Gratuitous Friday – Miah Persson Sings Strauss' Four Last Songs

...can there be a Marschallin in her future? One can only hope!

Lieder: Strauss i Mahler

(Click the link above the photo. There doesn't seem to be a way to embed this.)

I think I found this one thanks to PauaGirl. Thank you, PauaGirl!

Gratuitous Friday – Luca Pisaroni as Alidoro (La Cenerentola)

Luca as Alidoro at the Met last season. And RnR regulars recognize our charming Angelina! Happy Friday!

Luca Pisaroni and Thomas Hampson in a Duo-Interview

Remy Franck, a journalist in Luxembourg, interviews our buddies for his blog/web-journal Pizzicato. Thomas and Luca compare and contrast building an operatic career "back then" (Thomas) and now (Luca). Not too much of the discussion will be brand new to us, but both gentlemen are articulate and fun to hear from. Young singers would do well to spend a few minutes reading this interview.

Photo © Remy Franck

LP and TH note that sometimes extensive experience in a role can be detrimental (in the eye of the director). TH kind of dances around the concept of Regie without actually naming it, reminding us that "...regardless of the event pressure and all this fantastic theatrical things that we enjoy, opera is a musical art form."  [Ed. note: AMEN!]

If you tend toward the anti-regie side you could say he is against it. But if you are pro- regie you'd probably say he's for it. Both LP and TH have enthusiastically and successfully performed in what could be termed Regie productions. So clearly, while there are always limits, and they keep the music first and foremost, they are open to new ideas, too. Although, apparently director Willi Decker once accused TH of being a musicologist (presumably during the Traviata production, which TH neither names nor comments on). I think Thomas should take that as a compliment. There are many much worse things you could call a singer! 

I just discovered Pizzicato via a link from LP's Facebook page.  The site has many interesting articles and news bits in both German (mostly) and English (I suspect this interview was conducted in German, then translated), including a little piece about another blogger-whom-I-shall-not-name who is known for misinformation and inciting controversy; Pizzicato also contains many DVD and CD reviews.

Gratuitous Mattias Goerne Tannhäuser Clip

Sigh!  That's all.  Just: Sigh!

OK, you know me. I do have more to say. I initially purchased this album only because Dorothea Röschmann sings on three tracks (I posted two of them a while back). It's good go back and rediscover these gems! Overall I am not thrilled with the conducting on the Mozart, but when I skipped over to the Wagner...well, this is what a friend of mine would call schmalzando, especially the playout (after MG, sadly, stops singing).

Please enjoy this bit of Tuesday Tannhäuser (even though it's probably already Wednesday for most of my readers!)

Saturday Matinee – Cav und Pag mit Kaufmann

Several fans have posted this performance on the TOOB. This is the cleanest transfer I've seen so far, and they're both together in one file. I've always been more partial to Cav. Couldn't someone pair it with something like Gianni Schicci or another fluffier piece? 

But the opportunity to see/hear JK in both roles is hard to pass up. I confess I haven't sat through the whole double feature yet. (I had to re-watch the blue kool-aid Cosi first!) Maybe today's the day for Cav/Pag. Happy Saturday Matinee everyone!

Update 02/08/2018: because opera fugit, the Cav has disappeared; but Pag has shown up again. Here it is:

And here's the beginning of a playlist with some clips from Cav: 

Gratuitous Friday – JK to Appear in Meistersinger (but not till 2016)

Wow! Talk about antici-    pation!

Here's a preview of the new Meistersinger starring Jonas Kaufmann (and probably some other singers, too...) at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The new production will debut in May 2016. At least the interviews are thoughtfully subtitled auf English! I am sure we'll have a Staatsoper.tv opportunity to see this from afar, but they haven't (as far as I know) published the 2015/2016 broadcast schedule yet. 

Meanwhile we do still have the (apparently quite bizarre, but it's hard to beat the singing) Manon Lescaut to look forward to this summer:

July 31, 2015, 7.30 p.m. (C.E.T.)
Giacomo Puccini: Manon Lescaut