Originally posted by french frank
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You get WNO at Bristol, don't you, ff?
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I know... there used to be a time, when I first started my opera-going, when the Glyndebourne Tour took in Southampton, but I suppose they would 'compete' with WNO. There's little in it, in terms of travel, for me. Southampton is 10 mins closer by train than Woking, although it's theatre has more character. Both suffer in terms of the pit - too large and uncovered at the Mayflower, too small at Woking - for Dvorak, at least.
You get WNO at Bristol, don't you, ff?Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... -
Yes, twice a year now instead of three times - no summer visit now. Next month we have Jephtha and Cosí (both productions I've seen and shan't go to them this time) and Bohème which I shall go to... Still, I've been informed that 'people prefer to travel to Cardiff' as the Millennium Centre is so much better than the Hippodrome (which I don't doubt) but getting back afterwards, door to door, is a bit of a bind.Originally posted by Il Grande Inquisitor View Post
We also have Opera Project which comes regularly to the Tobacco Factory (and sometimes to St George's) and, considering the small scale, they are worth seeing if the choice of opera appeals.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Last night, Peter Konwitschny's production of La traviata opened at English National Opera. A lean, spare staging (with cuts), it was utterly enthralling:
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....Comment
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Kasper Holten is taking a bit of a bashing over his first production for the Royal Opera. Eugene Onegin reviews starting to come in:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/m...cle3678838.ece (Times = paywall)
Well, I liked it!
and so did David Nice: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/eug...opera?page=0,0Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....Comment
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Indie somewhat lukewarm, also not convinced by the use of body doubles.Originally posted by Il Grande Inquisitor View PostKasper Holten is taking a bit of a bashing over his first production for the Royal Opera. Eugene Onegin reviews starting to come in:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/m...cle3678838.ece (Times = paywall)
Well, I liked it!
and so did David Nice: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/eug...opera?page=0,0Comment
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Thanks for that, gurnemanz. I tend to forget to look out for Indy reviews since Seckerson resigned.Originally posted by gurnemanz View PostOur chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....Comment
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"Not convinced by the use of body doubles"? They were a disaster. I have yet to see a production where the use of doppelgangers has not killed the drama and the emotion and the involvement stone dead. And so it was here. And there was a lot else wrong with this production. Musically it was a wonderful evening. But as a moving work of music drama, it was a zero.Originally posted by gurnemanz View PostComment
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The buzz isn't good, is it?Originally posted by David-G View Post
Body doubles would seem to be a redundant idea: they've been tried so many times before.
The last ROH Onegin (Steven Pimlott's production) was one of the finest things I've seen at Covent Garden - Dvhorostovsky, Roocroft and Villaizon all at their best.Comment
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Oh what a pity they did not keep that production. But the new Director of Opera needed to put on a work himself, and Onegin seems to have been the unlucky victim. Not an auspicious start for the New Era.Comment
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I went to the first outing for the new David Pountney WNO production of Lulu in Cardiff on Friday. It was very impressive, with an animalistic theme running through it: the set mainly consisting of a circular metal cage with a spiral staircase at its centre (which itself looked like the DNA double helix). The theme was of characters behaving or being treated like beasts - an echo back to Berg's other opera Wozzeck where the title character is experimented on like an animal. There were even giant meathooks on which models of victims were hung and remained suspended throughout the action. (Some characters walked round the stage with animal heads - I thought for a moment I had gone to the WNO's other opera in this season, The Cunning Little Vixen). There were occasional failures in the staging - I thought that the divan in the shape of a large truncated naked torso was not that successful in that it was difficult to move around on - but on the whole it was gripping to watch.
The music was intense and compelling. I had only known it from the orchestral suite as I have never before been to a production of Lulu. It encompasses tender, erotic, dark, savage, mocking, ironic qualities and always serves the action concisely. Pountney and Koenigs, the conductor, used a completion of the opera by Eberhard Klopke not the usual Cerha completion, but it seemed very effective. Marie Arnet was excellent as Lulu, as was Natascha Petrinsky as Geschwitz and Richard Angas as Schigolch, and Alwa and Dr Schoen were also well sung. Lothar Koenigs brought out a performance of clarity and power from the WNO orchestra. The singers, the orchestra, the conductor, director and designer were all given a great ovation by a large audience and deservedly so. It was a wonderful evening
(I hope Il Grande Inquisitor will be forthcoming with his much more comprehensive and illuminating review soon
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Going To See Lulu on Saturday week aeolium, thanks for the review, really looking forward to it, It got 5* Reviews from The Guardian & Arts Desk also. their 2013-2014 Season look's a realy good one as well
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Not in this instance, aeolium, although your very positive review did cause me to book a ticket this morning! Our resident Welsh critic reviewed this production - http://www.opera-britannia.com/index...iews&Itemid=16 - while I'm reviewing Vixen and Butterfly when they make it as far as Southampton.Originally posted by aeolium View Post(I hope Il Grande Inquisitor will be forthcoming with his much more comprehensive and illuminating review soon)
I agree that WNO (and David Pountney in particular) should be congratulated on bold programming and some interesting casting for future seasons.Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....Comment
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Aargh! I really wouldn't do that, IGI - I mean, book on the strength of one person's review (especially mine). People can have very different reactions to productions.your very positive review did cause me to book a ticket this morning!
Still, your colleague's review was also very favourable and, as expected, much more detailed. It really was an exceptional performance by Marie Arnet, in acting as well as singing, marking with subtle changes Lulu's progress through dominance and freedom in the first half of the opera to her subjugation, humiliation and death in the second half.
What Pountney also seems to have brought to WNO is considering the operatic season as a whole, so that operas with related themes are staged (the animal link in Lulu and Vixen and the "fallen/oppressed women" theme) - as opposed to just putting on three unrelated operas.Comment
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Pountney is very canny. In WNO's week here, we're getting one Lulu - for which the top ticket price is an incredible £25 which is enough to tempt any casual operagoer into dipping their toe into Berg - one Vixen (Janacek not exactly box office, but a popular production, well cast) and Butterfly for three performances, ensuring enough bums on seats to make the season financially viable, yet artistically pleasing as well. I'm looking forward to seeing them all, along with Tosca and Die Feen in the same week... diary malfunction shunting Chelsea Opera Group's concert performance of the latter back a month from the date I thought I was reviewing of 17th February!Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....Comment
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I am off to Eugene Onegin tomorrow - again with some trepidation but it seems extraordinarily self-indulgent of KH to produce a new Onegin when the older much praised production was only six years old !!! Especially in this era of major budget cuts - ancien regime like behaviour .
That lousy Don Giovanni production would have been a much better candidate .Last edited by Barbirollians; 15-02-13, 13:21.Comment
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