Vienna: Forza del destino - last DVD of Salvatore Licitra

Forza del destino. DVD. Vienna State Opera 2008. Production: David Pountney. Conductor: Zubin Mehta. Cast: Nina Stemme (Leonora), Salvatore Licitra (Don Alvaro), Don Carlo di Vargas (Carlos Alvarez), Nadia Krasteva (Preziosilla), Alastair Miles (Marchese di Calatrava).

“The power of fate” - the butterfly effect - a butterfly flashes its wings somewhere initiating a chain reaction setting events in motion somewhere else. In this case the accidental shooting of Leonora´s father by her lover Don Alvaro, which sets the action in motion.

An elegant minimalistic David Pountney production held in white, black blue, plus the odd red colours and scaffolds. If you know Pountney´s work, you´ll know what to expect. I was present in the theatre during this run of performances in 2008, and I´ll have to say it comes over better in DVD than live as the close-ups and large video projections suit Pountney.
But not only that: Nina Stemme, whom I remember as rather unpleasantly-sounding in the theatre is still not really at her best, though vastly better here than I remember her in the theatre. Nadia Krasteva looked good and feisty and came off well vocally as well. As for the gentlemen, Salvatore Licitra, since then deceased in an auto accident, sang with a warm tone while Carlos Alvarez made an effective "villain".

Zubin Mehta you may judge yourself in the ouverture /symptomatic for the take on the work) below:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3= average):

Nina Stemme: 3-4
Salvatore Licitra: 4
Carlos Alvarez: 4
Alastair Miles: 4
Nadia Krasteva: 4

Zubin Mehta: 3-4
Poutney´s production: 4

Overall impression: 3

DVD: Zurich Parsifal

Parsifal. Zürich Opera 2007. Production: Hans Hollmann. Conductor: Bernhard Haitink. Cast: Christopher Ventris (Parsifal), Yvonne Naef (Kundry), Matti Salminen (Gurnemanz), Michael Volle (Amfortas), Rolf Haunstein (Klingsor), Andreas Hörl (Titurel).

This Parsifal was recorded live at the Zurich Opera House in April 2007 during the run of performances, of which I attended one.


Hans Hollmann´s production is from 1996 and has now been replaced. Hollmann presents what I consider an essentially religious view of the work: Mist and light. Water, purification? Abstract, quadratic and aesthetic designs. Hollmann says: "Wagner presents only possibilities - Parsifal can never be wholly fathomed by interpretation."

Well said. However, Hollmann seems to have restricted, rather expanded on Wagner´s work, though the simplicity of the sets rather act as a backdrop for Wagner´s glorious music. Not the worst interpretation at all, but also not ideal: In both Act 1 and 3 we are in a 19th century class-room. Mist, water. On the wall : Wasser. Later: Blut. The knights are blind. In Act 2 a mirror flips in Klingsors imaginary castle surrounded by candelabres. We could be in Musée des Art et Métier in the middle of an Umberto Eco novel.

Bernhard Haitink was never a favourite of mine, though he probably is the raison d´etre for this DVD. Some find him close to ideal in this repertoire. To me, he lacks a certain ggrandiosity and above all the sense of dynamics. Both Barenboim and Thielemann, among the presently active conductors have this. Haitink lingers too long in the middle ground without approaching the extremes. Valery Gergiev, coincidentally, presents with much the same type of reading on his newly released Parsifal CD.

Yvonne Naef is a wonderfully darkvoiced and secure as Kundry, but rather restrained on stage and nowhere close to Waltraud Meier´s definitive Kundry. Christopher Ventris is a fine Parsifal, but the best performances come from Matti Salminen and Michael Volle.
Salminen has one of those voices which just ages wonderfully well: No wobbles a la John Thomlinson, but instead he has kept his firm steady tone, His stage presence, of course, is intact.
And Michael Volle, just about ideal for Amfortas and probably the best Amfortas I have heard live.
Adequate justification for a DVD? Probably not. Why would one return to this version, now that we have Barenboim/Kupfer? Not for Salminen, who can be seen on the Baden-Baden DVD with Waltraud Meier, though I do find Haitink superior to Kent Nagano. And next month we will see the new Met Parsifal with JonasKaufmann and René Pape, probably to be released on DVD as well, which will be a strong competitor unless the staging turns out to be completely hopeless..

The flowermaidens:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Christopher Ventris: 4
Yvonne Naef: 4
Matti Salminen: 4-5
Michael Volle: 5

Hans Hollmann´s production: 3

Bernhard Haitink: 4

Overall impression: 3

olga peretyatko

Olga Peretyatko - La bellezza del canto. München Rundfunkorchester conducted by Miguel Gomes-Martinez.

Olga Peretyatko is a Russian soprano, born in St. Petersburg 1980. Initially in the childrens choir at the Mariinsky theater, she received her formal training at Hans Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Between 2005-7 she was a member of the Young Artist programme at the Hamburg State Opera and has continued as a freelance from then on. Earlier this year she jumped into the opening of Elisir d´Amore in Baden-Baden and her career is definitely on the rise with a Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2013-14 season as Elvira in I Puritani.

Based on this CD it is clear why. Hers is a very clear soprano with a distinct quality in upper middle register and a clear top.

La bellezza del canto is the sort of CD equivalent to a business card. While personally I prefer lieder disc or orchestral songs, artistic entities opposed to a mish-mash, it wouldn´t be fair to Olga Peretyatko to blame her for a rather conventional choice of arias (Gilda, Olympia, Manon, Don Pasquale, L´elisir d´amore),
She shows how she performs in work she potentially would be engaged to perform at stage.

And obviously it is easier for a casting director to judge her on that than try to suss out how her Gilda would be based on a song compilation of Messiaen. And for members of the general public to have an idea about her voice.

So for a presentation of Olga Peretyatko, this is as good as can be. And as she definitely qualifies as a rising star, now may be a good time to acquaint oneself with her.

Olga Peretyatko as Mathilde di Shabran:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

4

renée fleming - poemes

Renée Fleming - Poemes. 2012. Ravel: Scheherazade, Messiaen: Poemes pour Mi, Dutilleux: Le temps l´horloge.

At this point of her career, I´d say that original writing on a Renée Fleming release is virtually impossible. Unless, of course, her performance on this disc is different from her usual type of performance. Or her voice/her interpretation is different from what she showed us on her last disc. Which it isn´t really.
Yes, she has, or rather she had one of  the most glorious lyric voices of this century. Yes, she is somewhat past her vocal prime easily proven by listening to her recordings up through the 1990´s and early 2000, such as those with Solti. And yes, her vocal style is quite specific and either you like it or you don´t, in which case you´d call her singing mannered. All of this has been pointed out previously by myself and others, and more than once..

However, all this taken into account, some of her releases are still better than others. And this present CD is probably the best I have heard from her in years. Not the least due to the repertoire presented, which is quite simply excellent. And as for style, she is far less mannered, you may say, than she is on her recent Richard Strauss recording with Christian Thielemann.

Yes, there are better recordings of Scheherazade, among the more recent Veronique Gens and Magdalena Kozena, on the market. Also, Poemes pour Mi have been better done though not excessively recorded: Anne Schwanewilms as well as Francoise Bollet with Pierre Boulez in the orchestral version as well as Susanna Philips with the piano version are all superior to Renée Fleming.

Dutilleux´ 14-minutes song cycle is written for herself, and as this is a world premiere recording, there obviously is no competition, but Fleming nevertheless impresses in this work with impressionistic qualities.

However, because of Renée Flemings status this will probably be a benchmark recording within this repertoire, especially the Poemes pour Mi, which really is an exceptional song cycle deserving to be performed much, much often.

Renée Fleming, Poemes trailer:

Overall impression (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

4

happy new year!



Patricia Petibon shines in a new Rigoletto in Munich

Rigoletto. Live streaming from Munich. December 30th, 2012. Production: Arpad Schilling. Conductor: Marco Armiliato. Cast: Joseph Calleja (Duke), Franco Vassallo (Rigoletto), Patricia Petibon (Gilda), Nadia Krasteva (Maddalena), Dmitri Ivashchenko (Sparafucile).

• This new production replaces the infamous Planet of the Apes proction (by Dorris Dörrie), that I unfortunately never saw, but of which several famous Gildas (Diana Damrau, Anna Netrebko) spoke very negatively
• According to Arpad Schilling, his interest in Rigoletto is to show the sliding transition between theatre and real life - ie. where the theatre stops and the real life begins. Why this applies specifically to Rigoletto is not entirely clear,  but perhaps he took his inspirations from the theatre-like scenes in the Duke´s palace between the Duke/Rigoletto (the actors) on one side vs. the noblemen (the spectators).
• In any case, the production almost approaches a concert version, with a amphitheatre-like set up with the crowd/noblemen facing the spectators in the theatre, and the principal characters moving in front of either them or a huge curtain. This gives more than an element of Greek tragedy to the performance, underlined by the masks that comes on and off.
• Definitely less controversial than last time around, but also less than fully engaging. However, the singing was top-notch:
• Joseph Calleja is simply glorious as the Duke and I don´t think many better tenors are around. Except, of course, Jonas Kaufmann, that in addition has the stage charisma, the only thing Calleja lacks.
• Patricia Petibon is a very moving Gilda, and an exceptional stage presence. I have heard many Gilda-sopranos explain that Gilda is a multi-faceted character that opposes her father as well as loves him, but Petibon is the first I have seen that convincingly brings this interpretation to the stage. On CD she has occasionally sounded overstretched and vocally approching the condition of Natalie Dessay, but not so here, where she was in fine voice in a role, which is not too heavy for her.
• Though perhaps not overly charismatic, Franco Vassallo sings beautifully as Rigoletto.
• In the pit Marco Armiliato was efficient, as were Ivashchenko and Krasteva as the "villains".
• Despite fine and engaging performances from the singers, these theatre-within-theatre concepts often tends to become too artificial, draining the energy from the piece and this was not really an exception.

Production video:

Triple Carsen, triple DVD, triple show



Three productions by Robert Carsen, all already released on DVD, all previously reviewed here, opened the 2012-13 seasons in Paris and Venice:

Les Contes d´Hoffmann. Bastille Opera, September 12th 2012. Production: Robert Carsen. Conductor: Tomas Netopil. Cast: Stefano Secco (Hoffmann), Jane Archibald (Olympia), Sophie Koch (Giulietta), Ana Maria Martinez (Antonia), Kate Aldrich (Muse), Franck Ferrari (Villains).

• An elegant theatre within the theatre production taking place during a performance of Don Giovanni, already released on DVD and reviewed in detail a couple of years ago. However with an entirely different cast of singers now presented:
• Stefano Secco, is a competent, though neither very distinctive or individual Hoffmann. The same goes for Franck Ferrari´s villains.
• Jane Archibald, the coloratura soprano who seems to be everywhere at the moment, most definitely has the notes for Olympia, but she also seems to lack a certain distinctiveness.
• Individuality is something which Sophie Koch definitely has, though coupled with an at times somewhat excessive vibrato in the best performance of the evening together with:
• Ana Maria Martinez, who has a quite exceptional voice with a very distinctive high-frequency vibrato. 

Capriccio, Opera Garnier, September 11th 2012. Production: Robert Carsen. Conductor: Philippe Jordan. Cast: Michaela Kaune (Countess), Bo Skovhus (Count), Adrian Eröd (Olivier), Joseph Kaiser (Flamand), Peter Rose (La Roche), Michaela Schuster (La Clairon).

• An elegant production-within-production production (!) reviewed in detail here.
   
• Was Deutsche Oper Berlin house diva Michaela Kaune really first-choice for this production? I somehow doubt it, as she doesn´t quite seem to have the name of carrying a big role like this in the season opening of Opera Garnier.
   
• Nevertheless, though not the most distinctive singer, she was highly applauded for a beautiful and moving Countess. She lacks the glamour that Renée Fleming brought to the DVD, but then she also comes without Fleming´s at times irritating vocal manners.
   
• Bo Skovhus now seems definitely past his prime, with an increasingly wide vibrato which comes with  increasingly neurotic stage manners.
   
• Michaela Schuster is effective rather than glamorous, while Adrian Eröd sings with great beauty and warmth as opposed to the cooler Joseph Kaiser, underlining Madeleine´s choice, I suppose.
   
• Philippe Jordan, as usual, was quite excellent and possibly received the largest applause of the evening.

 

La Traviata, Opera Fenice, September 26th, 2012. Production: Robert Carsen. Conductor: Diego Matheuz. Cast: Jessica Nuccio (Violetta), Ji-Min Park (Alfredo), Simone Piazzola (Germont).

• Half the fun of a performance of the Teatro la Fenice opera of Venice is getting there (and away): Wandering the narrow streets besides the canals or perhaps even arriving with boat.
    
• Chosen for the reopening of the opera house in 2004 (being reconstructed after a major fire), the production is already available on DVD and has already been reviewed in details on this site.
   
• Perhaps for these historic reasons, firefighters were present in large numbers throughout the performance, especially on the upper level of the theatre.
   
• The production remains innovative and interesting, though more so with the DVD cast than with the cast actually in the theatre: Ji-Min Park, not the most charismatic of singers never quite seemed to warm up, though Jessica Nuccio gave a quite moving., though not overly precise performance.
   
• I must admit to not remembering much else about the performance.

susanna phillips

Susannna Phillips. Paysages. CD 2011. Songs by Debussy, Messiaen and Faure. With Myra Huang (piano).

Susanna Phillips (born 1981) is a lyrical soprano, educated at Juillard School in New York City. A Metropolitan Council Award Winner and a first prize winner at the Operalia competition (both in 2005), she already has sung several parts (Musetta, Pamina, Donna Anna) at the Metropolitan Opera and is scheduled to return in the 2013 season as Fiordiligi as well as in a new production of Fledermaus.

Hats off to her for presenting an unusually challenging programme of songs by Debussy, Messiaen (Poemes pour Mi) and Faure for her first solo CD. Which was in fact the direct reason I noticed her disc in the first place - an internet search of recordings of "Poemes pour Mi" - there are not too many.
Messiaen composed this song cycle for his first wife in the 1930´s, at a time when his compositions were still very inspired by Debussy, thus the preceding Debussy songs seem very adequate.

Susanna Phillips has a lovely, warm and expressive voice with a technique to match especially Messiaen´s rather stiff vocal demands. It is also a quite distinctive voice, with a quite slow vibrato, and a rather nasal sound. Do I like the voice as such? I am not sure. But it is never unpleasant to listen to. Undoubtedly she does her best with the French diction, but I nevertheless fail to understand what she is singing. I don´t understand Renée Fleming´s French in her 2012 version of Poemes pour Mi either. However the French soprano Francoise Pollet demonstrates quite clearly (in the orchestral version with Pierre Boulez, the best on disc), that it is possible to understand the lyrics.

2012 interview with Susanna Phillips here.

Susanna Phillips as Donna Anna (with piano):

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

4

Don Giovanni at the Met

Don Giovanni. Metropolitan Opera 2011. HD. Production: Michael Grandage. Conductor: Fabio Luisi. Cast: Mariusz Kwiecien (Don G), Luca Pisaroni (Leporello), Marina Rebeka (Donna Anna), Barbara Frittoli (Donna Elvira), Ramon Vargas (Ottavio), Mojca Erdmann (Zerlina), Joshua Bloom (Masetto).

• When this production opened in 2011, critics generally rated it between "dull" and "disastrously dull". They are right.
• Michael Grandage is a renowned British theater director and it was a reasonable assumption from Peter Gelb that he could provide interesting insights.
• At opening night Mariusz Kwiecien was replaced by Peter Mattei, a fact many critics felt may have had significantly negative impact on Grandage´s vision.
• For the HD transmission Mariusz Kwiecien was back and it was still dull.
• Action takes place mainly in front of a set consisting of a three-tiered balcony mansion.
• The relationship between the Don and Leporello is played out interestingly, though, with the latter a lesser sophisticated mirror of the former - but no really new insights here and seen many times before.
• Musically it was superb, however.
• Mariusz Kwiecien is a classy and elegant Don with a smooth, silky baritone. Top in the world for this part, together with Peter Mattei and Gerald Finley, in my opinion.
• Luca Pisaroni presents with a roguesque, vocally solid Leporello
• Excellent house debut for Marina Rebeka - a shining clear, almost steely soprano. A first-rate Donna Anna, only a bit more dynamics in her singing and acting and she would be among the greatest.
• Barbara Frittoli is elegant as Elvira, unfortunately her vibrato has become rather wide
• Mojca Erdmann disappointed as Zerlina with irritating acting and a shaky voice. I am not at all sure she is the rising star some have made her to be.
• Joshua Bloom makes the most out of his opportunities as Massetto.
• As does Ramon Vargas as Don Ottavio - not an easy part to make interesting.
• Fabio Luisi was superb in a slow, grandiose reading of the score.

Marina Rebeka - non mi dir:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Mariusz Kwiecien: 5
Luca Pisaroni: 4
Marina Rebeka: 4-5
Barbara Frittoli: 4
Mojca Erdmann: 2
Joshua Bloom: 4

Michael Grandage´s production: 2
Fabio Luisi: 4-5

Overall impression: 3

salzburg festival theodora on dvd

Theodora. DVD. Salzburg Festival 2009. Production: Christof Loy. Conductor: Ivor Bolton with the Freiburger Barockorchester. Cast: Christine Schäfer (Theodora), Bejun Mehta (Didymus), Johannes Martin Krängle (Valens), Bernarda Fink (Irene), Joseph Kaiser (Septimus).

The story of Händel´s late (1750) oratorio "Theodora" in brief, is that of the Christian woman Theodora, who, persecuted by the Romans ultimately becomes a martyr for her faith with her lover Didymus.

With this staging, Christof Loy does not attempt to invite the audiences to identify with the characters but “exploring and experiencing the music and the works religious themes” in what he calls “almost like an installation” or a “performance process”. To achieve this, he lets the entire, massive stage of the Salzburg Festspielhaus depict the interior of a church and the staging unfolds as a rehearsal for a performance of Theodora. Not unlike his Frau Ohne Schatten from last years Salzburg Festival. But significantly more successful, though at times the singers almost seems to drown at the massive stage..

For me the real stand-outs in the cast were Joseph Kaiser´s dignified Septimus (= a main with a troubled conscience), Johannes Martin Krängle´s very believable Valens (=the villain). and Bernarda Fink´s wonderfully dignified Irene. For my tastes, Bejun Mehta´s Didymus is a tad too sentimental and feminine, and Christine Schäfer, despite dignified singing and great musician-ship, seems occasionally rather dry-voiced as Theodora.

However, the contrast of performing a small-sized baroque work in the massive Salzburg Festspielhaus is not at all interesting and most Händel admirers will love Ivor Bolton´s stylish performance with the Freiburger Barockorchester.
Despite not being created with a staged performance in mind, it is not, however the only Theodora on DVD and I must admit to vastly preferring Peter Sellars updated 1996 Glyndebourne production, infinitely more dynamic in addition to having the wonderful Lorraine Hunt as Irene.

Bejun Mehta and Christine Schäfer:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Christine Schäfer: 5
Bejun Mehta: 4
Bernarda Fink: 5
Joseph Kaiser: 5
Johannes Martin Krängle: 4

Christof Loy:3
Ivor Bolton: 5

Overall impression: 4