French Boys Lip-Synching

This made me smile. It is something of the departure from this blog's usual content, but maybe it will make you smile too. The song, which I like, I suspect is by Daft Punk but it may only resemble what they do--- and since I really don't keep up with teh dancemusic the way I used to, hell if I know. In any case, this little vid is delightful from beginning to end and I point out for special recognition the blonde's expression at 2:16.

Don Giovanni in Los Angeles [updated with cast and creative team lists--- I forgot to post them before!]

[Erwin Schrott as the Don]

Two years ago, Los Angeles Opera tried to kill me with a wretched production of Parsifal. A Wilson Abortion that was boring and careless of the hapless audience who was left to wonder what the heck the story was about, as is usual with Wilson productions. One needed to already know the plot or study the synopsis carefully. To be fair the conducting by Nagano was a) as TRH says “ravishing” or b) as I might say “really really good”. Domingo was sick and did not sing either. It was, in short, a long long afternoon.

This year, however, the company redeemed itself with a truly excellent and engrossing Don Giovanni. We saw the closing performance of the run. This was one of those surpassingly rare performances where it all comes together. The staging served the piece beautifully and the musical values both in the pit and on stage were superlative. Myself, TRH, the charming FS, and DR were all so enthused. It was great.

The production first. The abstract and raked set was striking and the use of different colored lighting was dramatic and articulated the various scenes well. The constumes matched the lighting (and were stylized 18th-century). The opera was never trivialized by this production. The production was witty AND mindful of the deeper issues in play and, quite frankly, of the movement of the plot. People as animated trees or the use of mirrors in the second act--- so simple and so effective. And when the Don becomes a giant peacock at the end of act 1 (how odd that sounds) that was just great---and then this jawdropping metamorposis was followed by transmogrification into a devil, which, naturally, only increased our enjoyment. At the end of the opera there is great visual pun. The Don is done, he is spent (spento). An hour glass containing some or other glittery substance is broken open and there is a long smeary line of it spread across the stage. It suggested to me a great big smear of semen and it looked liked it shape-wise (he is spent; the action of the opera is consummated; get it?). And then, at the conclusion DO, DA, DE, Z, L, and M all get on their knees in front of it and gather up some in each hand. As the curtain falls it is catching the light from their open palms and it is beautiful. All the characters could not get enough of him, btw. And this Don was a little homo too. He mounted M and L at different points in the opera.

The Singers were uniformly excellent in my opinion. In TRH’s case, he did not think the Zerlina was top-notch. I wonder if TRH is resistant to a mezzo Zerlina. He says that that is unfair and “that she just did not have it; as opposed to the other singers.” I like the rustic quality that the strength that she showed in the lower register brought to her characterization. The Masetto was strong. When was the last time you said that? DG and L were really really really in command and I and TRH are certain that you could not find better exponents of these roles on other stages right now. DA and DE both gave me and TRH considerable enjoyment. TRH feels though that they were not as good as the boys. My thought on all of this is that the comparisons are somewhat invidious because if you transplanted the DA or the DE into another production, I, for one (TRH may feel differently), would be admiring the DA’s nicely focused timbre and her clear and penetrating top and the evenness of the DE’s voice through all the registers and the acting skills of both. The Don Ottavio had a nice lyric tenor with a solid core that insured that this DO was no eunuch (in spite of the plot). Both of his arias were sung without the straining tone one can so often encounter in this role. There was instead a manly tone and a sense of phrasing that was natural and communicative. In sum, as regards the singers, we were free to enjoy the opera as EVERY role was capably filled.

The conducting. Haenchen chose moderate tempos which added immensely to the enjoyment of the production. When the Don tempts Zerlina with coffee and chocolate toward the end of the first act, the tempo was one the slowest I have ever heard (without being perverse, of course) and this allowed us to appreciate the amazing grace of Mozart’s writing for the violins here as never before.

Conclusion: A truly excellent production with capable singing and high values all around. It is really a treat to attend the opera when it is done to this standard.

CAST LIST
DON GIOVANNI Erwin Schrott
LEPORELLO Kyle Ketelsen
DON OTTAVIO Charles Castronovo
DONNA ANNA Alexandra Deshorties
DONNA ELVIRA Maria Kanyova
ZERLINA Lauren McNeese
MASETTO James Creswell
COMMENDATORE Kang-Liang Peng

CREATIVE TEAM
CONDUCTOR Hartmut Haenchen
DIRECTOR Mariusz Trelinski
CHOREOGRAPHER Emil Wesolowski
SET DESIGNER Boris F. Kudlika
COSTUME DESIGNER Arkadius

Vocal Scene in Wellington: Daniel O'Connor in Recital

I work with AM at Uni. Her son, Daniel O’Connor is a bass-baritone who is going to be starting his fourth year of undergraduate studies next year. This was his End of Year Recital, his final exam, if you will. He is also in the opera chorus so I have seen him on stage in Lucia and Turandot and he was in Purcell’s King Arthur last year and had a nice solo in that work in which he excelled. He also is tall and good looking and handled himself well in KA and indeed in this recital.

He had an ambitious program. It was as follows:

A three-song song cycle by Ravel: “Don Quichotte et Dulcinee”

Two arias from Don Giovanni: Leporello’s catalogue aria and the Don’s serenade to Elvira’s maid in act 2.

Schubert’s Die Wetterfahne

“But who may abide the day of his coming” from The Messiah

The [very lovely] song cycle by Douglas Lilburn, Sings Harry

Let me say that he really sang well. The Ravel songs which I did not know are tricky and I was particularly taken with the last two. The catalogue aria was well done and his strong voice arched through the graceful lines and made a lovely impression. I cannot recall what I thought of the Schubert--- it has been too long now. My favorite moment in the recital (along with the latter two Ravel songs) was the Lilburn song cycle. Lilburn’s idiom owes something to Sibelius and, lovely and honest, it possesses a directness that is similar to Calisle Floyd’s (as in Susannah) though the harmonic choices are different. The poems track very loosely the life of man as he grows up out in the country of the south island. Love is mentioned, his uncles, his father, the countryside and it ends with these words (I quote at some length here):

Then Uncle Jim was off to the wars
With a carbine at his saddle
And was killed in the Transvaal
I forgot in just what battle.

And Uncle Simon left the farm
After some wild quarrel,
Rolled his blanket
And rode off whistling on his sorrel.

My father held to the land,
Running good cattle there,
And I grew up like a shaggy steer
And as swift as a Hare
While the river ran down.

But that was long ago
When the hawk hovered over the hill
And the deer lifted their heads
And a boy lay still
By the river running down,
Sings Harry.

The piano writing and the poetry and beautiful masculine lines of the vocal writing created a situation where my eyes watered a little a bit and I was loving what I was hearing. Obviously at home with this music—he is a NZ young man after all--O’Connor brought this work to life. It is so wonderful, by the way, that this young man is able to communicate musically like this. I look forward to hearing him again.

Anna Leese Returns to Wellington

Well, I have a back-log of remarks to make on various vocal recitals I have seen. In my defense---and I am always mounting a defense it seems--- I had to finish a book review on a book that was in German [go f!@#ing me! such determination! such a surrender to vanity in saying yes in the first place! um!! yeah!? yeah?...] and I am in the throes of composing a presentation for my meeting in Chicago--- they want it so so so early for the respondent---- so it's a good thing--- being responded to at the meeting is good and helpful, but it is cutting into my little sideline of recording vocal happennings in and around Wellington---so that is a downside--- anyway I am going to set things right shortly, "starting here, starting now..."]

I am going to start with a post on Anna Leese's recital first, because I don't have a program for it and I don't want to forget. It was tonight. In the case of the others (which I plan to put up in the next couple of days), I have all the relevant programs, so time therefore ("and clearly" [as some may be tempted to remark, given the lag and I add that NJ playfully punched me in the arm for not writing up the others yet. It kinda hurt but it was kinda a manly bonding thing, so it was A-OK]) has not been of the essence. Oh but how unfair; those who have been waiting will have to wait a little longer! Ahime. Ahime.

So Anna Leese who has been making a name for herself in Britain returned to give a very nice recital. She a lyric soprano who, to my ears, may be able to make some spinto moves in the future. She started out well but was really sounding great during the Puccini. But I loved her portmento stylings in the Verdi. The Mozart and the Handel did not have the same sureness of style that she shows in Verdi and especially in Puccini. [TRH thinks precisely the reverse, btw.] But that said I think she can pursue any of the various avenues on this program. Her voice is a truly lovely one and the way it blooms and gleams on top is so so sweet. The middle is beautiful and possesses an individual and yummy timbre. Her rendition of the La Rondine aria, an especial favorite of mine, gave me chills. Mi chiamano Mimi was really everything you could want. The waltz-song sounded good this time round (just as it did the time before). If I had to cavil, I would have to say that the moments of coloratura in the 18th century rep were not up to the standard she sets and meets elsewhere. But you know I kind of want to STFU on that. I only cavil because I "have to." I hope she comes to a concert hall or opera house near you soon. She is really good. Great things are predicted for her. She is young yet and time will tell--- but she more than deserves watching for what may yet come to be and, quite frankly, what she is right now.

Program:

Bach/Gounod, Ave Maria
Two arias from Handel's Julius Caesar
Mozart, Il Re Pastore Aria
Verdi, Willow Song/Ave Maria

--Pause---

Ariditi, Il Bacio
Puccini, 3 arias from La Boheme
Puccini, Il sogno di Doretta from La Rondine

Two Encores:

Oh Holy Night
Morgen by Strauss

PS: The page turner was teh hottt.