Opera on 3 Gounod's Faust

[underthecountertenor]

And, of course, I meant 'two hoots' not 'too'!

[underthecountertenor]

Valenti did a creditable job in the end, I thought. Somewhat underpowered at the big money moments, but in compensation he gave us some lovely covered high notes, which I'm led to believe aren't really in Grigolo's repertoire. Bystrom was excellent.
Meanwhile, the ROH have finally explained why R3 pulled the plug on the live broadcast. Apparently Gheorghiu felt a slight cold coming on....

[Chris Newman]

Meanwhile, the ROH have finally explained why R3 pulled the plug on the live broadcast. Apparently Gheorghiu felt a slight cold coming on....

Thank you for that, underthecountertenor. I certainly shall not go out of my way to hear the little madame again. What was wrong with the traditional curtain announcement from the manager asking the audience to crave their indulgences and trying one's best? It was good enough for the likes of Janet Baker and Boris Christoff who could be sporting enough to carry on whether broadcast or not. I am disappointed that the ROH and BBC sagged under such vanity.

I listened to the opera yesterday on iPlayer. I know the aria "Salut demeure" and the ballet music but little else. Grigolo was excellent and most of the cast were very good. Gheorghiu did not sound as if she had a cold: she had just bitten off more than she could chew. The opera was, I agree with others, a waste of resources. There are a few grand moments but most of the music and way the story is told are second rate.

[underthecountertenor]

I should just clarify, Chris. She did go on on Saturday, but only on condition that the plug was pulled on the broadcast. That's still pretty extraordinary in my view. As is the BBC's failure to give any explanation, at the time or since, especially given that some people at least concluded that the live broadcast didn't go ahead for technical reasons (i.e. the Beeb's fault). As Draco M would say, the prevailing mood at Radio 3 appears to be 'never apologise, never explain.'
I personally think you're being rather harsh on the music. Certainly in the opera house on Monday it came over extremely well.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'm glad you enjoyed your evening, underthecountertenor, and that Valenti was good. I'm interested that you rated Malin Bystrom - I was a little underwhelmed by her Mathilde in William Tell this summer at the proms, although that could have been due to the unsympathetic acoustic there. Her top notes were fine, but she was a little cloudy in the lower register.

Rene Pape and Dmitri Hvorostovsky seem to have taken most of the plaudits. It's been a long time since Pape appeared at the ROH - it seemed he was out of favour, for some reason.

[Chris Newman]

I personally think you're being rather harsh on the music. Certainly in the opera house on Monday it came over extremely well.

Hi, IGI,

I expect that I am. It must be very difficult to boil Goethe's monsterpiece down to anything that makes sense on stage. I do enjoy Marlowe's predecessor though. Perhaps Gounod left too much in. It did seem to drag on for me. The best roles seemed to be Mephistopheles and Valentin who at least can enjoy their beauty and villainry. I cannot imagine many singers who have grown up themselves wanting to sing Marguerite who comes across as a spoilt brat whilst Faust himself seems drippy. Berlioz boiled it down much further to just impressions of the characters and that seems to work much better, even on stage which was not his intention. As for poor Busoni, he seems to cram three operas into the space of one. I have always felt some of Gounod's music as a bit naff such as that silly march (Dee-Dum-dee-diddledy-om-ti-pom) and the Jewel Song: G & S without the laughs.

bws
Chris.

[french frank]

I should just clarify, Chris. She did go on on Saturday, but only on condition that the plug was pulled on the broadcast. That's still pretty extraordinary in my view.

i don't disagree with that view, but celebrated performers are very sensitive about having what they think may be sub-standard performances recorded (which broadcasting implies) for posterity. That seems to be why Brendel gave up appearing at the Proms before he gave up public performances.

In this case it does seem more like prima donna-ish behaviour.

[Mandryka]

I'm glad you enjoyed your evening, underthecountertenor, and that Valenti was good. I'm interested that you rated Malin Bystrom - I was a little underwhelmed by her Mathilde in William Tell this summer at the proms, although that could have been due to the unsympathetic acoustic there. Her top notes were fine, but she was a little cloudy in the lower register.

Rene Pape and Dmitri Hvorostovsky seem to have taken most of the plaudits. It's been a long time since Pape appeared at the ROH - it seemed he was out of favour, for some reason.

The politics of the ROH (and opera houses in general) are baffling: I don't know what 'crime' Pape committed, but I fully expected Bryn Terfel to be banished from Pappano's realm after his (disgraceful by anyone's standards) Ring walkout in 2007. Yet he was back again the following season, singing Scarpia - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he's sung under Pappano since.

[LHC]

The politics of the ROH (and opera houses in general) are baffling: I don't know what 'crime' Pape committed, but I fully expected Bryn Terfel to be banished from Pappano's realm after his (disgraceful by anyone's standards) Ring walkout in 2007. Yet he was back again the following season, singing Scarpia - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he's sung under Pappano since.

Terfel sang Scarpia with Pappano conducting in July this year - performances which will be broadcast on R3 this weekend and on BBC2/4 in due course. Terfel is also down to sing Wotan in the Ring in 2012, again under Pappano.

Pappano seems a pretty forgiving chap and doesn't appear to bear grudges. If he did, Gheorghui wouldn't still be singing at the opera house after the way she behaved in that first run of Tosca performances.

It is rumoured that Rene Pape was originally scheduled to sing Phillip II in Hytner's new production of Don Carlo, but was replaced by Furlanetto because Hytner thought Pape was too young to play the part. Furlanetto was wonderful, but it was a ridiculous decision and Pape was apparently upset that Pappano did not make a stand against this example of a producer's whim. I understand this soured relations for a while, but that all bridges have now been mended.

I hope we will see much more of Pape in future as he is very good indeed.

It's also worth noting that Pape is very much in demand at the Met and in Europe, so his absence from Covent Garden could be as much about schedules not working out as anything else.

[Mandryka]

Pape has been singing above his age range for many years: his Pogner in Meistersinger was immortalised on film (Levine/Met on DG) in 2001, when he was 37 and (just about) visibly younger than Karita Mattila's Eva.

Imv, he has no problem portraying senior characters on stage: if that story is true, then Pappano should have overruled Hytner.

[Barbirollians]

Returning to this only by buying the Plasson recording did I find that the ROH version was bizarrely cut with the spinning song at the start of Act 4 missing and we went straight into the church scene with Marguerite and Meph which made little sense to me . Anyone know why they did this ?

Anyway, I recommend the Plasson recording heartily - Cheryl Studer and Richard Leech in top form and beautifully conducted.

[Chris Newman]

Tonight's Opera on Three version of Faust from the Metropolitan Opera seems much better musically than the rather ropey September ROH performance discussed above.
Faust.....Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
Méphistophélès.....René Pape (bass)
Marguerite.....Marina Poplavskaya (soprano)
Valentin.....Russell Braun (baritone)
Wagner.....Jonathan Beyer (baritone)
Siébel.....Michèle Losier (mezzo-soprano)
Marthe Schwerlein.....Wendy White (mezzo-soprano)
New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Conductor.....Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Canadian conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, seems to know intuitively what to do with French music and Kaufmann is terrific. The audience are well behaved too.

[Bert Coules]

I saw a few bits and pieces of this and was surprised that the staging, for all its cleverness, didn't ever really grip or involve me at all. The director was Des McAnuff, who on Broadway has brought off a few genuine triumphs including Tommy and Jersey Boys but I found little of that sort of flair and theatricality in Faust. Perhaps I was just in the wrong mood, perhaps it was too soon after Terry Gilliam's superb Damnation of Faust. I did enjoy the lovely understated (except when he had to break into dance) performance from Rene Papp, though.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I saw this via a Met relay yesterday evening: http://www.opera-britannia.com/index...iews&Itemid=16

Musically strong, although the production would not be to all tastes.

[Barbirollians]

Sounds like hearing it on Radio 3 was the best option !