La Traviata at La Monnaie, Brussels – More Disturbing Than Shocking

Šaturová as Violetta

The Brussels staging of La Traviata by Andrea Breth generated quite a bit of controversy. I found it relatively unpleasant but not terribly shocking, and I am glad I saw/heard it, though I might not visit it again. Here they are depicting a more realistic grimy underworld of prostitution and drugs versus a more standard romanticized 18^th Century series of ever-so-slightly decadent, but elegant formal parties. 

The staging definitely is uncomfortable, especially in the party scenes. The female nudity is more depressing than erotic; perhaps the stark black and white setting serves to distance us. But I think the point could be made without so much overt S&M activity. It wouldn't take much compromise to make this less controversial. Then again, why should the director and company compromise their vision?  (That’s a rhetorical question, but I don't mind if a discussion/argument breaks out here.)

The La Scala Lohengrin – I think I may be in love with Annette Dasch (Sort of an Actual Review)

Watching Annette Dasch's Milan Elsa—similarly bewildered as her Bayrueth Elsa but more girlish—I thought, “I really love this girl.” Elsa von Bayreuth is already set up as a martyr, and one feels distanced from her. But Elsa di Milano is more of a dreamy, innocent girl; she seriously doesn’t know what she’s getting in to. Elsa's fascination is not romantic love at all to me. She's intrigued. She's attracted. It's like she just found a puppy (a really, really cute puppy). When it dawns on her that Lohengrin might really be Gottfried, (and egged on by Ortrud) she just has to find out. 

Sunday Brunch – Miah Persson Sings Sacred Mozart

Yesterday morning I was daydreaming about Miah Persson singing Lungi da te mio bene from Mozart’s Mitridate. And I wondered to myself: what else could ever be as lovely? I came across this performance of the Et incarnatus from Mozart’s Great C minor mass.  Mozart never completed this mass, and it’s really the most operatic sacred work he wrote—with lots of flashy arias and massive double choruses. It’s kind of Mozart’s answer to the Verdi Requiem (if, indeed, anyone had asked) or Rossini’s Stabat Mater.  If Mozart had completed this Mass, it would rival Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis or Bach’s B-minor Mass  in massiveness (pun intended).

Jonas Kaufmann is Lohengrin – Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

Well! Call me late for dinner. I was idly browsing the net to see who else was writing about the 2012 La Scala Lohengrin, and I discovered that a film distributor called Emerging Pictures is presenting the opera in movie theaters [in the US] this winter. 

In addition to indie films, Emerging Pictures has an opera and ballet series, and they're offering a series of performances from London and Milan over the next few months. Like all good websites, you enter your zip code to find theaters near you. Most theaters seem to be showing it only once or twice. Living in a major metro area, I have a choice of two dates in February at a cinema nearby, or two dates in January at a theater a bit further away. 

Since La Scala had the YouTube video of Lohengrin pulled (can you blame them?), and since opera is way better in the cinema than on a laptop, I'm looking forward to seeing this on the big screen. Boy, am I glad I was wandering around the net this afternoon. The internet: it's not just for porn anymore.  

After this post, I'm going to see if I can go a whole week without posting about JK. I'll give it a try, but I'll tell you right now, I'm not optimistic!

Gratuitous Friday – Fritz Wunderlich is Lensky (More Opera in the Wrong Language)

Heartbreaking, smooth, beautiful… Wait…what? Is he singing in German??? Who cares? It's awesome singing. I’m not saying it doesn't sound better in Russian. Of course it does! But if we insisted in everything being sung only in the original language, we’d miss a lot of gorgeous—and in particular, vintage—singing. Thanks to many recordings like these, Fritz still lives!

"Kuda, kuda vy udalilis" from Eugene Onegin

(Wohin, wohin?)