Five Flute Friday (Magic Flutes, that is!)

ROH, 2008

Salzburg, 2006

Royal Concertgebouw, 1995
Act 1

Act 2



Hamburg Oper, 1971

Kenneth Brannagh Film, 2006
Act 1

Act 2

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.

Natalie and Véronique and Topi and Luca vs. Mozart's C-minor Benedictus (Audio only)

Well, here is the Benedictus from this recording. The one chance for the bass soloist to sing! Think what other goodies the tenor and bass might have ended up with, if Mozart had managed to complete this Grand Mass!  

I like Natalie, but she's not my first choice to top this quartet*. Meanwhile, I love Véronique, Topi, and Luca; and the chorus is quite good. The timpanist seems heavy-handed; but it is the "end" of the mass. I guess he wanted it to sound really final.

References to this recording indicate that the score has been "revised" by Louis Langree. This means I now have to do some research to find out what exactly he felt he had to do to "fix" the work.

*One soprano in particular I enjoy hearing in this mass is Miah Persson.

Monday Morning Mozart – Natalie vs. Véronique

The Soprano Sing-off from Mozart's C-minor mass. This time with two sopranos (often we hear a mezzo in the role of Soprano 2.) I am not sure where this came from, but as you can imagine, I was searching for Luca Pisaroni when it cropped up. (The bass gets totally short-changed in Mozart's partial setting of the Roman Catholic Mass.)

Huh! The entire Mass was at YT just the other day. Ach, the ephemeral internet!

Handel Wants More Time – Voglio tempo

We all want more time. And this seemed like a good theme for New Year's Eve. This is a promo video from the lovely and talented (but annoying to watch at work) Emanulle Haim's recording of Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Enlightenment). 

Philippe Jaroussky sings Offenbach? (with Natalie Dessay)

I was listening to beginning of this performance of the Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffmann and thinking, "Oh, he's doing it as a solo. Wouldn't it be cool if..." and then Natalie Dessay wandered in and started singing, too. Now I was actually thinking about Max Emanuel Cencic singing the alto part and PJ moving up to soprano, but yeah. This works too. I also like the chamber-sized salon music arrangement. 

Richard Strauss: Arabella – Met, 1995: Back to the Future

McLaughlin and Te Kanawa

This Metropolitan Opera production of Strauss’ Arabella is top-notch, from the bottom of the orchestra pit to the top of the opulent sets. In between there is believable acting and magnificent singing. 

I went back to this DVD after reviewing the Zurich 2007 production; which stars the wonderful Renee Fleming and Julia Kleiter as the two sisters, but overall is not completely satisfying.  This story really seems to work better in its period setting. Somehow the scandal is more scandalous, and frankly (I cannot believe I am writing this) the whole story is more convincing in this über-traditional, über-literal Otto Schenk production. Clearly, the Met had more financial support than the Zurich Opera had for their 2007 production; the set, costumes, and rich casting just leave Zurich in the dust. 

A Tale of Two (or Three) Zerbinetti

Classic Zerbinetta

Reri Grist at Salzburg, 1965

Karl Böhm

21st Century Regie Zerbinetta

Elena Moşuc at Zürich, 2006

Christoph von Dohnányi

Malibu Zerbi

Natalie Dessay in Paris, 2003

Michel Plasson

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.