Saturday, August 24, 2013

La Donna, non Cosi – Ö1 Changes their Schedule

© Michael Pöhn
I am not sure why, but Austria's Ö1 Radio is not broadcasting the Salzburg Cosi fan tutte tonight/day. I just got a "Seite nicht gefunden" message when I clicked to double-check on it. (I swear it was listed there before!)

Maybe it's due to the crushing reviews Christoph Eschenbach received for his (non)-interpretation. Apparently, he prefers ketchup on his Cosi. It seems he was too busy touring with another ensemble to show up in Salzburg until the final dress rehearsals. The reviewer for the Salzburger Nachrichten said (more or less): 
Eschenbach developed no sense of the complex and intricate balances...no sense of organic graded dynamics, rhetoric, tone and tempo and their essential dramaturgy, flexible, breathing vocal accompaniment... 
This is a bummer, because he certainly has a top-notch cast of singers that deserves more than off-hand attention. On another note, I found out I was right about the ending. Don Alfonso gets the poison this year. The Canadian journal thespec.com noted:
At the very end of the opera, Bechtholf departed from the original [Zurich production] and had Alfonso take a drink, which unbeknownst to him was the poison that Guglielmo had brought to the proceedings. The result? Alfonso, to the surprise of all, dropped "dead" to the floor.
I dare say Alfonso deserves it more than Fiordiligi does!

© Michael Pöhn
Meanwhile, the good news is that if you've missed other broadcasts of it (or if you just want to hear it again), you can hear Rosinni's La Donna del Lago,  on Ö1 with La DiDonato from London and, of course, Juan Diego Florez and Daniela Barcelona.

She's baaaaaack!

8 comments:

  1. Huh. Interesting. You're right, it was explicitly stated. Thanks for the update.

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  2. 1. Bummer about Cosi!

    2. re: the photo from La Donna del Lago: Zombie Rossini (or vampire rossini?) is profoundly underutilized as a concept.

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    Replies
    1. 2. Don't you love that? I hadn't seen that picture till last night.

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  3. In a strange confluence of events, the DVD of Don Carlos from Burgtheater Wien, in which SEB plays Philipp II, arrived in the mail today.

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    Replies
    1. And I have to say, so far, he's kinda excellent.

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    2. Meanwhile, I see they posted an update:

      "Aus bühnentechnisch-ästhetischen Gründen kam die Aufzeichnung von der Premiere bei den Salzburger Festspielen 2013 nicht zustande. Aus diesem Grund musste die Ausstrahlung der Oper "Cosi fan tutte" auf den 19. Oktober verschoben werden."

      Wonder what those technical-aesthetic reasons were. But I guess we can remark our calendars for 10/19.

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    3. Interesting...thanks for the update!

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