Met 2009-10

Complete season here, HD broadcasts there.

Evidently, I'm hugely disappointed Riccardo Muti's Attila (new Pierre Audi production) won't be part of the HD season next year, because it means a trip to NY if I really want to see it (Feb.23 to March 15 with Muti, March 19 to 27 with Armiliato conducting). The cast includes Ramón Vargas, Violetta Urmana, Carlos Alvarez and Ildar Abdrazakov.

La Fille du Régiment will be back with Laurent Pelly's successful production (Vienna 2006, London 2007, NY 2008). Juan Diego Flórez will be paired this time with Diana Damrau (Feb.6 to 22, 2010). Amazingly enough, if I could catch the premiere of Attila, I could also attend the last performance of La Fille.

Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet is also appealing, with Natalie Dessay and Simon Keenlyside (March 16 to April 9), conducted by Louis Langrée. The production comes from Geneva.

Frittoli, Gheorghiu, Alagna, Kwiecien will sing Bizet's Carmen conducted by that intriguing Yannick Nézet-Séguin (premiere on New Year's Eve).

Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman will be performed from Dec.3 to Jan.2, with Rolando Villazón, Anna Netrebko, Elīna Garanča and René Pape, under the baton of James Levine.

Robert Lepage’s production of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust will also be back (Oct.23 to Nov.17).

So if some French fellow like myself want to see XIXth century French operas with great casts, the only reasonable option at this point is to move to NYC. Other bloggers commenting the 2009-10 Met season:

• An unamplified voice
• Mostly opera
• SarahB
• Maldito Candelabro (in Spanish)

Also:

• "After Cutting to Make Ends Meet, Met Plans Eight New Productions", Daniel J.Wakin for the NY Times

Die Zauberflöte, Salzburg 2006

Riccardo Muti conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker

Production by Pierre Audi

DVD Decca, part of the series "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Complete Operas, Salzburger Festspiele", M22.

What makes Riccardo Muti achieve greatness is his ability to extract the essence of each score – at least that's how I feel. He has a truly unique talent to unravel every detail and emphasize each line.

Opera should be as much about music as it is about singing. Yet it is obvious that assumption is very unwidely spread among conductors. The orchestra is too often relegated to a supporting role as singing is elevated to the true essence of a piece.

That's never the view of Riccardo Muti.

This Zauberflöte is yet another example of it. Don't get me wrong, I slightly drop into boredom after a while, Muti or not Muti, but at least I hang on there for some time and enjoy hearing the orchestra no matter what – superb in the Papageno aria "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" in act I for instance.

Clearly Diana Damrau's Queen of the Night is stealing the show with her incredible charisma and magnetism – not to mention her brilliant vocal expressivity. René Pape (Sarasto) is not half bad either, as is Christian Gerhaher as Papageno.

On the other hand, Pierre Audi's staging is a mess. The sets and costumes are beyond ugly, and the production lacks any kind of meaning – it obviously doesn't help to know nearly nothing of the storyline, and Audi's staging doesn't help a bit.

Rigoletto in Dresden

Dresden Semperoper
June 30, 2008

N.B. This review only takes into account this performance, not the televised evening on June 21 by Arte.

If it hadn't been for Juan Diego Flórez singing Il Duca di Mantova, I wouldn't have gone to Dresden.
Yet if it hadn't been for Diana Damrau, I would have been quite disappointed by the musical performance (my comments on Lehnhoff's staging are still processing in my brain and will be the subject of another post later on).


First of all, let's face it: Rigoletto being one of my favorite operas, I am very critical about it, especially since a nearly perfect version exists, the one recorded live at La Scala by Riccardo Muti in the mid-1990s and already mentioned several times on this blog (the staging is out of the question, obviously).

And in this constant comparison of mine between any performance and the Muti version, the first thing to completely fall apart was the conduction of Fabio Luisi.
It's not the worse I have ever heard (Kubelik and Giulini put the bar pretty high), but it was uninspired (despite grandiose gestures from Luisi), clumsy at best, sometimes incredibly heavy and slow, and most of the time flat and rough.
On the last part, I can forgive Luisi for making things simple and easy, based on the poor performance of the orchestra. The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is obviously not at ease with the Italian repertoire (unless Luisi specifically asked the musicians not to play together, the flute to ruin the whole thing and an unidentified violin to suddenly play a note when nothing was written about it on the score). It was a huge disappointment for me, because I didn't expect the orchestra would be an issue.

The Staatsopernchores also had some major issues: specifically the Italian diction and the unison. Living in a city whose Opera House, if nothing else, has a fantastic chorus I always emphasize, the landing was harsh and unforgiving.

To get over with the bad news, both Sofi Lorentzen (Maddalena) and Matthias Henneberg (Monterone) were weak; the first being inaudible and inexpressive, the later having too weak a technique (but it should be noted the program clearly states he was a late subtitute for scheduled Rainer Büsching).

Stauffenbergall, Dresden
July 1, 2008

As for my dear JDF, I must admit all my love did not prevent a bit of a let down. Of course his voice is gorgeous and all, but the thing I was afraid of turned out to be true; and that is, he is too bad an actor to own a character full of villainy (at least that's how Lehnhoff tried to picture him).
He has neither the facial expressions nor the body language to successfully portray Mantova, and his singing is too bel-cantoish to fully explore the dark side of the character (of course I'm absolutely devastated by this conclusion). But I had prepared myself for that, so the fall is less painful, let's say (see how self-persuasion works?).

The thing I was definitely not expecting was a more technical problem; when JDF arrived on stage (having seen him live already two times this season and numerous others on DVDs and TV broadcasts), I immediately though to myself how tired he looked, hoping this fact would have little impact on his singing. Well, if all the notes were spot on, the tempo was not. On several occasions, there was a noticeable shift with the orchestra (most of the time he was late, as if he had trouble remembering the notes), that was more and more recurrent and culminated in the last act. This reminded me of his run at the Met of La Fille du Régiment when, by the end of the run, this cloud shadowed his performances on one or two occasions. In Dresden, the ones and twos became more like tens and twenties.
So all and all, I must admit I was disappointed by my dearest tenor.


On the other hand, Željko Lučić as Rigoletto was a pleasant surprise. I would have liked his voice to be a bit more expressive, but his stage presence was pretty good and his singing quite memorable (slightly less though than Renato Bruson in the Muti version).

Stauffenbergall, Dresden
July 1, 2008

Undoubtedly the real star of the night was Diana Damrau.
I was sceptical about her acting for about two minutes and then, I was simply blown away by her stage presence. Absolutely blown away.
She owned the stage and the character, with her entire body, with her entire soul. Her eyes were so expressive it was unbelievable, her movements were so fluid and natural, her hands were perfectly complementing the whole body.
The end of Scene 12 (Act I) when she faces Mantova alone was the turning point for me. From that time on, it seemed like she was the only one on the stage.
During the Tempesta scene in Act III (with the wonderful quartet Verdi wrote), which theatrically is one of the biggest challenges of the role (because you have to stand there for an awful long time so it's hard to make it believable), she also was extraordinary and I just couldn't get my eyes off of her.
The last scene, the bag thing was totally surreal (but Lehnhoff is also responsible for that). Instead of the usual girl dying on the floor and whispering the last replicas, she got up, very slowly. At first, I though "Now, what is that?" but then, I was completely fascinated by her portrayal - the image was so reminiscent of Lucia di Lammermoor and so powerful. What a magical way to end the opera...

In other words, she was perfect, nothing less.

Oh, and did I mention her singing was exquisite, too?


YouTube extracts (from the June 21 performance broadcast by Arte):

- "Pari siamo!.....Figlia! Mio padre!", Željko Lučić & Diana Damrau
- "T'amo ripetilo!", JDF & Diana Damrau
- "Addio, addio", Diana Damrau & JDF
- "Caro Nome", Diana Damrau
- "Si, Vendetta", Željko Lučić & Diana Damrau
- Last 10 minutes of the opera, Željko Lučić & Diana Damrau

A revolution under way

As unreal as it may seem (mostly to me I presume), my very thick shield against Mozart is starting to crack. Seriously.

The reason?
A combination of Riccardo Muti (who else) and Diana Damrau in this live Salzburg Festival performance that I started listening to with attention (I really don't care that much about seeing a performance, in case you're still wondering).

I wouldn't say I suddenly fell in love with Mozart or Die Zauberflöte for that matter, but I'm beginning to find some pieces not so boring, even interesting. A huge step for me.
Love is still far far away, but I've always been convinced that taste is evolving, in opera and in other matters (wine...).
So it seems I'm not that hopeless with Mozart after all.
A work in progress, really.


You Tube extracts:

- extract from the beginning (excuse my ignorance about the exact title, but feel free to bring your knowledge to this blog)
- "Der Hölle Rache", Dana Damrau

Score di bravura

Semirade, Antonio Salieri "Sento l'amica sperme" Opéra de Lyon Diana Damrau recital Jan.25, 2008

Queen of the night

The program can be downloaded here.

An evening with Diana Damrau is full of fun, for starters.
If some people still have that cliché about opera, serious and solemn, where there's absolutely no place for fun or spontaneity, they definitively need to attend a concert with Damrau, who will tear to pieces these preconceived ideas.

Singers in their thirties and forties are generally fun and do not hesitate to interact with the public, some (Natalie Dessay) more than others (Juan Diego Flórez). Diana Damrau beats out everybody, making jokes just a few seconds before an aria whilst having problems adjusting her score holder, coming back on stage with a sweater in her hands to tell people to go have a drink because it's intermission time, having a laugh on stage, miming a sore throat to explain why there won't be more than one bis - one of the true disappointments of the evening, I would have hoped she would have sung an aria from Die Zauberflöte, after all Mozart was the core of this program (such as this one).

The pleasure she takes singing is communicative beyond words and I found myself smiling every time she was on stage, filled with unconditional joy.

And it is really a true blessing to hear her sing: the high notes are always spot on, the low ones are outstanding (which is not often true with sopranos) the nuances are superb, the emotions are always there - as she really experiences each and every note and its emotional intend, all concurring to a magnificent performance (being able to overshadow my dislike for Mozart and Salieri is an accomplishment very few have achieved).

Alas, the concert was really built to showcase equally Damrau and Rohrer, meaning she only sang in half of the pieces performed - 8 total, including the only bis. I would have loved for her to sing more... I guess I'll just have to wait till the end of June to hear her live again...

All photographs taken during the evening.

Opera All-star Night

Jennifer Taylor for The New York Times

According to the New York Times and Anne Midgette, Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato were the unchallenged stars of the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala held last Sunday.

Chosen extracts:
" Ms. DiDonato, having flown in from Switzerland for the day to pinch hit, evidently decided to make her trip worth everyone’s while, especially with an “Una voce poco fa” from Rossini’s “Barbiere di Siviglia” that was among the most spectacular vocal feats this listener has ever heard, thrown off with ease, a sense of fun and pinpoint control. "

By the way, Joyce DiDonato explains in her blog how she fill in for Susan Graham, resulting in a 29-hour frenzy : " I'm booked on a round trip ticket leaving in 14 hours, arriving in NY 4 hours before the Richard Tucker Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, set to return immediately after the concert, arriving in Geneva tomorrow just in time to step off the plane and into my first orchestra staging rehearsal of that Handel opera back in Geneva. By my calculations, that's 29 hours. Yes, I know. I'm nuts."


But back to the gala:
" Ms. Damrau offered a “Glitter and Be Gay” from Bernstein’s “Candide” that was over the top in every sense, including the top of the staff, above which she floated with starry radiance. You might have called it too campy (and a little hard to understand) had she not had the vocal goods to back up her active wooing of the adoring audience.

Ms. Damrau even overshadowed Renée Fleming."


Update:

Gtl Torn T has put some extracts of the gala on his blog, including "Una Vocce poco fa" (Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia) sung by Joyce DiDonato and "Glitter and be gay" (Bernstein's Candide) sung by Diana Damrau. I must admit Damrau doesn't surpass Natalie Dessay in that aria.

2007-2008 à Toulouse

Moi qui me réjouissais, devant la pauvreté de la prochaine saison à Lyon, du récital de Diana Damrau le 25 janvier 2008, me voilà dégoutée par la saison de récitals à venir à Toulouse. Mais alors, over-dégoutée. Minimum. - Diana Damrau le 13 mars 2008 dans le même programme (plus ou moins) qu'à Lyon. Enfin, je dis plus ou moins mais c'est exactement le même. - Juan Diego Florez (piano comme seul accompagnement) le 24 janvier 2008 (m'en fous, je vais le voir à Dresde en juin 2008). - Waltraud Meier, dont Kozlika parlait il y a peu, (piano seul) le 21 avril. Côté opéra, je suis moins emballée (enfin, je le serai sûrement plus si j'habitais toujours la ville rose);

un roi d'Ys de Lalo avec Sophie Kolch en octobre (la musicalité de cet opéra est assez étrange);

un Don Giovanni de Mozart avec Karine Deshaies en novembre (toujours ma sempiternelle aversion pour Mozart);
La Belle Hélène d'Offenbach pour les fêtes de fin d'année, opéra bouffe extrêmement plaisant et divinement drôle avec une distribution d'anonymes mais la mise en scène de Jérôme Savary de 2000 ;
encore une Dame de Pique de Tchaïkovski en février (je ne vais pas à celle de Lyon, ne comptez évidemment pas sur moi à Toulouse) ;
I quattro rusteghi de Wolf-Ferrari dont je ne sais absolument rien (mais alors... rien) en mars ;
Il Turco in Italia de Rossini fin mars/début avril dirigé par Maurizio Benini (excusez du peu!) ;
et pour (mal) finir, le Chevalier à la Rose de Strauss en mai mis en scène par Nicolas Joël et Les contes d'Hoffmann d'Offenbach (encore) dans une coproduction avec le New Israeli Opera de Tel-Aviv, et surtout le Teatro Real de Madrid et le Teatro Regio de Turin (pff), dirigé par Yves Abel, avec encore la magnifique Karine Deshayes. Quoi ? Non je ne suis pas jalouse...

Nuit d'ivresse et d'extase infinie

[Les Troyens Acte IV, Hector Berlioz] Thanks to those guys, and probably to Operabase not being updated, I was able to purchase a ticket for the June 2008 Rigoletto in Dresden. With a truly amazing cast; Diana Damrau as Gilda and Juan Diego Florez in Il Duca di Mantova (role debut), with Fabio Luisi conducting and Nikolaus Lenhoff directing. I might be slightly over excited, but I couldn't sleep much because of that last night. I'm gonna see Juan Diego Florez in Rigoletto, I'm gonna see Juan Diego Florez in Rigoletto, I'm gonna see Juan Diego Florez in Rigoletto ...

De retour de la présentation de la saison

Qu'y a-t-il de plus insupportable que les choix musicaux de Serge Dorny (le directeur de l'Opéra de Lyon, pour ceux qui ne suivent pas mes exaspérations)?

Ecouter Serge Dorny parler de ses choix musicaux.

Sans compter qu'une fois lancé, avec son français de merde (comme un néerdandophone, vous me direz), son snobisme à deux balles (pârce que la diction, vous voâyez) et son élitisme dérisoire (à vouloir prononcer tous les noms, avé l'accent), personne ne l'arrête. Mais bonnes nouvelles. Au milieu du marasme de la nouvelle saison, et alors que la trilogie Tchaïkovski ne se fera que pour 2008-2009 (seule la Dame de Pique sera au programme en 2007-2008), je vais réussir à prendre un abonnement. Si si. L'abonnement concert à 3 spectacles (minable, je le concède).
Les versions de concert de Maria Stuarda, et de la Damnation de Faust de Berlioz (direction Emmanuel Krivine, 27 et 29 juin 2008) ainsi que ...la vraie bonne surprise inattendue... le récital (Mozart et Salieri principalement, mais ne faisons pas la fine bouche) de Diana Damrau le 25 janvier 2008. Ah. Quelle bonne nouvelle alors.

La plaquette de la saison 2007-2008 sur le web.