Kaufmann in Parsifal, live from the Met 2.3.13

[Resurrection Man]

They don't clap over the closing bars because they're Americans, but because it's the culture of that particular house that it's considered acceptable. And the last time I was in the US all the humans appeared to me to have normal hands, not flippers.

Don't be so bloody rude, RM.

kb

Oooooh!

So respect for the music doesn't come into it, then?

[Black Swan]

Totally agree, this was a wonderful performance and comments about Bloody Americans is just rude and stupid. This is the house culture of the Metropolitan Opera.

[Resurrection Man]

Totally agree, this was a wonderful performance and comments about Bloody Americans is just rude and stupid. This is the house culture of the Metropolitan Opera.

And which is why most Saturday R3 operas from the Met are a 'no-no' in this house of culture.

[Black Swan]

Well that is your loss not listening to the Met performances. Not mine.

[Bert Coules]

And the problem (if it is a problem, and I'm by no means convinced that it is in most cases - this is the theatre not the concert hall) of premature applause is hardly confined to the USA. Neither the Garden nor the Coli are strangers to it.

Bert

[Resurrection Man]

And the problem (if it is a problem, and I'm by no means convinced that it is in most cases - this is the theatre not the concert hall) of premature applause is hardly confined to the USA. Neither the Garden nor the Coli are strangers to it.

Bert

Can't comment re the Coliseum as I rarely listen to operas from there. But the frequent times I have listened to relays from the ROH, the applause has been timely.

[Resurrection Man]

Well that is your loss not listening to the Met performances. Not mine.

\\

The general mediocrity of the operas from the Met of a Saturday evening also has something to do with it. Having said that, this season they do seem to be making a much better fist of it.

[gurnemanz]

Some first reactions having just got back and missed out on the pub due to late finish. It was a superb evening and a compellingly lucid production. The imaginative and creative (but not tricksy) cinematic direction greatly enhanced the whole experience with good use of close-up, tracking shots and framing and cropping of images to make tableaux. The lighting was effective with some lovely chiaroscuro à la Caravaggio in the final scenes. Excellent performances, all well acted - stupendous Act Two duet Kundry/Parsifal. Rene Pape was impressive as my namesake, even in his more lengthy orations (enjoyed especially by my wife, a fellow Saxon).

There were only 20 people in the cinema, more women than men, for some reason. Two ladies next to us got through a bottle of red wine during the show (which we are just doing now).

Incidentally, we paid only £12 per head at Swindon Cineworld having saved by booking online and being 60+.

[David-G]

Far worse than the (slightly) premature applause at the end of Act 3 was the inordinate haste with which the applause was then cut off in the broadcast. I don't suppose we had more than 10 seconds of applause, after which the commentator rushed through the cast list against a silent background. For me, this completely ruined the end of the opera. I am not sure whether the Met transmission or the BBC was responsible for this; I expect the latter, as the programme was running 25 minutes late. Would it have been so terrible to delay the following programme for another minute?

[Nick Armstrong]

The general mediocrity of the operas from the Met of a Saturday evening also has something to do with it

I'd agree with that. Over the years, I've tuned in occasionally and been genuinely shocked by some of the poor solo singing and above all the awful chorus esp. (I'm afraid to say) the ladies thereof.

That's why the Met relays don't get much of an airing here.

Not a problem in Parsifal of course - I shall be downloading this to hear at leisure - as indeed it wasn't the only time I've actually been there, for a tremendous Salome with Ms Mattila

I haven't noticed the crowd being any more unruly at the Met than in other opera houses, though.

[Flosshilde]

You're right there, Bert. That audience couldn't wait for the music to die down at the end of Act 1 before they saw fit to slap their flippers together. Pah! Bloody Americans.

Except that Bert didn't say anything about that. & they didn't - I was watching/listening in the cinema & the music had finished before the applause started, at least at the ends of acts 1 & 2.

[RobertLeDiable]

I think this forum owes an apology to any Americans viewing some of the disgusting anti-American snobbery appearing on this thread. As for the Met's standards - every opera house, including Covent Garden, has some pretty dire productions and no house is immune from poor singing from time to time. The Met has the advantage of probably the greatest opera orchestra in the world and, demonstrated on a night like tonight, the ability to cast the world's finest singers along with many of the best conductors. We're lucky to be able to hear productions from there week after week.

[Bryn]

I think this forum owes an apology to any Americans viewing some of the disgusting anti-American snobbery appearing on this thread. As for the Met's standards - every opera house, including Covent Garden, has some pretty dire productions and no house is immune from poor singing from time to time. The Met has the advantage of probably the greatest opera orchestra in the world and, demonstrated on a night like tonight, the ability to cast the world's finest singers along with many of the best conductors. We're lucky to be able to hear productions from there week after week.

Let's face it, opera audiences in general seem to have little respect for the music and readily start banging their hands together during the performance itself. They simply are an uncouth bunch. However, I really came here to advise the version currently available for 'Listen Again' purposes via the iPlayer is cut short before the end. Must have been the work of an opera fan I suppose.

[Bert Coules]

Let's face it, opera audiences in general seem to have little respect for the music and readily start banging their hands together during the performance itself.

If such a reaction is genuine and spontaneous it rarely bothers me and in fact I've been present at performances where it's happened and have happily joined in: a moment of heightened emotion that's in no way unwelcome and usually quite the opposite. So what if the music is temporarily obscured? There's a great deal more to opera than just the music.

Bert

[Nick Armstrong]

So what if the music is temporarily obscured? There's a great deal more to opera than just the music.

Those two short sentences pack in such a lot about the various reasons I very very rarely go to the opera...