Gratuitous Friday – Malin Hartelius is Vitellia (Non piu di fiori)

And here is a link to the complete performance recorded at Barbican Hall on February 22, 2012. Louis Langrée conducts the Deustcher Kammerchor and the Deutsche Kammer Philharmonie Bremen, which also features Michael Schade as Tito and Alice Coote as Sesto. 

Double-Mezzo Monday – Belle nuit, Indeed!

Continuing my pursuit of Sd'O: what to my wondering eyes did appear? 

A duet with ASvO (before she learned the part of Niklaussse by heart!)!! 

Gratuitous Friday Double Feature – The Merry Widow Waltz

I said I wanted to hear more from Stéphanie d'Oustrac; and this clip is one of the first I came across. Of course she's sung a lot of real French music, and a lot her performances can be found on YouTube. But here is something that couldn't be much more different than her recent appearances as Orphée. Duetting with her is the (unknown to me) tenor Philippe Do, who sounds like he's worth searching out, too. 

Singing the Merry Widow outdoors seems to be a very European thing to do. Right on the same page as the above video (thank you, YouTube, for being one of the biggest time sinks in my life) is this performance from Hanna-Elisabeth Müller (seen recently in Munich with very big hair as Servillia) and Martin Mitterrutzner (noted previously in this blog.) Could they be any more charming?

Moving (if somewhat manipulative) Orphée from La Monnaie

I really want to write a full-on review of this performance. But, as so often is the case, I am not 100% sure how I feel about it. I feel manipulated; but I'm not sure I mind. 

Overlaying a new story over an established plot is not a new idea. That's what great directors (sometimes) do. While Romeo Castellucci is no Stefan Herheim, I believe he has an interesting and effective new way to approach Orphée et Eurydice. Castellucci equates Eurydice's plight to the story of Els, a young Belgian woman suffering from Locked-in Syndrome, or a pseudocoma. She is completely paralyzed, and seems comatose, but is fully aware of here surroundings; and with accommodation, she can communicate. The story of her condition and how her family has responded is quite moving; so moving that it actually threatens to overtake the opera completely at some points. 

Staged Performance of Die Winterreise with Matthias Goerne

I just took a 90-minute break from my total-Orfeo-immersion week to watch Schubert's Die Winterreise live from the Aix-en-Provence Festival on medici.tv. The cycle is performed by Matthias Goerne and Markus Hinterhäuser, and directed for stage by William Kentridge. Herr Goerne is always worth hearing (and watching). He proves once again that he is a consummate vocal artist; and with the addition of the video animation backdrop and moody lighting, his performance is particularly moving. Some of the images struck me as a little naive, but overall I thought the production was quite effective.

As I type this, Medici is regrouping for the on-demand replays, which you can probably access in the next few hours. It’ll only be available in the U.S. until July 23; they say it’ll be back November 11, but I am guessing that it’ll be for pay-for-play at that point. If you’re in Europe, I think you can continue to watch it throughout the summer. Wherever you are, do take the time to give this performance a watch/listen.