Met in HD and Dinner Chat

Holy Moly! Was my last post really in December? Well a few things have happened since then, so I really do need to catch up. 

1. I was really drawn in by L'amour de Loin. I do have a few things to say about it, so I will try to get together and post about that soon.

2.  Nabucco was boring as unbuttered toast from a staging standpoint. But rather well sung. I enjoyed it in spite of myself. And in spite of the obligatory encore [insert eye roll] of the famous chorus. It's pretty but…ditto about posting.

3. I am now a superfan of Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo, and Gounod's Romeo et Juliette...and Elliot Madore. Ahem. (Spoiler alert: they all die.) This is one I will probably have to spring for if/when it appears on DVD.  It's the same production seen in Salzburg a few years ago (the unit set is not as convincing to me in the Feldreisenschule as on the Met stage.) I will try to get around to saying more on that soon, too.  

Meanwhile, tonight at dinner...
My cousin: We saw a Met Eugene Onegin, but I'm not sure who was in it. 
Me: Were there a lot of leaves?
My cousin's wife: Yes!! I remember the leaves!
I guess most of us (whether fans of Robert Carsen (or not)) could name the leads in that performance!

P S. I hope this iPhone-created post looks ok. I tried to add a photo. Safari and Google simply do not play well together! I just didn't want to wait till I get home to put this up. My "fans" (?) already have waited too long to hear from me. 

Placido Domingo – Both Baritone and Tenor in Verdi (Now and Then)

Nabucco, Vienna 2014

Ö1 Radio is allowing us a "what a difference 30 years makes" comparison. We have Placido Domingo in his tenor heyday (1984) as Manrico in Il Trovatore, and in the new Wiener Staatsoper production of Nabucco (2014 – 47 years after his Vienna debut!) in his new career as a baritone.

Il Trovatore, Rome 1984

Some might wonder if Domingo 2.0 would be singing at all if not for the fabulous career of Domingo 1.0. Is he stealing roles from other deserving baritones? Are the opera houses using him as audience bait? There's no doubt he's an excellent musician, and he still sings pretty darned well, so debate may be beside the point. 

We have lots of time to ponder these and other possibly imponderable questions (and to listen to that Trovatore—a commercial recording—which is his second, I think). But we have only a few more days to listen to the Nabucco on Ö1 .