the scottish opera!

What did you think? I was there last night and I thought the semi-staging was effective; Macbeth and co in kilts which, for 'the Scottish opera', I don't think I've seen before although it sounds obvious. Andrzej Dobber was a very fine Macbeth, wonderfully sung; his voice reminded me very much of Piero Cappuccilli, which is praise indeed. I wasn't so sure about the Lady of Sylvie Valayre - a beautiful voice, no doubt, but just too beautiful for me and, I suspect, Verdi, who wanted something more 'ugly' or earthy/ scary. It didn't help that all her solos were taken at slow tempi, unlike the rest of the performance which rattled along at breakneck speeds, very effectively. The sleepwalking scene was fine, with Lady M continually putting on a fresh pair of white gloves, then walking to the other side of the stage to remove them and place them in a pail (into a washing machine in the full production down at Glyndebourne, I gather) before donning a fresh pair, but 'La luce langue' and 'Vieni! t'affretta!' felt too slow.
The finale was the original 1847 version, which I much prefer to the facile victory hymn led by Malcolm and Macduff. After Macbeth's 'Mal per me' it's all over very quickly. I wish this solution was used more often.

I wish I'd been there too - I really would have liked to have seen Richard Jones' current take on the work in the theatre (did anyone else here see his deeply weird but very powerful production for Scottish Opera's outreach company, Opera-go-Round, in the 1980's?, with Omar Ebrahim - whatever happened to him? - in the title role?).

I heard the first half of the broadcast (will fit in the second part on Listen Again when I, what struck me was Dobber's very fine singing and Jurowski's extremely energetic conducting - I thought the breathlessness worked, even if there were times when it sounded (over the car radio anyway) a bit like a concerto for piccolo and bass trombone. But for the most part it was very, very exciting.

This was the first time I had heard Macbeth and I enjoyed it very much, both as an opera and the way it was performed.

But as an opera, it seems to me (and remember I have only heard it once) a very Italian version of Macbeth, and that wasn't because of the language it was sung in. At times I felt as though I was in the same world as Rigoletto.

I thought that too, harpy. I wondered if she was meant to be Macduff's wife at all in this production. Reiner will know via his friend who performed the role! I'd like to see the GTO revival in the autumn, but Glyndebourne stopped touring to Southampton many years ago, more's the pity.

Ah, but the lady-in-waiting in the sleepwalking scene was different, wasn't she?

Actually I haven't seen her since the beginning of rehearsals, and she is "there" whilst I've been "here", so I regret I have no insights at all on this!

Sozdateleva is a super performer, with whom I have been lucky enough to work.  MACBETH is her second production for Richard Jones - I saw her in Brussels in the Spring in the lead role in FIERY ANGEL,  and it was a terrific performance in every respect (and a revealing reading of the piece from Jones, too).   She has done 3 shows as Lady Macbeth in the main Glyndebourne season, in addition to singing Lady-in-Waiting.

The GTO Tour kicks-off with some performances at Glyndebourne itself (but for GTO prices) and that's where I was planning on seeing this show...  anyone care to join us?   

BTW completely off-topic - I was in St Petersburg at the weekend where we went to St P Opera's TRAVIATA...  the leading lady was ill, and an understudy called Anna Nechayeva appeared (RT rolls up his sleeves, "with whom I have never worked" etc)...  absolutely sensational performance, the audience went wild at the end.    Young, and looks the part too, danced, etc.  One to watch for!!  I would give my eye teeth to cast her in something.

My first post on this MB, which I never knew existed before today!

I'm not aware of any recordings of Macbeth which use (as Glyndebourne did) the 1865 version up to the middle of Act 4 then switch to the 1847 ending.

However, there's a complete 1847 version available on Opera Rara, with Rita Hunter http://www.opera-rara.com/site/product.asp?section=27&cat=23&sub=8&prod=39.

Also, Chelsea Opera Group will be performing it in concert on 29/03/2008 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

In answer to the query about the two "ladies in waiting": in the earlier scenes, the "dama" as she's called in the score simply serves the purpose of being a second soprano in the ensembles, so it doesn't matter musically who she is.  In this production she was very clearly Lady Macduff - one of the benefits of having all the characters in distinguishing tartans It was a nice touch, actually, to see Lady Macduff on stage, as Verdi and Piave do not set the one scene from the play in which she appears, so the first we normally know of her existence is in Macduff's recitative. The "lady in waiting" role really only takes on an identity from the sleepwalking scene onwards, at which point Sozdateleva took over as the new "character".

Reiner, I look forward to hearing Sozdateleva singing Lady M on the autumn tour - she's partnered by one of MY friends, Stephen Gadd, as Macbeth.