BaL 23.02.19 - Verdi: The Force of Destiny

[zola]

Does anyone actually prefer them to the traditional in-depth approach, I wonder?

Andrew McGregor.

[visualnickmos]

By far, the worst BaL I can recall. Quite often, I have found some of these "twofers" OK, but here - well - nowhere near enough extracts played, and totally pointless agreeing interjections from AM. The whole concept of BaL was lost. I gave up before the end, so my judgement is based solely on the two-thirds that I stuck it ourt for. R3 'dumbing down' at its worst excess.

[BBMmk2]

By far, the worst BaL I can recall. Quite often, I have found some of these "twofers" OK, but here - well - nowhere near enough extracts played, and totally pointless agreeing interjections from AM. The whole concept of BaL was lost. I gave up before the end, so my judgement is based solely on the two-thirds that I stuck it ourt for. R3 'dumbing down' at its worst excess.

I didn’t miss much then!

[visualnickmos]

I didn’t miss much then!

Only you can be the judge of that.

[edashtav]

By far, the worst BaL I can recall. […] well - nowhere near enough extracts played, and totally pointless agreeing interjections from AM. The whole concept of BaL was lost.

( my emphasis)
By golly, you've hit the nail on the head, visualnickmos: "agreeing", all dissonance, all discussion, all genuine conversation was avoided. Their doubling was redundant, adding nothing and subtracting a lot. Now if they'd taken half the pile each and defended their corners until... well destiny intervened, that would have been another matter.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"agreeing", all dissonance, all discussion, all genuine conversation was avoided. Their doubling was redundant, adding nothing and subtracting a lot

- and this is what always happens on the "twofers", AMcG wasting time with his "yes, it is wonderful isn't it?" every few seconds. And how could it be different - by having the two arguing all/most/some of the time? How useful would that be? The whole twofer format is a daft idea.

BaL was never broken - it didn't need "fixing".

[visualnickmos]

- and this is what always happens on the "twofers", AMcG wasting time with his "yes, it is wonderful isn't it?" every few seconds. And how could it be different - by having the two arguing all/most/some of the time? How useful would that be? The whole twofer format is a daft idea.

BaL was never broken - it didn't need "fixing".

Indeed; it was like listening in to a private exchange between a couple listening to a 'record' while taking tea together

[mikealdren]

Indeed; it was like listening in to a private exchange between a couple listening to a 'record' while taking tea together

....where one of them has interesting things to say and you want to listen but the other keeps interrupting and has little to add.

[BBMmk2]

Only you can be the judge of that.

I’m never too keen on these two-fers.

[Don Basilio]

The great duets between the tenor and baritone - ranging from friendship to bitter rivalry - are the heart of the opera, yet they were not so much as mentioned. Nor was the friar Melitone - Verdi's most significant comedy creation outside Falstaff,

And Melitone's sermon is not only a precursor of Falstaff's monologues but of Iago's as well.

It was all too much like the voice recognition quiz from the Met, concentrating on the voice quality of the three principles. What make this opera special are the crowd scenes, like a baggy Victorian novel such as I like. I've never seen it on stage but we've just got tickets for the second cast at the ROH (I'm interested in the opera not the singers.) I was listening to the Levine recording the previous evening. This BAL was a great disappointment.

[Conchis]

And Melitone's sermon is not only a precursor of Falstaff's monologues but of Iago's as well.

It was all too much like the voice recognition quiz from the Met, concentrating on the voice quality of the three principles. What make this opera special are the crowd scenes, like a baggy Victorian novel such as I like. I've never seen it on stage but we've just got tickets for the second cast at the ROH (I'm interested in the opera not the singers.) I was listening to the Levine recording the previous evening. This BAL was a great disappointment.

I think the opera is of interest for the reason you cite - it's a voluminous Victorian novel in operatic garb, somewhat unwieldy and inconsistent but with some stunning moments, most of which relate to the scenes with the chorus. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty of the three central roles, the focus tends to be on the singers.

If I couldn't have the Levine, I'd go with the Sinopoli (Carreras/Plowright).

[Sir Velo]

It was all too much like the voice recognition quiz from the Met, concentrating on the voice quality of the three principles.

What are the three principles? Tone? Range? Pitch control?

[Don Basilio]

Autocorrect. Soprano, tenor, baritone.

[gurnemanz]

Missed the broadcast and after scathing comments on the twofer approach I now probably won't bother. I saw a video broadcast a couple of years ago (German TV via satellite - such things rarely appear on Beeb) and we're looking forward to seeing it live for the first time at ROH in April (Monastyrska/Kaufmann). I think I'll content myself with one CD version - Callas/Serafin - which I shall get around to listening to again in the meantime.