BaL 7.12.19 - Delibes: Lakmé

[Lordgeous]

Was sorry Flora Wilson couldn't find space for the very best version of the Flower Duet, post-British Airways to borrow her categories. So here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_hzrB_FI4

Hides behind sofa

Hahaha. Excellent! And getting back to the BAL, as others have said, refreshingly uninterrupted.

[Master Jacques]

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... yes, an excellent BAL. The Mesplé/Toulouse/Lombard and Dessay/opéra Comique/Plasson were shown to deserve their place. I was also very taken by the 1952 Robin/opéra Comique/Sébastien and particularly by the 1941 Lily Pons/Met/Pelletier :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000263V4

.

Yes indeed - as I posted a week or so ago I would personally place the Robin/Sébastien clear first, though with Mesplé/Lombard a good second. Pinza still seems to me head and shoulders the best Nilakantha, though: one small aspect I disagreed with Flora Willson about was her contention that the role could accommodate bass baritones as easily as basses. It can't, due to the rich concentration around the bottom of the stave. The role was tailored for the range and timbre of the then-famous 'basse chantante' Cobalet, who also created the role of the Compte Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon. And the opera's (reasonably substantial, if unheard today) baritone part is Gérald's friend and fellow-officer, Frédéric. Bass-baritones lack the necessary gravitas for the sympathetic but murderous Brahmin High Priest.

[Master Jacques]

Master Jacques - I would have thought the anti-British Empire take would make the piece a shoo-in for a production in our opera houses today. Isn’t the real problem the casting? I’m also surprised that there wasn’t a bit of opera houses riding off the back of the BA ad when that was everywhere .

I agree with you, as to here and now. Most certainly the casting (of the tenor, rather than the soprano) is the big problem here these days. But the reason for the opera's comparative neglect in the UK historically - as opposed to France and the USA, where it similarly took hold - were those anti-Raj elements, given the anger that such criticism was likely to cause, especially in the first half of the 20th century, and especially with ruling class opera audiences. Even the comedy scenes send the British up rotten.

It is, to my mind, a magnificent first-class opera!

[Master Jacques]

If A McG was largely edited out I might listen to the podcast of this.

I disagree with the idea that Andrew McGregor was in any way "edited out". The trend is clear: when BaL is being competently conducted by an experienced broadcaster (such as Flora Willson or David Owen Norris) he lets them get on with it and takes a back seat. His interruptions come when the weaker reviewers need help, are patently nervous and tongue-tied, or are failing to get over basic information. Or all three.

Indeed my suspicion is, that the "twofer" might have originated when R3 realised that many of the new BaL brooms were failing to sweep clean.

[doversoul1]

My completely unfounded impression was that Andrew McGregor did not have much or less than usual to say about this work, or he had less time to do his homework. He perked up a bit towards the end.

I doubt if the whole programme was edited or he couldn’t have said things like ‘just arrived today’. Or was it yesterday? Either way, this is a sign of 'live talk'.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I agree with you, as to here and now. Most certainly the casting (of the tenor, rather than the soprano) is the big problem here these days. But the reason for the opera's comparative neglect in the UK historically - as opposed to France and the USA, where it similarly took hold - were those anti-Raj elements, given the anger that such criticism was likely to cause, especially in the first half of the 20th century, and especially with ruling class opera audiences. Even the comedy scenes send the British up rotten.

It is, to my mind, a magnificent first-class opera!

Coincidentally Gregory Kunde who , when much younger , sang the Lakmé tenor role Gérald in the Dessay recording (quite beautifully) is at the ROH this week doing Otello. I wonder whether the ROH might take a punt on the Delibes - with the right cast it might prove a crowd pleaser . Slightly off thread and relating to the Death In Venice discussion on warhorses being preferred to the rarely performed I see that the latest total opera package at ROH offers a minus La Boheme option. Looks like they’ve realised even the fanatics can only take so much ...

[Nick Armstrong]

I disagree with the idea that Andrew McGregor was in any way "edited out". The trend is clear: when BaL is being competently conducted by an experienced broadcaster (such as Flora Willson or David Owen Norris) he lets them get on with it and takes a back seat. His interruptions come when the weaker reviewers need help, are patently nervous and tongue-tied, or are failing to get over basic information. Or all three.

Indeed my suspicion is, that the "twofer" might have originated when R3 realised that many of the new BaL brooms were failing to sweep clean.

Funnily enough, when I tackled AMcG directly about it, by email exchange following the first few ‘chat format’ BALs but when they were the minority, he said the reverse, in a sense: that the live chat could only be entrusted to experienced hands who could cope with spontaneous broadcasting, and that the less-experienced broadcasters needed the security of pre-recording and a script.

I suppose in another sense, this is consistent with what you say in your first para: once a Diktat came from on high that all BALs shall be chats, the non-broadcasters would need more “help” from him on air. Trouble is, the “help” seems to put them off their stride, quite apart from rendering the phoney chat far less useful / substantial (cf: his sabotage of Kirsten Gibson last week)

[Barbirollians]

Funnily enough, when I tackled AMcG directly about it, by email exchange following the first few ‘chat format’ BALs but when they were the minority, he said the reverse, in a sense: that the live chat could only be entrusted to experienced hands who could cope with spontaneous broadcasting, and that the less-experienced broadcasters needed the security of pre-recording and a script.

I suppose in another sense, this is consistent with what you say in your first para: once a Diktat came from on high that all BALs shall be chats, the non-broadcasters would need more “help” from him on air. Trouble is, the “help” seems to put them off their stride, quite apart from rendering the phoney chat far less useful / substantial (cf: his sabotage of Kirsten Gibson last week)

Exactly - the most egregious example being the Baragwanath BAL of Mahler 4 when he was so unsettled he repeated a large chunk of what he had just said about Mahler’s derivation from folk tunes.

[ardcarp]

It seems only yesterday that I heard this BAL! I enjoyed it all over again...and again, Andrew wasn't much hindrance to Flora's excellent review.