General Opera News

Started by uffeviking, April 08, 2007, 06:49:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

Maciek

#140
Quote from: bhodges on December 03, 2007, 11:07:02 AM
And that disc sounds very interesting, although I'm mildly shocked that it is the first!  Somehow I would have expected other Wagner recordings to have been made, but there you go. 

Don't know why (OK, I suppose I might have some vague idea... ;D) but Wagner has never been very popular in Poland... In fact the first ever staging of the complete Ring took place as late as... the 1980s! (In the National Opera in Warsaw, while Robert Satanowski, a great champion of Wagner's music, was musical director here.)

I do want to emphasize that this is the first complete Wagner opera committed to CD here - we've had scenes etc. before. I think. ;D

uffeviking

Maziek has flooded us with names of Polish composers, ancient and contemporary ones, very much appreciated too, but why, dear friend, have you kept this man a secret?

http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=6513

Maciek

I missed the hormonal rushes, apparently... ;D

No, actually I have heard his name. He's usually mentioned alongside Alexandra (Aleksandra) Kurzak. Though I don't know if they've ever sung together.

uffeviking

#143
An "I don't believe it!" item in this month's edition of Opera's Newsdesk:

"John Treleaven has been made an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Arts at Thames Valley University."

No comment.  ::)

uffeviking

You don't have access to The New York Times? Read about Gudrun Wagner's unexpected death here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/arts/music/29wagner.html

Siedler

Wow: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lRYGEfYf9ds

Waltraud Meier as Isolde from La Scala's new production of T&I.

uffeviking

So many thanks for the goose bumps, dear Siedler!

The is indescribably beautiful, what a treat!

uffeviking

From this month's edition of Opera We hear that . . .:

René Pape will sing Wotan in the La Scala Ring in 2010-11, c. Daniel Barenboim, p. Claus Guth.

Maciek

I've just posted this in the Szymanowski thread but maybe someone here will be interested too:

Don't know how managed to miss this but Hagith (Szymanowski's first opera) seems to have come out on DVD a couple of months ago (or maybe more recently - but not more than a couple of months... 0:)).



DUX 5898A19294

Hagith WIOLETTA CHODOWICZ
Stary Król / Old King TARAS IVANIV
Młody Król / Young King ADAM ZDUNIKOWSKI
Arcykapłan / High Priest WIKTOR GORELIKOW
Lekarz / Medic MACIEJ KRZYSZTYNIAK

Orchestra and chorus of the Wrocław Opera
Conductor TOMASZ SZREDER

Producers

Musical direction TOMASZ SZREDER
Stage direction MICHAŁ ZNANIECKI
Set designs RYSZARD KAJA
Chorus master MAŁGORZATA ORAWSKA
Lights BOGUMIŁ PALEWICZ

Hector

Quote from: uffeviking on December 06, 2007, 07:25:03 PM
An "I don't believe it!" item in this month's edition of Opera's Newsdesk:

"John Treleaven has been made an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Arts at Thames Valley University."

No comment.  ::)

This is one of 'Thatcher's universities' a former technical college upgraded.

He could have just as well got it for woodwork (or woodenwork ;D).

Not that it's educational standards are low, just that it is easier to get into than Oxbridge!

uffeviking

Appreciate this vital upgrade, Hector! It does sound so very impressive to any reader not familiar with some UK educational institutions. John probably made a lovely footstool for his wife's birthday present!  ;D

uffeviking

Winners of the 2008 Musical America Awards include Anna Netrebko (Musician of the Year), Kaija Saariaho (Composer of the Year) and Robert Spano (Conductor of the Year).

I have no idea who or what organisation gives out those awards, never heard of it.  ???

bhodges

Quote from: uffeviking on January 02, 2008, 04:45:30 PM
Winners of the 2008 Musical America Awards include Anna Netrebko (Musician of the Year), Kaija Saariaho (Composer of the Year) and Robert Spano (Conductor of the Year).

I have no idea who or what organisation gives out those awards, never heard of it.  ???

Lis, Musical America is basically a directory (online and in print) of thousands of music-related organizations.  Here is the online link which will give you an idea.  (Although you have to be a member to delve into it much.)

--Bruce

uffeviking

Thanks, Bruce, but as you said, one has to be a member so I could not read more about the Seattle orchestra skirmish! I'll survive!

uffeviking

This is too good to be available only to subscribers of Opera:

Their reviewer Martin Bernheimer writes in this month's issue about the Macbeth performance at the NY Met:

"The old clichés are out. The new devices are in. The time is now-ish, and the unit set -a dark and empty half-circle surrounded by stylized trees - serves many purposes. Pillars rotate, props come and go, symbols descend. There is much fussing with chairs. Beds are to stand on. The witches are frumpy housewives who wield menacing handbags. Military thugs drive a jeep and flourish rifles. Trench coats serve as standard gear, sometimes offset by bathrobes and pyjamas. The befuddled protagonist and his lurid Lady do a lot of dry humping."

Review-writing at it's best!  :)

knight66

I watched the Zeffirelli film of Otello today. He butchers the music. No duet is complete and bars are removed all over the place. The entire concept of through-written music is ignored and there are silences between truncated bits. The singing is all first rate, the visuals also are excellent; but the snipping is really awful. Even the Vengeance Duet is cut. Stay away.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Morigan

Quote from: knight on January 16, 2008, 10:13:56 AM
I watched the Zeffirelli film of Otello today. He butchers the music. No duet is complete and bars are removed all over the place. The entire concept of through-written music is ignored and there are silences between truncated bits. The singing is all first rate, the visuals also are excellent; but the snipping is really awful. Even the Vengeance Duet is cut. Stay away.

Mike

Wasn't it the same with his La Traviata? I don't think you can make a good 2-hour movie with a 3-hour long opera...

knight66

I seem to think his Traviata was pretty complete. It is many years since I saw it; but it was crushed by the lavisness of the sets and costumes; or perhaps smothered. Also, Teresa Stratas did not have the vocal equipment for Act 1.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Sarastro

Quote from: knight on January 16, 2008, 11:14:08 AM
I seem to think his Traviata was pretty complete.

It is monstrously cut.  ::)  BUT, it is a masterpiece of cinema, not of opera, even of something new. As far as I know, Turandot at MET and Aida in Scala are really complete. ;D Staged by him. But it is already theater art...so I just want you not to be so angry with him  ;D, as he tried to compose both genres to make a new combination, and he succeeded. It's not a movie nor an opera, it's a mix...closer to movie of course.

knight66

I thought the Traviata had what were once known as the standard cuts, such as one verse of 'Di Provenza il mar' and so forth. The Otello was full of cuts, a few bars here and a few there. I also did not like that the credits lasted most of the way through the first scene, including Otello's first entry.

Mike

     
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.