Having found no better way to celebrate his 31st birthday, Parsi flew for an express-trip to La Ciutat Comtal. A lot of things have changed in Barcelona during the last years but one thing is still a standard. El Gran Teatre del Liceu is most probably the best theatre in Europe (OK, together with the ROH). I had the same impression back then (no dates and years to be mentioned, birthdays are killing me), and after my two-night Liceu-excursion I still have it.
Night 1, and my first encounter with René Pape, a most expected one-especially ever since he stated in an interview that he won't be singing for very long. Mendelssohn's Elijah (Elias actually, as it was performed in the German edition) is not my favourite oratorio. As a matter of fact oratorios are not my thing. Hence I really couldn't tell if the sense of boredom I had during the performance was a result of travelling, of the lack of rest or/and of working like a slave during the whole week. But then I suppose that the people around me that were sleeping sound (and I saw quite a few) must have had the same killer-week.
The huge coro of the Liceu that had flooded the stage created a massive sound that could not leave you untouched, however the impressive sound would be drowned by their poor co-ordination. All soloists, Camilla Tilling, Katarina Karnéus, Werner Güra and René Pape, did some very high-level singing but nothing to rave about. Oh, and René Pape does possess an indescribable star-quality as he would lock everyone´s gaze everytime he stood in front of his music stand, but he looked and sounded totally bored.
The audience was exemplary, no coughing, no cell-phones, no talking, no humming. Most probably because everybody had fallen asleep.
The torrential rain that had started about an hour before the performance was still flooding Las Ramblas and it was time to grab a cab and head to la Barceloneta for some serious shell-food eating, cava and birthday wishes.
Night 1, and my first encounter with René Pape, a most expected one-especially ever since he stated in an interview that he won't be singing for very long. Mendelssohn's Elijah (Elias actually, as it was performed in the German edition) is not my favourite oratorio. As a matter of fact oratorios are not my thing. Hence I really couldn't tell if the sense of boredom I had during the performance was a result of travelling, of the lack of rest or/and of working like a slave during the whole week. But then I suppose that the people around me that were sleeping sound (and I saw quite a few) must have had the same killer-week.
The huge coro of the Liceu that had flooded the stage created a massive sound that could not leave you untouched, however the impressive sound would be drowned by their poor co-ordination. All soloists, Camilla Tilling, Katarina Karnéus, Werner Güra and René Pape, did some very high-level singing but nothing to rave about. Oh, and René Pape does possess an indescribable star-quality as he would lock everyone´s gaze everytime he stood in front of his music stand, but he looked and sounded totally bored.
The audience was exemplary, no coughing, no cell-phones, no talking, no humming. Most probably because everybody had fallen asleep.
The torrential rain that had started about an hour before the performance was still flooding Las Ramblas and it was time to grab a cab and head to la Barceloneta for some serious shell-food eating, cava and birthday wishes.
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