Thursday, 18 August 2011

Salzburg Iolanta and Rossignol with Anna Netrebko and plenty of Russian talents

Rossignol/Iolanta double bill. Concert performance. August 15th, Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg.
Ivar Bolton conducts the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg. Performers: Julia Novikova, Julia Lezhneva, Antonio Poli, Andrei Bondarenko (all Rossignol), Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala, Alexei Markov, Evgeni Nikitin, John Relyea u.a.

What most will not find surprising:
  • That Iolanta is a role perfectly suited to Anna Netrebko´s darkly coloured soprano, and Tchaikovsky´s somewhat squared phrases suit her perfectly
  • Though Piotr Beczala by all means did well, he was pulverized by Netrebko, both dramatically and vocally, especially in the duet. That he used the score, as opposed to her, did not help either
Otherwise:
  • Alexei Markov (Robert in Iolanta) was stunning and deservedly received the biggest ovation of the evening (Netrebko excluded)
  • Also in live concerts(as opposed to on DVDs) John Relyea comes off as wobbly and shaky, but he gets point for his acting and for having learned the part by heart
  • Julia Novikova (the nightingale) has a too big vibrato especially in the middle register, preventlng the Nightingale from sounding truly beautiful
  • On the other hand Julia Lezhneva was impressive as the cook
  • Andrei Bondarenko, the newly appointed winner of the Song prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, whom many felt should also have won the main prize, used his warm lyrical barytone to portray the Emperor of China.
  • Both Evgeni Nikitin and Antonio Poli mad the most of their relatively small parts
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous18 August 2011 at 23:42

    welcome back!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bogda19 August 2011 at 13:35

    I would also add that John Relyea's russian was outstanding, until I've rechecked the program book, I was very much convinced that he's one of the many Mariinsky's singers in the cast.

    What I really disliked was the orchestra. I've never heard such poorly and emotionally flat played Iolanta.

    Regarding Netrebko, it really shows that she is very comfortable singing in Russian. Her diction was impeccable, one could feel that she really understands and feels everything she is singing. And I guess that this is what she usually lacks when performing non-russian roles. It does make a big difference.

    And yes, Welcome back:)

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  3. Carlos19 August 2011 at 16:38

    I was attending the performance with some friend from Moscow and they also pointed out the excellent Russian accent of John Relyea!

    I was not very much excited with the orchestra. I strongly agree with the comments on Markov. He was really great and got, both on the generalprobe and the premiere, the first big applause of the show.

    Welcome back and it was a pleasure to meet you there in Salzburg ! :-)

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  4. Anonymous23 August 2011 at 20:08

    Markov sang very well in live in hd boris godunov from the MET in the 2010-2011 season.

    asperia

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  5. Anonymous24 August 2011 at 17:55

    Hi Mostly Opera
    I have been missing you very much.
    Glad to see you are back !!

    ReplyDelete