I am just back from the Empire, Leicester Square, having seen 'Tamerlano', that which I saw in Madrid in April (just after the clocks went forward...). It did seem a bit ground-hog day because this time last year, ie clocks going back day, I was also going into London for the matinee of Die Walküre at ROH.
I am not going to review the production/ performance in any great detail, because it was filmed when I was actually there in the house, but I thought it was excellent seeing it in the cinema. Of course it isn't the same as actually being there, but definitely worthwhile.
The action was projected onto a very large screen, much larger than life. This mean that the close-ups were very close indeed. I took considerable pleasure from close-ups of Plácido's chest hair. And in the death scene, his anguish and suffering was magnified by being able to see every bead of sweat on his face.
The sound was excellent, for amplified sound, but can't compare to being in the house. The rather quiet trouser role women sounded louder than they had in the house, although I can't say I cared any more for them. The quiet soprano, Ingela Bohlin, benefited the most from the close-ups. The amplification made her more audible and emphasised the gorgeousness of her voice. Also, she was understated in her facial expressions which came across brilliantly on the screen but was lost in the house, whereas the identical twins in the trouser roles were shown to be mugging in a way that was not so obvious live. Plácido of course sounded gorgeous but some of the subtle overtones of his voice were, nevertheless, lost in the amplification.
I benefited from really having absorbed the music in the past six months. I must give up on my silliness about every Handel opera sounding alike. Of course they don't: each one is very different, and yet, sufficiently of a style that you can be confident that if you love one, you'll love them all. Indeed, the man was a complete musical genius, and I hereby declare 2009 to be Handel year. He deserves as much exposure as Mozart. Mozart was no less of a genius but Handel was the opera genius. Only Verdi and Wagner come close :-)
At the end, when they were showing the curtain calls, they did a couple of shots of the audience. Mandy says she saw me, but I must have blinked at that micro-second. I'm going to have to buy the DVD if and when it's released!
It shows again at the Empire on Tuesday, and various other venues, too: here's a list for UK, Germany and Netherlands. It's tempting to go again, and if my coming week wasn't so hectic, I would. The cinema was more or less full - lots of familiar faces 'big hello'! There were two ten minute intervals between acts, just enough time to get a fag and go to the Ladies, but not much else
