BaL 13.05.17 - Monteverdi: Orfeo

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'll just leave this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5uXoDj1eRo

Purists, stay clear. Personally, I adore it!

NVV

I like this one even better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0YR1w9s4bM

[doversoul1]

Are we to believe that no recordings have surpassed the choice in 2007* in any ways? Even if we accepted that (in a way I do), couldn’t Jeremy Summerly have made the point and recommended an ‘almost as good’? It was as if he was not aware that he was repeating the choice. Besides, I can’t believe that there have been so few post-2007 recordings worth mentioning. The historical and curiosity recordings were interesting in their own way but they are not, to me, the point of BaL. So few examples out of so many recordings. I found it all terribly frustrating.

[ed.] *come to think of it, old recordings have been winners in a number of BaLs but we usually hear many of the new recordings. And the choice is not usually for the second time running.

[CGR]

It's all rather depressing - one of the best regular programmes on Radio 3 being mucked about for no good reason. I could understand it if Andrew were just trying to support a nervous and inexperienced broadcaster, but this is rarely the case.

It's becoming just another one of those dumbed-down Radio 3 chat based 'shows'.

[CGR]

...
So few examples out of so many recordings. I found it all terribly frustrating.

...

But more chat between the presenters !!!

[doversoul1]

I don’t think the talks were idle chats. There were many interesting points and comments but they were not the right kind for BaL.

Also, I agree with ardcarp #30

I also found JS (whom I admire enormously) somewhat dithery and indecisive.

I am almost tempted to suspect that for some reason, JS was given a short notice for this BaL.

[Quarky]

Listening again, and having read all the comments in this thread, I have to put in a minority report.

Monteverdi, Opera and musical theatre, are clearly huge subjects, only fully known to a learned few. Not being an opera enthusiast, and not wanting to sit through long monologues/ arias in Italian, I was looking for an excuse to side step Monteverdi operas. I wanted to say I learnt more about Monteverdi in Dixit Dominus in the first 15 minutes of Record Review, but that turned out not to be the case.

Jeremy Summerly obviously is a great expert, and I enjoyed the highlights of certain aspects of the opera - tenor vs. baritone, chamber vs. full orchestra, etc etc. Savouring these excerpts, I didn't mind the long chats between the two gentlemen, and I didn't mind AMcG at all.

It didn't make me want to listen to the whole opera, but I did feel at the end I knew something more about Monteverdi, and about Opera.

Now back to the Eurovision song contest - how will the British entry do , I wonder?

[Gweefry]

Now back to the Eurovision song contest - how will the British entry do , I wonder?

Condemned to Hades?

[doversoul1]

Listening again, and having read all the comments in this thread, I have to put in a minority report.

Monteverdi, Opera and musical theatre, are clearly huge subjects, only fully known to a learned few. Not being an opera enthusiast, and not wanting to sit through long monologues/ arias in Italian, I was looking for an excuse to side step Monteverdi operas. I wanted to say I learnt more about Monteverdi in Dixit Dominus in the first 15 minutes of Record Review, but that turned out not to be the case.

Jeremy Summerly obviously is a great expert, and I enjoyed the highlights of certain aspects of the opera - tenor vs. baritone, chamber vs. full orchestra, etc etc. Savouring these excerpts, I didn't mind the long chats between the two gentlemen, and I didn't mind AMcG at all.

It didn't make me want to listen to the whole opera, but I did feel at the end I knew something more about Monteverdi, and about Opera.

Now back to the Eurovision song contest - how will the British entry do , I wonder?

I am very glad to hear that you enjoyed the Orfeo BaL. It wasn’t that long ago when I first listened to this work in full and I am still finding something to be amazed about every time I listen to it.

Having read your post, I think I rephrase ‘not the right kind’ in my previous post to something like ‘additional information’ although I’d probably have complained if the reviewer had only talked about recording issues. I suppose it’s the case of having a cake etc..

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Discussion of this work reminds me of the 1979 A-level music syllabus, when this was a set work. However hard I tried, I failed to enthuse my students, who stated that they hated it. Then I played an excerpt from Act 1 one Gluck's opera, without telling them it was by a different composer, and the resistance was instantly dropped - even after I confessed to the deception.

[greenilex]

Can you explain that, EA? Was it because the story was new to them?

Incidentally, Black Orpheus was an amazing film

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Interesting - L'Orfeo is one of the woks that I would grab when the alien invaders from the planet Tzsoorg are about to launch their deadly ray bombs, and the leader says "Now, you puny humans - give us one good reason why we should not destroy your feeble-minded species!" "Here!" I would shout, "If your species can produce anything to match this, then press your buttons. If not, leave us now, and return to the festering swamps that mothered you!" (Exit alien invaders with their several tails between their shared leg. "So," mutters about-to-be demoted alien leader, "that is what our spies meant when they told us to avoid the green hill!")

Having saved the earth, I'm not sure that I entirely share Ms Knighton and Mr Summerly's enthusiasm for the La Venexiana recording: the brass passages in the excerpt broadcast this morning sounded very lumpy and plodding: I removed the set from my "Wish List" as a result. (The Savall DVD, on the other hand, went straight to the top.)

[Richard Barrett]

Having saved the earth, I'm not sure that I entirely share Ms Knighton and Mr Summerly's enthusiasm for the La Venexiana recording: the brass passages in the excerpt broadcast this morning sounded very lumpy and plodding: I removed the set from my "Wish List" as a result. (The Savall DVD, on the other hand, went straight to the top.)

I found it disappointing, as I have La Venexiana's recording of Poppea, I don't think they manage these works anything like as well as they do the madrigals. The Savall DVD is wonderful. I think I have almost every available recording of Orfeo and Gardiner is still the one I listen to most.

Thanks for saving the earth, by the way.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Can you explain that, EA? Was it because the story was new to them?

They just couldn't adapt to the style of 1607. Then a certain prejudice took over, so I used the Gluck to convince them it was OK, pretending it was Monteverdi. A deception, but it worked in helping to soften their resistance.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for saving the earth, by the way.

Don't mention it, sir - just doing my job.

[vinteuil]

.

... my listening to this was distracted by various human elements ( humans! dontcha hate 'em??!!) - and haven't yet had a chance to listen again in extenso - does anyone know if the Gabriel Garrido was considered?


[ ... despite the weight of the views of ferneyhiccup and Richd: B I still like the Cavina / Venexiana. The J-E gardiner I find too English and four-square... ]



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