Ephigenie En Tauride

[doitb4ugo]

I have just gotten home from the Mets Live in HD performance of Glucks opera, Ephigenie En Tauride. Not be very familiar with opera in general, I very much enjoyed this performance.

 

I need to thank Whipped Guy for encouraging me to try this somewhat difficult art form by seeing a number of opera in my local theater.

 

This performance was the best I have seen so far. I was quite impressed with every aspect of this opera. I liked the music in its simplicity and emotional appeal. The singing by the three major characters was exceptional, Placido Domingo, Susan Graham, and Paul Groves.

Also I liked the fact that the dramatic elements were very sucessfully integrated into the wjole of the performance....Set was simple yet effective and the ise of a chorus added to the effects of the drama....All in all a great experience and I will now start researching to find other operas that might appeal to me. It's a big world out there and I have just had my first taste....

 

Again, Whipped, you may have created a monster.

 

P.S. Patrick Summers, the conductor, was cute.....I won't go into the bondage elements in the production....I can always bring things down to my level.

[Lohengrin1979]

Placido Domingo is my idol as a tenor and a testament to staying virile and relevant into your 70's. Susan Graham has a voice like melted maple butter and Paul Groves....well...he's not my type of tenor. I wish you happy adventures. Opera is a breathtaking art.

 

Lohengrin1979

[whipped guy]

I saw this opera at NY City Opera a number of years ago and the staging was ugly and took place in a cult/military compound with soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms. The director overly played up the "love" relationship between Orestes and his sidekick Pylades almost to the point of parody... the audience almost laughed out loud as the two men kept groping each other during their imprisonment...

 

Incidentally Placido Domingo sings Orestes... which is basically a baritone role in this opera with Paul Groves taking the tenor role of Pylades. Domingo has tackled a number of baritone roles... Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Simon Boccanegra to name two others.

[+ Charlie]

I saw the opera many years ago at Covent Garden, in a really tired traditional production. However, the Iphigenie was Sena Jurinac, and she made up for everything else.

[William]

Last Saturday's Performance of Iphigenie en Tauride

 

As other posters have remarked, the Met's production is excellent. (This is the same as its 2007 production, with the same leads--Graham, Domingo, Groves. I believe the Met did not produce this opera for about 90 years before the 2007 production.)

 

The audience was told before the curtain went up that Graham and Domingo were both suffering from head colds. Uhoh. Yet Susan Graham was magnificent, as vocally beautiful as she was in 2007. A mezzo suprano, Graham "owns" this particular role.

 

Domingo is past his prime, and yes Oreste is not a tenor role. Given his age and head cold, Domingo gave a good vocal performance; dramatically, he remains excellent. And I thought he interacted well with Groves, a wonderful tenor who is well-suited for Pylade and nailed his arias beautifully.

 

The production as a whole is most satisfying--dramatic, wonderful characters, and a sweet relationship between two tenors. The music by Gluck is haunting and deep.

[whipped guy]

Gluck and Rossini as well at the MET

 

I attended the final performance of Iphegenie this past March 5. Graham was in powerful but squally voice for the first act, but calmed down to give a fine rendition of her big aria that closes the second act. Domingo started out a bit rough as well but soon was his present day normal reliable self. Still, he sounded as a tenor even though singing a so-called baritone role... personally I have always considered the role of Orestes to be more effective when sung by a low tenor... it just seems to mesh better with his higher tenor side-kick Pylades. The production is really powerful and the MET's orchestra at times almost sounded as if it were a period instrument band.

 

Incidentally, I saw the final performance of Rossini's Armida earlier in the day. I am not overly enthralled with Mary Zimmerman's production other than it is better than what she did with La Sonnambula. A few cuts were taken this year mainly in the first act and mostly involving repeated sections.... I felt a bit cheated especially as a portion of the final section of the first love duet was cut. Renee Fleming was quite good in the difficult title role, Laurence Brownlee was outstanding in the lead tenor role of Rinaldo... of the other tenors in the cast John Osborne and Antonio Siragusa took the honors.

 

It was a marathon of a Saturday... but the best part of the weekend was yet to come... that being a visit to the NY Bondage Club on Sunday evening...