Opera and sex - alright, gender.

[rauschwerk]

Turning back to opera, I've yet to try a Met broadcast on a Saturday afternoon / evening when the vibrato on offer (especially from the lady soloists, and also the matronly-sounding chorus) hasn't sent me leaping for the 'off' switch...

Oh dear. I've never heard a Met relay. I can't get to the ROH Trojans in cinemas, so am planning to go instead to the Met relay in January. Is this a good idea? Susan Graham will certainly be ok - what about Deborah Voigt (Cassandra)?

[Petrushka]

I guess I'm an operaphobe, yes, certainly with anything before 1900... I've enjoyed some Mozart - some years ago - but couldn't sit through one now. I was a Perfect Wagnerite in my 20s and 30s - well The Ring and Tristan at least - wonder if I'll ever take them on again, though the response to the music is still there. But then I'm something of a theatrephobe too so... In the 20thC, I have enjoyed Berg, Schoenberg, Birtwistle and so on, but it remains very selective and it's always recordings, not live attendance.

I could say it's the voices that are the problem, but then I love Beethoven's 9th finale (don't all shout at once) and other choral works, whereas others say the opposite for the same reasons!

But I'm never entirely comfortable, physically, listening to most traditional, operatically sung vocal music. It's "Evenings in the Orchestra" for me.

This could be me with the exception that, after having my Wagner infatuation in my teens and twenties, I've recently started listening again at the age of 58. So for me, it's most of Wagner, some Richard Strauss (Salome, Rosenkavalier), Berg (Wozzeck), and Verdi (Aida) and that's it. Haven't heard the non-Wagner works for years though. Sorry to say that I found both The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute beyond belief boring and much too long when I tried them many moons ago.

It's "Evenings with the Orchestra" for me, too.

[Dave2002]

Oh dear. I've never heard a Met relay. I can't get to the ROH Trojans in cinemas, so am planning to go instead to the Met relay in January. Is this a good idea? Susan Graham will certainly be ok - what about Deborah Voigt (Cassandra)?

I went to one Met relay. It wes quite fun, but neither the quality of the visuals nor the sound was up to the atandard of what one can experience in a real opera house. I'm not even sure that the video quality was as good as some HD videos. For example, the HD video of Glyndebourne's Die Fledermaus is very good, and you can get it on Blu Ray. FWIW Deborah Voigt was OK in what I saw.

Of course going to the relays may make a more social occasion, and most are live - though does that really make a difference? This is opera, not horse racing or football.

Worth going once or twice to see if you like it.

[Dave2002]

It's "Evenings with the Orchestra" for me, too.

Listening to opera and evenings with an orchestra don't have to be completely mutually exclusive. Tonight I listened to Prokofiev's Symphony Concerto for cello and orchestra from Wales last week.

[teamsaint]

I went to one Met relay. It wes quite fun, but neither the quality of the visuals nor the sound was up to the atandard of what one can experience in a real opera house. I'm not even sure that the video quality was as good as some HD videos. For example, the HD video of Glyndebourne's Die Fledermaus is very good, and you can get it on Blu Ray. FWIW Deborah Voigt was OK in what I saw.

Of course going to the relays may make a more social occasion, and most are live - though does that really make a difference? This is opera, not horse racing or football.

Worth going once or twice to see if you like it.

I think I might give it a go. But at £15 at the odeon and what seems to be £30 at harbour lights( ?!) in Southampton, its a toss up between that and a concert(or WNO at the Mayflower) ticket.

[rauschwerk]

This is opera, not horse racing or football.

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, partly because I have never attended a horse race, and been to only one football match. Good seats at the ROH for Trojans would have set me back a great deal of money. I have seen three opera recordings (not live relays) in the cinema: Figaro and Carmen from ROH and Billy Budd from Glyndebourne. All these experiences were deeply satisfying and together probably cost the same as one trip to a live performance in London. I do not have a Blu-Ray player. I'm keen to know whether a Met relay is likely to be as satisfactory as an ROH or Glyndebourne recording but I don't think I'm going to find out here.

[Dave2002]

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, partly because I have never attended a horse race, and been to only one football match.

I was trying to suggest that for many the outcome is important. It's not always so much fun watching a video recording of a football or tennis match, or a horse race, if you know the outcome.

I once went to a theatrical performance of Pride and Prejudice in the open air. It rained a lot, so we all got wet. My companions wanted us to leave at the interval, which we did. I suggested we stay to the end, to find out how it all ended

For streamed video productions of opera I believe that many would find a delayed relay, or even a recording as satisfactory as a live stream. I suppose it depends whether one intends to communcate with others who were in the live audience (as opposed to the dead one??).

[aeolium]

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, partly because I have never attended a horse race, and been to only one football match. Good seats at the ROH for Trojans would have set me back a great deal of money. I have seen three opera recordings (not live relays) in the cinema: Figaro and Carmen from ROH and Billy Budd from Glyndebourne. All these experiences were deeply satisfying and together probably cost the same as one trip to a live performance in London. I do not have a Blu-Ray player. I'm keen to know whether a Met relay is likely to be as satisfactory as an ROH or Glyndebourne recording but I don't think I'm going to find out here.

I've been to a few Met relays, as well as other opera productions in the cinema - the most recent being the productions of Rheingold and Walküre. I thought the experience was pretty good. The sound and visual quality seemed very good (I don't have a Blu-ray and high quality sound system connected to my TV at home so could not compare that as Dave2002 does) - unlike in the opera house you can reliably get a good seat from which you can see all the action. The main drawback of the Met relays is that there is so much relentless plugging at the outset of the Met "product" with trailers, behind-the-scenes interviews etc but if you really didn't care for that you could go and have a drink or time your visit to the cinema to avoid most of it. Also it seems from some reports that the Met have been hiking prices in some areas, though where I live it is still £15. You can of course hear most of the productions on R3 and if you're quite happy with the music alone then the relay is not for you. But as to the general concept of cinema broadcasts of opera*, I'm very much in favour. The best one I have been to was the Glyndebourne Giulio Cesare (for £10) as the production was new to me. It would have cost me a small fortune to actually see the production in Glyndebourne, assuming I could have got a ticket, and as I hate the whole business of dressing up and the culture that surrounds it I doubt I would have enjoyed it - so the cinema was fine for me

[This is all pretty much off-topic for the subject of this thread, but on that I have no opinion, or as far as I have one, agree with ardcarp earlier]

* and plays (nb NT live broadcast of Timon of Athens on 1st November)

[rauschwerk]

Also it seems from some reports that the Met have been hiking prices in some areas, though where I live it is still £15.

At Aldeburgh it's now £26, which is a good deal more than it was two years ago.

[aeolium]

At Aldeburgh it's now £26, which is a good deal more than it was two years ago.

At that price I wouldn't go. The whole point of the exercise is to bring opera to a wider audience and that means the prices need to be reasonable.

[Dave2002]

At that price I wouldn't go. The whole point of the exercise is to bring opera to a wider audience and that means the prices need to be reasonable.

I think we paid £15, and that might have impacted on the audio and video failings I mentioned earlier. Places such as Wimbledon were double that, and maybe some more - but they may have better audio/visuals. Against that I got a very good seat for the last night of ENO's Magic flute for £35 last week!