Villazon comeback in Vienna

As in January 2008, Rolando Villazon chose Vienna for his comeback, this time as Nemorino (L´Elisir d´amore), after vocal chord surgery. A logical choice, as he is much loved there, and audiences predictably reacted with major ovations including 5 minutes applause after "Una furtiva lagrima".
Others were rather critical of his performance, to put it mildly.

However, Nemorino is a sort of warm-up round and the next months will show. Next up is Eugene Onegin in Berlin next week in a 100% pre-choreographed Achim Freyer production where he cannot hide behind neither acting skills nor Barenboim´s orchestra.

Until we know how this turns out, why not live in the past: Same singer, same production, same place...same voice?

Best soprano - vote

Rolando Villazon was recently elected the greatest living tenor on stage, whether some of you (including myself) like it or not..At least we´ll know in a couple of weeks exactly how great he is at the moment.

Now it is time to elect the greatest soprano on stage - ie. best currently active soprano. The vote will be between the sopranos listed below, UNLESS I receive alternative suggestions within the next two days, after which the vote shall begin.

Anna Caterina Antonacci
Diana Damrau
Natalie Dessay
Renée Fleming
Angela Gheorghiu
Anja Harteros
Soile Isokoski
Karita Mattila
Waltraud Meier
Anna Netrebko
Adrianne Pieczonka
Dorothea Röschmann
Christine Schäfer
Nina Stemme
Deborah Voigt
Eva-Maria Westbroek

Fura del Baus: Tannhäuser

RAI footage of the unforgiving Karol Wojtyla (aka Pope John Paul II) accompany the third act of the new Fura del Baus staging of Tannhäuser at Scala. Predictably met with booing at opening night.
Otherwise the Catalán theater makers look like themselves:

Met Boris Godunov preview

Director Peter Stein talks about the new Metropolitan Opera production of Boris Godunov, scheduled for the fall of 2010 including HD transmission.

As some may know, Stein has been around for quite some time, being offered to produce the 1976 Nibelungen Ring in Bayreuth, which eventually went to Patrice Chéreau, after Wolfgang Wagner refused to honor Peter Stein´s demand to uncover the famously covered Bayreuth orchestra pit.

Peter Stein is normally a quite stylish producer as evidenced by his earlier Florence production of Simone Boccanegra (available on DVD) and his work may just match Metropolitan Opera audience tastes.
And then he has René Pape as Boris, not to forget..Which means, by the way, that René Pape will not be singing Wotan in the Berlin run of Rheingold with Barenboim this autumn.

Wolfgang Wagner 1919-2010

Wolfgang Wagner died yesterday in Bayreuth, age 90.

Being Richard Wagner´s grandson, his tenure as leader of the Bayreuth Festival virtually lasted more than a lifetime, beginning with the re-opening of the New Bayreuth after World War Two in 1951, jointly leading the Festival with his brother Wieland until his death in 1966 and from then on alone until retirement in 2008.

While Wolfgang Wagner may not primarily be remembered for his achievements as a stage director, where he remained firmly rooted in the camp of Wieland Wagner´s New Bayreuth style, he has proved a succesful leader of the Bayreuth Festival. Mainly through his courage to engage innovative and experimental stage directors as well as his belief in young talents, shaping some of the most distinguished Wagnerian performers of our generation.

At the moment, unfortunately, the quality of both singers and conductors at the Bayreuth Festival has reached an unprecedented low point, and the biggest challenge for the new management (his two daughters Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier) will be to recreate the high musical quality, ultimately essential for the Bayreuth Festival to be anything but a museum.

Unfortunately Wolfgang Wagner never once and for all faced up to his past during the Nazi-infested Bayreuth of the 1930´s and 40´s including the opening of remaining archives from that period. Had he done so, it would, in my opinion, surpass any of his other achievements.

Selected moments 1951-2008:

Eight years before opening the New Bayreuth Festival, Wolfgang Wagner received Hitler in Bayreuth 1940 (visible in the background):

In the 1950´s and 60´s, regular singers in Bayreuth included Astrid Varnay, Hans Hotter, Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek. Among the conductors, Hans Knappertsbusch was a virtually constant presence, below seen conducting Parsifal in Bayreuth 1959 - performances, which will most likely never be surpassed or even equalled:

During his entire tenure Wolfgang Wagner staged several productions of his grandfathers works, starting with Lohengrin in 1953.
Below his staging of the Ring 1974:

In one of the best decision of his career, Wolfgang Wagner decided to follow the advice of Pierre Boulez and hire the young French director Patrice Chéreau to stage The Centenary Ring in 1976, one of the few Wagner stagings which truly deserves the label "legendary".
Below Jeannine Altmeyer and Peter Hoffman in a Walküre Act 1 that is yet to be surpassed on DVD:

Among the directors Wolfang Wagner introduced in Bayreuth, where initially scandalous performances were later acknowledged by many as ground-breaking Wagnerian theater, was Götz Friedrich with Tannhäuser in 1972 (released on DVD) and Harry Kupfer with the Flying Dutchman (1978 - also available on DVD).
Also in these years, some of the foremost Wagnerians of our time began their international careers in Bayreuth, such as Daniel Barenboim (debut and international breakthrough as Wagner conductor with the Ponnelle-directed Tristan in 1981), Waltraud Meier (debut and major breakthrough as a 27-year old Kundry in 1983) and Siegfried Jerusalem (debut as Froh 1976).
Waltraud Meier as Isolde with Daniel Barenboim conducting from Heiner Müllers 1993 Bayreuth production, now available on DVD:

Poul Elming, a Danish tenor, also had his major breakthrough in Bayreuth and is here seen as Parsifal in one of Wolfgang Wagner´s better productions from 1989. Sinopoli conducts:

Wolfgang Wagner´s last staging in Bayreuth was Meistersinger in 1996 (featuring Renée Fleming as Eva), filmed in 1999 and released on DVD.
Daniel Barenboim conducts the ouverture in his last season on the Green Hill in 1999:

In later years Wolfgang Wagner also brought directors such as Claus Guth, Keith Warner, Jürgen Flimm, Stefan Herheim and Christoph Schlingensief to Bayreuth.
Musically, the highlight of recent years has been the conducting of Christian Thielemann. No matter how innovative and inventive the staging approaches are, if the quality of the singers and conductors is not raised, it will all amount to nothing.

An example: Wolfgang Wagner´s daughter Katharina with her 2007 Bayreuth Meistersinger - an interesting staging, but a musically mediocre performance:

Until then, the main reason for visiting the Bayreuth Festival is the unique environment on the Green Hill.
Below Wolfgang Wagner on the stage in the Bayreuth Festival House explaining the world-famous acoustics of the place:

Royal Danish Opera 2010-11 season

The Royal Danish Opera certainly doesn´t seem affected by the economic crisis:

The 2010-11 season, the last with Kasper Holten as artistic director, presents 7 premieres and 3 revivals.

The premieres include Dancer in the Dark (world premiere by Ruders, directed by Kasper Holten), Die Frau Ohne Schatten (d: Holten, c: Schønwandt with Susanne Resmark, Linda Watson, James Johnson etc.), Lulu (d: Herheim), Nabucco (d: Elisabeth Linton), Romeo and Juliette (d: Py), Boris Godunov (Tcherniakov´s production from Berlin with Johan Reuter (Boris) and Stephen Milling (Pimen) and Madame Butterfly (d: Langridge with Maria Luigia Borsi).

Other performances include revivals of Tristan and Isolde (d: Stig Anderen, with himself, Irene Theorin, Susanne Resmark, Stephen Milling etc), Turandot (with Irene Theorin) and Boheme (with Anna Netrebko in two performances).

Full details on performances and cast here.

Pollini plays Liszt

More than 130.000 views and more than 450 (mostly agitated) comments on YouTube accompanies the below clip from ... a piano recital.

Maurizio Pollini plays the Liszt Transcendental Etude no.10. Not typically Pollini repertoire (he hasn´t recorded it), he has used it on several occasions as the final encore, as I heard him do a couple of years ago in Copenhagen.

A show-stopper piece and final encore, Pollini is fast, but what a relief to finally hear a both classical (as opposed to romantic) and powerful approach to this etude.

Whatever one may think of Pollini´s approach, I think all may agree that he certainly is not afraid to genuinely hit the chords here..

Posted on YouTube by 4785689

The greatest living Chopin pianist

Why not celebrate the 200th birthday of Chopin (March 1st 2010) by deciding upon who is the greatest living (=active) Chopin pianist?

Vote below (open one week from now) - if your favorite Chopin pianist does not feature, please use the free text or the comments section, and I may add him/her.

Met 2010-11 season - what do you think?

What do you think about the 2010-11 Metropolitan Opera season? Vote below. Vote ends one week from today (March 7th).

Met HD season 2010-11

Met HD telecast schedule 2010-11:

Rheingold, October 9
Boris Godunov, October 23
Don Pasquale, November 13
Don Carlo, December 11
Fanciulla del West, January 8
Iphigenie, February 26
Lucia, March 19
Comte d´Ory, April 9
Capriccio, April 23
Trovatore, April 30
Walküre, May 14

Cast information etc. here