Tuesday, June 10, 2008

You cursed the ones who watched it live, you read hundreds of reports in the papers, now it's time to "see" for yourselves if it was worth it!


The major operatic event of our days took place on the 6th of June 2008 at the Royal Opera House, and parsifal's was there to bring you what you 've all been yearning, praying, waiting for:

the SOUND !!



Fontainebleau!

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Dio, che nell' alma infondere

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Nel giardin del bello

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Ed io che tremava - Trema per te, falso figliuolo

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Ella giammai m' amó (no intro)

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O don fatale!

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O Carlo ascolta

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Tu che le vanitá (no intro)

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Ma lassú ci vedremo

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Enjoy!

ps. If you cannot listen to the clips with Firefox, try Explorer.

14 comments:

operanuts said...

O don fatale, o don crudel!

Anonymous said...

THANKS
THANKS
THANKS

:)

Ντεμης said...

Oh, thanks very much for these precious documents, Parsi! I enjoyed it very much, I found Villazón to be great, I didn't expect it. Was it the 5 act version but in italian? (I ask because of the first aria, I never heard it in this context)

Anonymous said...

This is most welcome! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

It seems Villazon's voice is stuck in the back of his throat as usual.Those glissandi are dreadful.His style is exaggerative .Remember this happens in 16th century Spain and emotions were rarely shown.

Anonymous said...

It is the premiere and there are obvious nerves in all cases, but nothing wrong with interpretation imho :-) It is a very tragic, confused and unhappy character; he is trapped and life is not much fun, so why not display his misfortune? His voice is able to convey all these states of mind and emotions, what is true for very few of the others. It is probably his best trait, the way his voice is connected emotionally to himself and the audience :-)

Anonymous said...

This actually does not happen in 16th century Spain! It's a Post-Enlightenment product, full of anachronisms that reflects Schiller's time. After it is based on Schiller's play, and characters like Posa wouldn't live more than 5 minutes in Philip II's court. Moreover, the opera reflects Verdi's sentiments on many causes that were dear to his heart. It's a great historical document for a very different period and can take many interpretations.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks! Pops is brilliant, Simon not bad, Pappano rocks!
As for Rolando... well, whatever

Anonymous said...

Just came back from tonight's (14th) CG performance. I tend to agree with the majority of the critics, and judging by the curtain call reception, most of the audience was of like mind wih me.

Production: Meh. Indifferent. Best described by "big deal!". Sometimes the sets & lighting are inspired (Carlo V's tomb), sometimes they just don't work (the garden in Act 2). In general falls in the trap of a lot recent CG productions (e.g Tosca) of not deciding if it is a traditional or a modern symbolist production and ends up as neither. Not impressed at all, but not a disaster either.

Acting: Generally good. As is usual in CG, the theatrical side is heavily emphasized but results are uneven. Poplavaskaya, Keenlyside & Furlanetto are acting standouts but Villazon hams it up annoyingly at times.

Musical comments:

Orchestra: Brilliant.

Furlanetto: Superb. Best of them all. The audience reaction after the soliloquy can only be described as a "roar".

Keenlyside: Perfect as always. Superlatives fail me.

Ganassi: I really liked her actually. I don't care if she's considered "too light" or "too Rossinian", I thought she really worked well for this tough role.

Halfvarson: Very very good.

Lloyd: Underpowered. Shame, but it seems he's really past it, even for such short roles.

Pops: Typical performance by her. Excellent stage presence; her looks are irrelavant, she may be striking but not pretty IMO, but she moves really well. Beautiful timbre in mid range. OK projection but nothing extraordinary. Good technique. BUT threadbare top which gets badly exposed again. I didn't find that she got "tired" in a Act 5 as some critics have commented; I just thought that because she has such difficulty reaching the high notes (true everytime I've heard her, this is my 4th time I've caught her live) she comes out "bleached" in tone.

Villazon: First time I've heard him live. Not impressed at all. He's not bad by any means, but he's not that amazing either. I find his acting over-the-top at best, hammy at worst. He had some trouble with the top notes, but he was announced to be suffering from an allergic reaction so I'll put it down to that. OK projection most of the time (he's been accused of having a small voice, but I've heard worse) but got drowned out by the orchestra occasionally. Nothing terrible to pin on him in general, but he hasn't won me over as a fan. Perhaps next time round.

Conclusion: good effort by CG but neither the best show they've put out this year (Trav, Elisir, Iphigenie were all miles better, didn't catch Tosca), nor justifying the hype or the atrocious prices (190 quid? Please!).

Parsifal said...

Popp Fanatic thanks for the brilliant review! Could i use it for a new post or an update of the existing one???

Anonymous said...

Sure.

Donna Anna said...

Efharisto.
I've listened to most of the tracks but I'll save my judgment until I listen to the BBC broadcast on the 28th.
Furlanetto and Keenlyside RULE--their voices are lasers of passion and gorgeous tone. Ganassi is ok--O don fatale was powerful.
Mio Rolando is not at the top of his game--the orchestra overwhelms him in the second act but he sounds achingly lovely in the final duet with Elisabetta.
Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

And who was that surprisingly excellent L'araldo Reale slash Lerma? Seems like luxury casting to me? Usually some gargling boffin

Parsifal said...

Nikola Matišic !