Gratuitous Friday, Part 2 – Richard Croft as Tito

Richard Croft, singing god; one tenor for whom Tito holds no terrors. 

Sadly, this is audio only. But what audio!!

Gratuitous Friday* – Dorothea, Vesselina, and Luca, (and Mozart)

I just found a Luca Pisaroni fanpage on Facebook; joining the group made me look back at my Luca posts. Due to the ephemeral nature of YouTube and the fact that Dropbox abolished the Public folder, I am missing a lot of music from my old blog posts**. I am not sure I even posted this one before, but it’s worth a replay either way. 

This is that slightly kinky "I'm going to smell your hair and there's nothing you can do about it"** version of Publio. (And, of course, the amazing vocal and dramatic talents of DR and VK!)

Happy Weekend!

*It’s Friday somewhere!

**I'd love to go back and replace all the missing files, but my energy's probably better spent finding new stuff. 

***This is a paraphrase of the observation made by opera blogger, Earworm. I cannot find the particular post where she said this (it may have been in a comments section of my blog), but here is the link to her blog.

Tito @ Glyndebourne – Watch it Now!

If you have any interest at all in Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito, Claus Guth, Glyndebourne, staged opera, sung opera, Richard Croft, Alice Coote, mezzo-sopranos in general, or just about anything to do with music, singing, and opera, stop what you're doing and go to the Telegraph’s website (or Glyndebourne.com) and see this opera. 

You have less than five days now.  According to fellow blogger, dehggial (who has an awesome review of the production) there is a planned DVD release, but: (1) nothing is life is 100% certain; and (2) see it now anyway—you can always buy the DVD later (I know I will). The new Salzburg Tito has its merits; and it will be online at Medici for a while. We can talk more about both of them later. Go watch/listen the Glyndebourne performance now!

Mozart Monday: Sesto as Vitellia – Frederica von Stade

Frederica von Stade seems so nice it's hard to imagine her being Vitellia; but then again, she could show us a gentler side of the character. She certainly makes a good musical case for one angle I’ve suggested now and then: Vitellia as a hurt little girl. 

Gratuitousness Updated: meanwhile, I finally caught up with my indexing. I thought I was way behind, but I didn't post many (any) random clips in 2016, so catching up didn't take long. I think I now have all the aria/duet clips cataloged (clearly I am someone with too much spare time!) The next step is to go back and un-index stuff that's been deleted from YT (or update links). That may take longer!

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.

Vesselina (and Véronique and Charles) in my Mailbox...

Mozart Week continues at my house! This arrived today:

I finally tracked down a copy of this 2006 recording. It's hard to believe I haven't tagged any posts with LCdT for almost a full year. A while back I featured Tito's three arias sung by Charles Castronovo, not realizing they were from this recording. A quick search did not reveal any other clips from this CD over at the Toob. In the next week or so, I will see what I can do to address this gap.

La Clemenza di Tito @ L'Opera National du Rhin

Another Clemenza di Tito?  YAY!  It looks like an interesting production, in which I am certain "...dans lequel on ne s'ennuie pas une seconde…" Of course, no opera lover I know could ever be bored with any performance of Clemenza. There's always something to see or listen to! 

Stéphanie d'Oustrac' Sesto  should be pretty amazing; and this blogger is a big David Bižić fan. Two things I particularly love about the second video below: (1) Publio trying to fingerprint Sesto during the "Vieni!" trio; (2) the harpsichord tuning in the background of one interview. It says, "Hey folks, we are in the Opera House!" 

I'm glad francetv is publicizing this production. D'ya think they'll broadcast it? 

One can only hope that someone will. 

Tito Benjamin Bruns 
Vitellia Jacquelyn Wagner 
Sesto Stéphanie d'Oustrac 
Servilia Chiara Skerath 
Annio Anna Radziejewska
Publio David Bižić

Chœurs de l'Opéra National du Rhin
Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse 

Direction musicale Andreas Spering 

Mise en scène Katharina Thoma 
Décors Julia Müer 
Costumes Irina Bartels 
Lumières Olaf Winter

La Clemenza di Tito – An Austrian/Italian Co-Production

A co-production by the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. I haven't had a chance to give it more than a cursory sample (noting: that there's a lot of wig business with Vitellia; that the costume designer must have hated the tenor; and that we hear some good, young, up-and-coming singers), but I wanted to share it right away! 

Here's a brief intro to the production (in German):

Oper / Musiktheater 2014 "La clemenza di Tito" from Universität Mozarteum Salzburg.

Here is a recording of one of the performances in Italy:

Act 1:

Act 2:

And here is a copy of the program from the Austrian performances. 

Meanwhile, Streaming on Concert.Arte.TV

Natalie Dessay sings Michel Legrand; quite nicely, if you like this sort of thing (I do.)



Matthias Goerne's Winterreise rides again (till the end of February).



And, of course, there's Tito, Sesto, Vitellia, and the whole crazy gang.

La Clemenza di Tito from Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on Arte (soon)

Arte TV live-streamed the new production of La Clemenza di Tito from Théâtre des Champs-Élysées today. It should be ready for archival viewing in a day or so. At left we see Kurt Streit as Tito, Kate Lindsey as Sesto, and Robert Gleadow as Publio. 

While we cool our heels waiting to see/hear the performance, we can whet our appetites with a few brief videos, as found on the Theatre’s YouTube channel. I have shared a few that include singing (yay singing!) Other clips include interviews with the artists. Sadly (for those of us who are French comprehension-impaired), without subtitles. 

Can there ever be enough La Clemenza di Tito? I don't think so!

Gratuitous Friday – Malin Hartelius is Vitellia (Non piu di fiori)

And here is a link to the complete performance recorded at Barbican Hall on February 22, 2012. Louis Langrée conducts the Deustcher Kammerchor and the Deutsche Kammer Philharmonie Bremen, which also features Michael Schade as Tito and Alice Coote as Sesto. 

Speaking of La Clemenza di Tito... (Tito Tuesday – Audio Only)

As if I am ever NOT speaking of La Clemenza di Tito (well, except when speaking of Idomeneo, Orfeo ed Eurydice, Le Nozze di Figaro, etc., etc.) 

But...Holy Cats! How did I miss this? We know I love Joyce DiDonato and Matthew Polenzani. And it turns out Amanda Majeski is no slouch either—a very mezzo-y sounding Vitellia indeed (and that’s not a bad thing)! 

My blog buddy Earworm saw this production in person and reviewed it. Would that there were a video, too!

Monday Mozart – Charles Castronovo is Tito (Audio Only)

Big-voiced, but still agile, CC is a convincing and impressive Tito. Oh, and by the way this 2006 recording is commercially available...in Europe. Looky who else was in this performance!  (sigh)

Tito's other two arias are after the jump. Thanks, tenorgoodfellow (clearly a Castronovo fan – and why not?), for posting these arias!

More on the Radio: Joyce DiDonato in Chicago

Impromptu, presented by WFMT in Chicago is a live afternoon series of “impromptu” music and conversation that often features artists appearing in Chicago. 

This week, they welcomed Joyce DiDonato, who is in town for performances of La Clemenza di Tito (which our friend Earworm just saw live). JDD is charming as usual, chatting about and singing opera. 

Impromptu is also available as a podcast (but the JDD episode is not posted yet). 

Just Another Manic Mozart (Sesto as Vitellia Part 2: Joyce DiDonato)

Sestos who would be awesome Vitellias. 

Well, last week we heard Vesselina Kasarova, and this week, we have Joyce DiDonato from the Met Orchestra concert last fall with James Levine. She really sounds like she's going mad, and not just angry that her plan didn’t work. 

I've a feeling JDD'd present a very human character—a Vitellia you'd actually feel sorry for by the end of the opera. It can't be an easy role to play (and I don't mean just vocally.) It seems hard to present Vitellia as anything other than a cold-hearted b...ahem, princess who’s totally bent on revenge; but somehow, I think JDD could do it. (Special thanks to the intrepid fan who captured this performance!)

Manic Mozart Monday – Vesselina Kasarova is Vitellia (in Recital)

This audio recording is from her 1997 Mozart Arias recital disc with Colin Davis conducting. She makes Vitellia sound angry, desperate, and yes, at one point even a bit tired. Imagine what Frau Kasarova could do with this on stage (and with Maestro Harnoncourt conducting!) Add her to the list of Sestos I'd love to see move over to Vitellia!

I, for one, would like to see her in a few more girl's roles (even though, I think we all agree that she's an awesome Mezzo in Pants!)

Four Tito Teasers from Staatsoper TV

The Bayersiche Staatsoper has kindly shared four short video excerpts from their webcast of La Clemenza di Tito. It's good to have another look. 

Parto, ma tu ben mio – Tara Erraught at The Bayerische Staatsoper

Unfortunately, this clip is audio only, but it is “official” from the Staatsoper. I'm pretty sure it's not from last Saturday's broadcast, as I don't remember quite so much vibrato from Sesto*.  I am still on the lookout for a copy of the video (aren't we all?). I'm not sure I want to re-watch the whole opera, but I’d definitely like to re-view some of the arias and ensembles. 

Tara Erraught (Sesto)

Markus Schön (Solo Clarinet)

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Musical direction: Kirill Petrenko
Live recorded at the Bayerische Staatsoper on February 7, 2014

*After writing this I looked below the clip at Soundcloud and saw the date. Well boo on me for not reading, but kudos to me for noticing the difference. Tara Erraught sounds over-parted here (over-partoed?) but she didn’t seem so during the live broadcast. Maybe this was opening night jitters.

Mozart (and Gluck) Monday from Ö1 Radio

Malin Hartelius on Ö1 Radio
(and some other singers, too...)

Malin Hartelius, Soprano
Marianne Crebassa, Mezzo
Andrew Staples, Tenor
Camerata Salzburg
Louis Langrée, Conductor

Mozartwoche #13 

Mozart & Gluck La clemenza di Tito

Programm Part 1:

Mozart: Ouvertüre zu La clemenza di Tito KV 621    

Gluck:   Arie des Tito Nr. 6 Di quel sublime soglio    Mr. Staples 

Mozart: Arie des Tito Nr. 6 Del più sublime soglio    Mr. Staples 

Mozart: Arie des Sesto Nr. 9 Parto, parto, ma tu, ben mio   Ms. Crebassa

Gluck:   Arie des Sesto Nr. 10 Parto, parto, ma tu, ben mio   Ms. Crebassa

Gluck:   Ouvertüre, Rezitativ und Arie der Vitellia Nr. 14
              Ah! taci barbaro; Come potesti, oh Dio    Ms. Hartelius

Gluck:   Arie des Tito Nr. 16 Tu, infedel, non hai difese    Mr. Staples

Gluck:   Arie des Sesto Nr. 18 Se mai senti spirarti sul volto    Ms. Crebassa

Programm Part 2:

Mozart: Rezitativ Nr. 22 und Rondo Nr. 23 der Vitellia 

               Ecco il punto, oh Vitellia; Non più di fiori vaghe catene

Mozart: Symphonie D-Dur KV 504 "Prague"

Monday Mahler with Christian Gerhaher (and a Little Mozart, too)

Too good to be true? Yes. Yes it is. The Berliner Philharmoniker never gives anything away, and so they fade out before the end of the song! But it's still worth posting and watching/listening. Plus it was time to turn the spotlight away from Matthias Goerne—briefly—to remind us how amazing Herr Gerhaher is.

I had to give up my annual Digital Concert Hall subscription, but there are programs that are worth paying a few bucks to see, one-at-a-time. (Including the Schumann Faust concert!) Or pay for a month, then stay home and watch non-stop to get the most for your Euro.

Meanwhile, today’s post was going to be my debrief of Saturday’s La Clemenza di Tito from Munich, but I am still mulling it over. I've had two good conversations with My Dad about it, and I am working on conclusions.