Previous month:
June 2008
Next month:
August 2008

The Royal Opera's The Rake's Progress Reviews

Robert LePage's production of The Rake's Progress is currently at Covent Garden. The reviews seem mixed, Rupert Christiansen found the production dull, but Warwick Thompson found it magical. I should have liked to hear John Relyea sing Nick Shadow, as I found James Morris a bit boring in that role last year.

Richard Morrison's Review in the Times Online | Evening Standard | The Stage | musicOMH.com | MusicalCriticism.com | The Telegraph | Bloomberg | Metro | Hugh Canning's Review in the Times Online


Supertitles as Warm Beer

John McWhorter makes an argument for translated operas in this New York Sun article. Personally, I don't particularly like supertitles either, especially ones in English for operas in English, but I do like hearing operas in the original language. To be fair, I do have the advantage of having studied German, Latin, and Spanish, though sometimes this does mean I become distracted by exactly how words have been rendered into English. There are also times when the titles are funny when the libretto is not, or when the ordering of the punchline in the titles is paced such that the audience laughs before the line has been sung. On the other hand, there is something appealing about operas translated into English, for instance, Pocket Opera does a fine job of this.

I recently learned that the Met titles are sometimes in languages other than English, since they are individual screens one can change the language option. I've never used the titles before, which was probably very foolish for something like War and Peace. Just the thought of Doctor Atomic in German makes me giddy, too bad this production overlaps with the San Francisco Opera season.

NY Sun Article | John McWhorter at the Manhattan Institute | Met Titles


Schwabacher Summer Concert 2008

* Notes *
The inaugural indoor Schwabacher Summer Concert occurred yesterday at the Herbst Theatre. YoungJoo An began the evening by singing Tonio's "Si puo?" from Pagliacci. The baritone burst out behind the side door curtains in a most absurd manner. His tone was full and pleasant though his vibrato was a bit out of control at times.

Next up were Ben Wager and Nathaniel Peake as Le Comte des Grieux and Le Chevalier des Grieux in Act II Scene 2 of Manon. For a bass Wager is surprisingly reedy, and tenor Peake has a light, bright voice. Soprano Leah Crocetto (Manon) has lots of vibrato, but is able to maintain good intonation. Her voice is both pretty and piercing.

Before the intermission came the end of Act II Scene 1 of La Traviata with YoungJoo An as Germont and Nathaniel Peake as Alfredo. An did not quite have enough heft for "Di Provenza il mar," and he was off key a few times, but his voice certainly has appeal as well.

The second half of the evening consisted of Don Pasquale's second act. René Barbara was appealing as Ernesto, though his last note in "Cercherò lontana terra" was rather strained. Ben Wager was perfectly untuous in the title role and David W. Pershall was an amusing Dr. Malatesta. Leah Crocetto shone as Norina, she was delightful.

* Tattling  *
The audience was somewhat sparse, and mostly well-behaved. No watch alarms or mobile phones rang, though there was a bit too much talking aloud during the recicative of Don Pasquale.

Apprentice coach Eileen Downey said hello to us before the show, letting us know that the organ music in Manon was just her on a keyboard. We also conversed with soprano Joélle Harvey at intermission, evidently they just finished staging Act I of Don Giovanni for Merola. Cedric of SFist introduced himself at intermission as well.

During this performance, current Merolino Eugene Chan was making his debut at LA Philharmonic in "Carmina Burana."


Opera in The Economist

This week's The Economist has an article on Peter Gelb's simulcasts. San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House are also mentioned.

I especially like these two sentences from the article:

Opera purists are not at all happy about Mr Gelb's foray into cinemas. They argue that opera was made to be seen live in opera houses and they worry that cinemacasts will hasten the demise of an ailing art form.

I believe I know a good many individuals who might like to claim the title "opera purist," and yet I have not heard this sort of thing from anyone. The Met simulcasts are enjoyable, but I hardly think anyone who would normally go to the opera house would go to one in lieu of a real performance. Opera in movie theaters is a supplement rather than a replacement for opera in real life.

Music for the Masses | The Met Live in HD


Sum Up of Summer Madness at SF Opera

Ruth-ann Yesterday's performance of Ariodante concluded the 2007-2008 season at San Francisco Opera. The Summer part of the season was mixed bag this year. Das Rheingold had some interesting ideas as far as production is concerned, but some of the execution was weak. Much of the cast was strong, but I found certain female principals disappointing. Ariodante had excellent singers, but although the production was not distracting, it was not breathtaking either. Lucia di Lammermoor had the incredible Natalie Dessay, some fairly poor and even inaudible singing as well, and a nice clean stage.

General Director David Gockley seemed less accessible, he did not have any question and answer sessions after any of the performances I attended this Summer. It also remained noisy in the house, lots of walkie talkies backstage, and still some high-pitched sounds coming from microphones. No fire alarms were pulled, so that was an improvement. The Lucia simulcast did well, about 23,000 people attended at AT&T Park. The SF Opera podcast has slipped, no new content was added this year, and the introductions for the Summer operas were not up-to-date.

The audience was fair to middling this year. There were a few more cellular phone rings than last Fall, and this would be mitigated by having that annoying announcement played after each intermission. It is unfortunate, but it is better to have the recording admonish us all beforehand than have to hear rings during the music. Also, plenty of watch alarms during the hour were heard, someone really should hold some sort of seminar on how to turn those things off.

The general level of absurdity was sadly quite low, though the unused horse heads for Ariodante and various ideas around featuring haggis in the two Scottish operas were amusing. The Opera Tattler attended a mere 14 of 20 performances, down from 16 of 21 last Summer, so perhaps this was part of the problem. However, given the 2008-2009 season, this trend shall continue.


Ariodante Log

13. June 2008: Final Dress Rehearsal
Opera Tattler Review

15. June 2008: Opening
Opera Tattler Review

18. June 2008: From Box Q
* People clapped for Ruth Ann Swenson when she entered, interrupting the music.
* The floor is squeaky, especially when the dancers are doing pas jetés.
* Susan Graham missed a line in the duet at the end of Act I and looked visibly confused.
* Some audience members whispered during the opera, then at the end whilst clapping, stated it was a once in a lifetime performance.
* There was some talking coming from back stage in Act III, it felt like a slap in the face.
* Ruth Ann had a better performance this time than the opening.

21. June 2008: Cuts in this Production (Besides the 3 Ballets)
* Recitative in Act I Scene VII between Il Re and Odoardo
* Recitative in Act II Scene IV between Polinesso and Dalinda
* Dalinda's Arioso in Act II Scene IV "Se tanto piace al cor"
* Il Re's Aria in Act III Scene IV "Al sen ti stringo, e parto"
* Part of Lurcanio and Dalinda's Duetto in Act III Scene IX

24. June 2008: In the Heavens without a Score
* A late watch alarm sounded during the overture.
* Ruth Ann Swenson's held low note (an F?) in the first aria was strange.
* Verónica Cangemi had a rough start, both shaky and gasping.
* The horn trill in "Voli colla sua tromba la fama" near the beginning of the dal segno was not clear. 
* "Scherza infida" was wonderful, but there were high pitched noises coming from the microphones above the orchestra pit at the end.
* A cellular phone rang during the recicative between Lurcanio and Il Re in Act II Scene VIII.
* I was introduced to bassoonist Rufus Oliver.

27. June 2008: Checking the Cuts
* Confirmed all the cuts listed above.
* The B section and dal segno are omitted from an aria sung by Ginvera in Act III Scene IV.
* Ruth Ann Swenson's held low note in the first aria is at the end of her cadenza. She hit it exactly the same way, an indeterminate pitch that seems slightly too low for her.
* I had a bout of coughing during "Prendi da questa mano," so left for a minute to get some water.
* Cangemi was better in "Il Primo Ardor" this time, though her high notes were harsh in her Act III aria.  
* There was a distinct high-pitched sound coming from above the orchestra in "Scherza Infida" again.
* The horns sounded great, "Voli colla sua tromba la fama" was done very well. There was one hilarious intonation error just before Act II Scene VI.
* During Lurcanio's Act II aria, a man walked from the left side of the balcony to the right to get to the restroom, jangling his keys the whole way. He was asked to be quiet by an usher.
* I met sfmike of Civic Center in standing room, and was introduced to Patrick Vaz of The Reverberate Hills.

1. July 2008: Standing Room in the Orchestra Again
* It is the first half of the recitative in Act I Scene VII that is cut, from the words "Vanne pronto, Odoardo."
* The whole of the recitative "Lo stral ferì nel segno" in Act II Scene IV is cut.
* An exchange between Lurcanio and Dalinda in their Duetto in Act III Scene IX is cut, omitting from "Dunque amasti? O Dio, che sento."
* The choreography for this production is artificial, something I hadn't noticed before as I haven't really been watching the opera lately, only listening.
* Ruth Ann's held low note in the first aria at the end of her cadenza was on and sounded correct.
* The horns were fine, only slightly fuzzy at a few points at the more difficult parts.
* Cangemi was good. Her last aria was hysterical, but not inappropriate.
* Susan Graham fell before her second to last entrance, but she wasn't entirely on stage yet. She maintained her composure.  
* There was a distinct high-pitched sound coming from above the orchestra in the middle of Eric Owens' second aria, "Invida sorte avara."
* Heavy breathing was noted in standing room, but people were rather well behaved this evening. Someone did speak to himself, but not during the singing.
* Some walkie talkie noise was noted during Act II, but there were no other electronic sounds from the audience, at least, not around me.
* A reader of this blog spoke to me in the standing room line, it was nice to hear that I entertain people.
* I met M. C- of The Standing Room in standing room line, but did not get to speak to him as much as I would have liked.

6. July 2008: Final Performance
* Before the performance started Franklin "Pitch" Johnson, Jr. handed off a baton to John Gunn as the new chairman of the SF Opera Board.
* Someone in Box T answered her cellular phone during Ruth Ann's first aria, though she did exit the box before doing so.
* The singing was very strong as was the playing, as one would expect for the last performance of a run.
* Walkie talkie noise was noted in Act III just before "Da dubbia infausta sorte," at least no was music interrupted.
* A few high pitched noises were noted, though not at crucial moments.
* Ruth Ann Swenson received the San Francisco Opera medal, she gave a short speech and she sounded distinctly like a New Yorker.
* After the opera I waited at the stage door and introduced myself to Ruth Ann Swenson and Susan Graham. I felt highly absurd.


5th Performance of Lucia at SF Opera

* Notes *
The Sunday matinée performance of 
Lucia di Lammermoor at San Francisco Opera was quite crowded, despite the Pride events happening nearby. Giuseppe Filianoti (Edgardo) sounded less raveled and also more in tune. Gabriele Viviani (Enrico) was also sounding better. Cybele-Teresa Gouverneur was still inaudible in the sextet as Alisa, though I was able to hear her from Box X for the third performance. Natalie Dessay certainly remained the strongest element in this production, her mad scene in particular is luminous yet vulnerable.

I'm sad to admit it, but so far I just find Donizetti boring, even though I enjoy Bellini and Rossini. This was the 7th time I've attended one of Donizetti's operas, and I was more interested in reading the score than really listening to the music. Naturally, I only know three of his 75 operas, so of course it is absurd of me to dismiss his work at this point. However, I do not look forward to hearing L'elisir d'amore next season, even if the voice behind the blue space alien of Fifth Element fame is singing.

* Tattling  *
This time I decided it would be best to try to read the score in the orchestra, as it was a full house and the balcony had been so tiresome the night before. It was more or less fine, there were the latecomers and such, but they did try to keep it down, as far as volume is concerned. A woman did bring her grade schooler to standing room. It doesn't make sense that the box office would even sell standing room tickets for children, as they cannot see over the railing. It just seems a little mean, though to be fair, the ticket seller probably did not know that someone would be silly enough to take her child to standing room.

One of the ushers had the child sit near me, far away from his mother who was leaning on the railing. The child simply played with his Nintendo DS. This was fine for the first act, as the music was loud, and he was not as bored initially. But by the time Act II rolled around, the child was scribbling furiously with his stylus and this combination of movement, noise, and light was distracting. I looked at him sternly and mouthed "Stop it!" three times before I moved to the other side of the house. After that I was able to concentrate without any trouble, so sometimes it is just best to walk away.