right Schwung and Caballé makes some magic sounds in Wiegenlied and Morgen. The more showy pieces are also worth while listening, due to her commitment (and full-toned singing).

Today my friend Fernando showed me a DVD of Mahler's Lied von der Erde with Waltraud Meier, Torsten Kerl, the WDR orchestra and Semyon Bychkow. Coincidence or not, the sound picture is just like the other WDR recording, with Marjana Lipovsek, Ben Heppner and Gary Bertini: a chamber-like sound, with prominent woodwind and discrete string playing (almost to a fault in the climactic moments). The difference is that Bychkow has a slower and more "mataphysical" approach than Bertini. Waltraud Meier never really had the low register to this piece, but is in great shape and floats a line better than most rivals and infuses the text with meaning as few singers. She also looks beautiful and expressive. Torsten Kerl may have a good future as Lohengrin and Walther considering his bright incisive and easy tone (even in the higher notes). It seems he is very careful about dealing with heavier repertoire - and that is all for the best.

Tuesday, January 11th 2005

• Yesterday, by accident, I could listen to a broadcast from La Scala of Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon, a reconcoction of the composer's Le Siège de Corinthe and Mosè in Egitto, according to what I was made to understand. I am no specialist in Rossini, but my impression is that the work is far superior to both above-mentioned works. It is more dramatic, more concentrated in terms of invention - a truly compelling work. Of course, there is Muti - the perfect advocate for this kind of work - he knows how to make exciting moments even more so and to lend some animation to the unexciting passages. And there is a great cast. Barbara Frittoli, whom I had never heard in a bel canto opera, sings with great distinction - her fluffy soprano moves beautifully in the florid passages and her vibrant and rich tone ends on sounding far more affective than the usual soprano coloratura's. Giuseppe Filianoti's has a spontaneous and pleasing tenor and avoids roughness and vulgarity. Erwin Schrott, whose abilities in this repertoire I could witness live in Rio, is well contrasted to the darker-toned Ildar Abdrazakov, also well-cast as Moses. This beautiful performance really deserves to be released and to fill this serious gap in the discography of Rossini operas.

Yesterday I could also see the first major play by Edward Albee here in Rio with an actor I like very much, Bruce Gomlevsky. I was really shocked to see that the play has been written in 1958 - it really feels like something written in the 70's, with its re-assessment of values and the use of absurdity and violence. Later I discovered that the play has been considered the first big work in American theatre literature realted to the theatre of the absurd, although - to my mind - the style is utterly different from... let's say... Ionesco.

Monday, January 9th 2005

• Today I had the rare opportunity to discover a masterpiece by Verdi. I haven't been quite a Verdian these days, but I Vespri Siciliani has been a true find. Although it is a long work, with the exception of the cumbersome ballet, the composer did not missed a single occasion to create inspired music and dramatic situations. Riccardo Muti concentrates all his efforts on keeping the excitement on high levels, drawing rich and amazingly flexible sounds from his orchestra and perfect ensembles with his soloists and the choir. It is a truly distinguished cast, who knows how to sing Verdi while keeping a pure line, which is essential to restore the nobility of Verdian melody so much abused in the past. In the difficult part of Elena, Cheryl Studer offers a commited and musicianly performance. The role is a bit low for her voice and in the end of the bolero, she is a bit out of sorts, but this is a performance where emotion goes unleashed in her noble, silvery and young-sounding soprano. This is probably Chris Merritt's most exciting recorded performance. His powerful penetrating tenor is in mint condition and he sings with rare instrumental quality, displaying a entirely homogeneous and flexible voice. More than that - although he is a bit awkward from the scenic point of view, he know how to create the right level of excitement through his voice. Giorgio Zancanaro brings idiomatic quality and an incisive rich tone to the role of Monforte and Ferruccio Furlanetto's richness of voice and imagination are always welcome.

Although the plot has the typical twists and turns of XIXth century Italian opera, it features some chilling theatrical moments, in which characters have to deal with urgent dilemmas. I have found particularly touching the moment in which Arrigo is split between his desire to save the life of his beloved Elena through acknowleding their enemy Monforte as his father and his intent of keeping his promise to Elena of letting them die with honour. I do now know if Verdi's librettists had this in mind when they wrote this, but it is clear that, finally facing the hypothesis of loosing Elena, Arrigo gets so helpless that he cannot help calling "father" (thus saving them from imminent death). It is a subtle and moving turn, as it is the moment when Elena later tries to cancel the wedding in order to protect her fiancé from a massacre which was going to take place during their wedding.

Thursday, January 6th 2005

• Although I could not listen to the complete broadcast, I must say I've had a very positive impression of the Met's Rodelinda. I have often accused the Metropolitan Opera House of disfiguring Mozart works in order to make them fit into a big hall, but I have to acknowledge their success into adapting a Handel opera in the large venue. Handel's Rodelinda is arguably one of the most difficult operas by the Caro Sassone to pull out. The score lacks the brilliance of Orlando, Rinaldo or Alcina and is entirely made in pastels - and this is exactly the aspect in which Harry Bickett has succeeded: into showing Rodelinda in a deep expressive style which not only fits the work itself, but also the richer orchestral sound of the orchestra available (reduced to 41 members) and the approach of his prima donna. Of course some may point out that the results are not entirely stylist, but there is not a hint of bad taste and this interpretation is musically valid and serves to show Handel to wider audiences and also to prove that a conductor has to recognize a certain proto-Romanticism into this most particular of Handel's works (just listen to Ritorna o mio tesoro or Dove sei? to see the point). In the title role, Renée Fleming is indeed the more controversial piece of casting. Her voice lacks some purity and agility and she has her "jazzy" moments, but she does know how to boost emotion in a role often made tame by the likes of Sophie Daneman and Barbara Schlick. On the other hand, Stephanie Blythe makes something really exciting of her Eduige. Her tone is clear, rich and firm and her diction is crystalline. Also there is the necessary level of feminity in her singing in order not to expose the countertenors in the cast. In this department, Bejun Mehta takes all the honours, with his utterly firm tone and energetic approach. It is true that David Daniels has the rounder and richer tone (but not the more powerful voice), but he may sound too sweet for the heroic moments - a mistake that never happens with Mehta. Kobie van Rensburg has a weird voice - too nasal and forward - but he deals with his divisions with panache and knows how to play the bad guy in a way convincing to a big theatre without jeopardizing Handelian style. Finally, John Relyea has a rich big voice, reasonably flexible but too often too vibrant for Handel.

A side comment. Although I could not listen to the whole of Anna Netrebko's new recital, it seems an interesting recital. First of all - and I know this is not entirely kind to the soloist - there is Abbado. I have never listened to a Sempre libera such as this one - it is so vital, so rhythmically exciting - what Abbado and his orchestra do is exactly what Violetta is talking about. Of course, she has a most interesting rich, velvety and ductile voice - not 100% flexible (she should definitely drop Bellini off her repertoire), but supple enough for the lyric soprano repertoire, in which she may do great things if she is sensible enough to recognize her present limits.

Saturday, January 1st 2005

 

 

 

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