|
Il Grande Inquisitor
|
 |
« Reply #30 on: 10:32:32, 07-04-2008 » |
|
I gave up on the 0845 number and used the alternative IfB number. One ticket for La Gioconda for 30th July safely bagged! Now, where are those dancing hippopotami...ah, yes....  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
|
|
|
|
Ruth Elleson
|
|
« Reply #31 on: 10:34:52, 07-04-2008 » |
|
Well done, IGI!  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
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!
|
|
|
|
Il Grande Inquisitor
|
|
« Reply #32 on: 00:48:20, 31-07-2008 » |
|
I've just returned from La Gioconda at Holland Park this evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A very good standard of singing (except, perhaps, La Cieca, who seemed a league below her colleagues) and a clever, but simple staging which made a good attempt at conveying Venice - no blazing barque (quite!) but good use of moving platforms for when Laura's boat is chased by Alvise's. I was also impressed with the setting, the Lords-like canopy is very striking. I expect Ruth's preparing a review and I think Reiner's heading there next week, so I shan't reveal too much more just yet.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
|
|
|
|
Ruth Elleson
|
|
« Reply #33 on: 08:25:03, 31-07-2008 » |
|
Hi IGI. Glad you enjoyed it- sorry to have been too busy/lazy to post a review  If Reiner would be so kind as to forward me the PM I sent him on the subject (as I forgot to save myself a copy when sending) then I'll use most of it as the basis for a public review - it didn't go into a lot of detail as I didn't want to spoil it for Reiner. Harpy's been to see it too, if her posts on the Opera Quiz thread are anything to go by. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
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!
|
|
|
|
Reiner Torheit
|
|
« Reply #34 on: 08:39:09, 31-07-2008 » |
|
it didn't go into a lot of detail as I didn't want to spoil it for Reiner.
What do you mean... "no hippos"??  I suppose it's OK now to give away the fact that in their "Queen of Spades", Catherine the Great was played by a coat-hanger...
The peer pressure on girls in Russia to adhere to unrealistic levels of slimness is indeed lamentable. The Culture Secretary should intervene about "Size 0 Opera Singers". |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"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"
|
|
|
|
Il Grande Inquisitor
|
|
« Reply #35 on: 19:21:29, 31-07-2008 » |
|
it didn't go into a lot of detail as I didn't want to spoil it for Reiner.
What do you mean... "no hippos"?? Sadly not! As I wrote last night, the standard of singing was very good. Gweneth-Ann Jeffers sang the tile role with real guts - no shirking the big moments - 'Suicidio!' came off brilliantly. The tenor, Vadim Zaplechny, has more of a del Monaco/ Corelli approach, which I think is entirely appropriate for this role - the Act I duet with Olafur Sigurdarson's Barnaba was a highlight. David Soar, Alvise, was suffering with a bad throat - he'd telephoned the management in the morning almost unable to speak. They had scoured the usual sources to try and find a substitute, which proved fruitless, so, feeling slightly better, he went ahead. You wouldn't have known from his first appearances (though Alvise has to wait until Act III for his big moment) and although he husbanded his voice through some passages, he has a commanding voice. I was impressed with his Ferrando in Trovatore with WNO earlier this season. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
|
|
|
|
Reiner Torheit
|
|
« Reply #36 on: 19:47:46, 31-07-2008 » |
|
What do you mean... "no hippos"?? Sadly not! Well this is just bloody typical, some of us have waited years and saved up all our lives to see these hippos, and now they claim to have a throat infection. Well I tell you, it's not good enough, it's just not good enough! I shall be demanding a refund, for the entire audience. We paid to see hippos, and hippos we will have! Oh yes, on the first night of course they have hippos, but then the hippos cannot be bothered and we are fobbed off with an understudy llama or wombat. I shall sue the (cont p94 on TOP) I'm slightly surprised to find Zaplechny singing this, as he's associated with higher-lying lyric roles in Russia - Hoffmann, Jose, etc. But he sings a very decent Sergey in LADY MAC too. And he was a very good Farm Worker in Schedrin's NOT ONLY LOVE in Moscow three years ago A very hardworking and intelligent bloke. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"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"
|
|
|
|
Il Grande Inquisitor
|
|
« Reply #37 on: 19:57:58, 31-07-2008 » |
|
Well this is just bloody typical, some of us have waited years and saved up all our lives to see these hippos, and now they claim to have a throat infection. Well I tell you, it's not good enough, it's just not good enough! I shall be demanding a refund, for the entire audience. We paid to see hippos, and hippos we will have! Oh yes, on the first night of course they have hippos, but then the hippos cannot be bothered and we are fobbed off with an understudy llama or wombat. I shall sue the (cont p94 on TOP)  I bet the hippos will appear on the night they record the production! It's a conspiracy, I tell you, especially after the lead cancelled last year's performances of The Cunning Little Hippo... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujWSIFoe94http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtodQVKeye0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09zYDkw0Mo&feature=related |
|
|
|
« Last Edit: 20:08:35, 31-07-2008 by Il Grande Inquisitor »
|
Logged
|
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
|
|
|
|
Don Basilio
|
|
« Reply #38 on: 11:15:34, 02-08-2008 » |
|
Whopee! ! !
The other half comes home yesterday to say he had seen a friend who had tickets for Iolanta next week, but couldn't make it, so she handed them over to him.
We'll be going. Anyone seen it?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
|
|
|
|
Reiner Torheit
|
|
« Reply #39 on: 11:18:37, 02-08-2008 » |
|
We'll be going. Anyone seen it?
No, but given the topic of the opera, that may be the wrong question |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"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"
|
|
|
|
Ruth Elleson
|
|
« Reply #40 on: 22:56:17, 03-08-2008 » |
|
[I haven't seen it yet, Don B, but when you say next week, I don't suppose you might mean Friday? If so, I'll see you there!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
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!
|
|
|
|
Don Basilio
|
|
« Reply #41 on: 11:35:13, 04-08-2008 » |
|
Wednesday, Ruth.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
|
|
|
|
harpy128
|
|
« Reply #42 on: 12:18:10, 04-08-2008 » |
|
I went to Iolanta on Saturday and thought it was excellent - intelligent production and good to excellent performances all round. Can't learn to love the plot (even if you read "sex" for "sight", it all seems a bit twee) but still.
I could have done without the ballet first (think Pan's People, if anyone remembers who they were). However I thought the Pulcinella music was much better played than some of the reviews led one to expect, so once I'd taken my specs off it was quite enjoyable.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Don Basilio
|
|
« Reply #43 on: 00:16:45, 07-08-2008 » |
|
Loved it. More tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
|
|
|
|
Don Basilio
|
|
« Reply #44 on: 08:17:32, 07-08-2008 » |
|
Pulcinella. Harpy is unfair but very funny. The score is a pot pourri of BBC theme tunes, none of which I could place.
The dance was without narrative, and doing its damndest not to look pretty pretty C18. There were classical ballet movements as well as vaguely street cred walks.
It took my mind off nicely from the incandescent fury inspired by my computer.
I suspect that we may have been the only audience members completely sober. We sat in our seats for the interval to see the simple set for Iolanta put in place.
More anon.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
|
|
|
|
