Gertsamtkunstwerk

Cardiff Day 4

Looks like being 'Game On' in Cardiff. After Heat 3's sensational Chinese bass-baritone tonight we had the thrill of Ms Japan, a superb soprano: Mari Moriya from Japan. Apparently she's already sung at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, so I'm not sure what hse's doing in a competition. But what the heck, she's perfectly entitled

The first three competitors all definitely had their strengths and all were a pleasure to hear - Ida Falk Winland (Sweden, soprano), Owen Gilhooly (Ireland, baritone) and Anna Viktorova (Russia, mezzo). Of the three Anna showed the most potential. Mary King articulated what I was vaguely feeling - 25 years old, and a mezzo, she will mature and improve, and will be exceedingly good in ten years time.

Of the remaining two. Well, I'm afraid I learnt the result last night by clicking on Opera Daddy's Blog. Even so, listening to him was a bit like watching a friend, in a way, and I was delighted at what I heard. Of course, it's only manners to be sucky to people on their own blog, I can be more honest on here. He is a very attractive man, although a bit young for me. He also came over as very likeable on stage - which actually, perhaps was not so cool when all his roles were baddies. An interesting repertoire ie I only knew one of the three pieces. I enjoyed his performance, it was definitely one of my very favourites so far this week (I've watched, but not blogged Tuesday's), and I would like to see him in the final.

But I already knew, and it was obvious from the first minute or so of her performance that Ms Japan was going to win. A lovely performance of the Bellini. The Caro nome was delightful, although probably the weakest of her three pieces, and the Der Hölle Rache was a real stormer. I'm still backing Mr China, but I think it will be very interesting on Sunday.

Shen Yang

He's the man!

Admittedly, I haven't seen the heat broadcast on Tuesday, and there are two more yet to be broadcast, but if any of those singers can match the extraordinary talent of this competitor I will willingly eat my hat.

Thirty seconds into his Vivaldi aria - which I don't know, but all Vivaldi sounds the same to me , I was "Wow". After a moving Hans Sach and a convincing Mephistopheles I was even more convinced that this is the Cardiff Singer of the World 2007. Beautiful voice, great expression, superb diction (as far as I can tell, which, admittedly is limited), and a natural confidence, polish, finish, maturity and professionalism. If the standard gets any higher than this, it is truly a Golden Age. Of course many of the soundbiters went for Sarah Jane Davies 'because she's Welsh' but the Row K jury, the panel of experts, and the real jury went for Shen Yang.

As for the others, I did not like Wiard Witholt very much but would be interested to hear him in the Song Prize, suspecting that he could do extremely well. Sarah Jane Davies' singing of one of the Four Last Songs was exquisite, but her Handel (from Serse) did nothing for me, and the Cosi aria was lacking. It's a shame, because I've heard her live, and she sounded much better. Nor did she score very highly from the TrinnyandSusannah (Jimmy) of Gert Cottage, who opined that her dress didn't suit her, and was of the same unflattering design as Liz Watts'. Juhan Tralla gave a good solid unexceptional performance. I feel he would be super-reliable as a house tenor but has no star quality and I felt that he was singing in the masque far too much. Evelina Dobraceva raced into the lead in the Gert Cottage Frockwatch, and got special marks for being an Angela Gheorghiu wannabe. She has a lovely voice, a gorgeous free top, and was head and shoulders above the other three. But singing straight after Shen Yang merely served to highlight her limitations, and without being cruel, if she hasn't developed a je ne sais quoi by 32 she ain't never going to. Whereas 23-year old Shen demonstrated that je ne sais quoi and star quality are something one is born with. A soundbiter said "I feel tonight we have been in the presence of greatness" and it's hard to disagree. I found that elusive wow factor.

Cardiff Concert 1

Was shown on TV tonight. The official version is here.

We had a split vote in Gert Cottage, with Jimmy agreeing with the Official Jury and Pretty Blonde Spenceboy in nominating Elizabeth Watts - she is writing Liz's Cardiff Blog.

My favourite was Luciano Botelho, a Brazillian tenore di grazia. I thought he had the most beautiful voice, especially at the top, and he reminded me a lot of Juan Diego Florez,especially in the piece from Rossini. I liked all of them, up to a point. I have already written the following on a newsgroup:

I thought Sae Kyung Rim was too screachy on top and had a bit of a wobble, but otherwise had an attractive sound, but zero personality. I loved Luciano's gorgeous sweet tone, especially right at the top. He reminds me to some extent of Juan Diego Florez, especially in the Rossini. I felt he struggled when moving chest to head. Ante Jerkunica did the least for me. I noticed an absence of top (indeed I seemed to anticipating most of Pretty Blonde Spenceboy's remarks), and he seemed to lack charisma, which Levente Molnár had in spades. Toby Spence described his act as "Rants and Variations" and I would certainly have liked to hear how he coped with something more lyrical. I felt he was a bit rough around the edges but woth bags of potential. I think probably Elizabeth Watts was the best technically, although her Massanet did very little for me. Certainly the Szymanowski was a startling change in the rep.

Next week is Cardiff week

Details of TV and Radio broadcasts. I shall attempt to do a bit 'live-blogging' - dreadful word, worse concept. Except Tuesday, for I shall be at Covent Garden for Fidelio (which is, by all accounts, dreadful; if so I shall sell my ticket for the performance I also have booked in two weeks time). Oh, and maybe not Wednesday, because we have vague plans to Big ScreenDon Giovanni (weather permitting) (Erwin Schrott, Anna Netrebko - it's about time ROH presented me with something memorable)

Details of competitors, Guide to Opera mini-site , Frockwatch.

Mr USA Ryan McKinney who blogs as Opera Daddy has been on my bloglines for months, and his omisison from my blogroll is a bizarre oversight.

Update: (On DG, not Cardiff). Trebs has dropped out of the first night of Don Giovanni. Fortunately, the replacement is Marina Poplavskaya, who is more than up to the job - we were delighted when she was announced as the replacement for Angela Gheorghiu in Don Carlo and were well disappointed that she never got to appear in Cyrano de Bergerac for which she was covering (and we saw five times, so would have liked a better soprano than the one we had to endure five times). Let's be honest, Donna Anna isn't that much of a role, anyway. The stars are DG and Leporello, and Donna Anna is arguably the Third Lady

New Covent Garden Booking system

What's a polite way of saying "It's pants!"

I had my debit card rejected twice and Jimmy's rejected once, before finally getting (I think!) the tickets I wanted for three Elisir D'Amores and 1 Iphigenie & Tauride. Five people have reported having a total of 12 cards rejected, up to 8 times.

I booked ballet a couple of hours after it opened; except for having to wait about five minutes to get in - it originally told me 66 minutes - that seemed to go okay.

I have confirmatory emails but won't actually believe until hard physical tickets drop through my letter box!

New season at ENO

the full Press Release is here.

I wrote my instant reaction elsewhere:

Carmen's: I see they're replacing the Jonathan Miller production which was far preferable to the Francesca Zambello. As well as Alice Coote, Julian Gavin will be worth seeing as Don J. Seems a bit silly ENO doing considering it's at ROH this season and next.

Poppea: I saw the Zurich-on-tour concert version at RFH. Jonas the Hunk was Nero, incorrectly, of course. I love Monteverdi, although I am afraid I have less knowledge, and recordings, than I should. This is definitely a highlight of the season.

Aida: John Hudson might just have the chops as Radames. I found him disappointing for Acts 1&2 of Carmen, better for 3&4. Claire Rutter also attractive (as of course is Iain Paterson). As ROH are unlikely to revive the Robert Wilson production this side of never, this is a rare opportunity, strangely enough, to see Aida in London.

Turn of the Screw: has an excellent cast and director. To me, one of the less accessible of Britten's operas, but I feel that ENO have an obligation to become a centre of excellence for Britten

Lucia: gorgeous gorgeous opera, not really sure it's ENO territory. Not really sure of the cast, although Barry Banks is said to be just as beautifully voiced as JDF, but only about 4' tall. Really a soprano vehicle: I have Joanie on DVD and Cheryl on CD. Wonder what Anna Christy is like.

Lost Highway (Olga Neuwirth)/Punch and Judy (Harrison Birtwhistle): Can't say, will depend what mood I'm in.

Merry Widow: not fussed. Amanda Roocroft yes. I suppose it will be an opportunity to see if the over-hyped Alfie Boe actually lives up to his ClassicFM guff.

Der Rosenkavalier: sterling cast, and by all accounts, a wonderful production (David McVicar). I don't like Strauss as much as I ought to, but Rosenkavalier is definitely worth a night out. And I think Presentation of the Rose is one of the most beautiful numbers in the entire opera canon.

Candide: I loved the production they showed from Paris on the TV; although it could benefit from a few cuts. It will be interesting to see who gets to be the narrator and who gets to sing Glitter and be Gay.

Mikado and Madam Butterfly. Plague, avoid. etc. Magic Flute, cast dependent, but seems silly to run in parallel with ROH. Oh, Butterfly's that Minghella production that brought the Met crash bang into the 1980s...

Interview with Edward Gardner: Enter the young pretender. The comparison with David Cameron is supposed to be flattering? Oh dear! And rather contradicting the 'balls of steel' description...

New season at Covent Garden

It was announced yesterday and fails to fill me with inspiration. The Press Release is available here

Productions etc are summarised here and here.

The Ring we already know about; I already have my tickets; and although obviously I am looking forward to it tremendously, it is discounted in my mind as old news.

I think the repertory is reasonably interesting. It's a shame there's nothing from the first 170 years of opera's 400 years. And it's tediously inevitable that there will be Tosca and Boheme without - thus far - any star names to persuade one. Carmen is revived, with Marcelo Alvarez as Don José. Naturally I shall see it for him but remain open-minded as to whether it's vocally his forte. And sure - despite my tremendous admiration for him - that he won't bring to it what Jonas Kaufmann did. Traviata is revived yet again. Anna Netrebko undoubtedly the draw. Also, Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. As they are on my list of potential telephone directory singers, of course I shall go, but I think it's a shocking waste of both of their talents, considering that's all either of them are doing, when I think they ought to be offered whatever they want.

Eugene Onegin will be irresistible, with Gerald Finley starring, supported by Marina Poplavskaya and Piotr Beczala. I adore Gerald, and adored him in this role at ENO (sung in English, as opposed to ROH's Russian). Such a shame he isn't doing more.

Parsifal looks attractive, as long as I'm not Wagnered-out by then. Other major highlights are L'elisir with Rolando Villazón. I hope they won't limit this to two tickets per person, because I intend taking Jimmy, but want to go more than once. Rolando also provides the other highlight in Don Carlo, which, I think, Ring Cycle apart, is objectively the season highlight, and one hopes will be televised.

And I shall go to the three English operas: Britten, Ades and Birtwhistle in order to prove my intellectual credentials.

But, apart from the above mentioned, and also Simon Keenlyside (whom, bizarrely, I have never seen in a staged opera), but will be my pet project I think, the casting is uninspiring. So many absences, miscasts and barely presents. Plácido is only in Walküre, two performances, and I just can't see me getting a ticket for the one I haven't already booked. As I say, Dima and Jonas's one appearance hopelessly miscast, and Marcelo's one appearance, we shall see...No JDF. And that's just the tenors (oh and of course no Roberto Alagna, either, or José Cura for that matter). Sopranos missing include Angela Gheorghiu, Karita Mattila and Renée Fleming. Not that I am knocking the various people scheduled to sing. It would be delightful to hear unfamiliar singers if they prove to be delightful, but I feel that the casting is decidedly unstarry for a leading house. If they are avoiding Big Stars for the main part, they also seem to overlooking the brightest and best of emerging British talent, too, with the likes of Sarah Connolly, Alice Coote and Carolyn Sampson overlooked once again, and Iain Paterson just a Nazarene in Salome. I could go on.

Eyebrows and Shirtless aside, I think the most significant contribution will be from David McVicar. I haven't seen his Zauberflote, because I am yet to be converted to the charms of the opera, but will do so, because I now realise he is my favourite director (And it stars Shirtless). Also, Figaro, my favourite opera, with a great staging and a potentially decent cast (let's hope Ildebrando Arcangelo's singing is more impressive when not atop a horse). And a new production of Salome. Although I am not a Strauss fan, it is short. I know nothing about Nadja Michael and don't know how she will interpret the Dance of the Seven Veils. I'd get more excited about La Cenerentola if it were JDF rather than Pretty Blonde Spenceboy (with apologies to PBS fans...). And I'm not sure about Magdalena Kozena and don't care especially for Rossini.

Still, looking on the bright side, there is not much for counter-tenors...

Update: another blogview

First Emperor

Alan on Opera-L writes:

Last night was the 5th performance of the new world premiere production of TAN DUN's THE FIRST EMPEROR at the Metropolitan Opera, and I must STRONGLY disagree with its detractors. The rainy weather had settled in, but the temperatures were in the 60's and perhaps all the illness that has been going around has died out. All the singers were in superb voice, and while I may not adore the score, this work combined with the magnificent production and truly inspiring conceptions of the entire design team gave us a truly wonderful spectacle.

and proceeds to describe the production in great detail.

Incidentally, the result of phonecalls and emails suggest very strongly there will be no opportunity to see the livecast of this in British cinemas next Saturday, which is very disappointing.

Picturehouse Cinemas told me on the phone that they intend to show some of the livecasts in late February and to check back the website at the start of February.

The Gate at Notting Hill emailed someone

Hopefully we will finalise a deal this week to take The Barber of Seville on 24 March and Il Trittico on 28 April.

and Greenwich emailed someone else

We screened The Magic Flute live from The Met on Saturday night and look forward to doing further screenings in the future however, there are currently no other shows confirmed.

As I said, disappointing, but, being an eternal optimist, hopefully matters will be better organised in future seasons. The pessimist in me feels that there's probably a natural reluctance to take a screen out of general viewing on a Saturday night...

Barbican Opera Gala

Raymond Gubbay Presents Dumbed Down Arias etc for the masses.

Or something like that. Of course the purist wouldn't attend, but what the heck...!

All very second rate in an enjoyable sort of way. The London Concert Orchestra and Chorus under Robin Stapleton, who's been around for ever and isn't bad. I suspect the orchestra was thrown together from myriad freelancers. The chorus contained various slightly familiar faces from various other choirs. Desperately under-rehearsed. All notes correct and on pitch and with faces buried deep in the scores.

A set of soloists from the file marked 'not quite top drawer'. Linda Richardson, Clare Shearer, Gwyn Hughes Jones and Jonathan Summers. None of them will ever be 'stars' but are exactly the sort of singers that the companies like ENO and WNO rely on. And I can't say that I was overwhelmed by any of them, yet they all showed excellent musicianship, reasonable stage presence, and pleasant voices true to pitch and so on. Four professional performances. What more can one want, except for that je ne sais quoi that distinguishes stars from mere professionals.

Of the four I think Gwyn Hughes Jones was my favourite, a sweet lyrical voice. At times beautiful. Hampered by a seeming complete absence of personality - of course, he could be a really interesting guy and great company down the pub but he seemed disengaged albeit in a concert setting. Jonathan Summers was entirely inaudible above the orchestra, which wasn't very large, yet when the orchestra shut up, there was no lack of volume from him. I thought Linda Richardson sounded nice but I was struck by this overall sense of mousiness that meant she never projected anything but voice beyond the footlights. Clare Shearer had the most commanding presence.

Of course what I mean by these two previous paragraphs is that even while can you enjoy such a performance it in no way compares to what the big star names (or most of them, anyway...) can pull off, seemingly without trying. Yet while they fell short of the standards set by the international superstars of opera, they were light years ahead of the wannabe one-tone no-emotion grunts so beloved of ClassicFM. Sometimes, I despair.

It was a populist-all-the-way programme, straight from a Classic FM Disc "Of all the nice bits in opera without worrying about the nasty plot lines." (Listed below the fold) but I have to say all of these pieces sound better with those ugly and sometimes brutal plot-lines round them. Well, apart from the Barber of Seville. I would happily take these two numbers, add in Una voce poca fa and call it quits on the Barber.

It strikes me as very unbalanced programme, and with such a light-weight middle-England selection, I would have expected a more light-weight audience. But actually, it was a very well behaved audience. No clapping arias in recognition "Ooh, it's that one off the telly" Perhaps Maestro had forestalled that by informing us that it was that one off the telly. No clapping before the final instrumental notes died away. No applauding the scenery. The bloke in front did decide to have a conversation during the Va pensiero. I vowed if he did it again, I would lean forward and enquire whether he required medical assistance to be summoned. But he didn't.

But, a pretty predictable programme, with the nearest to a surprise (IMO) being Stride la vampa and Softly Awakes My Heart. If I was programming such a concert, I would throw in a bit more Mozart, Wagner and Donizetti, and would cut the Puccini.

First Emperor to be filmed...

Met announces plan to simulcast opera to millions in US, Canada and Europe

The Metropolitan Opera will transmit six live performances to movie theaters and will broadcast more than 100 live performances over the Internet or on digital radio in a groundbreaking attempt to expand its audience. The high definition satellite simulcasts to hundreds of movie theaters in North America and Europe will begin Dec. 30 with Julie Taymor's English language adaptation of Mozart's "Magic Flute" under the baton of James Levine. Other productions scheduled for simulcast are "I Puritani," starring soprano Ann Netrebko (Jan. 6); the Jan. 13 world premiere of Tan Dun's "The First Emperor" with Placido Domingo in the title role; "Eugene Onegin," starring Renee Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky and conducted by Valerie Gergiev (Feb. 24); the new production of "The Barber of Seville" with Juan Diego Florez (March 24); and the new production of "Il Trittico," conducted by Levine and directed by Jack O'Brien (April 28).

More cause for stress. January 13th. Will Brixton Ritzy or Clapham Picture House show it? Surely some cinema somewhere in London? This is stressful.

Although I wouldn't get too excited about ''High definition". My understanding is that NTSC HD is about as clear as PAL or SECAM normal. If that.

Still, any excuse for an opera post. I have got nothing planned until Faust on 27 September and then only if I'm not holiday. Gerald Finley has cancelled our date for next week. He's ill. (Would it be very stalker-ish to send a 'get well' card to his home address?).

I'm thinking of going to Gaddafi the Opera at ENO but the dates don't look that great for me. I think I'll probably be able to get a ticket just by turning up at the door.

Writing the dictionary

Certain terms have magically appeared in the Urban Dictionary:

tenorial rolling on the ground

chest hair fondling

Furniture Abuse

Studertroll

Barihunk is pending...

Opera Holland Park

Country House Opera in Inner London. I have Fedora, Manon Lescaut, Queen of Spades and Rigoletto in my diary and ticket-folder...

The best way to satisfy the romantic snob inside us all

A feature on the 'yobs' that run OHP - An opera you can't refuse (one of whom has been known to comment on this blog)

Smut

I have been using up valuable blogging time writing more unmentionable porny-smutty fiction.

It helps if you have a passing knowledge of Wagner and cheesy Latino-Pop...

New Season at Covent Garden

Has just been announced, bringing a temporary hiatus to the speculation that has been going on.

Full season listing

First the bad news. No Plácido. I've already gone into sulk mode and thrown my toys out of the pram. Sod the ROH, see if I care.

The season starts with Faust, with Angela Gheorghiu the highlight. John Relyea gets to wear the black sparkly dress.

We also have a concert performance at The Barbican of La Juive. Mainly a good solid British cast; Nicole Cabell (Cardiff Singer of the Year) makes her debut.

La Finta Giardineria is fully staged: I figured it might be a concert performance. The English Baroque Soloists are the band.

The we have Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although I'm not a Shostakovitch fan, this is on my MUST SEE list - a fantastic production.

Bird of Night by Dominique Le Gendre appears in the Linbury (and out of left-field as far as mmofm is concerned...!)

We then have La Boheme, with Marcelo Alvarez (!) (I'll give Frank Lopardo a miss, except that he's in the cast with Robert Gleadow - a mmofm 'One To Watch' - as Colline)

Then we have Queen of Spades, with Gerald Finley (yay!)

A double-cast Carmen, new production. Lead role is Anna Maria Antonacci and Marina Domashenko. Jonas Kaufmann (!) and Marco Berti share Don Jose - so, no Alagna...Francesca Zambello directs.

La Fille du Regiment, follows, as predicted with Juan Diego Florez (!) and Natalie Dessay

Marcelo Alvarez (!) returns as Manrico in Il Trovatore, with Catherine Nagelstad and Stephanie Blythe.

Madama Butterfly, I'll miss. None of the cast is a pull factor.

Handel's Orlando is followed by a revival of The Tempest. Mainly the original cast in the main parts, although Kate Royal is added to the list.

The there is the L'heure espagnole/ Gianni Schicchi double bill. Yann Beuron, an mmofm One To Watch is in the former; Bryn Terfel is the major pull factor for the latter.

Stiffelio stars Jose Cura (ah well, never mind) and Sondra Radvanovsky.

Owen Wingrave (unpredicted on this blog) crops up in the Linbury

Pelleas et Meliande stars my favourite baritone (Gerald Finley), my favourite mezzo (Angelika Kirchschlager) and the frequently shirtless Simon Keenlyside. I suppose I shall have to learn not to hate Debussy. Simon Rattle conducts.

Fidelio stars Karita Mattila and a very good if not necessarily star-studded cast - although Simon O'Neill is being heralded as the latest heldentenor. Andrew Staples, very much an mmofm 'One to Watch' makes his ROH debut. Splendid.

Don Giovanni is the Big One for summer with Erwin Schrott, Jonathan Lemalu (ah well, never mind), Anna Netrebko, Ana Maria Martinez and a generally impressive cast.

Charles Mackerras conducts Kat'a Kabanova.

A concert performance of Thais stars Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson and Joseph Calleja.

Tosca with Violeta Urmana, Salvator Licitra (oh please, do we have to) and Mark Delevan (shrug). This is one of many productions featuring Robert Gleadow.

Rigoletto and Cosi fan Tutte finish the season.

So well done to the mmofm community. We've done bloody well in predicting this, and the only predicted one that isn't scheduled is Le nozze di figaro.

Biggest thanks of all to the various less-than-discrete singers and/or their agents who make it all possible!

But I'm still sulking at there being no Pláci and no Rolando. I'm going to have to get on a bloody aeroplane, innit?

Update: MusicOMH has a sensible preview

Update update: Cunning Little Vixen previews it. Best quote:

There probably should be laws against putting Gerald Finley, Simon Keenlyside and Robert Gleadow on the same stage in the same opera at the same time.

Best of 2005

Although I still have two concerts to attend, it's time to reflect on a year of concert going. Silly to include the two that happen this week, because any objectivity will be impaired by propinquity.

If I was sensible I would just do a list of ten and leave it at that.

But it's not that straightforward.

Firstly, I will syphon off Live8. Five-and-a-half months on, I am tempted to joke that We have made Live8 history. For good and for bad it was a Sui generis event and a fabulous day out.

We were lucky enough to win tickets in the text message lottery. I am glad that I didn't fork out mega moolah for a ticket, even if that would have put me closer to the stage and actually able to see the Slebs. There was a great deal of standing around; an awful lot of posturing and smugness. There were some truly awful acts appearing. It was full of a very much-of-a-muchness musically where light rock meets heavy pop, all nicely safe and middle-class.

There was enormous cultural imperialism, with barely an acknowledgement of non-white performers; indeed, without doing a check, I think the entire London line-up, except for Youssou N'Dour, belatedly included as a veneer of multi-culturism, was either from Western Europe or North America. The audience was overwhelmingly white, with barely a sighting of any black or Asian person. And by being there, we were able to fast forward through the appalling TV coverage (Jonathan Ross). But I don't think that I shall look back in twenty years time and see it as an epoch-making event. I will remember it, and I will remember some of the acts that played, notably REM, Scissor Sisters and above all Robbie Williams. Also Madonna, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney. I can't even remember the names of many of the instantly forgettable bands that strutted their ignorance. A formulaic calculation of music enjoyed would not merit this a place probably even in my top ten. But it was greater than the sum of its sometimes appalling parts.

I also must separate out the five times I saw and heard Plácido live, twice in concert, three times in Die Walküre (one a concert performance). Of the five, the Dublin concert and the Prom were absolutely simply the best, but I also thoroughly enjoyed the two ROH Walküres and the Berlin concert. Indeed, if I had only seen him in Berlin, this would rate as my favourite concert of the year. And I met him, which was a wonderful unforgettable experience!

As for the rest. I have belatedly come to the conclusion that going to concerts and operas with Jimmy is not always a wise thing, because we tend to imbibe too much alcohol, before, during and after, often rendering me unable to remember sufficient detail to write a meaningful review, even though I have a clear memory of the levels of enjoyment and the reasons why. This applies to La Traviata; Thomas Quasthoff; the Fauré etc after which I met Teddy Tahu Rhodes; a Mainly Mozart (And Bach, Haydn and Handel) featuring Carolyn Sampson and The Sixteen, La Fanciulla Del West and Un ballo in maschera last week (much better than I had had reason to expect).

I bought and failed to use far too many tickets, but, interestingly, I do no regret my non-attendance, except perhaps for the Alice Coote Dream of Gerontius, which came over marvellously on the TV.

I attended a few turkeys, but only walked out of one, the disgraceful Renée Fleming (Flappers please note that I reserve the right to delete anonymous comments and ignore Flaming emails).

So the best of the rest, in no particular order. Neil Diamond at Earls Court, Beethoven's Ninth at the Royal Festival Hall; Steve Reich at the Barbican; Silete Vente etc at St George's Handel Square, featuring Carolyn Sampson; Mozart at Cadogan Hall, featuring Carolyn Sampson; Eugene Onegin at ENO, starring Gerald Finley; Gerald Finley and Julius Drake at Cadogan Hall; Rigoletto at Royal Opera House and Giulio Cesare at The Proms. I still have a Dream of Gerontius at the Barbican and a L'Enfance du Christ at Cadogan.

And the winner is, after careful consideration, Die Walküre, at the Proms. Or Plácido in Dublin.

I think my ultimate concert would have to involve Plácido, Carolyn and Gerry sharing a platform.

Mayhem and Mystery on the High Seas

The story is now complete. Perhaps, in the next few days, I shall go through it, correct grammatical and syntactical errors overlooked in my haste to post, and upload it to mmofm.

In episodic form, it can be found at rec.music.opera.

When the posts are sorted in date order, it is

Prologue: Post #1
Chapter 1: Post #7
Chapter 2: Post #18
Chapter 3: Post #30
Chapter 4: Post #47
Chapter 5: Post #65
Chapter 6: Post #82
Chapter 7: Post #101
Chapter 8: Post #110
Chapter 9: Post #112
Chapter 10: Post #119

It's very rude, definitely not worksafe, or suitable for Under-18s.

In the meantime, REG is writing Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Transposed Tenor. Chapter One, Chapter Two and Chapter Three.

The Tenor goes by the somewhat implausible name of Sunday Brunch.

TV alert

On Artsworld, next Saturday, from 8.30pm (Sky Channel 157) live from Vienna

Vienna State Opera - 50th Anniversary of the Re-opening

Exclusive UK broadcast of the gala held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the re-opening of the Vienna State Opera

An exclusive UK broadcast of a gala from Vienna, held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the re-opening of one of the world’s leading opera houses, the Vienna State Opera.

The opera house was severely damaged during World War II, when the stage was destroyed by Allied bombs and the building was gutted by fire on March 12, 1945, just months before the official end of hostilities. While the foyer, with its frescoes by Moritz von Schwind, the main stairways, the vestibule and the tea room were spared, almost the entire décor and props for more than 120 operas with around 150,000 costumes were destroyed. Happily, the building was painstakingly reconstructed, and re-opened in 1955.

This special concert, performed in Vienna and broadcast the same evening on Artsworld, marks 50 years from the grand re-opening, and is expected to be one of the most talked-about opera and classical music events of the year.

It features opera stars such as Bryn Terfel and Placido Domingo, as well as excerpts from well-known operas such as Aida and Don Giovanni, and is presented by Richard Baker, who currently hosts BBC Radio 2’s Your Hundred Best Tunes, and has introduced the Last Night of the Proms for 32 years. In addition, opera expert and journalist Charles Osborne - who, remarkably was at the original re-opening in 1955 - will also be on hand for additional information.

And don't forget, Artsworld is no longer subscription, and should be available to most Sky subscribers.

Mayhem And Mystery on the High Seas

If any of you are following the fortunes of Blue Collar Donna, Chapter Five is now online - Message #65 if sorted by date.

She has not yet hijacked the ship and demand to be taken to Nicosia for the concert on 19 October. But it seems that the lass form Tooting Bec might not be the brightest button in the box. With the proceeds of five numbers and the bonus in Lotto, she would have been far better taking herself off to Washington, Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, Montreal and Los Angeles, all before Christmas...

An evening at home

Those of you have been reading this blog some time, oh, you know, maybe a couple of weeks, and especially those related to me, be you commenters or lurkers, know that I am not exactly the world's most organised person. This can be summarised by the 'Magazine Pile'. I subscribe to four magazines - two weekly and two monthly. I tend to read the New Statesman when I'm travelling around or, for example, like today, in the hairdresers. Public Finance is boring, and it's not even worth my while looking at the job ads for the next few months. But I ought to read it for updates in my profession, so sometimes I do, even though it generally focuses on the petty shenanigans of Local Government and forgets that many of its members work in Central Governemnt (or indeed the Health Service, Practice, or Industry).

I actually get BBC Music and Gramophone mainly for the CDs that are attached, so the magazines just get tossed on the pile to be read. Sometimes, I am organised enough to toss them to the bottom of the pile. Until Saturday evening, the pile was residing on the dining table, but we decided to eat dinner sitting up at table, so Jimmy shifted the two piles (please note, I cooked...) - Things-to-Read and Things-to-Deal-With - onto the sofa, to join the third pile Things-Not-Yet-Classified/Things-Miscellaneous (mailshots, sunglasses, empty cassette boxes, camera battery etc). In moving the Things-To-Read he unearthed My-Secret-Stash-of-Porn™*, which was slightly embarrassing but not very.

This morning's post had been flung on top of the mixed up Things-to-Read and Things-to-Deal-With piles, which in themselves were sitting higgledy-piggledy with the Things-Not-Yet-Classified/Things-Miscellaneous pile. So this evening, I decided I really ought to re-sort all Things. That involved opening this morning's post - Sky Magazine (remove plastic cover place remainder straight in recycling bin) and Gramophone Magazine. Oh god, I thought, yet another magazine to not get round to reading, and tossed it onto the table to form the bottom of the new Things-to-Read pile. As I was busy sorting through empty envelopes, out of date mailshots, staff-pass-holder-cords, make-up purse (that's where it got to) etc I glanced at the Gramophone magazine and thought "That's a very nice picture of Simon Rattle and his Dvorak Tone Poems" - ooh, Sir Simon's gone all Czech, wonder why..."but that's an advert. I wonder what's on the front..." This is the August Gramophone Magazine, so hot off the Presses it's not even on the Website yet, which as I write is still showing its July cover (DFD at 80).

Actually, you know what I'm going to say don't you..."Domingo Records Tristan: Plácido on opera's toughest assignment and when he'll stop singing. Plus Star Tenors, the Next Generation" And inside, six pages, which I think I shall settle down to read with a nice gin-and-bitter-lemon, but only after I've packed my bag for work tomorrow.

And the Gramophone CD 'Cover Story' is Act I scene 5 (excerpt) from Tristan und Isolde. Obviously, it's dificult to judge a four hour opera from a 6½ minute excerpt, but I think I might stick my neck out, take a risk and buy the whole thing.

There are some other nice tracks on this CD, always good to hear a sampler of what's being released. There's a lovely excerpt from Gluck's Paride ed Elena (no, I've not heard of it either) and I was thinking, ooh, this sounds lovely, I might get this, ooh this is a gorgeous soprano voice. I wonder who it is. And I look, and I know I'm going to get it. The Guardian only gives it three stars and says

Cult mezzo Magdalena Kozena and silvery soprano Carolyn Sampson sound gorgeous, but are on the cool side as Paris and Cupid respectively. The best performance is Susan Gritton's Helen

So, the moral of this story is - it's really not good to be organised, because I have just spent £60 in the course of writing this post....

* It's not really Porn, it's Opera News, M Lifestyle, and Classic FM Magazine that have not yet been added to My-Even-More-Secret-Stash-Of-Porn™ in the spare room

ENO to introduce public executions surtitles

About time too, I reckon.

Sean Doran explains why.

Not everyone is happy

"Surtitles are," said David Pountney, "a celluloid condom inserted between the audience and the immediate gratification of understanding."

Sir Peter Jonas, now head of the Bavarian State Opera, said: "If ENO are doing what the audience wants, they should have public executions on the stage of the Coliseum. After all, the public wants capital punishment."

Dennis Marks, who succeeded Sir Peter at ENO, said: "It's yet another undermining of the principles on which ENO was founded."

So, Pountney is saying that people have no right to understand - that to do so is instant gratification and thus to be deprecated; Jonas is saying, that an organisation, largely funded by people who buy tickets and by tax payers, has no business being responsive to public demands and needs. By his logic there should be inadequate female toilet facilities at the Colisseum. And Marks is contradicting him perfectly, because ENO was founded, long before anyone imagined surtitles, supertitles, subtitles, or whatever, precisely to make opera accessible to, erm, the paying public.

The BBC is clearly blissfully ignorant that English operas at Covent Garden, for example, are performed with surtitles.

Séan Doran explained the reasons cogently on Today whilst the Editor of one or other opera magazine was snootily dismissive.

I haven't encountered any opera goers who wouldn't welcome surtitles at ENO. There are criticisms of singers' diction, some quite rightly, but, on the other hand, if, for example, you have four different vocal lines, with different words, often creating beautiful harmonies, the words are simply not distinguishable. I find that if I choose not to look at surtitles I don't notice them - for example, in Ballo at Covent Garden, which I know pretty well anyway, and the Italian diction was sufficiently clear (for me, anyway) to render them entirely surplus at times

I suspect that the criticisms may come from those that sit in the expensive seats downstairs, because, I think, they may have to crane their necks a little to see titles above the proscenium. From the cheap and middle-pricing seats upstairs, it does not require contortions.

I rather thought that the magazine editor is rather opposed to people attending an opera who don't know the libretto (as written AND as translated), as well as the score, backwards. Well, sod him. If he were to bother to ask, he would probably find that the majority of people who attend operas, or concerts, or plays, or art exhibitions, are not academic or professional experts in those fields but are looking for an enjoyable and thought provoking evening out without worrying about their purist credentials. They work for a living, and pay - not get paid - to attend these events, unlike critics and administrators. Sod him. Yay for surtitles. Power to the people!

I'm not saying that ENO, or other similar organisation should necessarily bow to every whim and demand, but I always view 'thin edge of the wedge' arguments as the last refuge of people who resist change for the sake of resisting change, lack the intellect to argue their point on its own (by inferrence, dubious) merits and lack the understanding of people - or perhaps disdain them - to understand that one change does not lead inexhorably to another. I think that the 'public want public executions' argument should automatically lead to the disregarding of any point by that user.

Reviews and photos

Ruth Elleson's monthly Letter from London features Twilight of the Gods and Un ballo in maschera, which I saw, and Lulu, which, in the end, I didn't.

Sleeping

I have a guilty secret to confess.

I fall asleep in operas. Occasionally I fall asleep in concerts.

I'm not too bad during films, not at the cinema, anyway. The only one I've fallen asleep in the cinema was, ironically, Insomnia. Jimmy snored all the way through Chicago at home.

Shakespeare has an almost clean sweep. I think I have slept during every Shakespeare play I have attended. I don't feel that I have lost anything as a result. The one I did not sleep through was a production by the Southend Shakespeare Players - or some such name. I went with my friend Helen-in-Essex, Clive, and Helen's little sister, Rachel. We went because Helen's former teacher was in it. It was in a field, somewhere near Rayleigh, IIRC. Maybe actually in Rayleigh. It was a glorious summer's Saturday evening. Well, it was when it started. It was a dull Autumnal Tuesday morning by the time it finished.

We were the only group in the entire audience without cushions and blankets. Oh, how we mocked them! They were old. We were young. What need did we have of blankets and cushions? Jeez, I had to stay awake, it was so uncomfortable. And I am not talking an hour and a half of discomfort, I am talking literally ten hours of bum aching, bone chilling discomfort. I forget what the play was about. I think it had a lot of errors in it. Apparently, it was a comedy. Shrugs (Please don't let my mother read this...)

An opera-goer confesses all

Guilt and shame – those daggers of self destruction. Once you're over them you'll find that nothing is as restful and conducive to revitalization as a sleep in the opera house. A proper operatic snooze is better than a day at a spa and cheaper as well. I might as well get it out in the open – I've been sleeping through operas for decades. I can hear you saying "So what's new? We could tell that by reading your reviews." But as we age we feel the need to confess our secrets

I once missed a ski trip when I broke my patella after falling out of my seat during Billy Budd. I had foolishly gone to the show by myself convinced I couldn't fall asleep during Britten and somehow thinking that because I wore my seat belt in my car that I'd be protected in the opera house should the unexpected happen.

And those of you who listened to the Singers' Round Table on Saturday's Met Broadcast will have heard Plácido say it's okay to fall asleep in operas - but only if there are no titles...

Observer Reviews

Bonney and Kirchschlager, and La Traviata which I went to and Muti with the Phil, which I didn't,

and of the pre-ordered, anticipated eagerly with fervent excitement French Opera Arias

Not yet reviewed on amazon.co.uk - not released til next week but on amazon.com it gets five stars and, how's this for a review...

Rolando Villazón has everything it takes to secure a permanent role in the pantheon of great singers - a richly full tenor voice that is luxuriously beautiful in every part of the range, a sensitivity to the text/role of each of the arias/roles he elects to sing, musical intelligence that never plays for effect alone but tempers the line in allegiance to the composer and the character, and a handsome physical appearance and magical stage deportment as a fine actor.

And as if that weren't sufficient, Villazon adds the sensitivity to release albums that are not the hackneyed warhorses of arias everyone knows and loves but instead are collections of less well known works that shows he cares about the art of singing and the obligation of enlightening his audience. His first album of Italian arias was an unqualified success: his second recording of the French repertoire of Massenet and Gounod is not only an endlessly beautiful recital - it also shows there is finally a tenor fully able to deliver this difficult, more subtle repertoire with conviction and ease...

Run, don't walk. Buy now!

But note to Mr Holden, no-one is the 'new anyone', especially not Rolando, the Voice of the 21st Century

Opera Linklog

Royal Opera House
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Aria Database - Details of hundreds of arias
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Opera Today - comprehensive blog
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Mike Richter - Miscellany
The Opera Critic
Parterre - iconoclastic... featuring La Cieca
Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts and Synopses
Andante - news, reviews and interviews
La Scena - news, reviews and interviews
Verdiana
Plácido Domingo
Tenorissimo! Plácido Domingo, Man About the Opera House
Rolando Villazón
Carolyn Sampson
rec.music.opera
humanities.music.composers.wagner
Opera-L - Archives
Parlour of Opera Lovers
Opera Blogs

Heard on the radio, found on the internet

Popped Clog: Bernard Levin :: The London News Review

If you have absolutely no interest in opera, music, theatre, whatever, still read this - scrolling down to "And finally, on a memorable performance of Spontini's La Vestale"

Essential Opera

I have two CDs by this name; indeed I have fairly recently blogged the Classic FM version. What I can't understand is that if CLassic FM produce a CD of 16 tracks. not one of them featuring Andrea Bocelli, they can't take a slightly less dumbed-down attitude to their programming.

Songwise, not a turkey. I would say that the quality of versions differ. But that's 'free' Cds for you...!

Decent versions:

• Verdi's Anvil Chorus from Trov And Chorus of Hebrew Slaves - the Ambrosian Chorus under Muti. The Anvil is not my favourite Verdi chorus (but that's like saying 'not my favourite Thornton's chocolate'), whereas Hebrew Slaves probably is. Mind you, I have countless better versions than this...!
• Jose Cura's E Lucevan le Stelle isn't bad ( I do like the conductor on this...), but again I've heard better - this is one of the arias in my pending sing-off (I haven't forgotten...)

Crap versions:

• Celeste Aida - Krisjan Johannson, an excerpt from Naxos. Okay not CRAP crap, but considering all the at least adequate versions there out there, this is sadly inadequate.
• Sempre Libera from Traviata - Monika Kraus (who?) No, this is bad. I think my favourite version is Renee Fleming, but Angela Gheorgiu is right up there challenging. An I know that many older versions are regarded as much better. It's such a fabulous aria (okay, I know it's really a cabaletta, but WTF), I don't like it being squawked like this;
• Jonathan Welch sinnging Che gelida manina from La Bohème

From this album I really like Kiri Te Kanawa's Se come vol from Puccini's Le villi (an opera I have never really heard of); Plácido Domingo singing the wonderful Vesti la giubba from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (IMO better than Caruso...!); and Maria Callas's L'amour est un oiseau rebelle from Carmen.

I have another one, on Decca, that I got years ago. It has been played very many times. My faves are

1. La flleur que tu m'avais jetée, from Carmen, sung by Plácido, sounding ravishing
2. Va pensiero - Solti & Chicago SO
3. Belle nuit, o nuit d'amore from Hoffman, sung by Joan Sutherland and Huguette Tourangeau - although I've heard much much better versions...
4. Gloria all'Egitto (Grand March and Ballet) from Aida, Maazel and La Scala - I can't believe that for years I had a real downer, almost to the point of detestation of this piece...!
5. O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi, sung by Renata Tebaldi

Search request special

I seem to have had a lot of requests for DVDs featuring nudity. I would recommend Rigoletto, where nakedness is used intelligently in an overall satisfactory dramatical and musical presentation, and Alcina, for its gorgeous music and its erotic - bordering on pornographic nudity.

I have also read a recommendation for Thaïs -

...a lot of flesh is on display here, the entire female corps de ballet is topless, save for necklace
chains, and Thais has a topless doppleganger who gives a radiant
performance of the Meditation (Though Mei's costume leaves little to the
imagination)...William Joyner's bright tenor rings nicely and in Nicias's
brief time onstage, Joyner creates a vain but imminently likeable fellow.
His mini-skirt almost has one fearful of seeming something revealed that
shouldn't be.

You know I'm just being provocative, don't you...?

The Evils of Amazon

I went crazy a few weeks ago, and now my Bank Account bares the evidence. So do my CD storage shelves. So what!

At present I am listening to the Anna Russell Album, the sort of music I grew up listening to in my weird (but, I increasingly realise, wonderful) childhood.

If you can imagine Flanders and Swann meets Joyce Grenfell, well, this is it! Florence Foster Jenkins is yet to be played.

If you haven't clue what I'm banging on about, well, for £8.99 you can find out - at half the price of these achingly bleeding edge cool trendy here-today-gone-tomorrow modern stuff!

Competitive arias

Okay, a bit of silliness on my part - I have various arias sung by multiple singers. I want to do a sing-off, and I want you to choose whom between. It's interactive blogging - you choose an aria, or, alternatively, choose a singer, and let battle commence. And you might as well choose, because I'm going to do it anyway, but i want you to be in Partnership in this deal, to feel a sense of Ownership and Empowerment...!

Your choices are:

• O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini's Gianni Schicci - soprano (from A Room With a View)
• Casta Diva from Bellini's Norma - soprano (Ford Mondeo)
• Che gelida manina from Puccini's Boheme - tenor (from Moonstruck)
• E Lucevan le stelle from Puccini's Tosca - tenor (from, er, Tosca)
• La donna e mobile from Verdi's Rigoletto (it's my theme tune - literally translated, it means "The noble woman is on her cell phone...")
• Un bel d� vedremo from Puccini's Madama Butterfly - soprano (from Fatal Attraction)
• Donna non vidi mai from Puccini's Manon Lescaut - tenor (literally, "The woman who forgot to set the video today")
• Ebben? Ne andro lontana from Catalina's La Wally - soprano (from Diva)
• Lamento do Frederico from Cilea's L'arlesiana - tenor (trust me, it's nice this one...)
• Lascia ch'io pianga from Handel's Rinaldo - soprano (Harrods advert)
• Questa o quella from Verdi's Rigoletto (from Verdi's Rigoletto)
• Una furtiva lagrima from Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore - tenor (another nice one)
• Vesti la giubba from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci - tenor (Caruso's signature - but I don't have any Caruso...)
• Vissi d'arte from Puccini's Tosca - soprano (do choose this one, I really like it...)

The singers you have to choose from are: The thre Tenors - Ensemble; Cecelia Bartoli; Montserrat Caballe; Maria Callas; Joseph Calleja; Josep Carreras; Jose Cura; Victoria de los Angeles; Plácido Domingo; Renee Fleming; Mirella Freni; Lesley Garret; Nicolai Gedda; Angela Gheorghiu; Alfredo Kraus; Luciano Pavarotti; Joan Sutherland; Renata Tebaldi; Kiri Te Kanawa; and Rolando Villazon.

Or throw in another aria and see if I can oblige - anything, except Nessun Fucking Dorma...!

Letter to the Radio Times

I am looking forward to the BBC's so-called 'Opera Month' - even though there doesn't seem to be much broadcast than in a typical month in my youth...

I was sadly disappointed in reading the ridiculous article on Luciano Pavarotti. The first reason was asking the question "Is he the greatest?" The evidence comes from 'his conductor' and a very measured, non-committal comment from Roberto Alagna (who believes that Roberto Alagna is the greatest tenor!)

There was no attempt to seriously analyse this question. For example - no mention made of his minuscule repertory (no Tchaikowsky, no modern works - and how can any singer be called 'great' when they have never done Wagner), no mention of his inability to read music, his very modest acting talents, his notoriuos habit of cancelling at the last minute, not to mention his obvious poor judgement in making Andrea Bocelli his protege. Nobody who actually knows anything about opera seriously rates Pav, except for his erstwhile ability to pull off a few High 'Cs'

The second aspect that annoyed me was the ridiculous and patronising insert "Sounds Familiar". Surely the majority of the target audience for this programme/Radio Times article may actually know a few operatic arias from sources other than TV advertisements. Maybe they have CDs of arias sung by Pavarotti, or by great singers. Would it be stretching it a bit to suggest that some of them may have actually listened to whole operas, perhaps on CD DVD/TV, or heaven forfend, actually at an Opera House.

Come on Radio Times - please don't treat us all as idiots

Hmm, I have way too much time on my hands - and the Letters Page says 'keep it brief'