Saturday, March 6, 2010

Divine Waltraud Meier sings La mort de Cleopatre in Athens


Waltraud Meier in kimono and wearing glasses, amazed the Athenians with a fine performance of La mort de Cléopâtre on February the 27th.


Christoph Eschenbach led the Orchestre de Paris in Berlioz's lyric scene for soprano and orchestra during the first half, while at the second half the fab Orchestra performed Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major (the Titan,"eine Tondichtung in Symphonie-form").


From where I was sitting, where I couldn't have an overall idea of the Orchestra's sound, I heard an excellent orchestra with fantastic strings and brass.

The opinions I heard after Mahler's 1st were divided - some said the Orchestra sounded like a big-band, others that it was fantastic, an excellent performance of the Titan, but that Eschenbach's conduction was narcissistic, and was missing depth and weight.

In any case everybody agreed that Meier was friggin' gorgeous but Cleopatre was too short of a delight for an artist of her caliber. Shut up and worship the Idol, u punks.


Athens, Megaron, 27 Feb 2010

4 comments:

Maria said...

The strings were the BEST I have ever heard in my life.
I do not agree with those who complained about the depth and weight of the conduction. Eschenbach was very good. He also turned to the audience before starting the Titan and said that he devoted that performance to the memory of Christos Lambrakis. I don't know if they knew each other but it was certainly a moving moment and well appreciated by everybody.
No standing ovation but the applause in the end lasted for about 15' !
BTW where were you sitting Parsi and you couldn't have an overall idea of the orchestra's sound?

Anonymous said...

Μακάρι να ξαναέρθει ως Kundry, έστω και αν ήσουν εσύ ο Πάρσιφαλ!!

Anonymous said...

Great pix, thanks for posting. And yes, the Cleopatre piece is short, but it's such a tour de force. I love to hear Meier sing it.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pix!