La Monnaie Don Giovanni – Age Restricted on the Toob

Another opportunity to see/hear the entire performance of Warlikowski's Don G. from La Monnaie. But you have to prove you're old enough. (They probably should make you prove you're open-minded enough!) 

Only 10 More Days to Watch this NSFW Don Giovanni from La Monnaie

At least the opening bit—the film during the overture, and some of the action in the opera box (and a few other bits)—is not safe for work (NSFW). 

I try not to be a prude; but every once in a while, I channel my Mom and purse my lips and say things like, “That’s quite unnecessary!” Then I channel my Dad, who would say something like, “Well! How ’bout that?” (…meaning, “I’m not sure quite what to think!”)

As I do so often, I waited till (virtually) the last minute to watch the current production of Don Giovanni at La Monnaie; and I haven't seen all of it yet. So far, I’d say we have a wig-fest for a sex-obsessed Donna Anna (Barbara Hannnigan, who seems like an odd choice, but is quite effective.) And another freaking-out Don Giovanni with a foot fetish and some interesting oral fixations (Jean-Sébastien Bou, whom I’d love to like better, but frankly he seems maybe the weakest voice in the cast—of course Don G is often the weakest character.) And another ironic, patient, and tolerant Leporello* (Bass-baritone Andreas Wolf, sounding charmingly baritonish.)

The entire cast seems fully committed to Krzysztof Warlikowski's vision.

Don Giovanni – Jean-Sébastien Bou

Leporello – Andreas Wolf

Donna Anna – Barbara Hannigan

Donna Elvira – Rinat Shaham

Don Ottavio – Topi Lehtipuu

Zerlina – Julie Mathevet

Masetto – Jean-Luc Ballestra

Commendatore – Willard White

Choeurs de la Monnaie, Symfonieorkest van de Munt/Ludovic Morlot

Stage Director – Krzysztof Warlikowski

*This is kind of off-point, but I think Leporello and Donna Elvira are my favorite characters in this opera. I’d like to see a spin-off for them! 

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.

Watching the Radio – Opera on Concerthuis 4

From Radio 4 in the Netherlands: More reasons to spend time in front of your computer!

Handel: Orlando* 

Bejun Mehta

Sunhae Im

Lenneke Ruiten

Rene Jacobs conducting (2014)

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte

Miah Persson

Topi Lehtipuu

Daniel Schumutzhard

Rene Jacobs conducting (2012)

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Anders Dahlen

Lenneke Ruiten

Cynthia Seiden

Frans Brüggen conducting (2011)

Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Lado Ataneli

Gelena Gaskarova

Yuri Kissin

Alexander Vedernikov conducting (2014)

Happy listening!

*This one is great fun! I just finished listening to it, and I'm ready to do it again!

From Kasarova to Lehtipuu via Other People's Blogs

Today, for some reason (probably because I saw the CD on the shelf), I decided to listen to Vesselina Kasarova's Lieder recital from 1999. Then I decided to see if I had ever gotten around to ripping it to iTunes. 

Aha! There it is in iTunes, but there's no cover photo (iTunes is not great at tracking down classical album covers.) So, of course, I Google images for "Kasarova Lieder."

The first image was the CD cover (now duly saved and linked to the files in iTunes). The fourth image linked me to a blog post by Smorgy called Why I Love Vesselina Kasarova. That Smorgy loves Kasarova is not news, but why Smorgy loves Kasarova was a new story for me. And it's a wonderful story. Her post also touches on indiscriminate "music criticism" that has little to do music or with actual criticism.

DVD Extras – The Animated Cast Gallery

I love DVD extras! Extras are a reason I like to get the DVD instead of streaming or buying digital.  Of course sometimes, the extras consist only of trailers for other DVDs, or even just one trailer for a bunch of other videos.  But, when I can get a good "Making of..." feature, I am in heaven. I always enjoy the backstage activity, and seeing how the production comes together. (Sometimes I think rehearsals are more fascinating than actual performances.)