La Forza Del Destino (Covent Garden)

[Conchis]

Thanks Ferney ..I knew it was an uber talented German conductor ..just the wrong one.How WF achieved such sound with that conducting style is one of the miracles of music. Didn't a BPO timpanist say the orchestra would play better when WF just happened to walk into another conductor's rehearsal?

Yes: possibly apocryphal, but one hopes it isn't. Rehearsal is going through the motions when suddenly, the playing of the orchestra seems to miraculous improve. The dazed timpanist looks around and notices Furtwangler standing watching from an open doorway at the back of the hall.

[Simon B]

With reference to the OP - the bloke who turned up to sing the relevant role this evening looked a whole lot like Jonas Kaufmann from where I was stood... So all of NL's stirring seems to have come to nowt. Apart from being quality clickbait of course.

Good though all the principals were, his contribution was outshone by those of Ferrucio Furlanetto and an at times pretty astonishing Anna Netrebko to my (possibly wonky) ears.

The production seemed mostly pretty inoffensive to me (though there was a fair bit of booing for its architects at the curtain calls) but also not particularly illuminating. The crowd scenes were very busy but at least there wasn't too much irrelevant activity during those moments where the focus really should be on the principals - unlike a number of recent ROH productions cursed with supernumaries clomping and wafting about the place...

[underthecountertenor]

With reference to the OP - the bloke who turned up to sing the relevant role this evening looked a whole lot like Jonas Kaufmann from where I was stood... So all of NL's stirring seems to have come to nowt. Apart from being quality clickbait of course.

Good though all the principals were, his contribution was outshone by those of Ferrucio Furlanetto and an at times pretty astonishing Anna Netrebko to my (possibly wonky) ears.

The production seemed mostly pretty inoffensive to me (though there was a fair bit of booing for its architects at the curtain calls) but also not particularly illuminating. The crowd scenes were very busy but at least there wasn't too much irrelevant activity during those moments where the focus really should be on the principals - unlike a number of recent ROH productions cursed with supernumaries clomping and wafting about the place...

Many of the reviews are in, and are pretty solidly favourable, especially in relation to Netrebko and Kaufmann. Rupert Christiansen claims that the audience liked the production, and doesn't mention any booing. These days it seems that there will always be some who feel the need to boo the production, even if it's inoffensive.

I see that I booked for the night when it's on in the cinemas, I think betting that the principals would want to turn up on that night, if not on all of them.

[Prommer]

Very sound logic. Even more so than the first night. The rest optional?

[alywin]

Given the reason for Kaufmann's absence at the general, I wouldn't have thought he would need to be absent again. One would certainly hope not, anyway.

[Prommer]

He turned up for performance number two yesterday too...

[David-G]

I was at the first night. A great evening. In my view the finest singing was from Tezier. Simply spectacular. The production was pretty duff imv. On the whole inoffensive, but no sense of epic sweep which is necessary for this opera. The monks were marvellous - Corbelli could hardly be otherwise. I didn't hear any trace of booing.

[gurnemanz]

He turned up for performance number two yesterday too...

Interesting usage. I thought I "turned up" for a pint with some mates and Herr Kaufmann is described as turning up to sing Verdi at ROH.

[gurnemanz]

We're turning up on on 9th April. I hope some opera singers also turn up. Otherwise it will be a wasted journey.

[Prommer]

I didn't hear any trace of booing.

A turn-up in itself.

[Stanfordian]

I attended the live streaming of 'La forza del destino' from ROH last night at my local Odeon. All the cast in Christof Loy's easy to understand and relatively straightforward production was outstanding and I especially enjoyed the performances of the quite magnificent Anna Netrebko and Ludovic Tézier. Jonas Kaufmann was pretty good too with fine performances from Ferruccio Furlanetto, Alessandro Corbelli and Veronica Simeoni. For what it's worth it gets a five out of five star rating from me!

[underthecountertenor]

I attended the live streaming of 'La forza del destino' from ROH last night at my local Odeon. All the cast in Christof Loy's easy to understand and relatively straightforward production was outstanding and I especially enjoyed the performances of the quite magnificent Anna Netrebko and Ludovic Tézier. Jonas Kaufmann was pretty good too with fine performances from Ferruccio Furlanetto, Alessandro Corbelli and Veronica Simeoni. For what it's worth it gets a five out of five star rating from me!

I was lucky enough to be in the house - pretty high up in the amphi, but a perfect bird’s eye view and acoustic balance. I agree with everything you say. I hope this gets a DVD release. Or that the BBC breaks with recent form and televises it.

[Steerpike]

I went to the live streaming too, at our local arts cinema. I agree that musically it was excellent but I fled at the first interval.

The reason was the volume, far, far too loud for me. I know that my hearing isn't what it was but, compared to friends of similar age (76), it's not at all bad. I don't need a hearing aid for conversation nor for my visits to operas and concerts at ROH and elsewhere.

The rest of the audience looked late middle aged and elderly and I guess they stayed. Of course cinema isn't the opera house and microphones are pretty close for solos so you get the auditory equivalent of seeing a wobbling tongue but, apart from that, the wick seemed to me to be far too high. The pps were ffs and the ffs were unbearable.

So is it just me?

[Stanfordian]

I went to the live streaming too, at our local arts cinema. I agree that musically it was excellent but I fled at the first interval.

The reason was the volume, far, far too loud for me. I know that my hearing isn't what it was but, compared to friends of similar age (76), it's not at all bad. I don't need a hearing aid for conversation nor for my visits to operas and concerts at ROH and elsewhere.

The rest of the audience looked late middle aged and elderly and I guess they stayed. Of course cinema isn't the opera house and microphones are pretty close for solos so you get the auditory equivalent of seeing a wobbling tongue but, apart from that, the wick seemed to me to be far too high. The pps were ffs and the ffs were unbearable.

So is it just me?

Hello Steerpike,

The volume will be set by the cinema. It's one of the available adjustments that I saw being made on screen prior to the start of the transmission. Cinemas seem to like everything loud.

I once asked the projectionist to adjust the focus of the picture which was subsequent done.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I went to the live streaming too, at our local arts cinema. I agree that musically it was excellent but I fled at the first interval.

The reason was the volume, far, far too loud for me. I know that my hearing isn't what it was but, compared to friends of similar age (76), it's not at all bad. I don't need a hearing aid for conversation nor for my visits to operas and concerts at ROH and elsewhere.

The rest of the audience looked late middle aged and elderly and I guess they stayed. Of course cinema isn't the opera house and microphones are pretty close for solos so you get the auditory equivalent of seeing a wobbling tongue but, apart from that, the wick seemed to me to be far too high. The pps were ffs and the ffs were unbearable.

So is it just me?

The sound levels in the Vue cinema I was at for this were fine . The sound level for the local PA is set by the cinema . In the past locally they have responded to requests to turn the sound down - and on one occasion up - as they recognise its an opera not a Hollywood blockbuster. The problem is that , I guess , the projectionist is acoustically separated from the auditorium and will have no idea of sound levels apart from maybe a DBa monitor in the projection for h and s reasons. That's not much use in the wide dynamic range of opera. For what it's worth I thought the sound at the relay was compressed and a bit thin and one point in the final act it pretty much went mono or maybe lost several channels of the Dolby 7.1 sound - if that's what was being relayed .
FANTASTIC performance though - as Hugh Canning said in the ST up there with the Domingo Otello and La Scala Simon Boccanegra. Didn't see the Luisa Miller he raved about though..