Andrea Chenier - ROH (Kaufmann etc)

[Prommer]

This opens tomorrow and Radio 3 will broadcast it on 31st January.

Has anyone heard anything about what to expect, either in production or vocal terms? Pappano is conducting and it's a David McVicar production.

Andrea Chénier Jonas Kaufmann
Maddalena de Coigny Eva-Maria Westbroek
Carlo Gérard Željko Lučić
Bersi Denyce Graves
Madelon Elena Zilio
Contessa de Coigny Rosalind Plowright
Roucher Roland Wood
Pietro Fléville Peter Coleman-Wright
Fouquier-Tinville Eddie Wade
Mathieu Adrian Clarke
The Incredibile Carlo Bosi
Abbé Peter Hoare
Schmidt Jeremy White
Major Domo John Cunningham
Dumas Yuriy Yurchuk

[Barbirollians]

There was a piece on it in the Times today .

[makropulos]

There was a piece on it in the Times today .

I gave the historical introduction to the opera (and to Giordano) at the ROH Insights event on 5th January in the Linbury Theatre, after which Tony Pappano gave a characteristically brilliant introduction to the score (using Jette Parker young artists to illustrate). Then David McVicar, Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek discussed the new production. McVicar said that while he disliked "tradition", he certainly wanted to get the "style" right - and that this opera was about the French Revolution, so needed to look like it. He praised the costume designer for the distinction between what was worn in 1789 and 1794. The discussion they had suggested that this was going to be an thoughtful production that was also going to good to look at. I can't wait to see it (and hear it - I happen to love Andrea Chénier).

[Barbirollians]

I gave the historical introduction to the opera (and to Giordano) at the ROH Insights event on 5th January in the Linbury Theatre, after which Tony Pappano gave a characteristically brilliant introduction to the score (using Jette Parker young artists to illustrate). Then David McVicar, Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek discussed the new production. McVicar said that while he disliked "tradition", he certainly wanted to get the "style" right - and that this opera was about the French Revolution, so needed to look like it. He praised the costume designer for the distinction between what was worn in 1789 and 1794. The discussion they had suggested that this was going to be an thoughtful production that was also going to good to look at. I can't wait to see it (and hear it - I happen to love Andrea Chénier).

I seem to have got about the last half reasonably priced ticket for the whole run and am looking forward to it .

[makropulos]

I seem to have got about the last half reasonably priced ticket for the whole run and am looking forward to it .

It's a very hot ticket - hope you enjoy it. Which night are you going?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Incredibile Carlo Bosi

Just to have that on the ROH programme!

[Prommer]

Thank you for that makropulos - I am going this evening, as of yesterday! (Absurd prices across the board.)

Is the Insight evening available anywhere online?

[Cockney Sparrow]

Live cinema relays, for those of us without tickets -

http://www.roh.org.uk/showings/andrea-chenier-live-2015

[Simon Biazeck]

Is the Insight evening available anywhere online?

No, I don't believe so, but selected clips may end up on the ROH You Tube site. As I'm sure you know, the programmes will have an historical background for you. An opportunity to see something on its own terms without critics' comments getting in the way would seem to be a rare opportunity.

Kaufmann = high ticket prices, I'm afraid; well done for getting one! I work at the ROH and couldn't get hold a ticket for the dress reh. which I understand was a roaring success and more like a performance than a rehearsal, such was the audience buzz. Rest assured, if you want beauty and a traditional setting, you will not be disappointed.

[Prommer]

Thank you Simon - all sounds good. I do (sometimes) like a traditional setting as long as it is not lazy and has something interesting to say which relates to the piece (not simply to directorial neuroses). I am amazed you couldn't get to the rehearsal as usually there are plenty of empty seats...

[Flosshilde]

MacVicar can be relied on to do a thoughtful that respects the setting.

[Simon Biazeck]

Thank you Simon - all sounds good. I do (sometimes) like a traditional setting as long as it is not lazy and has something interesting to say which relates to the piece (not simply to directorial neuroses). I am amazed you couldn't get to the rehearsal as usually there are plenty of empty seats...

Your thoughts on directing styles seem entirely reasonable. Sir David is a brilliant director and always manages to illuminate without throwing the baby out with the bath water. I have done many of his productions and the work is always of a high standard.

As for the lack of seats at the Gen., I'm calling that The Kaufmann Effect!

I hope you enjoy(ed) it!

[Conchis]

I shall be there on the 31st - have been greatly encouraged by this thread. Hopefully, it will eradicate the memory that woeful Ballo!

[Prommer]

Loved it - and it will get more fluent with the run. There was some occasional choppy phrasing and slightly 'out' pit-stage coordination (mostly good, but the ebb and flow wasn't perfect).

The production was indeed pretty 'straight'. Only jarring note for me is the banners. Didn't mind the ones on the drop curtain (which here was a Tricolore shaped like the blade of a guillotine) but actually on onstage I don't much like this trend and don't feel it adds much that proper acting, scene painting, orchestral colouring and programme notes do not...! (e.g. 'Citizens, your country is in danger' slung over the trial scene in Act III etc)

Only Denyce Graves disappointed a little vocally as Bersi, as did Peter Coleman-Wright as Pietro Fleville. The latter - as with his Gunther - comes across as having rather lost his voice lately.

Pappano was in his element. Maybe he should get down and dirty with this repertoire more often, and leave more of the Wagner and the Strauss to others?

Much as I like the score, if only Puccini had composed the music for this libretto!

Anyway, Kaufmann was his usual commanding and thoughtful self - ideal for the role therefore. I will still put on Corelli for the full visceral thrill, but for the 'poetry' and feeling in this character he is unbeatable. Eva-Maria got better and better as the character unfurls and grows up. Lucia as Gerard was great - slightly too soft-grained for the part I thought to begin with, but not inappropriate actually given the softer core in this character, and the necessary power was there for 'Nemico della patria'.

A very good evening indeed - could be great by the end of the run.

[Pianophile]

It was a wonderful first night, I thought, with some thrilling singing.
Despite all the hype, Kaufmann was in many ways an ideal Chénier. He sang the most spine-tingling Improviso since Corelli. The was some luxury casting in the smaller roles and great to see Rosalind Plowright as the Contessa di Coigny, thirty years after she sang Maddelena in the last production with Carreras.