Puccini's Turandot - 16.09.17

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Puccini's Turandot
Opera on 3
6.30 p.m.

Puccini's great final work Turandot from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This grand spectacle of legendary China stars Christine Goerke as the Ice Princess Turandot and Aleksandrs Antonenko as Prince Calaf, the unknown prince captivated by her beauty. Turandot has vowed that no man will marry her unless he can correctly answer three riddles - Prince Calaf takes up the challenge knowing he must thaw her heart or die. The cast also includes Hibla Gerzmava as the loyal and kind Liu, and Insung Sim as Timur, Calaf's father. The Chorus and Orchestra of Covent Garden are conducted by Dan Ettinger. James Naughtie presents this recording, made earlier this summer from the Royal Opera House, and his guest in the box is Sarah Lenton.

Turandot ..... Christine Goerke (soprano)
Calaf ..... Aleksandrs Antonenko (tenor)
Liu ..... Hibla Gerzmava (soprano)
Timur ..... Insung Sim (bass)
Ping ..... Michel De Souza (baritone)
Pang ..... Aled Hall (tenor)
Pong ..... Pavel Petrov (tenor)
Emperor Altoum ..... Robin Leggate (tenor)
Mandarin ..... Yuriy Yurchuk (baritone)
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Chorus of the Royal Opera House
Dan Ettinger (conductor).

[BBMmk2]

With opera, I am often disappointed with the production, so these days, when I do, I prefer the radio or CD. This looks rather good, top say the least. One of my favourite Puccini operas/

[Conchis]

Christine Goerke is worth travelling many miles to see.

[DracoM]

But not necessarily to hear.................erm.....so far, not impressed by either Turandot or Calaf.
Band in good form as are PP&P.
AND Chorus.

IMO, she wobbles, and he doesn't have a decent top under pressure and under control.

[pastoralguy]

I played this Opera many years ago and was completely blown away each night. Just amazingly dramatic music.

[Lat-Literal]

I have suddenly gone mad for all things Puccini and have begun to work my way through a lot of second hand DVDs bought very, very cheaply. Am very much enjoying the production of Turandot by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus with Eva Marton and Michael Sylvester and production design by David Hockney. I hear a lot of modernity in the music.

Opera live is far too expensive to turn into a regular habit but I thought I would buy into one more this year in addition to La Boheme at the Coliseum and my anticipated complimentary ticket for Lehar's The Merry Widow. Having toyed with Grange Park (inaccessible as well as dear), Glyndebourne (too elitist - and nothing this year which grabs), Regents Park (some of the reviews I have read have been very off putting vis a vis officialdom and their end of row seats are tight and by rails) and Holland Park (only priority booking available currently), I've gone for a front row matinee seat for the ROH's Tosca at an astronomical price as a strictly one off thing. I'm still reeling from the money I've spent on it and just hope it will be worth it.

[Conchis]

I have suddenly gone mad for all things Puccini and have begun to work my way through a lot of second hand DVDs bought very, very cheaply. Am very much enjoying the production of Turandot by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus with Eva Marton and Michael Sylvester and production design by David Hockney. I hear a lot of modernity in the music.

Opera live is far too expensive to turn into a regular habit but I thought I would buy into one more this year in addition to La Boheme at the Coliseum and my anticipated complimentary ticket for Lehar's The Merry Widow. Having toyed with Grange Park (inaccessible as well as dear), Glyndebourne (too elitist - and nothing this year which grabs), Regents Park (some of the reviews I have read have been very off putting vis a vis officialdom and their end of row seats are tight and by rails) and Holland Park (only priority booking available currently), I've gone for a front row matinee seat for the ROH's Tosca at an astronomical price as a strictly one off thing. I'm still reeling from the money I've spent on it and just hope it will be worth it.

Like many major national companies, the ROH operates a 'Friday rush' scheme - discounted tickets available from 12pm on a Friday for performances in the following week:

https://www.roh.org.uk/events/friday-rush

I think Turandot is probably my least favourite of Puccini's mature operas: the material is a bit thin to stretch to three acts, so we have that rather meaningless scene between the Masks at the beginning of Act 2: and it's painfully obvious that a lesser composer finished it off after G.P.'s death (which might have been an opportune move for his historical reputation, as he expired before he got in too deep with Mussolini's fascists).

I saw a Kammeroper production of Die Lustige Witwe in Hamburg last month and it was a lot of fun. I followed it up by listening to the Franz Welser-Most version with helpful English narration by Dirk Bogarde (written by Tom Stoppard, no less).

[Lat-Literal]

Like many major national companies, the ROH operates a 'Friday rush' scheme - discounted tickets available from 12pm on a Friday for performances in the following week:

https://www.roh.org.uk/events/friday-rush

I think Turandot is probably my least favourite of Puccini's mature operas: the material is a bit thin to stretch to three acts, so we have that rather meaningless scene between the Masks at the beginning of Act 2: and it's painfully obvious that a lesser composer finished it off after G.P.'s death (which might have been an opportune move for his historical reputation, as he expired before he got in too deep with Mussolini's fascists).

I saw a Kammeroper production of Die Lustige Witwe in Hamburg last month and it was a lot of fun. I followed it up by listening to the Franz Welser-Most version with helpful English narration by Dirk Bogarde (written by Tom Stoppard, no less).

Thank you for that advice, Conchis.

I will bear it in mind for the future.