La Forza del Friday – It's Back!

I was actually looking for the ROH Manon Lescaut with JK, and I came across this instead. But don't tell anyone, just go watch it! It's got JK, AH, LT, and German subtitles!

May the Forza be with You

Thanks to Intermezzo for finding us the virtually (and probably wisely) unsearchable capture of Saturday's broadcast. I saw most of it live, but experienced some live stream issues. I also missed the plot setup during the prelude, so I am glad to have a chance to catch up. 

Although there are some incongruities in the staging, and Martin Kušej definitely sees the world through a “glass-half-empty” (or the toast landing on the floor, butter-side down) lens, I thought it was quite good overall. Of course, there’s some (really, really) wonderful singing, too! Get it before the toast gets cold!

La Forza del Opera Fans

The Staatsoper copyright police
capture another YT bootlegger.

Thanks to some enterprising opera fans, we have two video clips from Saturday's broadcast of Verdi's La Forza del Destino from the Bayerische Staatsoper, and two audio clips from the radio broadcast of the prima last week. Fingers crossed for full-length recordings (and keeping an eagle-eye out for them, as they will disappear as soon as we discover them!!)

I actually got to watch the broadcast on Saturday! I had trouble with the live-stream feed freezing in full-screen mode, and ultimately gave in to watching it in the small-screen version (better than not seeing it at all) after trying low, high, and HD transmission modes. (Hmmm, the only thing I didn't try was using IE instead of Chrome. I'll file that thought away for future troubleshooting.)  I have opinions, of course, about the production and performances (I liked both a lot), but I'll save those for later. Meanwhile, let's enjoy these clips!

Videos from December 28:

P.S. Sadly, the videos have vanished.

Puccini: La Boheme – Bregenzer Festspiel 2002 (Part 2: A Cozy Table for Two Hundred)

There are approximately a gazillion extras in this production of La Boheme: Shoppers, children, partiers, chefs, waiters, guards, street cleaners, private body guards, etc., etc. Zeffirelli would be envious. During the Momus scene, extras actually sit around the huge (main stage) table. In the crowd scenes there is always a big crowd, especially at Momus; but the principals are never obscured nor lost in the confusion.  There are a few modern-ish dance moves and a marching band that looks suspiciously Sgt. Pepper-inspired.  I will never get that “tattoo shimmy” line dance at the end of Act 2 out of my head. (For better or for worse.)

Puccini: La Boheme – Bregenzer Festspiel 2002 (Part 1: Cafe Grandissimo)

There are a few things we should note right up front about this DVD: 

1. An opera on the Seebühne at Bregenz is meant to be a spectacle. It’s a tourist attraction. The stage is in the lake. They have fireworks, there are tons of people on stage, they always have to work a boat into the production, and the set is usually something really strange and/or symbolic. (It also has to be sturdy enough to survive being in the lake for 2 full years.)