BBC4 ROH Eugene Onegin relay

[french frank]

Intimated to me that there seems to be no mention of tonight's relay from ROH on BBC4.

But wasn't there a thread about the actual production somewhere recently? IGI?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thank you for the reminder. E.E. Is one of Tchaikovsky's greatest works, and I sa that having a great love of this composer's music.

[aeolium]

There was a discussion within the Night at the Opera thread (about a couple of pages back from where it is now).

[Bryn]

Thanks for the reminder. I will set the timer. Shame though that with the switch form BBC HD to BBC2 HD it will only be available in SD, and not being pop music will not be getting an early hours repeat tomorrow morning.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, there was a discussion, & I think that the general consensus was that it was one of those productions that was better experienced in the theatre with one's eyes closed

[Barbirollians]

Unfair flosshilde. The doppelgangers and Lensky lying on stage dead throughout Act 3 are annoying though.

[Flosshilde]

Well, I didn't check the thread, & perhaps I remembered the negative comments more than the positive ones (I do remember - I think correctly - that the performances were generally approved of)

[gurnemanz]

It sounds like a production less suited to anyone coming to the opera for the first time, which presumably many BBC4 viewers probably will be.

[David-G]

Yes, there was a discussion, & I think that the general consensus was that it was one of those productions that was better experienced in the theatre with one's eyes closed

I had the misfortune to see this production at the Royal Opera House. Anyone who loves "Eugene Onegin" would do well to avoid it.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Intimated to me that there seems to be no mention of tonight's relay from ROH on BBC4.

But wasn't there a thread about the actual production somewhere recently? IGI?

Yes, from P.14 of this thread: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...e-Opera/page14

I think David Nice and I wrote the two most positive reviews, while John Allison in the Sunday Telegraph awarded it a single star! Thank goodness for different opinions.

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=855:eugene-onegin-royal-opera-4th-february-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

Annoyed that the production isn't being broadcast in HD (or a late night repeat).

[french frank]

Annoyed that the production isn't being broadcast in HD (or a late night repeat).

I wonder if Lord Hall has any thoughts about it?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Thanks for the heads-up ff. Particularly since I was too late to get into the live cinema relay a month or so ago.

"Interesting" production! I missed the first few minutes and any prior dicussion (warning?) about the big concept so my first reaction was "Why have they cast such an obviously wrong-age Tatyana, shown up all the more by her sister?" Not that I'm fussed by such things in the theatre: my most memorable EE was a magical WNO production with Nuccia Focile - she ain't no chicken but she played the role to the life. But this one tonight neither looked nor acted a young, inexperienced age. Of course, the close-up camerawork left very little room for dramatic illusion. All part of the concept or just poor acting?

One aspect of Tchaikovsky's unconventionality did however strike me forcibly tonight tonight. Wouldn't any other composer have given the role of the restrained, bookish Tatyana to the contralto and that of her flighty sister to the soprano?

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

"Interesting" production! I missed the first few minutes and any prior dicussion (warning?) about the big concept so my first reaction was "Why have they cast such an obviously wrong-age Tatyana, shown up all the more by her sister?" Not that I'm fussed by such things in the theatre: my most memorable EE was a magical WNO production with Nuccia Focile - she ain't no chicken but she played the role to the life. But this one tonight neither looked nor acted a young, inexperienced age. Of course, the close-up camerawork left very little room for dramatic illusion. All part of the concept or just poor acting?

In the only other Onegin production Krassimira Stoyanova has sung (at the Netherlands Opera), there was also a 'flashback' technique at play. When I interviewed her, she clearly loved the idea and enjoyed the interplay with her younger, dancer double.

[David-G]

But this one tonight neither looked nor acted a young, inexperienced age. Of course, the close-up camerawork left very little room for dramatic illusion. All part of the concept or just poor acting?

Exactly. She neither looked nor acted a young inexperienced age. Her looks, of course, she can't help. But the producer should have encouraged and helped her to act young, and the audience's imagination should fill in the rest. However, the directorial efforts went into the "young Tatiana", leaving the singer lost, and looking even older by the comparison. And the production made sure that there was no room for any imagination on the part of the audience.

[Nick Armstrong]

I had the misfortune to see this production at the Royal Opera House. Anyone who loves "Eugene Onegin" would do well to avoid it.

The only people I know who went to it, left at the (first?) interval, intensely annoyed...

(Incidentally, even before BBC HD changed to BBC2 HD, we didn't systematically get BBC4 Friday night classical offerings in HD. Nothing's changed in that respect, I think, unless I have had a severe memory lapse... )