Opera Reviews
Houston Grand Opera - Le Nozze di Figaro - 29 April, 1998
- Figaro - Dean Peterson
- Susanna - Nicole Heaston
- Dr. Bartolo - József Gregor
- Marcellina - Katherine Ciesinski
- Cherubino - Beth Clayton
- The Count - Jean-Luc Chaignaud
- Don Basilio - Jon Kolbet
- The Countess - Pamela Armstrong
- Antonio - Harrison Moore IV
- Don Curzio - Mark Swindler
- Barbarina - Jennifer Aylmer
- Houston Symphony, Lawrence Renes
- Göran Järvefelt production
A memorable evening - not really for the right reason...
Nicole Heaston made a very appealing Susanna. It took her a while to warm up, perhaps (the opening duet was only so so), but overall I enjoyed her performance very much. Very nice voice and stage presence. Unfortunately, what should have been her great moment - the end of "Deh vieni, non tardar" - was spoiled by shockingly premature applause (no, not over the orchestral bit!...she sang "ti vo' la fronte incoronar______" (long held f) and the audience erupted - the look of shock was truly memorable and I just looked at Andy in disbelief. When the audience finished she continued, somewhat weakly, "incoronar di rose.")
Pamela Armstrong's Countess was beautifully sung - I have to admit that I sometimes dread "Porgi amor" (usually because I fear that it will be taken at a deathly slow tempo), but I had no reason to fear and I even wished the aria was a bit longer. "Dove sono" and especially "Sull' aria" were beautiful, and Armstrong was very believable as the neglected Rosina.
Jean-Luc Chaignaud had brilliant moments and was never less than good. His performance ranged from "Wow! That was great" to "Eh, that was OK." I like his voice very much, though, and he was a suitably attractive figure on the stage.
József Gregor showed off his experience as Bartolo - he handled the recitative better than most and knew how to get laughs without going too far. Katherine Ciesinski was a beautiful and youthful Marcellina...wait a minute. Oh well, she didn't look old enough to be Rafaello's mother (or Bartolo's serva antica), but I couldn't fault her performance. Her aria was cut as usual (as was Basilio's). Beth Clayton sang her arias well and was very funny as a highly melodramatic teenager.
Let's see, I skipped Figaro....Hmmm....well, he wasn't bad.
I would have liked a few more appogiaturas, but no other real complaints. Lawrence Renes had some trouble keeping the stage and the pit together at times, but never approaching a train wreck. His tempo choices were on the slow (or at least comfortable) side for me (except for "Voi che sapete" - taken at a nice brisk pace), but not too extreme.
Houston Grand Opera - Arabella - 22 April, 1998
Having attended four performances at the Wortham before tonight, I attended Arabella with a vague sense of disappointment in the season so far in Houston. And I couldn't quite put my finger on where my disappointment lay.
I thought that part of it might have been the fact that most of the UK opera houses I had been to were smaller, but that couldn't really be the whole problem. For some reason, the wonderful experiences I had especially with Opera North (Boheme, Medea, Wozzeck, Gloriana), but also with Scottish Opera (Turandot), Glyndebourne (Lulu) and Covent Garden (Elektra) weren't happening in Houston. Why? I certainly don't expect every performance to be magic! But Opera North certainly had a greater hit to miss ratio...
With the first production, Macbeth, it was quite easy to figure out what was wrong - a confused David Alden production, and lifeless conducting from Simone Young (that seems to be one of those minority opinions (in Houston)). The only good thing about this performance was Catherine Malfitano's Lady Macbeth.
This was followed by Hänsel und Gretel - a great improvement in the conducting department, and the production in Houston seemed better than the PBS telecast from Juilliard, but ultimately I wasn't really moved.
The Zambello Butterfly was a lovely production (aside from a few mis- or un-translated lines in the titles which bothered me, I thought the production worked quite well) as was the singing...lovely, but nothing more. I cried at Opera North's Butterfly (with Chen Sue); that didn't happen in Houston.
Billy Budd was the opera I most looked forward to - I love the opera, and we were getting Bo Skovhus...Bo Skovhus was wonderful (especially Billy in the Darbies), the men of the chorus were very good (other than a somewhat tentative opening scene), the production, again by Zambello, was good, but...but what?
But HGO finally delivered a real performance with Arabella, and I think it made what was wrong before a little clearer. At last, there were human beings interacting with each other; not just people singing. That was a major problem with Macbeth - in the program notes, David Alden discussed a sort of triangle between Macbeth, the witches, and his wife (sounds OK on paper), but I didn't see anything of the sort. In fact, I didn't sense any connection at all. This may also have been a part of why Billy Budd didn't work for me - I didn't feel any real connection between Billy, Claggert and Vere...
Last night's performance of Arabella was, thankfully, entirely different. Wonderful singers portraying real people - a completely satisfying experience (and no power failure)
Anyway:
- Arabella: Renée Fleming
- Mandryka: Wolfgang Brendel
- Zdenka: Christine Schäfer
- Matteo: Raymond Very
- Adelaide: Katherine Ciesinski
- Count Waldner: József Gregor
- (in order of appearance)
- Fortune-teller: Jill Grove
- Count Elemer: Chad Shelton
- Waiter: Mark Swindler
- Welko: Eric Edlund
- Count Dominik: Daniel Belcher
- Count Lamoral: Christopher Scott Feigum
- The Fiakermilli: Nancy Allen Lundy
- Djura: James Alba
- Jankel: Peter Webster
- Gamblers: Derek W. Henry, Matthew A. Kreger, Douglas C. Threeton
- Houston Symphony
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Director/Set and Costume design: Mikael Melbye
- Lighting Designer: Ken Billington
I'm not overly familiar with this opera, although I do have a recording of it (which hasn't been listened to in years - I'll have to dig it out now). And I don't think it's Strauss' best, but there is some beautiful music, certainly, and I wouldn't hesitate to see it again.
I haven't cared for the few recordings I've heard of Renée Fleming (many of which seemed to exhibit this habit of starting a sustained note slightly flat and slowing arriving at the pitch - excruciating), but there was none of that last night. She sang beautifully, and I can finally see where her reputation comes from. Perhaps, I've just heard the wrong recordings...
I heard Christine Schäfer at Glyndebourne as Lulu (incredible), and her performance last night made me wish that Zdenka had more to sing. The Act I duet with Fleming was gorgeous. Such a beautiful voice and a wonderful actress as well - quite convincing as a young boy, and you could really feel her love for her sister and for Matteo. If there was a singer that I was going to rave about, it would be Christine Schaefer.
Wolfgang Brendel's ringing baritone was perfect for the role of Mandryka and he was also a very convincing actor. Raymond Very also lived up to the high standard of singing set by the women.
The rest of the cast was very good (especially nice to hear József Gregor and Katherine Ciesinski) with the small exception of Nancy Allen Lundy's Fiakermilli which was...hmmm...uneven vocally (some of the fioritura came off well, but at other times it was very approximate - a difficult role to pull off anyway, I guess).
Christoph Eschenbach conducted an energetic, passionate reading of the score (an important contributing factor to the overall success) and the orchestra was on good form. The brief choral bit in Act II was very good.
Beautiful sets for Acts I (quite traditional) & II (less so - a patterned dance floor with columns - icy blue - quite effective), although Act III was a bit disappointing (a strangely curving staircase in a bare foyer).
Overall, a wonderful evening.
Houston Grand Opera - Madama Butterfly - 29 February, 1998
- Cio Cio San - Paula Delligatti
- Pinkerton - Paul Charles Clarke
- Sharpless - Frank Hernandez
- Suzuki - Jill Grove
- Conductor - Vjekoslav Sutej
- Director - Francesca Zambello
- Set Design - Michael Yeargen
This was my second live performance of Butterfly (see review below), and although there were a few mishaps, I was very pleased with the performance. Paula Delligati sang beautifully and with great ease (only the conclusion of "Un bel dì vedremo" slightly disappointed - she had plenty of voice for climaxes elsewhere). Not a terribly distinctive voice, but beautiful nonetheless. At first I wasn't sure about Paul Charles Clarke - nothing objectionable, I just wasn't sure if I liked his voice very much - but with the opening phrase of "Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia" I was totally sold. Frank Hernandez has a very nice voice, although I would have liked a little more sound (perhaps I'm just not used to such a big opera house). Musically, there was very little to find fault with.
I also quite liked the production, although it did take a few liberties (the change of location to the American Consulate worked quite well for the most part in the first act, but less well in the second) - beautiful visually.
I would, however, prefer more accurate surtitles than this production supplied (lines that I felt were important weren't translated at all, and worse yet, some lines were purposely mis-translated to match the action on stage - grrrrrr).
The mishaps included my neighbour's seat (unidentifiable slime on the seat - the head usher suggested the man, a season subscriber, sit on a few programmes (!) They did get someone to come and clean the seat just prior to the performance), an unexpected stop (a number of stand lights in the pit suddenly went out forcing everything to come to a stop at "A chiacchiere costei mi par cosmopolita." - the problem was fixed and the tenor repeated his line. By the end of the act I had totally forgotten the incident), lots of coughing (it's not exactly cold in Houston right now), and a phone ringing (AGAIN) at the end of act I (WHY do people bring phones into a performance?!?!?!?)
Houston Grand Opera - Hansel and Gretel - 29 October, 1997
- Gretel - Jane Giering-De Haan
- Hansel - Stephanie Novacek
- Gertrude/Witch - Mary Lloyd-Davies
- Peter - James Maddalena
- Sandman - Tiffany Jackson
- Dew Fairy - Jennifer Aylmer
- Conductor - Sebastian Lang-Lessing
- Director - Frank Corsaro
- Set Design - Maurice Sendak
Overall this was a much better introduction to Houston Grand Opera than their production of Macbeth, and consequently it was a much better audience (it's surprising how much quieter it is when people are actually involved with what's going on on stage).
Most people probably have a pretty good idea of what the production looks like - a Sendak book brought to life - some stunning visual effects. Luckily, it wasn't just a scenic spectacular and the voices were all very good. James Maddalena was the only familiar name to me - his voice was a bit bigger than I would have thought - much easier to hear than Leiferkus. Jane Giering-De Haan has a very nice lyric voice, but sometimes she had trouble competing with the orchestra. Stephanie Novacek was a nice surprise - I wasn't sure how the local singers would measure up, but I think that Ms. Novacek won't be just a local name for long. Mary Lloyd-Davies has sung with WNO and ENO in rôles like Elektra, Turandot and Tosca, and she has quite a powerful voice. The two other locals singing "Sandman" and Dew Fairy were both very good. The conductor was Sebastian Lang-Lessing - never heard of him before, but he was very good. It was so nice to hear someone put some life into the music (quite a nuanced performance too) after Simone Young's lackluster Macbeth.
Anyway, a much better experience - quite a relief.
Houston Grand Opera - Macbeth - 22 October, 1997
This was our first opera at Houston Grand, but unfortunately, it didn't get us off to a great start. I had been warned about the production ahead of time, but I went in with a fairly open mind (I usually like less traditional productions) and didn't think it was too bad for the first act (there were other problems, though).
But first some good things. Catherine Malfitano sang and acted the rôle of Lady Macbeth very well (a very powerful portrayal), and Banquo was nicely sung by Daniel Sumegi. In smaller rôles, Joyce di Donato's contribution must be singled out; she made the most of her opportunities on stage and has a lovely voice. The a capella singing in the first act finale was another musical highlight.
Leiferkus seemed to be saving himself during most of the opera and then didn't deliver enough when the time came. His general sound, though good, just seemed wrong for Verdi much of the time, and Malfitano seemed to have a lot more voice to work with. He had his best moments in the duets with Sumegi and Malfitano. Rafael Rojas worked extremely hard to "sell" his aria, and although his voice is good, it really required a somewhat bigger voice. The miking of the offstage singing was done incredibly badly - either that or there were some singers with incredibly large voices backstage who we never got to see.
The stage design was reasonable and worked well for the most part. Charles Edwards is from Newcastle and did Love Life and Il trovatore for Opera North, so it was very similar to what I have been used to. As I said, at first I didn't think the production was that bad, and there were a few good moments throughout - I liked the use of the portraits on (and falling off) the wall and the use of the film for the apparition scene was a great idea (ruined by silly captions: "Il Futuro" at the beginning (of course, the audience laughed) and "Fine" at the end and the slightly hammy acting of Banquo - complete with Saturday Night Live style squirting blood). Every time there was a good moment it was almost always spoiled a few seconds later with something laughably bad. The opera just didn't seem to be taken very seriously. I don't think Alden liked this opera - he certainly didn't seem to trust that it would work on its own. He claims otherwise in the Stagebill, but the production he describes there is not what I saw on the stage. I saw little in this production to suggest the triangle between the witches, Macbeth and his wife that he refers to as the work's focus.
I did not feel that Simone Young's conducting was terribly effective (very little energy, almost always slightly (but frustratingly) under tempo), and the evening suffered greatly because of this. She held the orchestra and the singers together admirably, but that was about it.
On top of everything, this was probably the worst audience I have ever had the pleasure of sharing an evening with - Vieni t'affretta accompanied by watch beeps (these returned, of course, at appropriate moments throughout the opera) - the prelude to act iv seems to have been the signal to blow your nose (nobody let me in on it ahead of time or perhaps I would have joined in) - a cell phone rang at one point and just generally the audience never settled - constant rustling and quite a bit of talking going on too.
Oh well, hopefully H & G on Wednesday will be better.
The following reviews were written for the Opera-L mailing list and are in great need of editing to really be coherent, but you're welcome to read them as they are until I get the time to fix them
Subject: Opera North Gloriana (DR) & Butterfly
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 17:23:16
Andy and I attended the dress rehearsal of Opera North's Gloriana in Leeds on December 31, and it was really a great way to end 1996.
The opening brass passage, gave me great hopes for what was to come. I must admit that I was a bit dissappointed when the curtain rose on an entirely black set. I was expecting something bright and grand...what I saw was a black background with a large open topped black box with a door cut in the front panel surrounding the stage.
Well, I judged the design much too quickly and Elizabeth's entry was truly grand - bathed in golden light carried in standing on a wooden platform. The lighting throughout the production was very effective. The scene where Essex sings the 2 lute songs was very intimate - nicely done. My only complaint as far as the production goes was that Lady Essex's dress was not extravagant enough in Act II, scene iii (Elizabeth's dress was truly stunning) and the paper used to hide Elizabeth (in her dressing room) seemed very cheap and noisy (when Essex slashed through it).
Thomas Randle sang very well - his diction (and the diction of the cast as a whole) was much clearer than what I'm used to on the video, and I preferred him in this role to when I heard his Jason (Medea) on the radio. He sings in the Naxos War Requiem, but I haven't heard it.
I heard Josephine Barstow in 4 roles last year, and she always delivered. I know I'm not hearing her at her best, but I feel very lucky to have had the chance to see and hear such an involved, dramatic and musical singer.
Karl Daymond (of Dido and Aeneas lip-synching fame) sang well, especially in the quieter moments. Susannah Glanville was excellent - her final note (as Elizabeth signed the death warrant) sent shivers up my spine (she sang the rest wonderfully too - that was just an example). Clive Bayley is quite stiff on stage - he does not seem to be able to move naturally - but his voice is good. The smaller roles were well taken (Eric Roberts did not quite have the easy high notes for Cecil, but that's a minor complaint).
Good singing, good acting, and a good production.
At the dress rehearsal for Gloriana, a friend offered us tickets for Madama Butterfly (3/1/97), and so we attended our first opera of the year in Leeds.
This has received quite a few bad reviews, but, although there were things production-wise that I found objectionable, I still enjoyed the performance - especially Chen Sue. It says in the program that Chen Sue studied the Stanislavsky acting method, and her great acting abilities were very apparent. Her voice is not the best you will ever hear, but she is very good and her big vocal moments were well handled.
Mark Nicolson was suffering from throat problems (he coughed between phrases quite a bit in the first act), but he sang almost everything well. His high notes take on an unusual quality, but it could've have been due to the fact that he was not well. He did sing some lovely phrases in his middle to low range.
Peter Savidge was very good as Sharpless, although I thought he seemed a bit English.
The boy scheduled to act "Sorrow" had unfortunately come down with chicken pox shortly before the performance and his understudy was still away on his Christmas holiday in Cambridge, so at 4.30 that day a 5 and 1/2 year old (I didn't catch his name) learned all the stage business for that evening - he was terribly cute (he received the largest ovation).
The production: I was willing to accept that there was no house to describe at the beginning (they seem to have been discussing plans for the house drawn on a red scroll) and even the fact that they didn't gather flowers from the garden (a few were placed neatly in a vase) and I could put up with the terribly stereotypical shuffling of the chorus (who again seemed very English) because they sang well, but the death scene really ruined everything.
Chen Sue sang her last aria with such heart-rending intensity, but this was followed by incredibly bad staging of the actual suicide - she simply leaned forward over the knife, dropped it and then leaned back on angled platform behind her (looking like a butterfly pinned to a display). I had been near tears throughout the last act, and then suddenly - Oh..., she killed herself - very disappointing.
So it's very hard to judge the whole evening. It had it's problems earlier, but I was moved by the performance up until that point...
Oh well...
Better leave it at that.
Subject: Pearl
Fishers,
Re: James MacMillan's INES DE CASTRO
Date: Sun,
1 Dec 1996 12:13:02
Scottish Opera has been in Newcastle this week. We attended Ines de Castro on Thursday and a concert performance of Les pecheurs de perles on Friday. We skipped Trovatore because I didn't think I could take another performance with Deng (not one of my favourite tenors).
Scottish Opera had not advertised a cast for Friday ahead of time so I was a little worried about who they might get to sing, but it turned out to be quite satisfactory (although I had never heard any of the singers listed in the program). However, I had heard the singer who ended up singing Zurga (in the Glyndebourne Lulu)
It was quite a contrast to the MacMillan the night before! The chorus sat on risers on stage (men in black shirts and jackets, women in black dresses) with the soloists seated in front - there was no staging whatsoever (and little interaction between the singers, unfortunately), although the gunshots from offstage were quite effective and the audience took a collective leap out of their seats. Zurga, Nadir and Nourabad were dressed as the chorus, but Leila entered in a beautiful blue dress. We had a somewhat restricted view (and seats that cost 20 pounds less than the night before), but there wasn't much to see and this allowed Andy to follow the libretto without feeling like he was missing too much.
Donald Maxwell sang very well. I was particularly impressed by the strength of his higher range. While not quite as good as Blanc or Bacquier on my favourite recordings, he gave a very enjoyable performance. He was also the most animated of the singers on stage (and received the biggest ovation).
Luca Lombardo was not extraordinary - competent - with an appropriately French sound. The big duet was sung well - When it started, I thought to myself, "I've heard this a million times; surely, it won't be able to get to me." Thank God, I was wrong. "Je crois entendre encore" was nicely sung with less use of head voice than most. I always miss the last "..charmant souvenir." (going up to high c) even though I know it's not written in the score and Gedda is the only tenor that I've heard sing it that way (on my first recording of the opera)
Regina Nathan was a pleasant surprise. She not only looked the part, she also sang beautifully (with a nice trill). VERY strong voice when appropriate, but also some very good soft singing.
Martyn Sharp sang well in this somewhat thankless role.
The orchestra and especially the chorus were excellent. Wonderful cor anglais solos.
Unfortunately the audience was quite loud at times (it's obviously cold season in Newcastle). The introduction to "Je crois entendre encore" was accompanied by the crinkling of a sweet wrapper that went on through the entire first verse (I was not alone in glaring at this man, but nothing would stop him). All in all, though a very good evening.
Ines de
Castro
by James MacMillan
This was in
response to another Opera-L posting. Hopefully, I'll add a fuller
review at a later date.
Some good (very effective) music here and there, but a terrible libretto, no characters that I cared about (Andy was hoping she'd die earlier - not the singer's fault), and not much of a story.
The orchestra for Pearl Fishers had the same number of strings and trombones, but the rest of the winds were greatly increased - not beyond what other composers have used, but everyone played too loud and too much (very tiring, but I must say I didn't notice the coughing and sneezing that we heard the next night). The singers were either being drowned out or unintelligible much of the time. The orchestra played just as loud for Pearl Fishers at times, but the singers could always be heard.
Listening to the percussion section (5 players, plus timpani, piano, celeste and harp), I felt like I was back in percussion techniques or orchestration classes. One special effect after another - I could almost quote the page numbers from my orchestration book.
Act 2 was much better musically, but was hopeless dramatically.
Subject: Wozzeck
Date: Wed,
30 Oct 1996 10:29:37
This was quite a good production (very powerful) The only weak point for me was the drowning scene which was a bit unclear. Marie's death was very well done - quite disturbing (Andy and I were a bit worried about the young kid 2 seats down from us, but I think we were probably more disturbed than him). Her body was left on stage for the tavern scene (covered by a sheet) and blood continued to seep towards the front of the stage. The English translation worked fairly well for the most part. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that "Wretches like us" was much of a substitute for "Wir arme Leut!"
A friend in the stalls felt the singing was a little underpowered. I didn't notice this as much, but we were in very different parts of the hall (we were in the balcony - perhaps his proximity to the orchestra (a bit heavy on the winds) could account for this in part (?) although he was in his usual seat).
I had heard four of the singers before (Shore, Barstow, Lloyd-Roberts and Bayley), and so I knew what to expect. I worry a bit about what I'm going to hear from Barstow every time, but she certainly wasn't a disappointment - very dramatic and quite accurate - the beginning of Act III was especially effective. Shore acted and sang well. Bayley was much better as the doctor than he had been as Figaro, but he still didn't seem to have much stage presence - he can't even seem to walk or stand naturally on stage (he sings well, though).
The orchestra played very well. There were winds in 3's instead of 4's as specified in the score and nowhere near the 50-60 strings called for, but the sound was far from undernourished. The d minor interlude following Wozzeck's drowning was wonderful, although the climax (ms 365 Universal Edition) was taken slower than I've ever heard it before. I'm pleased that Paul Daniel is moving on to ENO (and he'll be conducting Theodora at Glyndebourne next year), but he will be greatly missed in the North of England.
Subject: Leonore
Date: Mon,
26 Aug 1996 13:08:03
We didn't think we would have great seats (Choir West - behind the stage), but they turned out to be as good as any because of the unusual setup for the "semi-staged" concert performance. The orchestra was down on the arena floor (where people would normally be standing), and were set up in a circle surrounding Gardiner. There were about six raised platforms at intervals around the orchestra on which the "action" took place.
Unlike New York, we weren't subjected to a narrator, but we also didn't get any of the dialogue (except in the melodrama). This was a little disconcerting at times, and even Andy (who had never heard Leonore OR Fidelio) noticed that something was missing. When I bought the tickets, Charlotte Margiono was listed as Leonore. Sometime in between me getting the tickets and the concert this had changed, but it must have been fairly early because the Radio Times listing and the programs were correct. I was a little disappointed that Hillevi Martinpelto was singing, because I had heard little snippets of her singing on TV and hadn't thought much of her. It turns out that I wasn't disappointed on the night - she was quite good. The rest of the cast was also very good. Christiane Oelze has a really beautiful voice, although occasionally her intonation would slip a bit.
The Monteverdi Choir was very impressive. "O Gott! o welch' ein Augenblick!" was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. The oboe line was incredible. The orchestra as a whole was wonderful except for the horns. I love natural horns, but either they do lots of retakes with lots of rest in between on their recordings or they were having an off night. The offstage trumpet also cracked a bit near the beginning of each of her solos (I'm not sure of the wisdom of having a violinist (?) run up to the balcony to a cold trumpet - it's no wonder she had a bit of (minor) trouble).
A libretto was provided with the program. In the bottom corner of the right hand pages are the words "Please turn the page quietly" - AAARRRRGH! The first mass page turn was especially loud, although it did get (a little) better.
Anyway, I loved it. I tried to forget about Fidelio, and just listen to Leonore as a different opera and this worked for the most part. Florestan's first note was the only real disappointment (I didn't realise it would be lower and I was all prepared for the G (I think)). Otherwise, it was great.
Subject: Lulu at Glyndebourne
Date: Mon,
26 Aug 1996 13:09:34
This was our first time at Glyndebourne and Andy and I were really looking forward to it. Lulu was broadcast on Channel 4, and Andy told me I couldn't watch it until we had actually been there, but I did anyway. He watched bits of it. His comment was "Oh well, at least I'll enjoy the picnic!" I thought it was brilliant, and so I couldn't wait to see and hear it live. To prepare for the performance, I had checked out the score (piano-vocal of the first 2 acts only) and the library's recording (with Lear as Lulu) and I listened repeatedly to the first two acts, with and without score, until I was fairly familiar with the 2 act version. I also bought the Glyndebourne Sound Bites tape, which I didn't think was very helpful. I think Lear does some wonderful things in the Boehm recording, but there were a few times when what I was seeing in the score didn't match what I was hearing. Andy had also heard parts of this recording, but he always walked into the room at the wrong time, so I couldn't convince him that the score really wasn't all that wild - it's really quite romantic.
Our seats were in the upper balcony, but they were actually quite good. There was no way that people in front could block your view (unless they were 9 ft tall) and the seats were more comfortable than any theatre I've ever been in, with plenty of leg room. The supertitles were easy to read or ignore - they were great for Andy who didn't know the story at all.
Christine Schäfer was near perfect as Lulu. She sang everything with such ease and she matched Lear in the "moments" I had come to love in the Boehm recording (there were places in that recording that are so beautiful that I didn't think anyone else could match). Andrew Davis' conducting was also wonderful and he even slowed down at the times that I thought were too fast in the Boehm. There really wasn't a weak link in the cast, either. It was an incredible experience
Subject: ScotOp Turandot
Date: Mon,
10 Jun 1996 10:34:02
This is the first time I have seen the opera live, although I do have two videos (both with Eva (the Weeble) Marton - she's actually quite good in one of them) and 5 recordings (only 2 on CD). I also have excerpts with Eva Turner/Giovanni Martinelli, a very poor recording of the 1949 Callas excerpts, and Josephine Barstow's recording of the original Alfano Act III finale (with Lando Bartolini). This is my favourite opera. There was only one performance in Newcastle and it was sold out very quickly. I ended up calling the box office every few hours for 4 days in order to get a second ticket. Andy sat down in the stalls, and I sat in the front row of the upper circle. Neither of us could see the right side of the stage, which turned out to be quite important.
TURANDOT Scottish Opera at Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne - 7/6/96 Sung in Italian with English supertitles
- Mandarin/Executioner - Andrew Hammond
- decent singer
- Timur - Stafford Dean
- very good, not the absolute best I've ever heard in the part, but VERY good.
- Liu - Francesca Pedaci
- very nice soft high a-flat - b-flat at the end of "Signore, ascolta!", nice crescendo, not the release she (or I) would dream about. Very good in her Act III solos. In the program it says she took part in "A Tribute to Maria Callas" broadcast, of which I read such - uh - interesting reports
- Calaf - Deng
- Some of you may remember him as the Messenger in this year's Met broadcast of Aida. He sounded much better on the radio. He has a nice enough voice, but he was easily covered by the orchestra (and Turandot on the high C). At "Ch'io ti veda e ch'io ti maledica!", I thought he had failed to come in, and I couldn't seem to locate him on the stage (it's not a big stage). By the end of the line I found him (at the front of the stage) and realised that he had been singing all along. As Andy said afterwards, he was "a bit of a disappointment." He did improve in the third act (perhaps he was saving himself for Nessun dorma - the B still wasn't loud enough).
- Ping - Stephen Gadd
- the three masks were excellent, but especially Stephen Gadd. I was very happy that none of their music was cut. I love the music that opens Act II and really could care less if the action is held up. Some of it was truly beautiful, close to the best I have heard.
- Pang - Peter Hoare
- Pong - David Newman
- Altoum - Alexander Morrison
- the youngest sounding singer on the stage.
- Turandot - Kathleen Broderick
- I had my doubts after the first few notes of "In questa reggia" which were a little shaky, but although her tone spread a couple of times in Act II, her singing was excellent and even thrilling in the last act (I had just told Andy a few of the soprano light bulb jokes, and he said he had to fight the giggles because he was suddenly reminded of "isn't that a bit too high for you, dear?") She really didn't seem to have much trouble with the high lying parts of the role, and there was no problem hearing her over the orchestra. Despite my initial doubts, I was convinced by the end of the opera.
- The Chorus and Orchestra of Scottish Opera
- The chorus was excellent - goose bumps. The orchestra in the pit was also very good - the back stage musicians must have been playing cards or something and all of the back stage music was very hard to hear (I never did hear the saxophones. Having just looked in the program, there are no saxophones listed in the off-stage band, which is probably why I didn't hear them - I can't think of a good excuse for that!)
- Conducted by Stephen Clarke
- I thought his tempos for the most part were very good. A couple of times though, he didn't seem to care that he was rushing the singers to the point that they almost couldn't keep up (the Mandarin's reading of the law in Act II was ridiculously fast).
- Director - Christopher Alden
- Designer - Paul Steinberg
- Production premiered in 1994 at Welsh National Opera
There were disconcerting events in all three acts: I - orchestra and chorus got out of synch in the "dove regna Turandot" section (fixed at the first loud unison), II - the backstage instruments failed to come in at the end of the masks trio (or I didn't hear them), III - this was quite minor in comparison - the harpist produced an amazing twank in the middle of "Nessun dorma" (well, at least it was a section no one would recognise) - I'm not sure if she was changing a pedal or if her hand slipped or what (While I'm complaining - she played too loudly at the end of "Signore, ascolta")
Well, I've rambled quite a bit already and haven't said anything about the production. I'll try to keep this brief (something I have never been good at). The basic set for all three acts was a u-shaped purple-ish corrugated steel backdrop at times revealing various doors or windows, surrounding a mostly bare stage. The time period was difficult to ascertain. I thought, perhaps the 20's and Andy thought some of it was more modern than that. There were a lot of fur coats (and it was very hot in the theatre that night!). Highlights: The masks - Ping in a green suit (black tie) and green (shaggy) fur coat, Pong and Pang similarly in yellow and blue. In act II, they were in their office behind huge red desks (without their fur coats), signing and stamping (colour coordinated) papers and drinking (colour coordinated) liquor. There was some great choreography with their typewriters. In act III, they were wearing (green, blue and yellow) pajamas and dressing gowns. In act II, there was a huge red banner ("Gli enigmi sono tre, la morta e una") which was pulled down during the change from scene 1 to 2 to reveal the chorus as spectators (fanning themselves) for the riddle scene. In act I, the dead suitors were represented by black and white photos attached to the corrugated steel - these lit up when their ghosts sang (I wondered if people would understand that, if they didn't know the opera. Andy didn't). The choir were very menacing in act II when they turned first on Calaf and later on Liu and Timur (very effective).
For a fuller review of this same production at ENO see parterre box: An American Opera Queen in London
Wednesday, 06 May 1998 10:56 AM Central Daylight Time