I wonder if anyone saw the live transmission of Don Carlo at a cinema on Saturday. Although I missed the first two acts because of a clashing engagement I enjoyed the performance as a whole. Having said that, I think the moments of painful anguish came across best, whereas there was a certain missing electricity in the performance - for example in the relationship between Carlo and Posa. And I found the auto-da-fe scene rather lugubrious. Any opinions?
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This is the production being relayed on R3 tonight. I thought Alagna an excellent, dashing Carlo and Poplavskaya a sweet-voiced Elisabeth. I was more focused on the acting (obviously) in the cinema, and thought the passion was muted, albeit the anguish of the characters well expressed. Simon Keenlyside sang well as Posa but I thought looked rather wooden on the stage. The star, for me, of the show was Anna Smirnova as Eboli, whose acting matched her vocal drama. Musically I found it excellent, with Nezet-Seguin in the pit. I hope there'll be some postings after the show tonight. -
Though I see that Radio Times and the R3 website both list Yonghoon Lee as Carlo - presumably a planned cast change if it's in RT.Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
I'll listen to this (partly to hear Smirnova, who is a new name to me) if there are no trains to take the family to London for our annual Christmas ballet treat at ROH :(Comment
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Are these broadcasts really "live" from the Met?Comment
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Indeed they are. If you go to the Met Opera website, you can see the programme for the forthcoming season. Saturday matineeOriginally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View PostComment
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Indeed, you are quite correct. 12.30 p.m. start in New York.
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...as are the HD transmissions to cinemas, which gives them a certain edge.Originally posted by BetweenTheStaves View PostComment
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Nezet-Seguin was the star of show for me. How he followed, nudged on some very self-indulgent singers yet kept stage and pit moving and largely together I do not know.
There really is a 'Met' way of doing things, isn't there? And the way the singers 'milk it' must be very trying for conductors who have learnt their trade elsewhere. Luckily, N-S has done a lot of good work in Montreal and is about to go to Philadelphia, so is presumably inside the tradition?Comment
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For the earlier comment from EineAlpensinfonie, the only delay is something like 20-30 seconds for the satellite relay for the Met-HD moviecasts. Other than that, they are indeed live in real time, complete with sometimes awkward camera pans and scans when they don't always keep up with the singers. That aside, I also enjoyed this Don Carlo very much. I've seen SK as Posa live in a semi-staged concert version (emphasis on the 'semi'), and his acting was more wooden in the concert version than on stage, where he was clearly much freer to roam about. I also got the sense from the HD-cast of how more manipulative Rodrigo is in trying to play both sides, although he reveals his true loyalties in the end when he sacrifices himself for Don Carlo. One aspect of the plot that was downplayed here, compared to the concert version that I saw, was how Eboli goes over to Posa's side to rouse the people to storm the jail, which was not really emphasized at the Met.
Likewise, I second kudos for Alagna as Don Carlo, maybe not quite as intense as his Don Jose earlier this year, but still very fine. YNS also excelled in the pit, in fact bringing home the show a half hour earlier than scheduled, no doubt to the relief of the one guy in the audience who was caught on camera looking at his watch during the curtain call. It was also drolly amusing to see the cameras before the show glimpse Rattle and Kozena from their box seats.Comment
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And the lady joining him in the box at his other side was Eva Wagner-Pasquier.Originally posted by bluestateprommer View PostComment
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Well, strictly speaking, this post to recycle this thread (as is BSP's wont) is about the Dutch National Opera staging of Don Carlo back in 2004, with Rolando Villazon, Amanda Roocroft, Dwayne Croft, Violeta Urmana, and Robert Lloyd in the main roles, in the Willy Decker production, with Chailly and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in what was RC's final production at DNO with the KCO as its chief conductor. That aspect was the main reason that I watched it, and Chailly and the KCO were on extremely strong form, eminently justifying things.
Perhaps Villazon played up the known instability of the real Don Carlos in his portrayal, in his facial language. Likewise, in keeping with The Guardian review of this staging back in 2004, it was hard not to think of how much RV resembles Blackadder / Rowan Atkinson. But given how he threw himself into the character, never mind; all good. Perhaps Dwayne Croft isn't quite Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo, but he did well. The staging looks to be a mockup presumably of El Escorial, which I've never visited.
It's available through this coming Sunday, into Monday (I think), via DNO's "Streaming Opera" page, with a list of all the other upcoming video streams:
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