Alice Coote Talks about Fate, Cross-dressing, and Mozart

Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano. (Benjamin Ealovega)

…and whether men or women are better kissers.

I mentioned the new podcast from WQXR: He Sang She Sang in a recent post. Each week they spend about 20 to 40 minutes discussing the upcoming Met radio (and HD, when applicable) opera broadcast. 

This podcast is a great companion to the more scholarly (and sometimes less engaging) pre-opera lectures from the Met Opera Guild (those are good too; but sometimes they can be a bit stuffy).

Although this episode is hosted by just the “insider,” He Sang She Sang usually has two or three hosts, at least one of whom is an opera neophyte. This lightens the discussion considerably, and…well the conversation is less stuffy (and sometimes just a bit irreverent.) They talk about the upcoming opera and play some musical excerpts. Almost every week they interview someone involved with the current production—often, and most interestingly, one of the singers.

This episode focuses on Alice Coote, even more than on Idomeneo—and that’s not a bad thing! She gives us her take on Mozart, Idomeneo, fate, saying goodbye, and dressing up as a man—among other things. We also get to hear a few excerpts from the 1996 Met recording. On the podcast website, there’s also a link to a clip from the current production.

Go. Listen. Enjoy. And check out the other episodes. Even if you already know all about the opera under discussion, I am sure you’ll enjoy the conversations, the music, and—yes—the fun.

Weekend(s) Interrupted

Among the new goodies I did not watch or listen to because I was too busy doing Other Important Things last weekend*:

Tomorrow, I attend the matinee of Tristan und Isolde at Washington National Opera (more about that later...maybe), so these discs will continue to languish on the corner of my desk for another week, along with these:

More Music of Agostino Steffani – Cecilia and Friends

Found while browsing teh Interwebz:

Cecilia Bartoli has top billing, but if you drill down a bit, you'll find who drew me in: 

• Daniel Behle
• Julian Pregardian (yes, son of Christoph)
• Nuria Rial

Product Description from Amazon.com:

...Cecilia Bartolis exploration of the music of Steffani continues on from her best-selling recording Mission with an album of the celebrated Stabat Mater alongside Steffanis greatest sacred works for chorus, orchestra and soloists, constituting the most comprehensive collection of Steffanis sacred choral music on CD.

Mozart Requiem for Mozart

Stephansdom

I recently rediscovered a lovely performance of Mozart's Requiem—sung as part of a full Mass almost 20 years ago to celebrate Mozart—It contains some striking contrasts, performer-wise. And it’s a performance I will enjoy watching and listening to again.

This is the last Mozart performance of the lovely and tragically short-lived soprano Arleen Auger—a quintessential Mozart singer who succumbed to cancer in the prime of her career. It's also one of the last performances of the elderly Sir Georg Solti (and I hope I don’t sound unkind if I say he probably should have stopped conducting sooner.) The always-slightly-under-the-radar Vinson Cole was early-mid career; and Cecelia Bartoli and Rene Pape were just getting their feet wet (RP was not yet thirty!). 

The Otterphile – Handel: Son nata lagrimar

Handel: Giulio Cesare: Son nata lagrimar

from the  Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele  2012
Music to melt the hardest heart:

Anne Sofie von Otter & Philippe Jaroussky

(the mean-looking guy is Ruben Drole)

(Make the jump for more info on this production, and a link to the complete first act!)