In Memorium Nikolaus Harnoncourt

RIP Nikolaus Harnoncourt: cellist, conductor, musicologist, musician, artist. This man helped influence my love of Bach (through his chamber music recordings, the B-minor Mass, St. Matt Passion, the Gamba sonatas, and, especially his participation in the intrepid Bach cantata series on Telefunken). Later he taught me to listen to Mozart (and Beethoven and Schumann, and even Brahms and Verdi) in different ways. Fortunately, his expansive recorded legacy ensures that he will always be with us.

Speaking of Mozart, here is the finale from his quintessential 2003 La Clemenza di Tito.

Mezzo Madness – DiDonato and Garanca Recitals in the Concerthuis

Now on Netherlands Radio4 Concertuis (neither new, but both noteworthy):

Elina Garanca with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2008 singing Mozart, Bizet, and more. (I usually try to be very positive, but this version of Parto, ma tu ben mio seems strangely detached. I mean, I know it's a concert but...) 

And Joyce DiDonato's Drama Queens program with Complesso Barocco as heard last year in the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. 

Both concerts are enjoyable, but I think these two photos pretty well depict the contrast I hear: the cool-ish tone of one program and the rather more fiery nature of the other. (To be fair, Ms. Garanca was a guest on an orchestra concert, while Ms. DiDonato was the concert!)

Watching the Radio – Vocal Treasure from Ö1 Radio

Among the vocal fun on Austria's  Ö1 Radio this week:

Weber’s Oberon, in a recording from 1996, featuring youthful performances by a few familiar singers:

Vesselina Kasarova (Fatime)

Peter Seiffert (Hüon von Bordeaux)

Bo Skovhus (Scherasmin)

Deon van der Walt (Oberon)

Inga Nielsen (Rezia)

Conducted by Marek Janowski

And Monday’s episode of Apropos Musik is 50 minutes of operetta, Broadway, and film music sung by your favorite opera stars. Slumming? No, not at all! It's kind of fun to hear lighter tunes (particularly the operetta) sung by such wonderful voices. The program features: Diana Damrau, Piotr Beczala, Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, Elina Garanca, Renée Fleming, and others. (Well, perhaps AN's voice is not quite so operetta-friendly any more; but still, it's a nice little program)

P.S. "Lied der Eliza aus dem Musical "My fair Lady" is Ich hat getanzt heut' Nacht (gesungen auf Englisch– and DD pulls it off rather well, except for a little odd back-phrasing.)

Merry Christmas from RnR!

I hope you all enjoy this lovely Christmas medley from the 2008 Christmas in Vienna concert. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Sunday Brunch, Expanded Edition – Mezzos in Pants

This is a great U-TOOB playlist featuring one of our favorite opera phenomena: mezzos playing men. This playlist includes Sarah Connolly (a lot), Alice Coote, Joyce DiDonato, Vesselina Karasova, Angelika Kirchschlager, Elina Garanca, Isabel Leonard, Helene Schneiderman, and Kate Lindsey and costars some of our favorite sopranos, too (Miah Persson in at least two!!!)!

And then check out La Clemenza di Tito from La Monnaie for more mezzos in pants. (I have a crush on Swedish mezzo Anna Grevelius as Annio, but I am not sure if I have a crush on her, or on him.)

Sunday Brunch – Verdi Requiem: Domine Jesu Christe (excerpt)

Decca offers us a teaser from the La Scala Verdi Requiem recorded earlier this year. It will be available in the U.S. on DVD, Blu-ray, and CD on September 3. Have you pre-ordered yours yet?

Elīna Garanča Sings Ave Maria (no, not THAT one)

I almost skipped this one, thinking: oh boy, another Ave Maria. But not reading the fine print, and wondering if it were the Gounod or the Schubert, and loving Elīna Garanča's voice, I clicked. (Elīna Garanča is of course, the beautiful Latvian mezzo-soprano known for her many stage roles, including Carmen, La Ceneterola, Dorabella, and Sesto.)

This is gorgeous: it's a Spanish setting, that is almost pop or broadway-opera-crossover. Ave Maria, while a prayer to the Virgin Mary, is not really a Christmas text, but it crops up a lot at this time of year, and it is about Jesus' mom. This is from the same Viennese concert as the Genia Kühmeier clip. 

Garanča sings Ave Maria by William Gomez.

Sunday Brunch – Lakmé: Flower Duet

This is a beautiful, wonderful duet, even before British Airways hijacked it for a TV commercial and turned it into a warhorse! I remember back in my dark ages (LPs and Reel-to-Reel tapes) my parents hung out with a bunch of other singers. Two of their soprano buddies sang this duet and Mira, O Norma (and Sull' aria, of course) pretty much at the drop of hat! I was hooked on soprano duets before I even knew what was going on!  

Sunday Brunch – Cosi Fan Tutte: Ah Guarda Sorella

Stéphane Degout and Elina Garanca

This is a Cosi that we don’t hear as much about. Patrice Chéreau directed this for the 2005 Aix-en-Provence Festival, and most of the feedback was not very positive. I like the “this is a stage production” feel, though it was not one of those self-referential, “hey, we’re doing an opera” productions. And the personenregie is very strong.

Alan Riding of the New York Times called it "a disappointment" and said:

Gratuitous Friday – Elīna Garanča Sings Sesto

Elīna Garanča is Annio  to Vesselina Kasarova's Sesto in the 2003 Salzburg production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito (Claus Guth). Here, she sings Sesto's Act 1 aria Parto, ma tu ben mio. I’m really looking forward to seeing/hearing her sing Sesto in the Met in HD broadcast next month. Garanča has a lovely voice with a smooth, even tone from bottom to top. She is also one of those lovely-to-look-at mezzos who can be convincing as a dude on stage.

The Second Post: In which the author discusses the purpose of his blog

Welcome Back!

I would like to mention a few things about my blog and me. 

1.      I am not here to argue REGIE: Pro or Con. (Well, OK. I may be preaching some tolerance, at least!)  Although, it might be interesting to argue whether a particular production is Regie or just interesting (edit 10/03/12: Or just bad).

2.      I am not here (usually) to bust the divas and divos for messing up.  I am here to chat about opera productions I have enjoyed (or hated.)  And to find out what my readers (if there are any) think about it.