I used to think (in my young childhood*) the opera was called Manon, Let's Go. And it's not totally nonsensical. I mean, when you
think about it, that's basically what Des Grieux and Lescaut say to her in Act 2
while she's busy scooping up her jewelry instead of running from the police.
Anyway, the reason for this post is to highlight the bounty of
"making of" videos the ROH has posted for their new production of
Puccini's Manon Lescaut. (This was Puccini's first big hit. Apparently, he could easily have retired and lived off his profits from Edgar and Manon.
But fortunately, he didn't rest on his laurels, or he never would have
written La Boheme, and a few
other big hits!)
Blogger eyesometric provides us with a bunch of other links
about this production, and also reminds us that the BBC Radio
3 will be broadcasting a live performance of this new production from
the ROH featuring Kristine Opolais, Jonas Kaufmann, and Christopher Maltman
with Anthony Pappano waving the stick.
Meanwhile, here are those videos:
*Yes,
I was already listening to opera as a young child. I used to record the
Met broadcasts on my reel-to-reel for frequent playback. One that I listened to
over and over was an Ariadne with Tatiana Troyanos and…well, I didn’t care about who else was in it at that point.
On the (near) eve of the U.S. release Antonio Pappano's recording of Britten's War Requiem (November 19), we can hear the entire performance online at NPR for about a week. The soloists are Anna Netrebko, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Hampson. Pappano leads the Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. (Thanks to Mr. Hampson for the heads-up.)
Meanwhile, the Mariss Jansons recording with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, the Tölzer Boys Choir, soprano Emily Magee, tenor Mark Padmore, and baritone Christian Gerhaher is available now. And you can download it from Amazon.com for less than six bucks!
