BaL 5.10.13 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera

[BBMmk2]

Three weeks of John Flamin' Williams and then a week of Verdi, I feel like breakfast by Tanqueray or Smirnoff rather than Shepherd Neame...

See my new thread on setting up a specialist classical music station.

[Nick Armstrong]

See my new thread on setting up a specialist classical music station.

I'm all over it like a cheap suit

[BBMmk2]

I'm all over it like a cheap suit

[Richard Tarleton]

Doing my best to ignore the heckling from the cheap seats, , and back on thread, was Roger Parker under orders to keep it short? Just over half an hour for a Verdi opera? While he probably covered much of what we needed to know about the principal roles, this BAL was stripped of all and any discursive stuff about the plot, the background etc. - anyone who did not know the opera already (would they be listening anyway?) would have no idea what it was about, except that it involved a fortune teller. The, er, masked ball is quite important and has some great music. Apart from a reference to Solti and Verdi, little about the role of the conductors....

I don't suppose this was RP's fault, but do it properly if you're going to do it at all, guys

[BBMmk2]

Doing my best to ignore the heckling from the cheap seats, , and back on thread, was Roger Parker under orders to keep it short? Just over half an hour for a Verdi opera? While he probably covered much of what we needed to know about the principal roles, this BAL was stripped of all and any discursive stuff about the plot, the background etc. - anyone who did not know the opera already (would they be listening anyway?) would have no idea what it was about, except that it involved a fortune teller. The, er, masked ball is quite important and has some great music. Apart from a reference to Solti and Verdi, little about the role of the conductors....

I don't suppose this was RP's fault, but do it properly if you're going to do it at all, guys

Hence my thread, aforesaid!00000000

[Nick Armstrong]

Doing my best to ignore the heckling from the cheap seats,

keep it short?

Odd wasn't it? I tuned in at 10 and was amazed to hear him wrapping up...

[Barbirollians]

This is a very short time for a BAL - more dumbing down - all that musical analysis is just too much for our weak little heads nowadays in the view of Mr Wright .

I am expecting BAL to soon be on which version of the Titanic film score to choose.

[aeolium]

Doing my best to ignore the heckling from the cheap seats, , and back on thread, was Roger Parker under orders to keep it short? Just over half an hour for a Verdi opera? While he probably covered much of what we needed to know about the principal roles, this BAL was stripped of all and any discursive stuff about the plot, the background etc. - anyone who did not know the opera already (would they be listening anyway?) would have no idea what it was about, except that it involved a fortune teller. The, er, masked ball is quite important and has some great music. Apart from a reference to Solti and Verdi, little about the role of the conductors....

I don't suppose this was RP's fault, but do it properly if you're going to do it at all, guys

Agreed. And there wasn't much reference to the real history from C18 Sweden behind the opera and the changes enforced through censorship. It seemed to be primarily a review of different singers in the principal characters. I loved the extracts from Margaret Price and Bergonzi particularly, but this was definitely an abbreviated survey.

[slarty]

This was a pathetic survey of an opera so often recorded,that such a cursory examination as given today, did not give enough time to even grade the sound quality of all the contenders. Plus, many other "live" performances of Ballo have had official issues of late and none were mentioned.
I doubt even Classic FM would do a survey as badly as this.
I would rather that they did not do it at all instead of offering us this rubbish.
It is depressing to listen to this, what has BBC Radio Three become? - If I write it here, I'll get thrown off the site.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Perhaps they're suspicious of a programme that forum members speak highly of.

Maybe they'll just ask us text in to say what are favourite versions are.

[Nick Armstrong]

It is depressing to listen to this, what has BBC Radio Three become? - If I write it here, I'll get thrown off the site.

The pressure's on Piers Burton-Page to deliver something substantial on the Walton concerto next week... If his survey is a paltry half-hour, one will have to conclude that BAL has fallen victim to Roger Wrong.

The glimmer of hope comes from the fact that the original schedule didn't seem to contemplate such short measure - there was no mention of the little clutch of Schubert recordings. Maybe they were added last minute when a lightweight BAL was delivered...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The pressure's on Piers Burton-Page to deliver something substantial on the Walton concerto next week... If his survey is a paltry half-hour, one will have to conclude that BAL has fallen victim to Roger Wrong.

Don't agree with this, Cali.

I think he's a Wright Twit.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Curse these Typos!

[Richard Tarleton]

I really should be very surprised if Roger Parker was responsible for choosing the length of the slot, though he should have declined to do it on that basis for the sake of his reputation. More expert than he on Verdi is hard to get. His first BAL, back in the 1990s (I think he's only done one or two) was a full-length one on La Forza del Destino - Cali and BBM may remember - and very good it was too.

As Cali says, next week will be critical.

[Roehre]

.....It is depressing to listen to this, what has BBC Radio Three become? - If I write it here, I'll get thrown off the site.

No, I'm sure you would be welcomed with open arms