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ernani
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« Reply #45 on: 21:43:14, 08-11-2007 » |
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Ruth, Will be interested to hear what you think - I've tickets for the end of the run and am looking forward to it  |
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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #46 on: 21:52:46, 08-11-2007 » |
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Isn't it a bit of novelty nowadays to see Aida actually performed in an opera house, as opposed to a marquee, or the Albert Hall?  |
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #47 on: 05:35:15, 09-11-2007 » |
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Isn't it a bit of novelty nowadays to see Aida actually performed in an opera house, as opposed to a marquee, or the Albert Hall? Or indeed at the Pyramids  |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #48 on: 09:36:36, 09-11-2007 » |
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Well, as per usual I shall be writing up the ENO performance for Opera Today and will post the link when it's done. Anyway... The marketing may have been riddled with gimmicks but I am delighted to say that the production was NOT. In fact, behind the costumes and set designs - which were gorgeous - it was actually an ultra-traditional Aida. It did go in for quite a lot of high-camp - it even had an "ironic" elephant made of an assemblage of bright turquoise puppetry, upon which Radames made his Act 2 entrance! That was the main problem, actually - the fact that the production didn't really start to take itself seriously until the Nile Scene. Amneris (Jane Dutton) was like a caricature before that, and Aida (Claire Rutter), whose music is automatically serious and introverted throughout, at first seemed like a serious "aside" to the bright colours and OTT characterisation. Actually, reading back over what I've just written, I do believe that was probably intentional and was really effective. Singing was very very good. Yesterday I wrote: John Hudson...'s even capable of taking the last note of "Celeste Aida" at a diminuendo, and I hope he does! He did!  And his heftier bits were very impressive. Final scene was wonderfully effective, with several layers of diagonally-hung curtains closing in on one another from either side of the stage. Full review to follow on Opera Today! |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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harpy128
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« Reply #49 on: 09:50:36, 09-11-2007 » |
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Sorry to miss you again Ruth! Didn't read the board until afterwards. Would have been nice to have a drink. I don't normally manage to get to the first nights but I'm going to The Turn of the Screw on the 26th - don't suppose you're going to that? Yes it was vg indeed although I got a bit irritated by my friends going on about the costumes Incidentally the ENO seemed to have dug up half a dozen straightened-out trumpets from somewhere. They perhaps did sound a bit sharp now Reiner comes to mention it so perhaps "sharp" is the word I was looking for all along, but nonetheless sounded "right". Rather odd lack of between-number applause wasn't there? Normally I like that but I thought we could have applauded Celeste Aida for example... |
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harpy128
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« Reply #50 on: 09:52:13, 09-11-2007 » |
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Oops - how did I do that?  |
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« Last Edit: 10:42:37, 09-11-2007 by harpy128 »
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #51 on: 10:15:50, 09-11-2007 » |
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Incidentally the ENO seemed to have dug up half a dozen straightened-out trumpets from somewhere. And did you read the programme and see the list of who was playing them? It was a veritable who's who of British trumpet-playing excellence! Colin Clague, David Blackadder etc... Rather odd lack of between-number applause wasn't there? Normally I like that but I thought we could have applauded Celeste Aida for example... There seemed to be a conscious decision to move things on, so there wasn't too much extraneous applause. I'd have gladly clapped Celeste Aida - as I said, that last note was great, just as it's marked to be done in the score, and so few tenors do it that way. (I trusted John Hudson to do so, as he's possibly the ONLY tenor I've ever heard do the top note in the Flower Song in Carmen quietly, as it's marked in the score!) It was strange that people didn't applaud the ballet in the triumphal scene though; Ed Gardner was obviously expecting it, and it didn't come, and so we got the classic c*ck-up where people decided that maybe they SHOULD applaud after all, just as the conductor's already on his upbeat to bring the chorus and orchestra back in. (Perhaps by that stage everybody was conditioned into NOT applauding, and found it odd that it was expected.) I won't see you at Turn of the Screw - the opening night of 26th November is (annoyingly) also the night WNO are at Sadler's Wells doing "The Sacrifice". So I'll be seeing "Screw" on Friday 30th instead. |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #52 on: 10:24:04, 09-11-2007 » |
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ENO have sent me a cut-out dress-up doll of Radames by email. If you follow the link you can dress him up and send him to your friends (apparently).
Just be grateful it wasn't Salome .... |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #53 on: 10:44:08, 09-11-2007 » |
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Colin Clague
Coincidence! It was Colin who bought the straight trumpet I fixed, mentioned above. Maybe it was the one in use last night? My former teacher Just be grateful it wasn't Salome .... |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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harpy128
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« Reply #54 on: 10:45:53, 09-11-2007 » |
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I did look the trumpeters up in the programme (partly because one of our party was inclined to dispute that they were actually playing rather than miming  ) but I'm afraid I don't know the names of (m)any trumpeters. They certainly sounded excellent though. How about GOT at Sadler's Wells then - going to any of those Ruth? |
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #55 on: 10:55:02, 09-11-2007 » |
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I'm going to have to go and see it again, by the way... (I used to see most ENO productions multiple times, but that was when a balcony day seat cost £3 a time!)
Will be back next Friday, and possibly also on the 29th. Every other performance clashes with something else.
harpy - GOT at Sadler's Wells - yes, I shall be at Albert Herring on the Tuesday, L'elisir on the Thursday, and Macbeth on the Saturday.
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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harpy128
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« Reply #56 on: 11:06:50, 09-11-2007 » |
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Snap x 3. Maybe we could aim to meet at the interval of Elisir? I'm going to that one on my own but will have a mob of friends and relations in tow for the others which might make the logistics harder.
I was thinking of trying to go back to Aida as well, because my other half had to miss it yesterday, but there are hardly any cheap tickets left. Does anyone know how early people generally start queuing for day tickets?
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #57 on: 11:13:00, 09-11-2007 » |
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I've lost track of how people queue for ENO day seats these days. I used to do it all the time (almost literally - twice a week or so!) but that was when cheap seats were REALLY cheap, and there were twice as many of them  I managed to pick up a rear balcony seat for the 16th, and there are a couple of balcony seats left for Tuesday 27th though not Thursday 29th. I'm quite prepared to pay more if I want to see it on the 29th - after all I was there last night on a press freebie and I feel guilty that ENO hardly get any financial support from me any more! Besides which, I would like to see it from the stalls. Our seats last night were in Dress Circle Row E where the acoustics really bother me. Re: GOT - I will be with a friend for Elisir, but an interval drink sounds good (or a beer afterwards in the Harlequin). I'm really looking forward to all 3 productions. |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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harpy128
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« Reply #58 on: 11:23:17, 09-11-2007 » |
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Tomorrow is the only other one we can do, and the balcony and upper circle (at least) seem to be sold out. So I guess if his nibs wants to go I'll have to see if I can get there at the crack of dawn.
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #59 on: 11:31:55, 09-11-2007 » |
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Ooooh I'd forgotten it was on tomorrow! Might even be there myself.
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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