Met Opera Choices, 2010-2011

[Guest alanm]

People like me who do not live in New York can buy Met tickets beginning Sunday, August 15.

 

I would love to know what people are thinking (understand that some may have subscriptions or have patron status).

 

This season is Down Time for me, I have seen at least ten operas a year for the last 5 years (not just at the Met).

 

My picks so far (can I really hold it down to only 4)? I hope so!

 

Operas I have never seen: Boris Godunov, Le Comte Ory

 

Personal favorites: Simon Boccanegra

 

Perhaps the Most Interesting Cast: Die Walkure (Voigt, Terfel and Jonas Kaufmann)

[whipped guy]

I am in the process of deciding as well.

 

As mentioned in the other thread my top choice is Rossini's Le Comte Ory... as it is simply an orgy of musical delights... as well as bordering on being an orgy in the literal sense as well. It also stars two of my favorite singers... Joyce Di Donato and Juan Diego Florez.

 

Staying in a Rossinian mold, I would like to see Armida again as there was some symbolism that I apparently missed the first time around, plus I can never get enough Rossini. Plus Lawrence Brownlee will again appear as Rinaldo, and I can't get enough of him either.

 

Other favorites I will consider are Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Iphigenie en Tauride, and Don Pasquale.

 

I'll stop at five...though, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Don Carlo, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Das Rheingold, and Die Walkure deserve honorable mention.

 

Of the above I have never seen Ory, Pasquale, and Rheingold.

[+ Charlie]

I don't get to NYC very often any more, but I expect to be there the night of the Boris Godunov premiere, and I am very curious to see what Rene Pape does with the role.

[+ Charlie]

Whipped, I am stunned that you have never seen a standard like Rheingold (of course, I have to admit that I was in my fifties before I saw my first Barber of Seville).

[whipped guy]

Whipped, I am stunned that you have never seen a standard like Rheingold (of course, I have to admit that I was in my fifties before I saw my first Barber of Seville).

Actually there are really quite a number of "standards" that I have never seen... I guess that if something is a "standard" you somehow feel that you are sufficiently familiar with it that you need not bother to see it. I have always felt compelled to see something a bit more obscure as well as operas from the 18th and earlier 19th Centuries that really float my boat and are rarely presented. That I don't live in NYC also complicates matters... So I have seen Delibes' Lakme, Rossini's Ermione, and Verdi's Attila (twice in two different productions), but incredibly not Aida or Butterfly, to name but two popular pieces that come immediately to mind.

[+ Charlie]

You obviously have very refined tastes. (Where on earth did you see Ermione?!)

[whipped guy]

You obviously have very refined tastes. (Where on earth did you see Ermione?!)

Charlie... Well refined in the sense that I know what I like and prefer...

 

I saw Ermione at NY City Opera in 2004 and it was quite effective... especially the last scene in which the emotions expressed are as violent as those expressed in any verismo shocker, but in a wild bel canto style. I will never forget the look on Orestes face as he vainly attempted to reach out to the crazed Hermione as the curtain fell...as Pylades and his other fellow Greeks simultaneously dragged him off the stage to safety from Hermione's avenging Eumenides.

[migueldeltoro]

If I could make it out there I would choose Queen of Spades (minus Karita Mattila - very disappointed by her last Carnegie Hall recital) or Les Contes D'Hoffmann which I'm convinced I'll never get to see and hear in Seattle. Speaking of which if anyone is in the area, Peter Kazaras' direction of Tristan und Isolde at Seattle Opera is fantastic. It's running through August 21st.

[Guest alanm]

If I could make it out there I would choose Queen of Spades (minus Karita Mattila - very disappointed by her last Carnegie Hall recital) .. .

 

 

Perfect timing, Miguel. I went back through this season's Met operas and realized that I had seen Queen of Spades and Cosi Fan Tutti only on DVD, not live on stage.

 

So I will substitute Queen of Spades for the Verdi opera, which I have already seen three or four times.

 

Charlie, perhaps we will attend the same performance of Boris Godunov.

 

I agree with Whipped about picking the more obscure operas, especially by Verdi, Rossini or bel canto composers, over operas that will be back next season or the season after.

 

All the comments are helpful, especially when you add up the cost of Met tickets plus the trips back and forth from Philadelphia where I live.

 

Alan

[tealady]

the director of Boris is gone

 

be careful of Boris,

 

it starts rehearsals in a few weeks, and the director quit,

 

who ever comes in to save the day is stuck with someone else's new set, costumes, and cast.

 

This would be a big red flag to me.

 

but train wrecks are fun to watch!

 

Question do you go to see the show or the productions, please give me the old met with the GRAND OPERA sets and costumes, the new traviata is one set and tuxes, and only one little red dress.

[+ Charlie]

be careful of Boris,

 

it starts rehearsals in a few weeks, and the director quit,

 

who ever comes in to save the day is stuck with someone else's new set, costumes, and cast.

 

This would be a big red flag to me.

 

but train wrecks are fun to watch!

 

Question do you go to see the show or the productions, please give me the old met with the GRAND OPERA sets and costumes, the new traviata is one set and tuxes, and only one little red dress.

The more things change, etc. I saw a Traviata production nearly 40 years ago in which everything was black and white except for Violetta's red dress.

[Guest alanm]

Concerning Boris Godunov and the director----

 

Peter Stein quit several weeks ago after the mixed reviews (very negative from the New York Times) to his marathon production of "The Demons."

 

But, it is disturbing for the director of such an important production to quit -- at least it was not at the last minute.

 

 

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/peter-stein-withdraws-from-boris-godunov/

[jackcali]

Question do you go to see the show or the productions, please give me the old met with the GRAND OPERA sets and costumes, the new traviata is one set and tuxes, and only one little red dress.

 

I agree wholeheartedly, tealady, bring on the old Grand Opera sets and costumes! I saw the new and somewhat controversial Luc Bondy production of Tosca last year. The voices were fine but the sets and costumes, while striking, were not as moving or as interesting as the music. I would much rather have seen the "old" Zefferelli production, which had sets (those sets!), costumes, lighting, stage direction, etc. that were so beautiful that a deaf person would have been transported watching a performance.

[whipped guy]

I agree wholeheartedly, tealady, bring on the old Grand Opera sets and costumes!

Jack... I agree as well!!! Junk those minimalist sets... and even when they are not minimalist they often are at odds with the music and libretto... or are simply plainly stupid in their conception... such as in last seasons Attila where the chorus and some of the cast were garbed in 21st Century urban and looked as though they just wandered in from shopping at Abercrombie or Structure. The sets in the first scene where the stage was full of Roman ruins made sense... but nothing after that even came close... so just a totally garbled concept... On the other hand I was quite impressed with Bartlett Sher's Hoffmann... so there is still hope! As for the MET's Tosca and new Traviata... I wouldn't go near them with a ten foot pole... That is NOT opera...

[Guest alanm]

After a few bad experiences with live opera DVDs, I have learned to do some homework before purchancing. Sometimes the story is totally muddled in artsy dream sequences, other times the costumes clash badly with the scenery. AS to the singing and acting, well that is often the major problem. I can take just about anything in a theater, but at home I have too many other options to watch or listen to something that bores me greatly.

 

As an example, here is an Amazon.con listing for Wagner's Lohengrin with one of operas newest stars. Some people like it, most do not. I understand the option of just listening and turning off the visual part of the opera, but I hate doing that. How have others coped with this problem -- or am I just being picky?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lohengrin-Jonas-Kaufmann/dp/B003AMAOW4/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1281449480&sr=1-1-catcorr

[+ Charlie]

Watch it once (how could you not enjoy looking at Jonas Kaufman?), then--if you hate the production--just put it on in the background and listen to it as though it were a CD. I admit that the concept sounds awful, but no worse than the last Lohengrin I saw in Germany (Hamburg Staatsoper), which was set in a German high school class in the 1950s, with Elsa as a student and Lohengrin as the new boy in the class. The period detail was clever, but the idea was ridiculous.

[whipped guy]

After a few bad experiences with live opera DVDs, I have learned to do some homework before purchancing. How have others coped with this problem -- or am I just being picky?

I check out You Tube because many of what is released on DVD is broadcast on TV... also I read lots of reviews American Record Guide, Fanfarew, Gramophone... As an example, I mentioned above how the final scene of Ermione moved me... A recent DVD release made a sham of the ending... whereby the dead body of Pirrus is seen impaled and bloody as the curtain falls... I caught it on You Tube... therefore NO PURCHASE NECESSARY... I did manage to get a copy of the audio from the RAI Tre broadcast... that is fine for me... as vocally the performance is quite satisfying.

 

Also, I have copied the audio and burned it to CD (and/or transferred it to my iPod) from DVDs that did not warrant repeated viewing... but also had satisfying vocal performances.

[whipped guy]

MET Choices...

 

My choices for the MET season were unfortunately based on when I would be in the NYC area and certain other scheduling factors. Fortunately I managed to include my two Rossini choices... Le Comte Ory and Armida. Also, even though I have seen the production twice and am not exactly enthralled by it, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor was at a convenient time and in spite of the fact that Dessay is hardly a favorite of mine (and I saw her do it two years ago)... The fourth choice was Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride.

 

Somehow I would like to catch a bit of the Ring... and in spite of my weak bladder...

[+ Charlie]

My choices for the MET season were unfortunately based on when I would be in the NYC area and certain other scheduling factors. Fortunately I managed to include my two Rossini choices... Le Comte Ory and Armida. Also, even though I have seen the production twice and am not exactly enthralled by it, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor was at a convenient time and in spite of the fact that Dessay is hardly a favorite of mine (and I saw her do it two years ago)... The fourth choice was Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride.

 

Somehow I would like to catch a bit of the Ring... and in spite of my weak bladder...

 

Iphigenie en Tauride was the first Gluck opera I ever saw (with Sena Jurinac), and I got hooked. There is a lovely recording made about a quarter century ago by John Eliot Gardiner, with Diana Montague, Thomas Allen and John Aler, that I finally stopped playing because I was afraid I would wear it out. I need to dig it out and listen to it again.

[whipped guy]

Charlie... I fell in love with Iphigenie when I saw it several years ago at City Opera in NYC. It was updated and the production was not pleasing to view. However, the staging did play up a homo-erotic relationship between Orestes and Pylades... However, it did get a bit over the top so as to elicit some groans from the audience.

 

In any event, given his current vocal state, the role of Orestes should be perfect for Placido Domingo at this stage of his career. As what the MET's production looks like, I have no clue...

[Guest alanm]

Two weeks after everyone else, I finally bought tickets to two Met operas: Le Comte Ory & Boris Godunov. I wanted to see (and hear) "Die Walkure" with Voight, Kaufmann and Terfel, but I could not find a fit either performance or $$$ wise. You guys tempted me with Iphigenie & Armida. I still have time to change my mind.

 

Charlie, I was able to get good, relatively cheap seat for Boris Gudinov for the Saturday matinee in Oct. with Gergiev. So I look forward to hearing about the first performance, which will also be on Met radio.

 

I have been enjoying the Callas comments. I like her a lot, but have seldom ventured into her live recordings. Is there one or two that are an absolute must?

 

Alan

[whipped guy]

I could not find a fit either performance or $$$ wise.

My choices were limited by my schedule, or rather the MET's failure to schedule things conveniently for me.

I have been enjoying the Callas comments. I like her a lot, but have seldom ventured into her live recordings. Is there one or two that are an absolute must?

A personal favorite in addition to the Anna Bolena discussed in the other thread is the 1955 La Scala Norma with Simionato as a fabulous almost soprano-like Adalgisa and Del Monaco as a loud but quite effective Pollione. Callas outdoes herself with the perfect blend of vocal accomplishment and dramatic values. Her high notes are steady and the voice is as plush as it ever sounded and that includes a high C that elicits gasps of admiration from the audience. The Callas voice is usually not described as being "beautiful". It is definitely "beautiful" in this performance. The only fly in the ointment is the conducting of Antonino Votto who is a bit out of sorts compared to Serafin and even when compared to his other outings with this opera. Of course there is the famed Berlin Lucia under von Karajan…I could go on… but right now the Bolena and La Scala Norma would be my top choices… and the best CD versions are those from Divina records. However, the Norma is decently represented via an inexpensive Gala release... the Bolena via a dull sounding version from the budget Opera D'Oro label.

 

Ask the question tomorrow and I might change my mind... but the Scala Norma is my favorite of her many versions.

[Guest alanm]

Are you aware of Terrence McNally's play "The Golden Age," which takes place backstage at the first performance of "I Puritani" in 1835. Bellini and the entire cast are the major performers, but Callas's EMI recording of "I Puritani" is often played in the background (and sometimes in the foreground) when the lead soprano is on stage. It's stunning to hear Callas with such excellent sound quality provided by the theater. One would almost think Callas herself was on stage. I believe "The Golden Age" just played Philadelphia and the Kennedy Center a year or two ago, could be wrong.

 

Thanks so much for the recommendations. I am very familar with Norma and Lucia (not with Callas), so either opera, or both, are especially good suggestions.

[whipped guy]

Are you aware of Terrence McNally's play "The Golden Age,"...One would almost think Callas herself was on stage. I believe "The Golden Age" just played Philadelphia and the Kennedy Center a year or two ago, could be wrong.

I was not aware of it... However, the experience must have been quite surreal!

Thanks so much for the recommendations. I am very familar with Norma and Lucia (not with Callas), so either opera, or both, are especially good suggestions.

It would be interesting to get the suggestions of others as well as there is something about Callas heard live that often transcends her studio efforts... There is certain aspect about performing without that safety net that adds an indescribable aura of excitement, and more so with Callas given the fact that the Callas voice was so volatile at times. However, even when the voice did not respond perfectly to her wishes she often had the uncanny ability to turn a vocal defect into a dramatic plus. As an example the final high D at the end of Act Two of the Berlin Lucia tends to wobble a bit and go out of focus... bur she hangs onto it and holds it longer than in any of her other recordings... The end result being one feels and hears the utter desperation of Lucia's predicament. I could go on...

[Guest Chicagokok]

I agree with Whipped on the BOLENA and NORMA--the 55 NORMA is also my favorite, but the 52 from London finds her in better voice, but the surrounding cast is not as good, though certainly nothing to complain about.

 

As for the gasps from the audience during a high C in the 55 NORMA, I always took those as people in the audience wondering if she was going to make the note or not! Kind of like a high wire act. Also toward the end of that performance, when Norma accuses herself, the audience reaction after "Son io" is just great! You never hear anything like that these days.

 

As for Callas voice in live theater, I saw a production at Steppenwolf of KAFKA'S DREAM, and in it they used Callas recording of "Mi chiamano Mimi." I was surprised, since there is no reference to Callas at all in the play and she is not known for this role only having done it in the studio.

 

Other live performances I would recommend are the Dallas MEDEA from 58 or the Cologne SONNAMBULA from 57. Both find her in great form and the sound is very listenable. And her Lisbon TRAVIATA is my favorite!