tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post8493519900783060855..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Don Giovanni: the beginning and the endDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-8423162252525218432016-10-10T09:02:02.001+01:002016-10-10T09:02:02.001+01:00To be fair, I do think that Jones is one of those ...To be fair, I do think that Jones is one of those rare directors who always listens to the music and draws the drama from his singers in a way that's never too disjunct with the score. His angle is always surprising, and for some reason with 'difficult' Don Giovanni there seems more leeway. I just don't agree with his concept of the Donna Anna-Don Giovanni 'relationship', but I buy everything else, including (crucially) the end.<br /><br />The more I see of Wagner, the more I'm convinced his myths - as opposed to the 'real' world of Meistersinger - only need imaginative lighting and costuming, not much more. But he'll always be so much bigger than any production can make him seem. Anyway, it seems as if Skelton - the best Tristan I've seen on stage - pulled it off at the Met, and Stemme is always so secure.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-39772523892208552332016-10-06T22:30:57.005+01:002016-10-06T22:30:57.005+01:00Did you know that in 1972, as one of his gigs when...Did you know that in 1972, as one of his gigs when he was cobbling together a hippie life in Vermont, Bernie Sanders wrote "a stream-of-consciousness essay on the nature of male-female sexual dynamics" that included this "lovely" thought: "A woman enjoys intercourse with her man — as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously"? Of course he's protested since about what he meant. Even under the most charitable interpretation, he was clearly not competent to write about issues of gender, but felt privileged to do so, nonetheless. Somehow, it seems not so far removed from some of the flat-footed conceptions you describe here.<br /><br />Why is it so rare (or so it seems to me, albeit from MUCH more limited exposure than you have) for the production to rise to the level of the music and performances? I just last week opened my Met Opera season with Tristan und Isolde. The singing was magnificent, the orchestra incandescent . . . and the production was just plain bizarre, with the third act going completely off the rails. They'd be better off scrapping it and doing a semi-staged performance, a la the best of Peter Sellars (who, as we know, can go off the rails, too).Susan Scheidhttps://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-20284863037832991832016-10-05T20:15:04.129+01:002016-10-05T20:15:04.129+01:00Depends on whether you've got a good tenor - S...Depends on whether you've got a good tenor - Simoneau is so fabulous on a deliciously inauthentic old recording. I'd rather hear a convincing mezzo like Alice Coote - the best Orfeo I've seen - and that means the original. Not sure what aria it is you mean, and I don't have the versions to hand to compare.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-49223210976505301012016-10-05T18:20:56.781+01:002016-10-05T18:20:56.781+01:00I prefer the Paris version of Gluck's O & ...I prefer the Paris version of Gluck's O & E. The end of Che Faro is more impressive, and if I am right in thinking that the bravura aria " I go upon my way" was added for ParisDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.com