I posted a few links last week about the kerfuffle surrounding the on/off/on/off/on concert that Plácido (eventually) gave in Buenos Aires last Thursday. Reports that he mediated with the striking orchestral musicians and chorus who were persuaded to perform in this free open-air concert; then heavy rain postponed it from the Wednesday to the Thursday.
"Decidimos tocar en el concierto como un reconocimiento hacia Plácido Domingo por su actitud solidaria, y en atención a los miles de espectadores que sabíamos iban a venir...
...Inicialmente no íbamos a tocar, pero Plácido Domingo, además de ser un gran artista, es un compañero. En cuanto llegó a Buenos Aires le pedimos una entrevista, que concedió inmediatamente"
He gave another concert earlier, in the theatre, for the theatre workers and their families.
It was streamed over the internet from an Argentinian TV station, so I stayed up to watch it.
(As as side note I was pondering a couple of weeks ago - a sign of my relatively middle-age is that I still think of the internet as a new-fangled contraption. I didn't get on the net until a few weeks short of 30, and I prefer to enjoy music and vision via the more old-fashioned media of my youth. When watching this concert online, I realised that I'm not as conservative as I thought. It was great to be able to watch it, live, which wouldn't have been possible without the internet. But the quality of the stream was not great. Perhaps they have better internet in Argentina than in Britain and I was suffering from a low download rate, but in any case, the quality was no better than live Trans-Atlantic TV broadcasts from 35-40 years ago, and without the ability to capture it for posterity).
Plácido Domingo demostró una vez más su predisposición al encanto personal, la pasión por la música por encima de todas las cosas y una falta de divismo que a todos emociona por igual.
This also mentions that he brought his little grandsons Alvarito and Plácidito onto the stage at the end, though Alvarito threw a wobbly at the sound of an air horn being sounded from the crowd!
There are several clips - covering the entire concert - on YouTube:
2. O Souverain o juge o pere/Depuis le jour (Virginia Tola)
3. Wintersturme/ Io son l'umile ancella
4. Nemico della patria & a soprano aria I can't place
5. Father/daughter reunion from Boccanegra
(I'm not entirely sure that a father-daughter scene ought to be that hot!)
6. Plácido conducts the overture to La forza del destino, which I'm afraid rather highlights what a lame conductor Eugene Kohn is (IMO)
Second half
7. Father/daughter duet from Rigoletto
(counter-intuitively, his lower notes sound fabulous to me, more so than his higher notes!)
(continues into the next clip, consistent with the TV channel's erroneous labelling of it as Aida - also contains blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots of the autocue screen!)
8. Rigoletto duet (end)/Plácido's speech in solidarity with the striking workers/Plácido conducts the Grand March from Aida
9. Soprano aria from El barberillo de Lavapiés / Amor, vida de mi vida / Chorus from Dona Francisquita
10. Aria from La del manojo de rosas/I Could Have Danced All Night/No puede ser
Encores
11. Lippen Schweigen (with obligatory waltz - oh you know the form, whoever the soprano!)/Jurame/Contigo En La Distancia/Besame Mucho (from 12:20) /Volver/A Media Luz
(Plácido looking sexier the more he relaxes and is enjoying himself. In my opinion)
12. Mi Buenos Aries Querida/Granada/El Dia Que Me Quieras and final applause.
I enjoyed watching the concert on line, and I have enjoyed watching it again on YouTube, (with some fast forwarding). I think he sounded a lot better singing tenor arias than the baritone numbers, and I do enjoy some of the lighter pieces especially Besame Mucho and Granada.
But an outdoors concert, on my laptop (with its less than optimum audio) is not the best way to hear Plácido. I also enjoyed Virginia Tola. She didn't exactly set me alight and shoot to the top of my soprano list, and anyway, I don't watch these things for the soprano. Although I am looking forward immensely to Angela Gheorghiu at O2.
I have to confess when watching clips of concerts such as this I feel an overwhelming envy of the soprano, whoever she may be. I know it's entertainment, a show, but, nevertheless, I dream of being looked at and held by Plácido in that way!
This blogpost has taken approximately four hours to compile (over an hour without the YouTube watching), so to those who think all I do is copy-and-paste a link from a Google Alert, no, it takes a bit more than that!
Comments
Plácido in Buenos Aires
I posted a few links last week about the kerfuffle surrounding the on/off/on/off/on concert that Plácido (eventually) gave in Buenos Aires last Thursday. Reports that he mediated with the striking orchestral musicians and chorus who were persuaded to perform in this free open-air concert; then heavy rain postponed it from the Wednesday to the Thursday.
"Decidimos tocar en el concierto como un reconocimiento hacia Plácido Domingo por su actitud solidaria, y en atención a los miles de espectadores que sabíamos iban a venir...
...Inicialmente no íbamos a tocar, pero Plácido Domingo, además de ser un gran artista, es un compañero. En cuanto llegó a Buenos Aires le pedimos una entrevista, que concedió inmediatamente"
He gave another concert earlier, in the theatre, for the theatre workers and their families.
It was streamed over the internet from an Argentinian TV station, so I stayed up to watch it.
(As as side note I was pondering a couple of weeks ago - a sign of my relatively middle-age is that I still think of the internet as a new-fangled contraption. I didn't get on the net until a few weeks short of 30, and I prefer to enjoy music and vision via the more old-fashioned media of my youth. When watching this concert online, I realised that I'm not as conservative as I thought. It was great to be able to watch it, live, which wouldn't have been possible without the internet. But the quality of the stream was not great. Perhaps they have better internet in Argentina than in Britain and I was suffering from a low download rate, but in any case, the quality was no better than live Trans-Atlantic TV broadcasts from 35-40 years ago, and without the ability to capture it for posterity).
Plácido Domingo demostró una vez más su predisposición al encanto personal, la pasión por la música por encima de todas las cosas y una falta de divismo que a todos emociona por igual.
This also mentions that he brought his little grandsons Alvarito and Plácidito onto the stage at the end, though Alvarito threw a wobbly at the sound of an air horn being sounded from the crowd!
There are several clips - covering the entire concert - on YouTube:
2. O Souverain o juge o pere/Depuis le jour (Virginia Tola)
3. Wintersturme/ Io son l'umile ancella
4. Nemico della patria & a soprano aria I can't place
5. Father/daughter reunion from Boccanegra
(I'm not entirely sure that a father-daughter scene ought to be that hot!)
6. Plácido conducts the overture to La forza del destino, which I'm afraid rather highlights what a lame conductor Eugene Kohn is (IMO)
Second half
7. Father/daughter duet from Rigoletto
(counter-intuitively, his lower notes sound fabulous to me, more so than his higher notes!)
(continues into the next clip, consistent with the TV channel's erroneous labelling of it as Aida - also contains blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots of the autocue screen!)
8. Rigoletto duet (end)/Plácido's speech in solidarity with the striking workers/Plácido conducts the Grand March from Aida
9. Soprano aria from El barberillo de Lavapiés / Amor, vida de mi vida / Chorus from Dona Francisquita
10. Aria from La del manojo de rosas/I Could Have Danced All Night/No puede ser
Encores
11. Lippen Schweigen (with obligatory waltz - oh you know the form, whoever the soprano!)/Jurame/Contigo En La Distancia/Besame Mucho (from 12:20) /Volver/A Media Luz
(Plácido looking sexier the more he relaxes and is enjoying himself. In my opinion)
12. Mi Buenos Aries Querida/Granada/El Dia Que Me Quieras and final applause.
I enjoyed watching the concert on line, and I have enjoyed watching it again on YouTube, (with some fast forwarding). I think he sounded a lot better singing tenor arias than the baritone numbers, and I do enjoy some of the lighter pieces especially Besame Mucho and Granada.
But an outdoors concert, on my laptop (with its less than optimum audio) is not the best way to hear Plácido. I also enjoyed Virginia Tola. She didn't exactly set me alight and shoot to the top of my soprano list, and anyway, I don't watch these things for the soprano. Although I am looking forward immensely to Angela Gheorghiu at O2.
I have to confess when watching clips of concerts such as this I feel an overwhelming envy of the soprano, whoever she may be. I know it's entertainment, a show, but, nevertheless, I dream of being looked at and held by Plácido in that way!
This blogpost has taken approximately four hours to compile (over an hour without the YouTube watching), so to those who think all I do is copy-and-paste a link from a Google Alert, no, it takes a bit more than that!
