A Night at the Opera

[aeolium]

I enjoyed the Abduction - it fed my craving for train travel

Mine too - for the train back to Gloucestershire

Actually, I will admit that it wasn't as bad as the Cosi. There's something seriously depressing about watching someone sing in shorts for a couple of hours

[bluestateprommer]

Metropolitan Opera HD casts, general question

I'm not sure if this would be worth a new thread, but how many of you guys/gals go to the Metropolitan Opera HD-casts in cinemas? They're obviously in full swing for the season, and I just wonder how they've caught on in the UK. There's also the ROH and Glyndebourne HD-casts from the UK companies, of course.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'm not sure if this would be worth a new thread, but how many of you guys/gals go to the Metropolitan Opera HD-casts in cinemas? They're obviously in full swing for the season, and I just wonder how they've caught on in the UK. There's also the ROH and Glyndebourne HD-casts from the UK companies, of course.

I went to my first Met broadcast a fortnight ago - Anna Bolena. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the atmosphere and 'sense of being there' actually came across. The sound levels in the cinema, against which I'd previously been warned, were actually spot on. There was a very slight lip-synch problem in Act I, which they sorted out during the interval. High-definition pictures were excellent.

As we are without a NY critic at present, Opera Britannia has been offered the chance to review via these cinema relays, so I'm covering Don Giovanni and Faust in the coming weeks.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

... so I'm covering Don Giovanni and Faust in the coming weeks.

Here's the Don Giovanni review: http://www.opera-britannia.com/index...iews&Itemid=16

[aeolium]

Thanks for that interesting and comprehensive review IGI. I saw the production at a theatre locally and enjoyed it a lot. I agree that the staging was rather uninspiring (why are almost all DG productions so sombre these days?) and the director did not seem to have spent a lot of time on the characters' movements on stage. Vargas as Ottavio was especially wooden, I thought, though he sang well. Most of the singing seemed very impressive to me - Masetto somewhat colourless and Zerlina seemed far too smitten with the Don for the Act 1 finale to be convincing. And though you point out that this was one of the few recent productions where the statue actually makes an entrance at the end of Act 2, it didn't seem to me to be a statue but rather a ludicrously Halloween-type ghost. In this respect the latest WNO production (where a statue does indeed enter) was more effective, imo. And DG's actual descent into hell was oddly staged, the Commendatore disappearing and the flames seeming to engulf both the Don and Leporello (clutching the table legs).

Anyway, musically it was very good, with Luisi and the orchestra on fine form. I don't mind a production that is less than thrilling.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I don't mind a production that is less than thrilling.

Oh, I agree. I'd much rather have this 'traditional but uninspired' production than some of the rubbish served up in the name of Regietheater any day...

[Bert Coules]

...how many of you guys/gals go to the Metropolitan Opera HD-casts in cinemas?

Given the right equipment, one can watch them (and record them) in the comfort of one's own home, and escape during the ghastly interview bits. I enjoyed the Giovanni (rather more than some of the critics) and I'm greatly looking forward to Saturday's Siegfried.

[Bert Coules]

Well, it's the second interval and the Met's Siegfried is going swimmingly: it's a fine performance all round and Jay Hunter Morris, stepping in at short notice, is hugely impressive in the title role. The controversial set seems to be behaving itself both mechanically and sonically, the designs and projection work are lovely (Fafner-the-Disney-Dragon apart, unfortunately) and if the production goes down a few paths which I personally would not, well, which production doesn't?

I hope I'm not the only one watching and enjoying this.

[french frank]

Just back from WNO's Katya Kabanova. I saw this production (Katie Mitchell's) a few years back, and this was pretty much up to scratch (though the women tended, confusingly, to look much of a muchness in terms of age). I would echo all the recent compliments for the orchestra under Lothar Königs - and what splendid music this is.

[Chris Newman]

Just back from WNO's Katya Kabanova. I saw this production (Katie Mitchell's) a few years back, and this was pretty much up to scratch (though the women tended, confusingly, to look much of a muchness in terms of age). I would echo all the recent compliments for the orchestra under Lothar Königs - and what splendid music this is.

I am looking forward to hearing this wonderful opera at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre on the 30th of November. I much enjoyed Amanda Roocroft at ENO in English last year and it will be interesting to hear her in Czech.

With regard to enquiries above about going to Met Opera productions in our cinema. My local Odeon in Salisbury has not shown these but have almost monthly showings of Royal Opera House, Berlin Phil and Zurich Opera productions. The sound and picture quality is excellent. They are well attended. I would recommend them to music and opera lovers.

[aeolium]

Chris, I thought I had read somewhere that the Met operated some kind of 'exclusive rights' policy whereby if a cinema showed its productions it could not show opera broadcasts by other companies (not sure how it can do this). Am I just imagining this? I know the cinemas at which I have seen recent Met productions do not appear to be showing any other operas.

[Chris Newman]

Chris, I thought I had read somewhere that the Met operated some kind of 'exclusive rights' policy whereby if a cinema showed its productions it could not show opera broadcasts by other companies (not sure how it can do this). Am I just imagining this? I know the cinemas at which I have seen recent Met productions do not appear to be showing any other operas.

That sounds very probable, aeolium.

[Chris Newman]

Having withdrawal symptoms for Wagner?

You will either love or hate this production of Die Meistersinger from the little opera company in Nurnberg itself I found on Artelive tv. Imagine English Touring Opera or Holland Park doing Die Meistersinger. MOST of the cast are very young. The conductor takes things at a lick and keeps the orchestral volume down to avoid too much strain. One or two of the young cast are outstanding: Beckmesser. I think everyone has a very brave stab at their part: they are not all Wagnerian voices by a long shot.

Production: very lively. Sets: almost Roy Lichtenstein. It is the sort of performance that newcomers to Wagner would love as it is romantic and funny. I think it works.

http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Les_maitres_chanteurs_de_Nuremberg/

Conductor: Marcus Bosch
Director: David Israeli-Mouchtar-Samorai
Set: Heinz Hauser
Costume: Urte Eicker


Albert Pesendorfer (Hans Sachs), Guido Jentjens (Veit Pogner), Christoph Wittmann (Kunz Vogelgesang), Kurt Schober (Konrad Nachtigall), Jochen Kupfer (Sixtus Beckmesser), Martin Berner (Fritz Kothner), Martin Platz (Balthasar Zorn), Philip Carmichael (Ulrich Eißlinger), Martin Nyvall (Augustin Moser), Yong Jae Moon (Hermann Ortel), Vladislav Solodyagin (Hans Schwarz), Daeyoung Kim (Hans Foltz), Michael Putsch (Walther von Stolzing), Tilman Lichdi (David), Michaela Maria Mayer (Eva), Leila Pfister (Magdalena), Randall Jakobsh (Nightwatchman), Chor Staatstheater Nürnberg (Tarmo Vaask)

[bluestateprommer]

For IGI, a very late reply, and thanks for the excellent review. Sounds just as well that I missed it on the big screen. I suppose that I can catch it well down the line when the DVD appears, if I'm so inclined by then.

For aeolium & CN, I hadn't heard about the Metropolitan Opera imposing conditions of not being able to show productions by other opera companies here in the US. At the one local place where I catch the Met HD-casts, the only other opera company that showed a non-Met opera production was the "Carmen in 3D" from the ROH. Otherwise, speaking of other companies, La Scala productions have been at other cinemas which don't have the Met HD-casts. So maybe there's something to that on this side of the pond.

[french frank]

Just back from the WNO's Don Giovanni. I enjoyed this a lot. It was probably the 'lightest' Don I've seen, inventing more humour than is usually seen. (Some people didn't like this, apparently, and it didn't always work)

I liked Nuccia Focile's Donna Elvira which was both almost clownish at moments, but at others very poignant. I wouldn't agree that she was miscast in the role but it might not have been everyone's idea of Elvira. One of the critics said she was neither a Mozartian nor a comedian - which was a fair old put-down. Having seen her a few years back as Susanna, I think she can be both and the interpretation distinguished her from Donna Anna who was the usual dramatic heavy. The other principals were all very good. (Yes, the Commendatore was underpowered, drowned out by the orchestra at times, which was a pity. I was waiting for a stentorian, 'Don Giovanni!' which didn't come.)

Orchestra excellent under Lothar Koenigs who didn't once open his score.