BaL 18.01.14 - Monteverdi: The Coronation of Poppea

[doversoul1]

I’ll be interested to hear the reviewer’s preference for Nerone’s voice: mezzo soprano, tenor or countertenor.

Videos (and clips) currently available on youtube and on Presto Classical website. Some productions convince me that the best way to enjoy opera is to listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdaYNMnqbLw

L'incoronazione di Poppea, Harnoncourt　(2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VCD33WlYqg

Ivor Bolton Teatro Comunale di Bologna, 1993
Recorded live at the Prinzregententheater München during the Munich Opera Festival 1997

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WPFzjIaxA

Glyndebourne 2009
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Emmanuelle Haïm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li7vDj2vcX0

La Venexiana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl26xiyq0Ns

The Norwegian national Opera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbf-_H9xQjg

William Christie

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Virgin/9289919#video

Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm

[vinteuil]

Some productions convince me that the best way to enjoy opera is to listen to it.

... after many unhappy years of attending opera performances, I am so happy to have found that really my favourite way of experiencing opera is to listen at home, on CD, with libretto - or ideally with full score - and some interesting bottles of wine at hand...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The two ways I like to experience opera are either live in the opera house or on CD. i don't much care for watching it on the small screen, as I am rarely tempted to watch it more than once.

[Barbirollians]

The two ways I like to experience opera are either live in the opera house or on CD. i don't much care for watching it on the small screen, as I am rarely tempted to watch it more than once.

Yes - Dessay and Flores La Fille du Regiment is a rare exception from that rule in my experience .

[Richard Tarleton]

I saw Janet Baker in the Sadlers Wells/ENO production (revival?) in 1972 with Raymond Leppard conducting his luscious realisation....I'm afraid I still love his Calisto, and the Glyndebourne Orfeo, and once took AMcG to task for CD Review's rubbishing of RL. A jolly sight more entertaining than Tamerlano, I couldn't put it better than Barbirollians, we joined the rush for the exit in the second interval. But Ms Knighton can do no wrong in my book so I'll listen with interest.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I much prefer this work to Orfeo.

[umslopogaas]

Listening to BAL as I write. I have only one recording (Harnoncourt) and though I knew it was a love story - well, hey, love and death, its an opera after all - I hadnt realised it was such X certificate stuff. Pity they didnt let do the review after the nine o'clock watershed!

[doversoul1]

Phew…What a lot to take in. A very informative and enjoyable BaL (I thought). La Venexiana is not an unexpected choice, as they ARE the expert on this repertoire. A great pity about their staging (half-baked Madam Butterfly?). Why on earth do they do this? I hope this won’t come out on DVD, as it will certainly devalue/cheapen their musical performance.

As for the DVD choice, I was a rather surprised, since TK had mentioned so little about the Christie version during her review. Also, the Haim’s Lille production which TK dismissed as tiresome etc. is highly recommended in IRR. Well, this is ever thus. As far and I am concerned, I AM VERY HAPPY with her choice.

[ed.] Just in case
Top recommendation:
Emanuela Galli (Poppea), Roberta Mameli (Nerone), Jose Maria Lo Monaco (Ottone), Xenia Meijer (Ottavia), Ian Honeyman (Arnalta), Raffaele Costantini (Seneca), La Venexiana, Claudio Cavina (conductor)
GLOSSA GCD920916 (3CD mid-price)

DVD Recommendation:
Philippe Jaroussky (Nerone), Danielle de Niese (Poppea), Anna Bonitatibus (Ottavia), Max Emanuel Cencic (Ottone), Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (conductor)
VIRGIN 0709519 (2 DVD)

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

As for the DVD choice, I was a rather surprised, since TK had mentioned so little about the Christie version during her review. Also, the Haim’s Lille production which TK dismissed as tiresome etc. is highly recommended in IRR. Well, this is ever thus. As far and I am concerned, I AM VERY HAPPY with her choice.

I haven't seen the Lille production with Max Emanuel Cenčić and Sonya Yoncheva, but I'd be interested to find out more. I did a double review of the Liceu and Madrid productions and agree with Tess Knighton that the Madrid one is far better. Whether I'd put it ahead of the Glyndebourne production is hard to say, dismissed as 'all plush red velvet and sex'. Works for me...

[LeMartinPecheur]

I'm interested in the low number of replies on this thread compared with what we generate on most post-c1750 works.

I have no version of Poppea and keep hoping I'll get into Monteverdi opera but...not so far. This despite the undoubted privilege of enduring a concert performance by Kent Opera under a certain R Norrington in 1975. Something about beautiful moments but boring quarter-hours came and still comes to mind

[Black Swan]

I need to listen on iPlayer as I had to miss the broadcast. I to am surprised at the few comments. But it seems to be a not very popular work.

[Barbirollians]

I think the nature of early opera - which appears generally to be very static puts many people off . I am afraid to fall into that number . Gluck's Orfeo and Euridice is the earliest opera I have enjoyed .

[vinteuil]

I think the nature of early opera - which appears generally to be very static puts many people off . .

... I suspect there is a chronological bell-curve of popularity of musical works.

A minority are interested in Leonin, Perotin,

some more love Monteverdi, Schutz, Biber

the number increases up to say 1685-1750

and swells to the period of Mozart - Beethoven - Brahms

reaching a blowzy late-nineteenth century splurge

the number decreases as we approach the Bartok - Stravinsky - Schoenberg periods

and by the time we reach Xenakis - Ferneyhough - Feldman - Barrett

... well, we're back with the numbers enthralled by Leonin and Perotin

[Don Petter]

I think the nature of early opera - which appears generally to be very static puts many people off . I am afraid to fall into that number . Gluck's Orfeo and Euridice is the earliest opera I have enjoyed .

I started to listen, but I'm afraid neither the music nor her rather deadpan presentation held my attention, and I switched off after the first two excerpts.

[doversoul1]

I haven't seen the Lille production with Max Emanuel Cenčić and Sonya Yoncheva, but I'd be interested to find out more. I did a double review of the Liceu and Madrid productions and agree with Tess Knighton that the Madrid one is far better. Whether I'd put it ahead of the Glyndebourne production is hard to say, dismissed as 'all plush red velvet and sex'. Works for me...

Is the review available online?