tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post5239992210507693955..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: In the footsteps of MackerrasDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-36191830264625565242016-02-09T22:38:35.665+00:002016-02-09T22:38:35.665+00:00One thing I do know, Sue, is that Bizet scores I t...One thing I do know, Sue, is that Bizet scores I think all the main arias for the three principals lightly and sensitively. I think it's really a chamber opera for the most part, would love to see it at Glyndebourne (it was doing an Opera Bite script for that company that converted me to the music after I'd sat through several dumb stagings of what seemed to me a hokey melodrama. Which, essentially, it is, of course).<br /><br />How kind, Sir David. Not sure why concert arias would be a 'mirror image', but I usually hate galas and don't go to one-singer 'best of's, not even if it's Jonas Kaufmann (incidentally, I saw a Met gala recently included Andrea Bocelli - I like to think that if I were one of the truly great and good of the operatic world, I wouldn't consent to appearing in the same evening). A good programme can provide interesting links, as I remember the Britten Sinfonia doing with Roderick Williams - best so-called Champagne Aria I've ever heard - and, I think, Sophie Bevan (or maybe it was Carolyn Sampson) in linking arias from Don Giovanni with a couple from The Rake's ProgressDavidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-32748491988604993412016-02-09T19:40:46.256+00:002016-02-09T19:40:46.256+00:00You really are at the head of your profession. I n...You really are at the head of your profession. I note your comment on the integration of orchestra and soloists. The mirror image of that question might be the singing of arias as concert pieces, outside a performance. Somehow, they seldom succeedDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-65369447973361887012016-02-07T19:00:31.183+00:002016-02-07T19:00:31.183+00:00David: Absolutely, that opening image was ravishin...David: Absolutely, that opening image was ravishing, as well as much else. Your point about the difference between the scores is well-taken, strongly noticeable to me, too, even on a first hearing of each opera. (This also validates a bit, for me, my response to both Donizettis I've seen, in which I thought the scoring seemed fairly bland.)<br /><br />It's quite possible the scoring is what I'm responding as much as anything else, though perhaps not entirely. One thing that comes to mind is that our soprano in The Pearl Fishers wasn't Damrau, but Amanda Woodbury. While she seemed to me and my friend a little underpowered, her voice carried over the orchestra throughout. My assumption was that she was aided in that, not only in the delicacy of the scoring, but also, using your great phrase, by the conductor's "sensitivity of balance.' <br /><br />But in all of this, I am truly reading the tea leaves, rather than speaking from any real knowledge!Susan Scheidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09250142489341777926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-88246508691741754742016-02-07T18:01:26.836+00:002016-02-07T18:01:26.836+00:00Well, Sue, I suppose to be fair Bizet's score ...Well, Sue, I suppose to be fair Bizet's score is infinitely more interesting and delicately scored than Donizetti's, but your point is about sensitivity of balance between orchestra and singers. Penny Woolcock's production, by the way, was one of John Berry's gambles at ENO, and I'd say that more of them paid off than not. The opening image is ravishing, isn't it? And while I was afraid that too much social significance would be grafted on to a plot of purest hokum, what in fact happened was that the sparing amout of it simply dignified the characters.<br /><br />You know I have, let's say, a blind spot as concerns Bellini and Donizetti unless the top divas happen to be singing, so I'll be interested to see how your Msrjorie Owens shapes up as Norma at ENO soon. Of course we now know that Tamara Wilson could cut the mustard, so I hope Owens is of that ilk.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-56985029240256323182016-02-07T16:03:42.973+00:002016-02-07T16:03:42.973+00:00I can only imagine how exhilarating this had to be...I can only imagine how exhilarating this had to be. It would have been wonderful to be able to be a fly on the wall, as well. Your anecdote about the harp softening the processional in the Mastersingers is so telling, isn't it? I've been very grateful for the advent of performances on DVD in which one can see a conductor from the vantage point of the orchestra (BTW my first ever was "the Zenith," all thanks to you, of Abbado conducting the Lucerne in Mahler's 9th. I've since bought up every available Abbado/Lucerne/Mahler DVD and am slowly making my way through them, every one a treasure.) What you describe here also puts to mind three performances by the Juilliard Orchestra, one conducted by Wigglesworth with a magnificent performance of Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, a second with Vladimir Jurowski conducting a dazzling performance of early Shostakovich, and the last by a conductor whose name I don't recall. Nor do I recall what the music was—but what I do recall was the lesser quality of performance, including miffed entrances. These offered my first direct experience of what a difference a conductor makes to the same ensemble, and what a difference it was! <br /><br />Speaking of ENO, last week, I saw the ENO/Woolcock production of The Pearl Fishers at the Met, and what you might have thought about the conducting was on my mind. Noseda had conducted all except the performance I saw, to enormous praise. Our conductor was Antony Walker. His modulation of dynamics in support of the singing and action on the stage seemed to me far more sensitive than Frizza's in Maria Stuarda. I don't recall a single instance in Walker's case in which the orchestra drowned out, or at least muffled, the singing, which seemed to happen with regularity under Frizza. I could be well off the mark on this, but that was my impression at the time.Susan Scheidhttps://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com