Met Tannhauser 23.01.2016

[DracoM]

Is it just me?

I love the opera, but I am really struggling with this: it is SO slow, so self-indulgent, and Westbroek's vibrato is driving me nuts.

[Beef Oven!]

Is it just me? .....and Westbroek's vibrato is driving me nuts.

Doctor, doctor, I've got a steering-wheel on me knob - it's driving me nuts!

[Conchis]

Is it just me?

I love the opera, but I am really struggling with this: it is SO slow, so self-indulgent, and Westbroek's vibrato is driving me nuts.

Westbroek's vibrato bothered me during Cavaleria last month. Hope she manages to regain control.

If it's slow, is it Levine conducting? Or does this one belong to Bychkov these days?

[DracoM]

Levine.

[Pulcinella]

Was it live?
I thought that everything in NYC had shut down because of the imminent storm.
Maybe the reasoning behind the slow tempo was that they'd all be trapped there, so they might as well make an afternoon/ evening/night of it!

[Petrushka]

Was it live?
I thought that everything in NYC had shut down because of the imminent storm.
Maybe the reasoning behind the slow tempo was that they'd all be trapped there, so they might as well make an afternoon/ evening/night of it!

A look at the Met website reveals that the matinee performance yesterday should have been La Boheme so this relay wasn't live. I do wish that R3 wouldn't say things are live when they aren't. It's misleading to say the least.

[DracoM]

Was it live?
I thought that everything in NYC had shut down because of the imminent storm.
Maybe the reasoning behind the slow tempo was that they'd all be trapped there, so they might as well make an afternoon/ evening/night of it!

It was a recording of a live perf, I think.

[Bryn]

A look at the Met website reveals that the matinee performance yesterday should have been La Boheme so this relay wasn't live. I do wish that R3 wouldn't say things are live when they aren't. It's misleading to say the least.

Yet, it's those weasel words "Presented live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York by Mary-Jo Heath with commentary by Ira Siff." The presentation may have been live for the video broadcast last October 31st, but not of the Radio 3 broadcast last night.

[Conchis]

Levine.

I don't dislike Levine's Wagnerian interpretations anywhere near as much as some people do, but sometimes he's reverential to the point of coming to a halt. Wonder whether this is just an 'age' thing, or whether he's the same in everything he does nowadays? Not heard him conduct Italian opera in a while....

[Beef Oven!]

I don't dislike Levine's Wagnerian interpretations anywhere near as much as some people do, but sometimes he's reverential to the point of coming to a halt. Wonder whether this is just an 'age' thing, or whether he's the same in everything he does nowadays? Not heard him conduct Italian opera in a while....

Same here, I can't stick his Parsifal recording or his Ring. However, this morning I gave his DG CD of Webern, Berg & Schoenberg a spin, and listened in wonderment. Astonishing performances.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't dislike Levine's Wagnerian interpretations anywhere near as much as some people do

Well, I only know his Parsifal and Dutchman, both of which are the worst (because dullest) recordings of those works in my collection, and last night was unbearable for me for both reasons mentioned so far (and in spite of a truly wonderful-sounding baritone, whose name I missed). But, as BeefO rightly points out, he's done some truly wonderful work with the Music of other composers (add the Carter/Babbitt/Cage/Schuller disc to the 2nd Viennese School recording, too).

[Anastasius]

Is it just me?

I love the opera, but I am really struggling with .....Westbroek's vibrato is driving me nuts.

And which is why I switched off and put on some Vaughan Williams!

[Bert Coules]

I thought the problem with this wasn't the speed or the overall pacing, but the edition: Tannhäuser is an early work which Wagner later - much later - reworked, but the new material was just patched into the old in hefty chunks which plays hell with the structure. For me, the extended Venusberg scene in act one drags on however the conductor paces it, and it's only when we get back to the original version that the show perks up: all the introspective Tristan-ish material gives way to youthful exuberance and rather jolly tunes and the story finally start to move along.

[Conchis]

I thought the problem with this wasn't the speed or the overall pacing, but the edition: Tannhäuser is an early work which Wagner later - much later - reworked, but the new material was just patched into the old in hefty chunks which plays hell with the structure. For me, the extended Venusberg scene in act one drags on however the conductor paces it, and it's only when we get back to the original version that the show perks up: all the introspective Tristan-ish material gives way to youthful exuberance and rather jolly tunes and the story finally start to move along.

The last time I saw the opera - at ROH in 2010 - I was struck by how draggy Act 1 is. Huge overture, followed by huge ballet, followed by long duet. Then there is A LOT of unmemorable music in Act 2 (specifically, the song contest); only Act 3 really delivers the goods.

I'm not surprised that this was the one of his works Wagner never felt entirely happy ('I still owe Tannhauser to the world'); it's a shame it never lived to make that 'final revision.'

[Bert Coules]

Conchis, I like the song contest - it's relevant and advances the plot - but the Paris-revised act one is deadly. The original version is much, much better.