|
reiner_torheit
|
 |
« on: 13:27:13, 02-03-2007 » |
|
The acclaimed Opera North PETER GRIMES gets a broadcast on R3 with a luxury cast of British vocal talent.
Join the production on R3 this afternoon (or on Listen Again) - then share your views here!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
They say travel broadens the mind - but in many cases travel has made the mind not exactly broader, but thicker.
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #1 on: 17:45:13, 02-03-2007 » |
|
I didn't get in until 4 o'clock, just in time for the third act, so the rest will be Listen Again when I can find the time. I was a bit concerned about hearing it again - I found it so powerful in the theatre (in Manchester, not Leeds) that I was afraid hearing it without seeing it would be a let-down. What I heard wasn't at all. I still thought it terrifying and wonderful - we shall see what I think when I hear the rest, sort of doing it backwards.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Gabrielle d’Estrées
Guest
|
|
« Reply #2 on: 18:34:24, 02-03-2007 » |
|
I thought we might find you here, Mary q;o)
Yes, great performance. I'm not that hot on listening to opera - I prefer the total experince of being present at a live performance. But yes, enjoyed today, came across so well I was able to envsiage it completely, jogging the memories of my favourite performance. Enjoy LA!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #3 on: 15:46:09, 03-03-2007 » |
|
I've just finished listening to the whole thing on LA. I still thought it was marvellous, though it confirmed for me that Giselle Allen (Ellen) didn't have wonderful diction, although her actual singing was good. A friend who was with me at the performance in Manchester couldn't hear many of her words. Since I know them so well I'm not a good judge, but she seemed unclear to me as well. Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts made (like most people) a bit of a mess of his Big Moment, the Great Bear and Pleiades. I'm sure it was better the night I heard him, or perhaps he was just so convincing that I didn't notice. But dramatically he was stunning, as was the whole performance, whatever you may think of the production. Good (though harrowing!) to hear it again.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
reiner_torheit
|
|
« Reply #4 on: 18:08:57, 03-03-2007 » |
|
yes, I loved Lloyd-Roberts's performance, and it was great to hear it sung by a ringing tenor, and not a baritonal-sounding voice as you sometimes get in the role :-) What did you think of the playing of the Sea Interludes, Mary?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
They say travel broadens the mind - but in many cases travel has made the mind not exactly broader, but thicker.
|
|
|
MeKurwenal
Posts: 32
|
|
« Reply #5 on: 18:26:41, 03-03-2007 » |
|
I was at the Sadlers Wells performance...and it is good to hear Lloyd-Roberts again....I enjoyed it immensely and this brings back good and positive memories of an excellent night.
The orchestral preludes struck me as slightly under-powered on the night...but in this broadcast it comes across with more depth and natural intensity. Perhaps I was distracted by the stage-business...it is easier to concentrate now on the music.
I would be interested too, to hear Mary's evalution !
MK
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #6 on: 11:50:36, 04-03-2007 » |
|
The Interludes - well, they are always going to sound a bit different from the concert hall in a staged performance. I thought they were quite well played - was Storm rather too brass-heavy? - but the sound on my LA is very bad indeed, so it's a bit hard to tell. I agree that in the actual performance the onstage goings-on were very distracting - I really did not like that.
My previous post sounds too critical of Grimes and Ellen. I should add, for balance, that I thought they sang the Prologue duet (the one in different keys) most beautifully.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
George Garnett
|
|
« Reply #7 on: 14:45:30, 04-03-2007 » |
|
This is a bit naughtily off topic, so apologies for the brief diverson, but it is about Britten tenors and it seemed a good place for leaving a question I hope Mary C might pass by and spot  The Peter Quint / Prologue in The Turn of The Screw coming up at Glyndebourne this summer is William Burden. I don't think I have heard him sing before but I have a feeling that Mary, or possibly someone else, mentioned him as an exciting new tenor to watch out for on an 'English tenors' thread over on the other place in gentler times some way back. Have I got that right? A recommendation from Mary would certainly add to my determination to try and bag a ticket. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #8 on: 16:37:15, 04-03-2007 » |
|
I don't know anything about him, George, except that he's American, not English. He comes from Florida, so that's a long way to Bly!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
George Garnett
|
|
« Reply #9 on: 16:52:58, 04-03-2007 » |
|
Ah, thanks Mary. My memory obviously had me barking up the wrong tree once again.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Ron Dough
|
|
« Reply #10 on: 19:48:15, 04-03-2007 » |
|
If the info. from TOP that Stuart Skelton is to sing Grimes for ENO next year is correct, then I'd suggest it will be a must. He's an Australian tenor who made a formidable impression in Dvorak's Dimitrij at the Proms a couple of years back, and is the Siegmund on the new Australian Ring recording.
And when the ON Grimes is revived, I'd love to see what Alan Oke, this season's Bob Boles, would make of Peter. I suspect that his rather unhinged, dangerous Bob reveals histrionic talents well suited to the unstable Grimes, which might add up to a more multi-dimensional portrayal than the clumsy big baby so far seen. (Though they'd need a very different image to his Boles, who looked frighteningly close to my (doubtless fallacious) mental image of S-S.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
reiner_torheit
|
|
« Reply #11 on: 21:04:59, 04-03-2007 » |
|
his rather unhinged, dangerous Bob reveals histrionic talents well suited to the unstable Grimes, Nice idea, Ron! Wouldn't you love to sing Jan Blinkhoff as Grimes? I wonder if he's ever sung it? Definitely the most frightening tenor I've ever seen  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
They say travel broadens the mind - but in many cases travel has made the mind not exactly broader, but thicker.
|
|
|
|
Ron Dough
|
|
« Reply #12 on: 21:19:35, 04-03-2007 » |
|
Accent problems aside, it would have been fascinating to see what a great singing actor like Domingo might have made of the role with a sympathetic director.... Oh dear, here's a fantasy moment. Grimes with Domingo as Peter, Barstow as Ellen, Milnes as Balstrode, Resnik as Auntie, directed by Jonathan Miller with designs by .... not sure yet.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
oliver sudden
|
|
« Reply #13 on: 21:37:23, 04-03-2007 » |
|
Aieee swearrr by allamaaiitii Goooooodda...
Still, we already know what a Grimes with an unexpected accent sounds like, don't we? It can be startlingly effective. (Sh, don't tell Mary.)
Still, it seems Balstrode might be more in Domingo's line nowadays...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Ron Dough
|
|
« Reply #14 on: 21:42:20, 04-03-2007 » |
|
Now that's a really good idea, Oz..... hmmmmmmmmmmm
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
